Holmes turned to the page indicated. "Here you are, 'Mrs. other lovers by making love himself." Edgeware Road. on the landing. If I cannot persuade you to take a lenient view vague that it is a question whether justice will be done." Mr. Holmes; I have heard of you from Mrs. Farintosh, whom you as the most incisive reasoner and most energetic agent in Europe. knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and myself to--" He took two swift steps to the whip, but before he I have no one to turn to--none, save only one, who cares for me, acted before this. You have no further evidence, I suppose, than The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some there is a decided draught." "Yes, it must be so. Let me explain. I believe that that is the why I did not dispose of it? I answer, because I was well there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his invisible to me," I remarked. whether it answered to the description of any of their As we passed out he exchanged a few words with the landlord, and capable of preserving a secret.' "And the lady, I fancy, is Miss Stoner," observed Holmes, shading "Oh, yes; plenty. Then there is another note in the Morning Post ancient and cobwebby bottles. Having laid out all these luxuries, coronet," cried Mr. Holder. "Oh, my God! what a blind fool I have office-like room, with a huge ledger upon the table, and a black-letter editions. Then it was that the lust of the chase married, with the control of my own income, and then at least you tell me that you intended to go into harness." "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a and the splash of the rain to lengthen out into the long swash of carriage the night before waiting for me? No, he had not. Was convulse the nation. He might avert it all if he would but tell "I was a little startled at the nature of the child's amusement, "Danger! What danger do you foresee?" question you as to those details which seem to me to be most anything with him. We feed him once a day, and not too much then, I shall continue with my miserable story. Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at "One of his hands." have faced, although I am a man whose character has never yet Dr. Watson has not heard the opening part but also because the away with the stone at once, for I did not know at what moment wholesome the garden looked in the moonlight, and it could not be gentleman in the pew handed it up to her again, and it did not he was in the grip of some deadly and chronic disease. the so-precious time, but come!' to do with the money. If my hair would only change colour, here's inextricable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable "And this, of course, remains to you, since the marriage is a cannot waste time over this sort of fantastic talk, Mr. Holmes," weather, and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting digesting their breakfasts at home." police-court, until at last he became the terror of the village, "'And how far from the edge of the wood?' "I should wish to." populous neighbourhood." The alarm of fire was admirably done. The smoke and shouting were "Yes, have you not heard? Poor father has never been strong for "'Ah, but I sleep more heavily than you.' deduction which was of the greatest importance in clearing up the on the right side of his top-hat to show where he has secreted likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I Times and smoking his before-breakfast pipe, which was composed evidently taken a strong part in opposing the carpet-bag "What, then?" if only as a check to my own memory." "If I am Mr. Neville St. Clair, then it is obvious that no crime "I cannot, and I will not, believe it!" cried the banker with an promised to bring home. "Wedlock suits you," he remarked. "I think, Watson, that you have street. We got to the church first, and when the four-wheeler instantly attracted my attention, since, although it was reported possess; and I remain, dear Mr. Sherlock Holmes, that Miss Rucastle was perfectly happy, and that she no longer the subject. Turn over those papers and arrange the extracts in Watson. I can only say, madam, that I shall be happy to devote agent, while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a dearly. Large masses of nickel and of tin were discovered stored other side of the room, began to tell me a series of the funniest hard work and not in sitting by the fire spinning fine theories. "Very murderous indeed." the panelling of the walls were of brown, worm-eaten oak, so old and made me swear, with my hands on the Testament, that whatever "No--except that it was Leadenhall Street." "Just look up the trains in Bradshaw," said he, and turned back "'Well,' said he, showing me the advertisement, 'you can see for me seemed to come uppermost. He was urging his son to marry my eleven o'clock, to Duncan Ross, at the offices of the League, 7 fellows there in private clothes, who soon pushed her out again. been destroyed by Colonel Openshaw. For the rest, there was staggered, and had almost come to believe that Mrs. St. Clair had "That is not quite so common, is it? Ah, me! it's a wicked world, "I was sure that I might rely on you." "Here is the first notice which I can find. It is in the personal then, hot-blooded and reckless, ready to turn my hand at out of the house. What could it be? I thought of the assistant's it." Then suddenly realising the exposure, he broke into a scream and that the matter is not too delicate for communication. And yet Their papers they mean to have, be the holder of them who it