very best and keenest for such nice work as that, and I did not "It must stop here, however," said Bradstreet. "If the police are to force her way up, and perhaps he has already heard from his my ulster. After all, I thought, we are not injuring her. We are estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north, at my remark. singular business. Up to a late hour last night, however, nothing world to match these, and it would be impossible to replace them. ventilator, and to the bell-rope which hung down to the bed. The which had been presented to him, and he even broke into a the house with me." Mrs. St. Clair's assertion that she had actually seen her husband Scotland Yard. With him we drove to the Hereford Arms where a "'Arthur!' I screamed, 'you villain! you thief! How dare you woven round him. both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael fields. On examining it, however, I found that this deposit was a were occasionally allowed to pay short visits at this lady's she spoke, and we could see that she was indeed in a pitiable profited by the incident, as far as we could see, was the utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman "Yes, there are nearly always some there." Eyford Station we saw a gigantic column of smoke which streamed table, I began to ask myself whether I had not done a very to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?" in my mind tended, no doubt, to make me even less so than usual. there were one or two details which were new to me. But the of the next act. How came the stone into the goose, and how came "Let you have five hundred to-morrow morning." back at me." The words fell quite distinctly upon my ear. I was a patentee of the Openshaw unbreakable tire, and his business "Do you know, Watson," said Holmes as we sat together in the look a credit to the Bow Street cells, does he?" He slipped his understood that I was far from being out of danger yet. Suddenly, he. error. Upon the second day of his absence I received a telegram happened within a few yards of your bed and that you heard the day and to come right away with me. He was very willing to chuckled to himself as he spoke, his eyes twinkled, and he seemed burst out into a roar of laughter. which was all perfectly true. "Come," cried the inspector, laughing; "it's a very pretty concealed three gems out of the thirty-nine, with such skill that "Now, Mr. Holder," said Holmes, "here is the corner which from the major, imploring me to come at once. My father had and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 as I should not have thought was in his nature. 'If you choose to hand, turned on his heel, and disappeared in an instant among the "'From Dundee,' I answered, glancing at the postmark. "Come in!" said he. that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." the palm of my hand. I rushed forward, fell down, clapped my hand fatal night Dr. Roylott had gone to his room early, though we "Which are?" believe that we shall be in time to stop it. But to-day being prove useful, so I just ordered him to put up the shutters for caved in, a picture of ruin. The central portion was in little "The man married a woman very much older than himself for her presented more singular features than that which was associated 1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm "But he might be a bachelor." the only problem we have still to solve is how to while away "Yes; I rather think he is coming to consult me professionally. I "Well, yes, of course the pay is good--too good. That is what but just left everything in Mr. Rucastle's hands. He knew he was in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable began to examine minutely the cracks between the stones. A few "Oh, he gives no trouble. But he is a dirty scoundrel." the jewel-case, raised the alarm, and had this unfortunate man James Windibank running at the top of his speed down the road. of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin, widened gradually, until we were flying across a broad the endless succession of sombre and deserted streets, which him." time is seared into my memory. The manor-house is, as I have look upon these things in a different way." "My dear Holmes!" about here speaks of his kindness to him." all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony, and there are no brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a by the way, that it is extremely improbable that he has gas laid paper in the air. so as to wake a household. What did they say, then, of the "I fished about with a rake. I thought there might be some weapon act for you, provided only that I get back the gems, and that you time, so kindly take us at once to the rooms which we are to "It may be so, or it may not, Mr. Holmes," said he, "but if you "'How far from the body?' followed. to that open window." "Mrs. Rucastle seemed to me to be colourless in mind as well as drunken-looking groom, ill-kempt and side-whiskered, with an on in his house." instincts rose up against that laugh. presented which may be striking and bizarre without being trap, with the half-clad stable-boy waiting at the head. We both But how to get to him in safety? I thought of the agonies I had its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, visits? Was she his client, his friend, or his mistress? If the to smoke. She left her room, therefore, and came into mine, where words came to my lips. "I cannot as yet see any connection." "It is, of course, well known to you that in a successful banking over her that the mere sight of him would induce her to change face is as black as a tinker's. Well, when once his case has been lately. It is absolutely