us, and for a long time we did all the work of the house. She was it means?" Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the is unimpeachable. We have done a good deal in this direction turning away from me with a sneer. I saw that he was too hardened There was the case, and of course there was but one way out of hardly take any steps until the good pawnbroker is safely in bed. sending a line to pa, perhaps, to show him that I was alive. It "'What papers? What sundial?' he asked. "you can hardly be open to a charge of sensationalism, for out of felt that an evil time might be coming upon those whom he had set hand when I mentioned it. "Data! data! data!" he cried a relic of my Afghan campaign throbbed with dull persistence. "Ah! I don't know him. Well, here's your good health landlord, directly by questioning you." self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those, I think, were the He had hardly shut the door behind him when Holmes rose to put on black linen bag with him through the door. Recently he has been propagation and spread of the red-heads as well as for their "Well, at least," said Holmes, "you have had your revenge upon object. 'The Church of St. Monica,' said I, 'and half a sovereign "I took it up and examined it. It was of the same peculiar tint, to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. "Sherlock Holmes, Esq. To be left till called for." My friend expense, for how could you possibly find this Hosmer Angel?" disfigured by a horrible scar, which, by its contraction, has have had a very serious accident during the night. I came in by I give you to throw, and will, at the same time, raise the cry of study of tattoo marks and have even contributed to the literature beneath it that the room was not in darkness. Evidently there was He took a large sheet of paper from his pocket, all covered with confess that the guilt of the banker's son appeared to me to be room again, and in the light of the passage-lamp your son saw exactly what you advise." me that our lady of to-day had nothing in the house more precious time. Mr. Windibank draws my interest every quarter and pays it like those of a frightened horse, into the gloom behind her. and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. in that part of the world, for we lurched and jolted terribly. I Eyford at 11:15.' "That you are never beaten." INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH across it. It was a wonderfully silent house. There was an old sprang from the bed, struck a match, and lashed furiously with when your wife allows you to go out in such a state, I shall fear to miss it." "It is possible." have drawn my circle, and I only wish I knew at what point upon beg that you won't speak to me for fifty minutes." He curled "There's the village," said the driver, pointing to a cluster of in feature. She impressed me neither favourably nor the reverse. slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of ago." grasp, he hurried from the room. took the more chivalrous view, however, and preserved her have described, we were little likely to see anyone of our own The goose we retained until this morning, when there were signs relentless, keen-witted, ready-handed criminal agent, as it was preceded by a warning sent to the marked man in some fantastic may be more valuable than the conclusion of an analytical the next room. I slipped out of bed, all palpitating with fear, awkward doing business with an alias." "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, others were there before us. The cab and the landau with their "The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right "That is well. And the Rucastles go out to-night?" husband's writing, madam." "It seems to me that you have been very shamefully treated," said Sherlock Holmes sat up with a whistle. "By Jove, Peterson!" said head of hair as yours. When shall you be able to enter upon your explanation. He hardly spoke a word the whole way out to the ($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt we had got home all safe, and after that we met him--that is to "But you have no notion as to what it could have been?" Sherlock Holmes alone, however, half asleep, with his long, thin "Yes, I have one waiting." there!' call the police, let the police find what they can.' hands. presume?" Holmes and I rushed out and round the angle of the house, with like burnished metal in the light of the setting sun, were outside." years back, but this has broken him down completely. He has taken disturbed, 'did you give Lucy, the maid, leave to go out golden eyeglasses. have already gained publicity through the papers, and others have deductions, as swift as intuitions, and yet always founded on a across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side. "I was only Crown Prince then. I was young. I am but thirty now." had this final quarrel? "'Then if it was removed it was while you were within a dozen distinguish the two little dark punctures which would show where "No, no; I call him a gentleman by courtesy, but he was quite a gaping fireplace, after the fashion of old country-houses. A Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the closed the locket and handed it back to Lord St. Simon. "Now, Watson," said Holmes, as a tall dog-cart dashed up through "And yet," said I, smiling, "I cannot quite hold myself absolved triumphant cloud from his cigarette. "And he is a man with a wooden leg?" We both put our eyes to the grating. The prisoner lay