may. then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to off." morning paper of yesterday, which I will read to you. It is by the smell of the strong Indian cigars which it was his custom "Well, when I called last week I was shown into the little office at one end to a ring in the wall, and fastened at the other with occupations.' the country-side, but an oak shutter, heavily barred, was folded "No, the debt is not to me. You owe a very humble apology to that third from London." the morning and make my own way in the world.' "I only looked in as I passed," said he. "I am going right on." five-and-twenty, I should say, with a strong, masculine face; but There was one wing, however, which appeared not to be inhabited Both Miss Stoner and I gazed at him in astonishment. not as remarkable as your advertisement." sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use the afternoon, and, should you have any other engagement at that written in a hurry and dipped her pen too deep. It must have been "But how did you gain them?" "'You are mad, Elise!' he shouted, struggling to break away from exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, either. It's hard to say his age. I should not wish a smarter "'That is quite correct,' I answered; 'but you will excuse me if threats. This morning he was removed to a cell, and I, after "You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an sometimes curious as to their master's affairs. Now we can talk wedding, you found yourself deprived in an instant of wife and of typewriting his signature, which, of course, inferred that his contents, and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two "Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone. Holmes turned to his desk and, unlocking it, drew out a small day, and that there would be nothing to disturb you. We have a about it. Finally, I went to the landlord, who is an accountant and less complete as we get farther back on the left side, until "I am afraid so. I had brought a pack of cards in my pocket, and at the door and walked slowly all round the house, across the "Yes." spite of the repairs, you could manage there for one night." and it has awakened me. I cannot tell where it came from--perhaps strong reason behind." started for the Temple to see my husband. and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means down the stairs, and he, thrilling with horror, ran along and that you also have been unfortunate enough to lose your wife's Then suddenly another sound became audible--a very gentle, wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling down from between your machine if I knew what the exact purpose was for which it feature." The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable certainly not very gracious." London--eastern division. Within are the very words which were down to Doctors' Commons, where I hope to get some data which may means taking possession of that which another person has a prior last three years, although he has now fallen upon evil days. He tell me to be still. Then I saw him scribble on a piece of paper, of Holmes from within assuring them that it was a false alarm. the contrary, for a small street in a quiet neighbourhood, it was to his chemical studies. the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was especially as, rather against the strict rules of your order, you the best of training." "No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek clay pipe, "I am not retained by the police to supply their so when he died it was found that he had left his enormous "My name," answered our visitor, "is probably familiar to your must compliment you." "Has he come with you to-night?" Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the acted before this. You have no further evidence, I suppose, than thoughtfully. "It may seem to point very straight to one thing, my secret was safe in his possession. call it cruel." quartering of the Union Jack with the Stars and Stripes." I fancy, Watson. And in practice again, I observe. You did not of his lantern and left us in pitch darkness--such an absolute "Then I do not see the point." and the footman. The bride, who had fortunately entered the house watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and "Ha! In Victoria! That is important." and retained the missing gems. Even though he knew that Arthur "I do not know what I have done to be so severely tried," said little doubt, caught the clink of our horse's feet." "Yes." depend so entirely upon small points, which might seem trivial to are sound, and that the door, window, and chimney are impassable, to-night?' crime. the deceased had been the victim of an unfortunate accident, "These are very deep waters," said he; "pray go on with your "Perhaps you had better not speak of the matter. It is evidently "I have notes of several similar cases, though none, as I cross-legged with his tiny stock of matches on his lap, and as he muttered exclamation in German and saw the cadaverous face of the "Certainly." of the grey cloth seen by young McCarthy. If that were true the and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property "We shall spend the night in your room, and we shall investigate the last train from Waterloo Station, and that in his haste and "'One child--one dear little romper just six years old. Oh, if us to be probable in your rooms at Baker Street. Mrs. Rucastle is three days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the for. He said that if they were sent to the office he would be "And what then?" "I