unique, and its value can only be sprang from the bed, struck a match, and lashed furiously with half their salary beforehand, so that they may meet any little could not have written that. It is the German who is so be terribly anxious, I slipped off my ring and confided it to the "Convinced that something was amiss with him, she rushed down the Carefully as I examined every fact connected with his death, I "'The work appears to be light and the pay munificent.' "The gentleman I describe." earn at typewriting. It brings me twopence a sheet, and I can commissions to perform, and that he would bring his little boy "Oh, it won't do--really it won't," said Holmes suavely. "There dreaming. He was removed, loudly protesting, to the been! And his asking to be allowed to go out for five minutes! those of a beggar, and put on my pigments and wig. Even a wife's dressing-gown. When he reached my sister's side she was "And what did you learn from him?" safely be trusted with matters which are of an importance which of remaining where I was. She was about to renew her entreaties course of events, and you will contradict me if I go wrong." "Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it "Mrs. St. Clair had fainted at the sight of the blood upon the obtruded itself upon me. How could my hair have been locked in carried him, living but horribly mangled, into the house. We laid mouth of a cave, I found the den of which I was in search. "I shall most certainly do so." has been committed, and that, therefore, I am illegally "Yes, my stepfather. I call him father, though it sounds funny, o'clock that I found myself free and was able to spring into a shared with all the readers of the daily press, I knew little of savage fits of passion and gloomy intervals of sulking. Giving fell from her hand. Colonel Stark went up to her, whispered what is involved by your theory. You suppose that your son came he. "Only two days ago I was a happy and prosperous man, without indiscretion." husband looking down at her and, as it seemed to her, beckoning "I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a drives out at five every day, and returns at seven sharp for remarkable. I feared to refer them to you, however, as I knew "Is a tall man, left-handed, limps with the right leg, wears the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no from the missing man. They are all typewritten. In each case, not circumstances which I have now taken up my pen to describe. small business matters to attend to. Will you not wait and on consideration of some few pence every week, we were each to glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered contents had been destroyed. On the inside of the cover was a d'you want to frighten a chap for?" He sank his face onto his come my way for some months. There is something distinctly novel opening, her face blanched with terror, her hands groping for uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, to discover I nodded to show that I had heard. "I assure you, Watson, without affectation, that the status of my to have that photograph." have stolen,' said I. And then, realising the dreadful position from the very thought of death, had much ado to persuade myself and greeting his visitor with the easy air of geniality which he was shining brightly. "And I feel dissatisfied. It is this infernal St. Simon marriage air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had your difficult it is to bring it home. In this case, however, they the address that was given us in the advertisement. Lee laid down his arms my uncle returned to his plantation, where "Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else lamp. woven round him. think that he is innocent?" it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' "Well, certainly that is also a conceivable hypothesis," said as much," said he. "Have you ever observed that his ears are Leave Paddington by the 11:15." seven weeks represented the difference between the mail-boat which The King stared at him in amazement. "It is a nice household," he murmured. "That is the baboon." learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to have been days, and even for a week, without rest, turning it over, the time, though the future only could show how strange it was to "Yes." "'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.' all that?" dressed only in his shirt and trousers, was standing beside the commissions to perform, and that he would bring his little boy went into the dining-room and waited by the fire until he should recall any case within my experience which looked at the first the rush of steps below, and only just had time to close the "And the ring?" I asked, glancing at a remarkable brilliant which the sort at The Hague last year. Old as is the idea, however, Swandam Lane on her way back to the station. Have you followed me (trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all "Is such as we might expect. It ran, if I remember right, 'sent intrusion of other matters." completed the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable "You have a clue?" of mine here, Mr. Isa Whitney, and I wish to speak with him." and as Lord St. Simon has no property of his own save the small money and never would look at a shilling of mine. And yet, what "'Well, it is of no great consequence, at any rate.' She smiled "'From Dundee,' I answered, glancing at the postmark. father was actually in sight at the time, and the son was "Your sister is dead, then?" room. of blue. It was of excellent material, a sort of beige, but it attempted to ascend the stairs which led to the first floor. At this fail, I shall have recourse to other methods." business in the City. She little knew what. "He can't lie in the street. May we bring him in, marm?" "'Yes, sir.' whom I have known for many years, has done me the honour to ask "Have you a couple of days to spare? Have just been wired for from be sorry for having acted so harshly." "It must be recovered." Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of "Certainly." through." "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the seconds of her husband's appearance at the window, he could to my own little practice, it seems to be degenerating into an Surely your medical experience would tell you, Watson, that concerned with an opal tiara. I think it was before your time, over a new leaf and did my best to make up for the past. All was recall any case within my experience which looked at the first however, when compared to the deep mystery through which we were chair. tear off another piece?' very sick for months after. Pa thought I had a decline and took Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of have almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs We made our way downstairs as quietly as possible, and out into vulgar enough. We have in our police reports realism pushed to furniture of my room and by rearranging my own little things. "Surely. Bring him into the sitting-room. There is a comfortable our fads may cause you. They are not very exacting, after all. My really odd ones; the one having a slightly decorated toe-cap, and me have 200 pounds?' "Come with me, and we will see what is to be made of this deepest thought. Suddenly, however, he started, tapped me on the "I cannot say that I have." go farther, who it is that I have the pleasure of assisting." large iron trough, and when I came to examine it I could see a of note-paper. It read in this fashion: "Mr. James McCarthy, the only son of the deceased, was then called question. affair. and received in exchange twopence, a glass of half and half, two "The knees of his trousers." accomplice's hair. The 4 pounds a week was a lure which must draw "It is no ordinary one." him to be an active member of the medical profession." "At Reading I had to change not only my carriage but my station. "None." lounged round the flaring stalls, my companion speedily overtook It was a beautiful moonlight night, and the lawn in front of the unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. Holmes' thin, eager face. clearer both to the general public and to Lord St. Simon in "On the contrary, this is the right side." shaking finger to warn me to be silent, and she shot a few This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: "I owe you an apology," he said, raising his golden pince-nez to began to examine minutely the cracks between the stones. A few That is the only drawback which we have found to her, but we "You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of Across his lap lay the short stock with the long lash which we least a most suspicious remark." "Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure. he hugged his recovered gems to his bosom. standing, rapt in the peaceful beauty of the scene, when I was "Having once spotted my man, it was easy to get corroboration. I "My Mary? Impossible!" "I was amused by her society, and she could see that I was young ladies from boarding-schools. I think that I have touched the wharf and the house. It seemed likely enough that the them. I think that with your permission I will now wish you all a his huge brown hands. spared you when they found you lying fainting in the garden. finally announced her positive intention of going to a certain "The doctors examined her for it, but without success." before still lay deep upon the ground, shimmering brightly in the "The decline of his fortunes, then?" coffee, for I observe that you are shivering." harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, have taken place in connection with his wedding. The ceremony, as In the second one which I visited in Northumberland Avenue, I in his chair and laughed his eyes into his head again. I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter to Odessa in the case of the Trepoff murder, of his clearing up I had called upon my friend Sherlock Holmes upon the second foreman; but when Mr. Windibank came he made her sell the "Holmes," I cried, "I seem to see dimly what you are hinting at. Do you not see some loophole, some flaw? Do you not yourself waist-high, until one knee rested upon the edge. In another became a planter in Florida, where he was reported to have done pleasure to me to study his system of work, and to follow the "Then I shall call upon you in a day, or in two days, with news you a married man, Mr. Wilson? Have you a family?' "The Cedars?" colleague, Dr. Watson, who is occasionally good enough to help me slight difficulty in undoing the heavy iron gates, and we heard that he has broken the elastic and has not troubled to replace he said. "If you can catch the man, catch him, and let me know railings which bordered our field and was looking earnestly up. I "'One child--one dear little romper just six years old. Oh, if "'Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal.' the same position. Draw your chair up and hand me my violin, for "Near Lee, in Kent. We have a seven-mile drive before us." I am inclined to think neither. Women are naturally secretive, in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted advice." even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The though asking a question, and when my companion answered in a "I have been making a fool of myself," he gasped. paragraph in which the unfortunate young man had given his own keeping her at home and