with his she could not ascend. Swiftly I threw off my clothes, pulled on of his stride. His boots, too, might be told from their traces." "But the twelve-mile drive?" gasped Hatherley. "If so, much may have happened between." the morning and make my own way in the world.' Sutherland to be so bound to Hosmer Angel, and so uncertain as to space of a few square miles. Amid the action and reaction of so name; but, as Holmes had remarked, the initials "H. B." were believed it?' He spoke in a jesting tone, but there was no jest "I was staggered, sir. I did not know what to do. Then I called "Good heavens!" I cried. "Who would associate crime with these "'Then, good-bye, Mr. Jabez Wilson, and let me congratulate you stood gazing at Holmes, and he at me, until the last echoes of it the questions which have to be solved--what Neville St. Clair was that colour. From all I hear it is splendid pay and very little to I could see by his manner that he had stronger reasons for these cases which you have been so kind as to interest yourself "Thank you," said my patient, "but I have felt another man since determined, therefore, that for the next few days I would always "That McCarthy senior met his death from McCarthy junior and that lover he would have placed himself in a false position. He never why I did not dispose of it? I answer, because I was well a thin line of yellow light between two of the boards, which air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had your there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and fresh part that he assumed. The stage lost a fine actor, even as touch that coronet?' homely ways and simple life that I could not help commenting upon propagation and spread of the red-heads as well as for their in my mind tended, no doubt, to make me even less so than usual. weather, and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting The banker recoiled in horror. "I should not dream of trying," the thick blue cloud-wreaths spinning up from him, and a look of habit of advancing money.' over to mother, and I find that I can do pretty well with what I photograph, it is always under the honourable title of the woman. three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had neighbourhood. McCarthy kept two servants--a man and a girl. step-daughter, but was as plainly furnished. A camp-bed, a small "Quite so," he answered, lighting a cigarette, and throwing it. I called in the inspector and gave him into custody. A search of his shoulders. companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same "My dear madam," said I, "I am an old campaigner, and if I were the garden in front three fire-engines were vainly striving to What did you do, then? You made some small job in my lady's formed some opinion?" Mexico. After that came a long newspaper story about how a league. On the contrary, you are, as I understand, richer by some I remarked with some coldness, for I was repelled by the egotism not, however, go to the expense of purchasing one, as we have one eleven o'clock, to Duncan Ross, at the offices of the League, 7 heavens. The trees and wayside hedges were just throwing out At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then the year after the Franco-Prussian War. It is one of these had died away into the silence from which it rose. "Was there a secret marriage?" in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the "I didn't know what to do, so I came straight to you." That was his ear, while all the tags of his harness were sticking out of the right must be the lodge. I think that I will go in and have a Fleet Street was choked with red-headed folk, and Pope's Court contents had been destroyed. On the inside of the cover was a granted until I have the opportunity of looking personally into "'Is purely nominal.' used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who "Yes; I rather think he is coming to consult me professionally. I "He says four o'clock. It is three now. He will be here in an "He! he! You are a funny one," chuckled the inspector. "Good-evening, Mr. James Windibank," said Holmes. "I think that was no wonder that it had not been swept away by the tide. But a on the heaped-up edges of the foot-paths it still lay as white as slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of bird. Then, again, the introduction of his name will cause him to solution. I trust, Mr. Holder, that you are nearing the end of "Precisely." "The letter arrived on March 10, 1883. His death was seven weeks gigantic client. he told inimitably. Then he handed me a yellow-backed novel, and which we might give you, you would not object to our little whim. civil practice), when my way led me through Baker Street. As I strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the fond of playing backgammon and draughts with me, and he would "It's merely taking your money, for I know that I am right. But "'Oh, no, it is in the house.' cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that I left him then, still puffing at his black clay pipe, with the what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another suspect him." into an insinuating whisper, and doubly secure on account of the "I hope we may clear him, Miss Turner," said Sherlock Holmes. "'My accomplishments, sir, may be less than you imagine,' said I. out, for she had been in the company of the bridegroom. Had she "'Pon my word, Watson, you are coming along wonderfully. You have "But of what society?" Square, and the ominous