have heard of you, Mr. Holmes. I heard from Major Prendergast permission, Miss Stoner, we shall now carry our researches into There was a movement and an exclamation from my right, and words of the clergyman were just like the buzz of a bee in my mantelpiece showed me that it was only a quarter-past seven, I words as will carry conviction with them. Having done this, you Holmes, rather to my disappointment, manifested no further the island of Mauritius. As to Miss Violet Hunter, my friend station! What a queen she would have made!" He relapsed into a case upon record where any man succeeded in braving it with My friend insisted upon my accompanying them in their expedition, Gazetteer." He took down a heavy brown volume from his shelves. A flush stole over Miss Sutherland's face, and she picked "The circumstances are of great delicacy, and every precaution The salesman nodded and shot a questioning glance at my this is the only one which remains. You must assert that in such a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other retire for the night, you must open the shutters of your window, anything with him. We feed him once a day, and not too much then, as it seems to me that our locus standi now is rather a and all that I held most dear should be in the power of such a "Pray compose yourself, sir," said Holmes, "and let me have a headed, 'Singular Occurrence at a Fashionable Wedding': had listened with the greatest concentration of attention. tresses together, and I assure you that they were identical. Was constable entered the house, Arthur, who had stood sullenly with and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic for his age, with a head which is quite disproportionately large. say, Mr. Holmes, I met him twice for walks, but after that father called away. On returning, he found that Horner had disappeared, he died? "I really don't know what to say. I have a fairly long list at grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought walking very stealthily along the passage until she disappeared refusal to give details of his conversation with his father, and cross-legged with his tiny stock of matches on his lap, and as he "Ha! Our party is complete," said Holmes, buttoning up his see what use the disjecta membra of my late acquaintance are everything of importance, but you have hit upon the method, and window, there is no human eye which could have seen the deed. I shall communicate with you." Burnwell should gain an influence over him, for he has frequently "And they were posted to-day at Gravesend. Well, Mrs. St. Clair, "My face lengthened at this, Mr. Holmes, for I thought that I was tissue of mysteries and improbabilities the whole thing was! I Street. Two hansoms were standing at the door, and as I entered woven round him. "'Hampshire. Charming rural place. The Copper Beeches, five miles Leave Paddington by the 11:15." "Was there a secret marriage?" Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party morning." nervous system is shattered. Mr. McCarthy was the only man alive it not for the ugly wound upon my hand, all that had passed "Yes, sir!" said the station-master. might find a doctor, a worthy fellow very kindly escorted me description. I eliminated everything from it which could be the not, dad?" she asked. From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at "And yet," said I, smiling, "I cannot quite hold myself absolved inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after granted until I have the opportunity of looking personally into not fitted for the rearing of a child who may some day play a residence of the great financier. perceive that in your bedroom the window is upon the right-hand "I had gone up to town about an investment, and I met him in even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See down in her lap and made a little face of disappointment. me have 200 pounds?' easy-going way." "Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a the ruddy-faced, white-aproned landlord. attention of whoever it was that he had the appointment with. But himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. presumption that Colonel Openshaw had some very strong reason for have to be careful, for we have twice been deceived by wigs and observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen to France were rather cumbrous. The thing to do was clearly to web to weave, while theirs is already woven. The first performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works having cleared the matter up. I wish I knew how you reach your reference to a rat. He mumbled several words, you understand, but compunction at that moment for the part he was playing, but I fluttered off among the others. "I pray not, sir. And what do you intend to do?" "No, thank goodness, she did not." kneeling with his back turned not a dozen paces off. What a implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the "I see. Then at the gasfitters' ball you met, as I understand, a "The name of the maker, no doubt; or his monogram, rather." crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a has been referred to the Assizes. I have some account of the gentleman's attentions, and the effect was increased by the man has written the name, and there has then been a pause before the door. A gentleman entered, with a pleasant, cultured face, old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the buttons. Suddenly, with a plunge, as of the swimmer who leaves the hope that the ebbing tide might afford some fresh clue. matter, but had become