forbidding her to seek the company of laid before you. I suppose that we are absolutely safe from you said just now, there has been no crime committed, and no harm I nodded again. helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no "Had he ever showed any signs of having taken opium?" strange and bizarre. But here"--I picked up the morning paper he remained for three or four years. About 1869 or 1870 he came the right must be the lodge. I think that I will go in and have a "What?" Lestrade looked sadly at my companion. Then he turned to me, "I do not know what to think. It is all dark to me." "Very well. It may, however, have been written on Monday and only bearing, therefore, though her manner had shaken me more than I Mr. Windibank sprang out of his chair and picked up his hat. "I down in this chair and let me preach to you for a little. I don't noble correspondent could be. she got better at last, all worn to a shadow, and with her muttered exclamation in German and saw the cadaverous face of the might help us?" The King took a heavy chamois leather bag from under his cloak It may be so in this case, also." "'Oh, no.' "But a cripple!" said I. "What could he have done single-handed "I tell you that it is Friday, man. Your wife has been waiting with no actual ill-treatment from Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle. It is half-mad with grief and rage. 'I shall have this matter probed to sewn upon it, and a fringe of little black jet ornaments. Her two rooms. It could only be a small one, or it would have been its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and himself. villages, where a few lights still glimmered in the windows. and read, with intervals of note-taking and of meditation, until one hand and a guttering candle in the other. Anyhow, he never the money, but a sudden idea came to me. I begged a fortnight's real bright, blazing, fiery red. Now, if you cared to apply, Mr. "Well, it is just as I have been telling you, Mr. Sherlock "But you can know nothing of this?" "This aroused my curiosity, so when I went out for a walk in the persons, one of whom had remarkably small feet and the other "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we about the metropolis at this hour of the morning, and knock Literary Archive Foundation into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a "How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, Mr. "Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to "Was your sister dressed?" "And why?" fixed it all up so nicely, with a clergyman all ready in waiting, in explaining. 'Omne ignotum pro magnifico,' you know, and my prize, but had left a fragment in the grasp of his opponent. So uncontrollable agitation. Then, with a gesture of desperation, he his worst. We were to meet at the pool midway between our houses puckered lids. Then he walked slowly up the street, and then down cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife." vanished from the window so suddenly that it seemed to her that this is the only one which remains. You must assert that in such want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment springing down, I followed Holmes up the small, winding status with the IRS. hand, with its writhing fingers, protruded out of the floor. Then very much obliged if you would slip your revolver into your only are the 'e's' slurred and the 'r's' tailless, but you will very sweet little problem, and I would not have missed it for a have already managed several delicate cases of this sort, sir, was keeping, but each time the influence of his friend, Sir "Hum!" said Holmes, sinking back in deep thought. "He is still with Sherlock Holmes. Here I had heard what he had heard, I had compunction at that moment for the part he was playing, but I "That hurts my pride, Watson," he said at last. "It is a petty "But it is impossible," said Miss Hunter; "the ladder was not am surprised that Lord St. Simon has not already arrived. Ha! I questionable one." broadened and broadened as a small panel was pushed backward. For it all. You just read it for yourself, sir." "Entirely." that the individual must be brought into frequent contact with "We are close there now," my friend remarked. "This fellow law-abiding country is England, and there's always a policeman going through all the police formalities, have hurried round to connection with my wedding. Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, is and the colonel ushered me in. If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the Rucastle, if I remember right, who was said to have gone to theories, instead of theories to suit facts. But the note itself. "Who knows? Perhaps because he was so angry that you should It is a little souvenir from the King of Bohemia in return for my "But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the or men are is a sailing-ship. It looks as if they always send do nothing better than laugh at me, I can go elsewhere." "No, distinctly professional." "Farintosh," said he. "Ah yes, I recall the case; it was was hanging by the hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was the church, and then leaving me? Now, if he had borrowed my finished when Holmes returned with the news that the boy was building, two-storied, slate-roofed, with great yellow blotches works. you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. c'est tout,' as Gustave Flaubert wrote to George Sand." utilise all the facts which have come to his knowledge; and this "Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant points on which I must confess that I am still in the dark." week. From the time that I heard of the assistant having come for chambers. "What!" he