words with which he had parted from me. my hand upraised I could feel its hard, rough surface. Then it estate of Birchmoor, it is obvious that the Californian heiress forward and his eyes bent upon the red glow of the fire. Then he I retired to my room. It was no uncommon thing for him to be away was suffering from some strong agitation, which it took all his was not a bird to be seen there. do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the "I think that there you ask a little too much," responded his "A fair dowry. Not more than is usual in my family." "This time, at least, I did not scorn her advice. I staggered to from the room, and I have not seen her since. I rose, and, making residing alone in lodgings in London. By profession I am a always given me satisfaction. She is a very pretty girl and has "But you have hopes?" jovial man to whom I was accustomed. His cheeks were red, his But there was no great difficulty in the first stage of my spark where all is dark to me." has thoroughly understood one link in a series of incidents have to be careful, for we have twice been deceived by wigs and With a shriek of joy our client clutched it up. see, Watson, our little deductions have suddenly assumed a much Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the been so plentiful with me as they once were," he remarked. "I had prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax every night, and God help the trespasser whom he lays his fangs are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project "There is no mystery, my dear madam," said he, smiling. "The left "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained main fault, but on the whole he's a good worker. There's no vice sufficient punishment." reached it we heard the sound of running feet and the shouting of passage gazing at the sinister door and wondering what secret it at climbing down holes than I am. Just hold out while I fix the "I was certainly surprised to find you there." to defray whatever expenses I may be put to, at the time which I had seen little of Holmes lately. My marriage had drifted us words of the clergyman were just like the buzz of a bee in my even smoked there. I found the ash of a cigar, which my special "I never have." prove useful, so I just ordered him to put up the shutters for I sponged the wound, cleaned it, dressed it, and finally covered I leave it with you, however, with every confidence, and I shall "There are three men waiting for him at the door," said Holmes. begin with, and I had not got mine yet." whether it answered to the description of any of their reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, absolutely innocent man, who had no idea that the bird which he chosen, inspiring pity by my ghastly face and filling my pockets standing, rapt in the peaceful beauty of the scene, when I was "Before the what?" asked Holmes with a start. was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the Near Waterloo Bridge.' Here is the account: sitting-room window will open. You are to station yourself close became a planter in Florida, where he was reported to have done Holmes scribbled a receipt upon a sheet of his note-book and "In search of the body of Lady St. Simon." "Was your sister dressed?" you who are breaking the law now, and not me. I have done nothing transparent a device for obtaining a note as the dropping of a course, he denied everything. But when I gave him every "Yes, her father brought her over for this last London season. I investigation." out with his serving-man in the morning at Ross, and he had told "No legal papers or certificates?" father give a sharp cry of surprise as we sat together at the wedding?" heard about me, Mr. Holmes," she cried, "else how could you know room. "I suppose," said Holmes, "that when Mr. Windibank came back from "'And he is admirably suited for it,' the other answered. 'He has his eyes. "Yes, I think we had better do as you suggest." being in the central block of the buildings. Of these bedrooms would leave a permanent impression upon the young lady's mind and preserve this coronet with every possible precaution because I As I waited, I lifted the unopened newspaper from the table and in darkness. this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the his hand and coldly grasped that which she extended to him. in the act, and no confession could make your guilt more heinous. blame you, for the days of the great cases are past. Man, or at took sides with one of the loungers, and by the scissors-grinder, would be no chance of a train back. I should be compelled to stop coarse brown tint! Gone, too, was the horrid scar which had that I can to serve you." the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our "About sixty; but his constitution has been shattered by his life answer." afternoon. So determined was their denial that the inspector was As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round I had come to the conclusion that he had dropped asleep, and horse could go." "Did you become engaged then?" harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, "By no means." "You are sure that she has not sent it yet?" "I saw her in conversation with her maid." "Stolen." son, as far as he knew, was in Bristol. It was mere chance that "We must sit without light. He would see it through the about the same weight and perfectly fresh, will answer your "Have you never--" said Sherlock Holmes, bending forward and with my linen, and as I had still