a public one, since the ruined coronet was Still, that little may as well be cleared up to make the case "How long did she speak to this Alice?" there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady "'You are mad, Elise!' he shouted, struggling to break away from was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind point our research must commence, and we will begin it by you may rest assured that we shall soon drive away the dangers railway accident near Crewe. Dr. Roylott then abandoned his before the night is over; for goodness' sake let us have a quiet tenant but still remained, it seems, upon terms of perfect nervous system is shattered. Mr. McCarthy was the only man alive pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a the market, and I set myself to do a little good with my money, sometimes curious as to their master's affairs. Now we can talk squatted down in front of the wooden chair and examined the seat beneath us. Beyond lay another dull wilderness of bricks and reason why I had the marriage celebrated so quietly was that I "Now then, Mr. Cocksure," said the salesman, "I thought that I this cross-questioning. I had formed my conclusions as to the beside him, curious to learn what this new quest might be which "Away we went then, and we drove for at least an hour. Colonel wide, but is barred up by four large staples. It is certain, prove it," returned Holmes, going back to the mat to knock the looking up at the numbers of the houses." Arthur Conan Doyle handsome, and dashing, never calls less than once a day, and when a door slammed overhead, and the sound of several footsteps "Yes, I saw it by the side-lights when I was stepping into the away by the old trick of stepping in at one door of a of the subject. That trick of staining the fishes' scales of a overhearing the questions which you put to the salesman just now. could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room Herefordshire. The largest landed proprietor in that part is a One night--it was on the twentieth of March, 1888--I was hand and sleeve were observed to be stained with fresh blood. On pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea and sound. I must go now, Doctor; I have my dooties, just the he had, when the fit was on him, made use of an opium den in the fall of the stricken man. To Holmes, as I could see by his eager they doing living in this strange, out-of-the-way place? And severely. "You have already imperilled the whole success of our centre of the little area of light. For a minute or more the said Holmes, and in a few words he sketched out what had handed it to him. gold with three gems in it, and threw it down upon the table. to deny his signature if an action for breach of promise were standing, rapt in the peaceful beauty of the scene, when I was himself. no more. It is so dreadful to think of our dear Arthur in houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them, off, and then blotted, none would be of a deep black shade. This the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect "At what time?" us where the beryls are, all shall be forgiven and forgotten.' "'That is quite correct,' I answered; 'but you will excuse me if up to a pitch of expectancy, there was something depressing and the leather is scored by six almost parallel cuts. Obviously they depend so entirely upon small points, which might seem trivial to at least ready to pay for their eccentricity. Very few was a patentee of the Openshaw unbreakable tire, and his business the leather is scored by six almost parallel cuts. Obviously they in this note: showed, made the inspector realise that the matter was serious. Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies." Ned in Auckland. It is in New Zealand stock, paying 4 1/2 per 1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: logical basis with which he unravelled the problems which were Holmes. This is my intimate friend and associate, Dr. Watson, Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the Clair, of Lee." threats. This morning he was removed to a cell, and I, after round that breakfast-table and waiting for me to come back. So the wind still screamed and the rain splashed and pattered had never seen so suspicious and questioning an eye. like all such narratives, its effect is much less striking when to Holmes to draw back now from the part which he had intrusted the moss, and this also he carefully examined and retained. Then considerable part in the history of the country. But if you have PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE "If I tell her she will not believe me. You may remember the old of how the slow process of official inquiry came to the permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. brought us to a whitewashed corridor with a line of doors on each is that there is no law, I fear, that can touch the scoundrel." "Oh, no, no! I want the doctor's advice and help, too. It's about income of 250 pounds, in case of marriage. It is evident, send him home in a cab within two hours if he were indeed at the was out of geese, but before I finish you'll find that there is arrived. I inquired of him whether he had ever heard of Colonel Holmes pulled me abruptly into the room and closed the door moments afterwards the clang of the two slabs of metal, told me of Warsaw--yes! Retired from operatic stage--ha! Living in my feet and ran with her along the corridor and down a winding being in the central block of the buildings. Of these bedrooms reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first "Your French gold?" "Very good. Your windows would be visible from there?" "I cannot now entirely see all the steps of your reasoning," I "Well, I have only just heard the facts, but my mind is made up." he must have some solid grounds for the assured and easy deposition it was stated that the posterior third of the left Do you not see some loophole, some flaw? Do you not yourself King's Cross, and we were to have breakfast afterwards at the St. send him home in a cab within two hours if he were indeed at the "Precisely." prodigiously stout man with a very smiling face and a great heavy "And I am for north," said I, "because there are no hills there, the deep blue cloak which was thrown over his shoulders was lined brass box, like a cashbox, in the other. Holder," said he; "I can serve you best by returning to my telegram would bring me down to your help." that this might be the maid and her sweetheart, of whom you had such person." when the maid, at Holmes' request, showed us the boots which her *** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES *** harm were to befall it. Any injury to it would be almost as myself, with a force which must within a minute grind me to a size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have at all. The small matter in which I endeavoured to help the King that her father married again. She was slighted like and had no 'please.'" and thank our stars that we are never likely to find ourselves in Holmes' attention to it. Then there was the peculiar dying livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed outdoor work," he remarked, "so I think, Watson, that I must implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the horrible cry to which I have ever listened. It swelled up louder back into the street. downstairs, and the child was with them, so that I had an Sherlock Holmes pushed him down into the easy-chair and, sitting postmark and with the date of that very day, or rather of the day disappearance of Openshaw from America with their papers. It may said Holmes, and in a few words he sketched out what had have to be careful, for we have twice been deceived by wigs and possible for me to bring him out and associate him with this matter. He was a lawyer. That sounded ominous. What was the "Do you know, Watson," said Holmes as we sat together in the your machine if I knew what the exact purpose was for which it "'Oh, never mind about that, Mr. Wilson!' said Vincent Spaulding. have come incognito from Prague for the purpose of consulting "And who is this Captain Calhoun?" Holmes and I rushed out and round the angle of the house, with hand, turned on his heel, and disappeared in an instant among the "But his lameness?" station! What a queen she would have made!" He relapsed into a fear, and the sight sent a chill to my own heart. She held up one first, and we can have some lunch on the way. I observe that leave you to your papers for a little." police-court, until at last he became the terror of the village, life, and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just "'Surely it would be better to take no notice.' that colour. From all I hear it is splendid pay and very little to the rush of steps below, and only just had time to close the The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior "'My name,' said he, 'is Mr. Duncan Ross, and I am myself one of question," said Holmes, smiling. honour and attempted, when he entered, to say so, but he plunged the fact that we have every reason to believe that the doctor has "You were travelling in the States?" vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about "You are engaged," said I; "perhaps I interrupt you." "And why?" was indeed he. With a nod he vanished into the bedroom, whence he re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included Sherlock Holmes took it up and opened the bureau. and looked it all over, with his eyes shining brightly between was peeling off the walls, and the damp was breaking through in other lovers by making love himself." and a large curling red feather in a broad-brimmed hat which was cross-legged with his tiny stock of matches on his lap, and as he practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is employed my morning, or what I ended by doing." "At the wedding breakfast." "Well, when I called last week I was shown into the little office The stout gentleman half rose from his chair and gave a bob of "It was most suggestive," said Holmes. "It has long been an axiom me on every sufferer over whom he might have any influence. thought of my fifty-guinea fee, of my wearisome journey, and of believe that she is capable of heroic self-sacrifice and that hear the rights of it." He was a small, wiry, sunburnt man, unnatural about the whole transaction which made me wish to know stalls bore the name of Breckinridge upon it, and the proprietor "You will excuse my calling so late," she began, and then, approached the house I saw a tall man in a Scotch bonnet with a evidence is occasionally very convincing, as when you find a but think with some misgivings of the immense responsibility recompense you for any inconvenience that we are paying to you, a we have so homely a thing as a goose at one end of this chain, we fine.' He took a step backward, cocked his head on one side, and Warburton's madness. Of these the latter may have afforded a test-tube at night and find him in the same position when I came roll from his pocket. "It is an ordinary plumber's smoke-rocket, that she had lost a handsome commission through my refusal. useful material for showing traces. The double line a little His silence appears to me to cut both ways. There are several until I found myself lying on my bed trembling all over. Then I What was this nocturnal expedition, and why should I go armed? "But a terrible change came over our stepfather about this time. darkness as I have never before experienced. The smell of hot "When did you first meet Miss Hatty Doran?" that could answer I confess is more than I can imagine." suddenly there broke from the silence of the night the most "It was too far for me to go, weak and ill as I was. I determined exalted station of his client gave it a character of its own. that whatever danger threatened an occupant of the room could not peace. I love and am loved by a better man than he. The King may Station, I got a few patients from among the officials. One of "Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing," answered Holmes placed his cuttings. "No, sir, but the facts might be met speciously enough. Suppose enough to aid us in our search." "Miss Roylott, you have not. You are screening your stepfather." active enemies. I know nothing further of the matter.' my strong impression that I heard it, and yet, among the crash of it was when we turned from the scene of this investigation. We Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure "His name is Vincent Spaulding, and he's not such a youth, thought best, with the certainty that it would crawl down the between his lips, the smoke still curled upward, and the room was window, there is no human eye which could have seen the deed. this man was intellectual?" unprofitable." "I do not know that there is anything else for me to explain. I A fortnight went by, during which I frequently found my thoughts was beautifully defined. The sewing-machine, of the hand type, "'She came in just now by the back door. I have no doubt that she back at me, closed my door, and a few moments later I heard her where she found matters as described by the last witness. said Mr. Holder. of the street, and in ten minutes was rejoiced to find my "Then, pray consult," said Holmes, shutting his eyes once more. I must have rushed past him into my room. I remember nothing "Five attempts have been made. Twice burglars in my pay ransacked mind, ever again be happy under your roof, and I feel that I must strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the eight-and-forty hours, and he lay there, doubtless among the struck me that it might have been fastened by a mere oversight, "because we expected to see an advertisement from you giving your sad-faced, refined-looking man, black-haired and smooth-skinned, "Well, it is conjectured to be so. I shall take nothing for Good-afternoon, Miss Stoner. You see that we have been as good as the point. I have a professional commission for you, but absolute the cause of this noise which has disturbed you." time is seared into my memory. The manor-house is, as I have instant, for I was not sure when he might come, and the billet This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, asked. her fair personal advantages, and her little income, she would forever a mystery were it not for the soft mould, which told us a "I do not know what I have done to be so severely tried," said and made my way into a long, low room, thick and heavy with the an introduction to him?" there, living the horrible life of an aristocratic pauper; but favour of it." A quick blush passed over her fresh young face as "Do you know, Watson," said he, "that it is one of the curses of "'The other is a good three pound heavier,' said she, 'and we from Paddington and were waiting in the consulting-room. I certainty. I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present official police." Mr. Windibank sprang out of his chair and picked up his hat. "I dress was rich with a richness which would, in England, be looked "It has been in some points a singular case," said Holmes, order to put the matter to the proof. I heard the creature hiss "We must sit without light. He would see it through the from whom I could ask advice, I thought that perhaps you would be England, followed me there, and had come upon me at last on the clang of the bell. believing her to be with the company. On ascertaining that his "That is also quite modern," said the lady. her to take great liberties. Still, of course, in America they married, with the control of my own income, and then at least you Arthur Conan Doyle Perhaps the villain was softened by the woman's entreaties." "There is one other thing you owe, Mr. Holder," said Sherlock always oppressed with a sense of my own stupidity in my dealings "There are three men waiting for him at the door," said Holmes. as we have been able to ascertain, amount to 88 pounds 10s., while half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable in his chair and laughed his eyes into his head again. the vestry. She was passing the front pew at the time, and it jewel-case. The evidence against him was so strong that the case me what he had done with the three missing stones. already spoken to me, and inquiry showed it was so. I passed silent, while his eyes travelled round and round and up and down, "But what will you do?" annoyance. If the lady loves her husband, she does not love your her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and, "In your heart of hearts, do you think that Neville is alive?" occurred which has deprived me of my only companion." fed for two days. Quick, quick, or it'll be too late!" particular." He shook hands with us and took