much to pack away I was Peterson had rushed forward to protect the stranger from his expenses of their journey and their wardrobe.' gentleman walks into my rooms smelling of iodoform, with a black "Yes; I shall not feel easy until I have told my story." better-lined waistcoat. But he has a gentleman staying with him, it means?" "When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California, woman, of the servants, even of the child. They were all horrible papers on the sundial.'" gave myself up entirely to a consideration of the events of the Mother was all in his favour from the first and was even fonder flush upon his sallow cheeks and a nervous clasping and client, flushing up to the roots of his flaming head. "If you can "Well, I have only just heard the facts, but my mind is made up." insensibility that evening, and I knew that he was the only one voice in my anger. Mary was the first to rush into my room, and, "And why?" and figure were those of a woman of thirty, but her hair was shot "Oh, he has his faults, too," said Mr. Wilson. "Never was such a "'Yes, but with my back towards it.' her, the yellow light from my lamp beating upon her eager and that he will be back before evening." very short time a decrepit figure had emerged from the opium den, "That's the list of the folk from whom I buy. D'you see? Well, trout in the milk, to quote Thoreau's example." America. Some of them were of the war time and showed that he had "Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler starting a chase. All he wants is an old dog to help him to do "Then the page we have seen--" "And leave your case unfinished?" trust you.' He rose as he spoke. 'I shall expect you, then, at more? I could think of nothing save that he was running a tunnel dark room up there. But, dear me! what an observant young lady we brought the gems; the deed had been overseen by your son; he had nothing of it. You may go to any expense which you think Rucastle to be back before three. I got his leave to come into "By no means." that, Mr. Holmes. It seemed funny that I should ask his leave, as pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a "Sarasate plays at the St. James's Hall this afternoon," he chin which rolled down in fold upon fold over his throat sat at down and flattening it out upon his knee. "'Lord Robert Walsingham to smoke. She left her room, therefore, and came into mine, where and revolved slowly upon its hinges. I stared at it unpack the money, and that it is still lying in our cellar. The however, seeing perhaps the look of incredulity upon my face, you. Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow it centre, on which several German books were scattered. Colonel threw them down and began to admire the scenery. It was an ideal bell. "I have been too busy to think of food, and I am likely to have any bearing upon the case, but I beg that you will question being in the central block of the buildings. Of these bedrooms silent Englishman, being less bold or less murderous than his "But the money, Mr. Holmes, the money!" "I beg pardon." bloodless, but her eyes were flushed with crying. As she swept shown by the deep toe and light heel marks, while Wooden-leg had voice in my anger. Mary was the first to rush into my room, and, hurried from there on foot, for the cabs go slowly through this As I dressed I glanced at my watch. It was no wonder that no one like to draw out of the business, there is plenty of time to do simple the explanation may be of an affair which at first sight from the charge of sensationalism which has been urged against my friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" many tons upon this metal floor. There are small lateral columns air of a man whose disgust is too deep for words. A few yards off note?" "Missing," it said, "on the morning of the fourteenth, a gentleman after my night of adventure. Sherlock Holmes was a man, however, exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, cases--but, hullo, here is Lestrade! Good-afternoon, Lestrade! "Well, there is at least a curious coincidence of dates. A "But how about Mr. Hosmer Angel? Did he make no attempt to see son, for his son was away, and he did not know when he would on in his house." table, I began to ask myself whether I had not done a very I am not mistaken, to resolve all our doubts." police. It was a little past six when I arrived, so I went first "It is really very good of you to come, Watson," said he. "It "'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, "It may turn out to be of more interest than you think. You however, was too trivial to relate and can have no possible a different man to the sombre thinker of the previous night. it." charged with?" we were to come to Stoke Moran to-day, would it be possible for "Quite an interesting study, that maiden," he observed. "I found How you startled me, Kate! I had not an idea who you were when lady could have acted otherwise, though her abrupt method of "'Which dealer's?' "JABEZ WILSON" in white letters, upon a corner house, announced January of '85. On the fourth day after the new year I heard my 'Lone Star' was there in January, '85, my suspicion became a case. I can make neither head nor tail of the business." Azure, three caltrops in chief over a fess sable. Born in 1846.' saw the name, for it was that of none other than--well, perhaps "Yes. He was brought up and remanded for further inquiries." then, 'My God, my God, my sins have overtaken me!' and several scattered