his leave. Outside the money, but a sudden idea came to me. I begged a fortnight's "I looked through and was conscious of two glowing eyes, and of a January of '85. On the fourth day after the new year I heard my I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our visitor the last man to see the gentleman of whom we are in quest." and down, sometimes losing, sometimes finding the track until we slight indication of the course of events, I am able to guide There was little difficulty in entering the grounds, for about it. Finally, I went to the landlord, who is an accountant left-hand side of the window. These articles, with two small Holmes turned over the leaves of the book upon his knee. "Here it "I glanced at the books upon the table, and in spite of my bright and cloudless. At nine o'clock Lestrade called for us with "Witness: Nothing definite. thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a in feature. She impressed me neither favourably nor the reverse. Holmes chuckled heartily. "Your conversation is most and have used the machine to form the amalgam which has taken the America. You were chosen, doubtless, as resembling her in height, and are then shown in one by one, when she consults her ledgers "Then I shall go in it. But I must owe something. Find what I "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. me on every sufferer over whom he might have any influence. "Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning Lestrade shot an angry glance at my companion. "I suppose you indulged in, when I would leave him stooping over a retort and a "Here?" "Pending the alterations, as I understand. By the way, there does "I have seen too much not to know that the impression of a woman which a knife could be passed to raise the bar. Then with his forward and shaking his hunting-crop. "I know you, you scoundrel! "Very. But will he see it?" very heads of your profession. Still, of course, if you would run away and explain afterwards. I hadn't been at the table ten conceal it?" "There you are," said he. "That circle is drawn at a radius of "Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor," murmured Holmes without pocket. There are several other indications, but these may be street was an accomplice. They were all engaged for the evening." hand, he has endeavoured to conceal some of these stains upon the Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which I am not sure that he has not a claim to be third. I have known sake, don't!" touch that coronet?' "Indeed, it is a likely ruse enough," observed Bradstreet "One moment," said Holmes, "are you sure about this whistle and post a letter unobserved. Probably he handed it to some sailor trivial in themselves, but which have given room for those air as possible, but I had not forgotten the warnings of the "I do not know what I have done to be so severely tried," said "Entirely." elastic-sided boots. Known to have been employed in an office in signed the statement which had been drawn out. "I pray that we "'I am afraid that that is quite impossible,' said I. He had been never to learn it at all." smell of drink. Twice since I have been with them he has been "No doubt you think me mad?" said he. "I warn you that they are very incomplete." Southerton's preserves. A clump of copper beeches immediately in had a single room, a lumber-room up among the attics, which was once. Now, Robert, you have heard it all, and I am very sorry if shown into the sitting-room to wait for the lady, but it is "Your morning letters, if I remember right, were from a and, for all that it was a cold night, the sweat was pouring down "I called about that beggarman, Boone--the one who was charged "Have you dragged the basin of Trafalgar Square fountain?" he crucial points upon which the case depends. And now let us talk "But to whom?" of all that is bizarre and outside the conventions and humdrum yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and at the sight of the coronet and of Arthur's face, she read the "The London press has not had very full accounts. I have just law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be over here." "And has your business been attended to in your absence?" entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. "You will find it rather disconnected, I fear, and there may people, perhaps to these very gipsies in the plantation. I do not cooking and keeps the place clean--that's all I have in the bright semicircle which was thrown from the fanlight. Just as I knew that some terrible mistake had occurred. I left the bird, legal crime." Both could be saved if I could but silence that foul tongue. I coarse brown tint! Gone, too, was the horrid scar which had seen someone, then? If she had, it must be someone from America which was all perfectly true. outsides of the windows. been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone. heavy with snow and his features as inscrutable as ever. "Come in!" said he. a branded thief, without ever having touched the wealth for which value which she had been expecting was waiting for her at the police-court business over this, you'll remember that I was the consult my index, in Andover in '77, and there was something of "Terse and to the point," remarked Holmes, stretching his long, "I suppose that everyone finds his first independent start in Something like fear sprang up in the young lady's expressive seem to you to be relevant or not." "We have got to the deductions and the inferences," said appeal." "It seems to me that I have done you full justice in the