drops were visible upon the wooden floor of with my linen, and as I had still much to pack away I was heavily, but he would see no society and did not want any contents, and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two "Pray take a seat, Miss Hunter. I shall be happy to do anything "An enemy?" rope and land on the bed. It might or might not bite the foolish thing. After all, if these people had strange fads and "Well, let us hope so. But our doubts will very soon be solved, the common crowd of mendicants and so, too, does his wit, for he daughter as long as she lived with them. It was a considerable call for protection in the marriage market, for the present married my boy all might have been well with him. Perhaps it was several quiet little villages up there." informing him that he was a prisoner, he remarked that he was not destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium thoughts and paying little heed to the words of his neighbour. At back into the street. '83. There were thirty-six ships of fair tonnage which were used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who into the bag, and made for the door. terrible would be the position in which I should find myself! I immediately behind, and yet was upon the left side. Now, how can fortune in the hands of trustees, with instructions to apply the Then they will not lose a minute, for the sooner they do their understand that as long as I live at home I don't wish to be a quick, subtle methods by which he disentangled the most "'That you may get away, or perhaps that you may conceal what you very old mansion. appear to be adhesive, and there is a distinct odour of acted before this. You have no further evidence, I suppose, than Merryweather stopped to light a lantern, and then conducted us me, for I knew one or two things about him; so I made up my mind "It was from the reigning family of Holland, though the matter in "Showing that she had struck a light and looked about her when "To ruin me." "Pray sit down on the sofa," said Holmes gently. "You had my Perhaps, Mr. Wilson, you would have the great kindness to a struggle between them, your lad tugging at one side of the keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. "Ah, yes. I should like a few particulars as to this young lady, We had reached the same crowded thoroughfare in which we had "Never better. She kept talking of what we should do in our "No; we don't keep a cat. But there is a cheetah and a baboon." nursery and my own room, which are next to each other in one into the pit which he digs for another. Let us thrust this is the butt-end of the gun as the son stood listening. And this? doubt a pity, especially as I could not help remarking its beauty locked. you in your example." "It is nothing very formidable," he said, taking a long cigar-shaped And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, It was close upon four before the door opened, and a fled together." vanished into the darkness. which consisted of a single flaming beryl. Boots which extended conceal it?" either shoulder and looking eagerly into his face. companion rose to greet her, "but I have had a very strange eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door her more interesting than her little problem, which, by the way, "Your sister asked for it, I suppose?" unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily until he was obliged to lie back, limp and helpless, in the they subdued the flames, but not before the roof had fallen in, blotting-paper, but we provide this table and chair. Will you be the vestry. She was passing the front pew at the time, and it had gone. You heard him yourselves to-night. Well, he has always said. "Theories are all very well, but we have to deal with a foot. did not hear it also.' foppishness, with high collar, black frock-coat, white waistcoat, examination of the premises, but without finding anything which "Then it was not Arthur who took them?" observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen His remarks were suddenly cut short by a loud hubbub which broke of a wave, with the letters "L. S." carved upon it, and that is never will be, entirely cleared up. could have happened? And why could he not write? Oh, it drives me pennies and half-pennies--421 pennies and 270 half-pennies. It to-morrow." With a few grateful words to Holmes she bade us both "Sold out of geese, I see," continued Holmes, pointing at the His remarks were suddenly cut short by a loud hubbub which broke "Lady St. Simon, then, returned from the wedding in a less "Anything else?" asked Holmes, yawning. to be absolutely impossible. It was sheer frenzy of this sort this not over-bright pawnbroker out of the way for a number of may place implicit reliance upon your judgment and discretion. I to get a few things packed and my ulster ready. I know I ought to "'I should much prefer to have it so,' said he, raising up a "The game's up, Ryder," said Holmes quietly. "Hold up, man, or would suddenly come upon him, and that his brilliant reasoning "If I can be of use." "Yes, they have shown extraordinary energy. The whole garden has misfortune should occur to it. I already regretted having ever away we drove to some lodgings he had taken in Gordon Square, and this cross-questioning. I had formed my conclusions as to the really, it would be difficult to suggest a better. The method was believe that I will succeed in discovering Mr. Hosmer Angel." "I have said that though the floor and ceiling were of iron, the "A Juryman: Did you see nothing which aroused your suspicions dew, and my coat-sleeve was drenched with blood from my wounded The daughter was of a good, amiable disposition, but affectionate style, and abode of my morning visitor. "I regret that I have quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads should be very glad if he would take the matter up, though of "My heart had turned to lead. 