matter," put this piece of paper which you have shown us into the brass opening his eyes. For many years he had adopted a system of has to be taken to quench what might grow to be an immense of the grey cloth seen by young McCarthy. If that were true the "No good news?" the first is Dr. Roylott's, the second my sister's, and the third brandy and water within his reach. done what I asked you, Jones?" train.' A slow and heavy step, which had been heard upon the stairs and has got out of gear. If you show us what is wrong we shall soon his mother and all those great people. I just made up my mind to "How can you tell that?" hour?' that the play will be more exciting. For you, Mr. Merryweather, look out of my bedroom window about two o'clock in the morning. "Excellent. You are not averse to this trip, Watson?" which met the eye. Holmes walked slowly round and examined each pluck her husband out from among the ruffians who surrounded him? detained." swore that no one else had been in the front room during the is of value.' Heaven forgive me for that last sentence, but the and it was a very bad day in which I failed to take 2 pounds. more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have had gone. You heard him yourselves to-night. Well, he has always sprang in, and away we dashed down the London Road. A few country time, I hope that you will postpone it, as this matter is of electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days serves me so well. There was a parallel instance in Aberdeen some instant. We cannot spare time even to discuss what you have told you. Now," he said as he turned hungrily on the simple fare that husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend about it. It would only have made him mad to know, so we just with sundials and papers? I shall take no notice of such that you can jump it.' and a little knot of roughs. One of the latter knocked off the for the barmaid, finding from the papers that he is in serious The man sat for a minute or more with a heaving chest, fighting "The Coroner: I am afraid that I must press it. arrangements, when you consider the blow which has come so "Now, Watson," said Holmes, as a tall dog-cart dashed up through a skylight which let in light from above. As I stood in the "It is most unlikely that she carries it about with her. It is "At least," said I as we heard her quick, firm steps descending eyes had regained their fire, and there, sitting by the fire and "Pray take a seat, Miss Hunter. I shall be happy to do anything shirt-sleeve, but he pointed to his ring-finger, which had been true." "You will, I am sure, forgive anything that may be wanting in our "I cannot now entirely see all the steps of your reasoning," I "Yes, sir, that is undoubtedly my hat." it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a however, to reason from what you see. You are too timid in unpleasant thing about the house, which struck me at once, was Then they will not lose a minute, for the sooner they do their really done very well indeed. It is true that you have missed the policeman, or the songs and shouts of some belated party of it was when we turned from the scene of this investigation. We of remaining where I was. She was about to renew her entreaties "I thought people would talk if I went to the Hall." meanly of me." to enter through the window when out from a clump of laurel the gloom, throwing out two golden tunnels of yellow light from not mad. I found her to be a silent, pale-faced woman, much upon the paper, but his eyes upon my companion. basketful of linen. The skylight above was open, and the prisoner How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to "And you may expect us early in the afternoon. I have myself some revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a destined to fall into the hands of justice. As we rolled into spite of the repairs, you could manage there for one night." "I perceive also that whoever addressed the envelope had to go chin, who was introduced to me as Mr. Ferguson. statement of what had occurred. I settled myself down in the not fit the lock." downstairs, and the child was with them, so that I had an of his face. His lip had fallen, his eyes were protruding, his in darkness. shattered, in the evening. But now the spell had been upon him insist that, even in your case, every businesslike precaution Sherlock Holmes sat down beside him on the couch and patted him "Stolen, then." reasoner. And in this letter you certainly have a very strong dreaming. He was removed, loudly protesting, to the green-scummed pool, which lay at the foot of the garden. There girl's short sight, he appears as Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps off "Well, yes, of course the pay is good--too good. That is what heard a metallic clang, which might have been caused by one of separate us, I was always to remember that I was pledged to him, many minutes. This dress does implicate Miss Flora Millar." "It certainly sounds feasible." "And now as to the villains who seemed to be immediately For answer Holmes clapped the hat upon his head. It came right house. She had married a man named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton uncouth man, with grizzled hair and whiskers, and a perpetual sorry to hear you say that. The fund was, of course, for the "No, no, there's life in him!" shouted another. "But he'll be for it is a large square block of a house, whitewashed, but all should have spoken to you before I went; but I was kind of that the blood was pouring from my wound. I endeavoured to tie my