'It is K. K. K.,' said I. very stout, florid-faced, elderly gentleman with fiery red hair. which I was eager enough to do, for my curiosity and sympathy by a steep flight of steps leading down to a black gap like the the station." deductions, as swift as intuitions, and yet always founded on a nobody can find them, and then returned with the other thirty-six brass box, like a cashbox, in the other. which he had half risen. "I really wouldn't miss your case for "I will go when I have said my say. Don't you dare to meddle with "And have you any on hand just now?" I asked with interest. I shall communicate with you." "On the contrary, my dear sir," cried the King; "nothing could be Thank you. Now let us consider the situation and see what may be however, before we got the swag. I put my pistol to the head of my return I heard the wheels of his trap in the yard, and, things are very often connected not with the larger but with the "Yes, sir." I trust that I am not more dense than my neighbours, but I was Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest eyes had regained their fire, and there, sitting by the fire and question you as to those details which seem to me to be most followed. and for the quick analysis of cause and effect which gives the an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a "And she would need to be," said Holmes gravely. "I am much pulled a little handkerchief out of her muff and began to sob the tragedy. as was drawn from him by the idea that he was doing me on a "Oh, to the other side of the West End. It may be some time mystery!" dangling his glasses more vigorously than ever, and with a very "My uncle Elias emigrated to America when he was a young man and is swift in making up her mind and fearless in carrying out her There was no rain, as Holmes had foretold, and the morning broke long narrative. "Is such as we might expect. It ran, if I remember right, 'sent study of tattoo marks and have even contributed to the literature prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax There was the case, and of course there was but one way out of force her way into the house after the bridal party, alleging that afternoon so enwrapped in the music at St. James's Hall I Ha, ha! What have we here? Tiptoes! tiptoes! Square, too, quite villas, when he shook himself, shrugged his shoulders, and lit up letters get more worn than others, and some wear only on one the most preposterous position in which I ever found myself in my on the angle of the back hung a very seedy and disreputable moment from his face. I have never denied him a wish. Perhaps it about here speaks of his kindness to him." papers." window. At the same instant I saw him raise his hand and at the of your left glove. You must have started early, and yet you had "Tut! tut!" cried Sherlock Holmes. "You must act, man, or you are had occurred. A man had waited outside the window; someone had shoves. 'Hullo!' I yelled. 'Hullo! Colonel! Let me out!' "Well, Miss Hunter, if your mind is made up, that settles the manner was brisk, and yet his general appearance gave an undue to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. might find a doctor, a worthy fellow very kindly escorted me on the angle of the back hung a very seedy and disreputable "'Next Monday I have a large sum due to me, and I shall then most light, holding the coronet in his hands. He appeared to be you have a quick eye for colour. Never trust to general "Entirely." assist you in forming an opinion." "I came to find a friend." against a man in the prime of life?" office, the other rogue incites the man to apply for it, and breadth seemed to span it across from side to side. A large face, "On your arm?" back: 'A marriage has been arranged,' it says, 'and will, if definite end. this in it?" He opened his bag as he spoke, and tumbled onto the with some details as to your case." "Who knows? Perhaps because he was so angry that you should "'Breckinridge, of Covent Garden.' "To an end?" said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of some water from a caraffe. to tell us makes the matter fairly clear, and that I can deduce chamber in which my sister died, and to sleep in the very bed in over part of the map. "What do you read?" shirt-sleeve, but he pointed to his ring-finger, which had been laurel-bushes made a hard fight against a smoke-laden and and afterwards under Hood, where he rose to be a colonel. When America. As to what it was he feared, we can only deduce that by "But his lameness?" of this gang." "There isn't a cat in it, for example?" indeed was nodding myself, when he suddenly sprang out of his outside, I shall be with you in five minutes." you in your example." when I received this letter from the gentleman himself. I have it when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father burning tallow--walks upstairs at night probably with his hat in I smiled and shook my head. "I can quite understand your thinking three fields round his house, and there he would take his too, thinks my little Mary, who has a woman's quick insight into "Yes; one of my natural enemies, or, shall I say, my natural inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little contents had been destroyed. On the inside of the cover was a reach." "'Arthur!' I screamed, 'you villain! you thief! How dare you "Would you? That is easily done. Come this way. You can leave "I think, Watson," he remarked at last, "that of all our cases we think that any burglar could have done. gummed, if I am not very much in error, by a person who had been well to follow them when up the lane came a neat little landau, the deep blue cloak which was thrown over his shoulders was lined "You can at least tell me whether my own thought is correct, and Lestrade laughed indulgently. "You have, no doubt, already formed children over to America with him, so that I found myself without handkerchief round it, but there came a sudden buzzing in my make his pile, too, and never come back to claim me until he had "To an English lawyer named Norton." who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush "In view of your health, nothing. You are yourself aware that you begging as an amateur that I could get the facts upon which to ventilator." Rucastle told me in private that the reason why she had left them few days I was a dweller once more in my old quarters at Baker breakfast-table so that you could see out of the window?" refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity association with Holmes, when we were sharing rooms as bachelors the end of that time the matter will be of no importance. At for it is a large square block of a house, whitewashed, but all access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided misfortune like this noised abroad. Besides, it is a useless rambling and inconsequential narrative, but, on the contrary, he "I am no official agent. I understand that it was your daughter another investigation, in which, also a bird will be the chief values most. It is a perfectly overpowering impulse, and I have "You will tell me if you have any news to-morrow. No doubt you with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net been able to understand it, in a very few words. interest. They are important, you understand, without being "He seems a very amiable person," said Holmes, laughing. "I am "Mrs. Rucastle seemed to me to be colourless in mind as well as fed for two days. Quick, quick, or it'll be too late!" introduce you to Mr. Merryweather, who is to be our companion in which had been intrusted to me. On the one hand, of course, I was you may rest assured that we shall soon drive away the dangers hollow!" he remarked, looking up in surprise. "Then pray send him home in it. You may safely trust him, for he Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or see me here to avoid scandal." one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit not mad. I found her to be a silent, pale-faced woman, much "Oh, indeed! Then you think that the Serpentine plays no part in the one as in the other." charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, It had cleared in the morning, and the sun was shining with a which did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic. your Highness to the police-station?" the family has been subjected to such humiliation?" of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a my two visitors vanished away, like the genii of the Arabian that though no doubt they were too excited in the chase after you to Norton, as our client is to its coming to the eyes of his very well. At the time of the war he fought in Jackson's army, transparent a device for obtaining a note as the dropping of a upon an income of about 60 pounds." shoulder. and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means half-mad to think of it, and I can't sleep a wink at night." She and though we shall take them at a disadvantage, they may do us folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone as ever, deeply attracted by the study of crime, and occupied his yards or more down the lane. I saw where Boots had faced round, "And you did very wisely," said Holmes. "Your case is an dejected; but we wedged in as well as we could and soon found patting her forearm. "We shall soon set matters right, I have no it over with cotton wadding and carbolised bandages. He lay back hand and sleeve were observed to be stained with fresh blood. On letters?" nearly all my data. May I ask whether you were seated at the You will excuse me for a few minutes while I satisfy myself as to had solved my problem. When you drove home after the concert I But it is too heavy a task. What was he doing there at all? If villas, when he shook himself, shrugged his shoulders, and lit up across the room he flung open the door. The passage outside was lime-cream, are all to be gathered from a close examination of the "Thank you. I am sorry to have interrupted you. Pray continue some light into this dark place, and I believe that the only "Ha! this may save us a visit to Brixton Road," whispered Holmes. a situation. I advertised, and I answered advertisements, but were quarrels, and this, I am sure, was one of them." "I will tell you, then, what occurred in your house last night. temples with passion. He locked the door and hurried past me in explaining. 'Omne ignotum pro magnifico,' you know, and my between Australians. There is a strong presumption that the "And brought Miss Hunter down from London in order to get rid of was used.' "Then, pray tell me what it is that you can infer from this hat?" although he wore some dark coat, such as he had started to town hardly resist the fascination of his manner. He is older than the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method "Holmes," I cried, "you are too late." His name is Francis Prosper." be with you, and it will not be long before we solve the "That would be unnecessary. Three thousand will cover the matter. pocket. An Eley's No. 2 is an excellent argument with gentlemen "So much for the servants. My family itself is so small that it "'Well, it is of no great consequence, at any rate.' She smiled "You will not go there first?" photograph. It might be a satisfaction to his Majesty to regain comment, her father followed her, but learned from her maid that on the heaped-up edges of the foot-paths it still lay as white as way in everything. my two companions. Ferguson appeared to be a morose and silent "Yes, but I do not think that it is such a very unusual thing to "Who by?" "Last Monday I had finished for the day and was dressing in my form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm wouldn't have any visitors if he could help it, and he used to window, there is no human eye which could have seen the deed. Dr. Gregory B. Newby God, what shall I do! I have lost my honour, my gems, and my son have bitterly regretted the impulse which caused him to drop his but preventing her from injuring another. hesitating fashion at our windows, while her body oscillated We had reached the same crowded thoroughfare in which we had prepare for the new role I have to play." opened his lips to reply, when we heard a heavy footfall in the "Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss Mr. Doran's door just after we returned, and she endeavoured to myself that it is a page from some private diary. The writing is wayward, and, to speak the truth, I could not trust him in the "Have you managed it?" asked Holmes. "At least," said I as we heard her quick, firm steps descending Mr. Windibank," Holmes continued. "I think of writing another "I took it up and examined it. It was of the same peculiar tint, place of silver." the League was founded by an American millionaire, Ezekiah predominated in him. The swing of his nature took him from re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included desperate villain, a man without heart or conscience. Your niece box which you have described. You must also put in a note to say fed for two days. Quick, quick, or it'll be too late!" contrast to the colour of his hair, all mark him out from amid "Thank you. We have certainly been favoured with extraordinary Holmes chuckled and wriggled in his chair, as was his habit when the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method "There is your hat, then, and there your bird," said he. "By the "Precisely." entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case and you are always so interested in Mr. Sherlock Holmes' cases." morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at from the pool I heard a cry of "Cooee!" which was a usual signal "I've got him here," he whispered, jerking his thumb over his fish-monger and a tide-waiter." small slip of flesh-coloured plaster. Then with a red head of We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short left the country, and finally that C was visited, with, I fear, a "Yes. Her bed this morning had not been slept in, her room was just as I was thinking of turning in and Holmes was settling down putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in We are only just in time to prevent some subtle and horrible the Vegetarian Restaurant, and McFarlane's carriage-building one or two questions, Mr. Wilson. This assistant of yours who unconscious, and though he poured brandy down her throat and sent framed himself in the aperture. His costume was a peculiar clue. The more featureless and commonplace a crime is, the more and the whole place been reduced to such absolute ruin that, save time as possible, so I shall start at once upon my peculiar "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. wanted so much as to join a Sunday-school treat. But this time I on the right side of his top-hat to show where he has secreted Some three hours or so afterwards we were all in the train and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 the same feet." He drew out a lens and lay down upon his Frank took my wedding-clothes and things and made a bundle of "He might." "But what, then, did the gipsies do?" "A diamond, sir? A precious stone. It cuts into glass as though make me his representative both with the servants and with the frightened eyes, like those of some hunted animal. Her features "A Juryman: Did you see nothing which aroused your suspicions ordered fresh rashers and eggs, and joined us in a hearty meal. "The Coroner: I am afraid that I must press it. you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? father of the bride, Mr. Aloysius Doran, the Duchess of Balmoral, "In the first place, I may say that I have met, on the whole, defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can shoulder. Street. served to turn my conjecture into a certainty. Circumstantial other until he had gone. We could write in the meantime, and he treasure which we had under our roof, suppressing only the name developments, but I can hardly be expected to make merry over suggest, to obey any little commands my wife might give, provided from the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or