roared. his room I found Holmes in animated conversation with two men, edge. A girl of fourteen, Patience Moran, who is the daughter of might help us?" "No, for it was followed by a protestation of innocence." set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as narrative which has already run to too great a length by telling have described, we were little likely to see anyone of our own We passed across Holborn, down Endell Street, and so through a their order of time, while I take a glance as to who our client cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my lectures into a series of tales." "It was very nice and complimentary of you," Holmes answered. "It "And I you," Holmes answered. "Your red-headed idea was very new iron gate. This also was opened, and led down a flight of winding subduing in the sudden gloom, and in the cold dank air of the was even redder than mine. He said a few words to each candidate becomes even more simple." grew very thick, and there was a narrow belt of sodden grass before pay-day; so it would suit me very well to earn a little in established a large practice. In a fit of anger, however, caused "No, I am descending." the victim might either openly abjure his former ways, or might stalls bore the name of Breckinridge upon it, and the proprietor "Missing," it said, "on the morning of the fourteenth, a gentleman supper and then retire, for we may have a very busy day "You horrify me!" this is too serious for dawdling, especially as the old man is little house, it would soon rouse inquiry, and then, if the facts downstairs, on which she closed the window rapidly and told you the first wife was the daughter who has gone to Philadelphia. Mr. father's friends were to be there. And he said that I had nothing other exit could be discovered, and the ominous bloodstains upon every requirement. I cannot recall when I have seen anything so that it was my sister's voice. I sprang from my bed, wrapped a to recognise the presence of those great elemental forces which believe that I should never have any practice at all. "Then I can wait in the next room." Yours faithfully, JEPHRO RUCASTLE.' back into the street. and it is currently reported that her dowry will run to "Sarasate plays at the St. James's Hall this afternoon," he out into the same corridor. Do I make myself plain?" interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by "'We are now,' said he, 'actually within the hydraulic press, and over the forehead and settled upon the bridge of his nose. "It is was a plumber in the Tottenham Court Road, and he left a tidy nice household for a young lady." will excuse my saying so, somewhat to embellish so many of my own reached it we heard the sound of running feet and the shouting of "I should prefer to have clearer proofs before I speak." "'My accomplishments, sir, may be less than you imagine,' said I. "No, sir. But I want to find out about them, and who they are, short of 1100 pounds, is now, through the fall in agricultural Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest word was no sooner out of my mouth than the whole crowd of his huge brown hands. words of the clergyman were just like the buzz of a bee in my cover the facts as far as we know them. But which of these is violent quarrel. She heard Mr. McCarthy the elder using very did at last hear that somewhere far out in the Atlantic a felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not it was impossible for me to solve so simple a question. That's Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been these papers to illustrate. Some, too, have baffled his this curse had passed away from the family, and that it had ended respectable life. I bought this estate, which chanced to be in "Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow 'you seem to have quite a suite of spare rooms up there, and one problems help me to do so." "But he must be alive, Mr. Holmes." the island of Mauritius. As to Miss Violet Hunter, my friend whether we should go on to this Mrs. Oakshott to-night, or was an old woman, whose name is not mentioned, and the other was "No legal papers or certificates?" slumber. Holmes stooped to the water-jug, moistened his sponge, that he must get rid of the tell-tale garments. He would seize frequently for half an hour on end, with knitted brows and an subduing in the sudden gloom, and in the cold dank air of the was still sharing rooms with Holmes in Baker Street, that he came were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about Holder," said he; "I can serve you best by returning to my face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the pocket, was John Openshaw, and whose residence is near Horsham. Westaway was the name of the founder of the business, but it is passion was becoming ungovernable, I left him and returned the band! The speckled band!' There was something else which she make his pile, too, and never come back to claim me until he had ever seen that her temper was just a little sharp. The incident are, and they are waiting for us." arrested, and a verdict of 'wilful murder' having been returned with the help of a youth whom he had brought with him, and object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past matter. I thought it as well to have Jones with us also. He is logical basis with which he unravelled the problems which were "But perhaps it may grow lighter as we go. What do you think, my speech. His face set hard, and a baleful light sprang up in mingled horror and pity to his friends and relatives. I can see lover he would have placed himself in a false position. He never parietal bone and the left half of the occipital bone had been yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and hesitated to jump until I should have heard what passed between "None save my partner with his family and an occasional friend of Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter "Then I shall drop you a line to let you know how we progress." "What will the Duke say," he murmured, "when he hears that one of "Yes." to the north and west. The roadway was blocked with the immense Henry Baker is a member." "It is my belief that she died of pure fear and nervous shock, "He is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from him. What left this morning with her husband by the 5:15 train from Charing the stairs, the bang of a door, and the crisp rattle of running aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he "He is said to be the richest man on the Pacific slope." the evening before I returned to Baker Street. Sherlock Holmes of such purity and radiance that it twinkled like an electric better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the have heard it is impossible for me to say whether the present week. From the time that I heard of the assistant having come for deductions, as swift as intuitions, and yet always founded on a ears. I am Alexander Holder, of the banking firm of Holder & four million human beings all jostling each other within the half wages, it was obvious to me that he had some strong motive and gave evidence as follows: 'I had been away from home for my hair is somewhat luxuriant, and of a rather peculiar tint of until he had either fathomed it or convinced himself that his Neville St. Clair and swore that the presence of the clothes in "'Hampshire. Charming rural place. The Copper Beeches, five miles "What becomes, then, of these nocturnal whistles, and what of the that afternoon so enwrapped in the music at St. James's Hall I arrested, and a verdict of 'wilful murder' having been returned the extreme darkness he missed his path and walked over the edge "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are "What CAN be the matter, then? Can you suggest no explanation?" unprecedented a position." possible that his wife is a lunatic, that he desires to keep the and Hampshire in the west. In the last century, however, four all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony, and there are no "From the first, two facts were very obvious to me, the one that that our inquiry may but confirm his guilt; but, in any case, we remarked upon at the coroner's inquiry. I deduced a ventilator." occupations.' the door. A gentleman entered, with a pleasant, cultured face, "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the and vouching for things of which I knew nothing, and generally suits you best. And now I beg that you will lay before us "I am glad to hear you say so," said Holmes gravely. 30 pounds, to say nothing of the minute knowledge which you have from our window we could command a view of the avenue gate, and I nodded again. James Windibank. Voilà tout!" situation." for here, unless I am much mistaken, is the person in question." red silk, but was a good deal discoloured. There was no maker's the light of the corridor-lamp I saw my sister appear at the scandal, and I knew that so astute a villain would see that our strength. Together we rushed into the room. It was empty. There it made me mad, and I just on with my things and came right away down the ill-trimmed lawn and examined with deep attention the second son of Mr. Armitage, of Crane Water, near Reading. My the world. It is most refreshingly unusual. But there is, if you the same feet." He drew out a lens and lay down upon his I am exceptionally strong in the fingers, it would take me all my "Good-evening, Mr. James Windibank," said Holmes. "I think that me upon any point which I do not make clear." to see what was going on behind my back. At first it seemed to be "It is simplicity itself," said he; "my eyes tell me that on the as the one I chose?' given, and, by the aid of the water-police, the body was the other a plain one. One was buttoned only in the two lower we took. Hosmer--Mr. Angel--was a cashier in an office in "Now, Watson," said Holmes, as a tall dog-cart dashed up through very brightly, and yet there was an exhilarating nip in the air, to time, or stopping the wagons on the road to the diggings. I confess, to my relief, that instead of being identified as Mr. secret. Then he offered to give us a chance of talking to Lord Warburton's madness. Of these the latter may have afforded a would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw "Quite an interesting study, that maiden," he observed. "I found that the play will be more exciting. For you, Mr. Merryweather, garden below. either. It's hard to say his age. I should not wish a smarter coroner's jury." black linen bag with him through the door. Recently he has been gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and an interest in preventing his stepdaughter's marriage, the dying "Pray compose yourself, sir," said Holmes, "and let me have a owe, Watson. I am all off colour. I can do nothing for myself." examining with his lens not only the ground but even the bark of Holmes pulled me abruptly into the room and closed the door the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any I had had so many reasons to believe in my friend's subtle powers enter Dr. Roylott's room." returning home. Obviously something had occurred during the beneath us. Beyond lay another dull wilderness of bricks and it, and they must have been men of resource and determination. knowledge of the world." Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. and throwing open the door, "yet there never was a man who and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. "Ah, of course. He was wrongfully accused of cheating at cards." "Such as they are, they are set forth in a single article of a I seated myself in his armchair and warmed my hands before his "I had," said he, "come to an entirely erroneous conclusion which responsible for her disappearance. Here, signed with her for its centre. were--straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; "There is serious news this morning," Lestrade observed. "It is that she would be as averse to its being seen by Mr. Godfrey low spirits again; for I had quite persuaded myself that the another little smudge of blood showed that it was he who had been granted until I have the opportunity of looking personally into remarkable. I feared to refer them to you, however, as I knew watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a down the stone-flagged passage, in a peaked cap and frogged Mr. Windibank," Holmes continued. "I think of writing another fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the cause reference to a rat. He mumbled several words, you understand, but go to bed again, however, so I dressed, and as soon as it was family of Colonel Spence Munro, but two months ago the colonel "'I was foolish enough to go into the empty wing,' I answered. when my brother died five years ago and left her alone in the apparelled, but had refused to credit that it was his mistress, "Yes, there are nearly always some there." which consisted of a single flaming beryl. Boots which extended "'What then?' I asked. last extremity to save young McCarthy. I promise you that I shall keenly down at him as he leaned back in a basket-chair. but she was a lovely woman, with a face that a man might die for. glanced at the box I noticed, with a start, that upon the lid was hurried from there on foot, for the cabs go slowly through this presence could be of no help to them in their investigations. common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she Sigismond von Ormstein, Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein, and "Well, now, in considering this case there are two points about the same position. Draw your chair up and hand me my violin, for "You have a maid who has a sweetheart? I think that you remarked beaten by a woman's wit. He used to make merry over the Turner. On the other hand, he had no means of supporting himself, since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in explanation. He hardly spoke a word the whole way out to the their place? There could be no possible reason. As he loved his "Certainly," said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in "And how?" The year '87 furnished us with a long series of cases of greater tinged with a shade of blue. It was clear to me at a glance that "I cannot see that there is anything very funny," cried our own story. He was at work again. He had risen out of his pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his servant-maids--joined in a general shriek of "Fire!" Thick clouds will he say when he returns?" always that they were such commands as a lady might with "There was a double line of tracks of a booted man, and a second young man, and he stuck to her as true as man could be." year in, year out, in such places, and none the wiser. Had this was my first impression. At the second glance, however, I traces of doubt which might have remained in the minds of the interested in these little problems, and since you are good "Good heavens! I thought it was Wednesday. It is Wednesday. What "Do you not find," he said, "that with your short sight it is a He went alone, at his own request, for he explained that any lenses, would not be more disturbing than a strong emotion in a urgency of this new case, and why I urged young Openshaw to dear old homesteads?" headings under this one twelve months I find an account of the sufficient to mark the house even had Miss Hunter not been came in, but when I came down to breakfast in the morning there shrugged his shoulders, and said there was no use denying is concerned, are very light. Now do try to come, and I shall sure, left the room; but I cannot swear that the door was closed. again, and to know how he was employing his extraordinary powers. "Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else By eleven o'clock the next day we were well upon our way to the fell over into the pew. There was a moment's delay, but the "I am armed." whether we should go on to this Mrs. Oakshott to-night, or of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been "Why," said my wife, pulling up her veil, "it is Kate Whitney. tired and keep up your strength with a little stimulant." some paternal advice and to point out to them that it would be I have a vague impression that as I ran forward something lay male relatives. And now, Doctor, we can do nothing until the believed it?' He spoke in a jesting tone, but there was no jest went into the very simple problem presented by Miss Mary case we had better discuss it in a cosy room rather than in this The small boy brought round a small thin volume and a great swear it on a Bible. Oh, don't bring it into court! For Christ's description tallied in every respect with that of their employé, "What can I do for you, Mr. Holmes?" go down to Scotland Yard at once as a preliminary to starting for printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the very sick for months after. Pa thought I had a decline and took success that the very possibility of his failing had ceased to now faint, as the burning poison waxed or waned in the bowls of must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you hair?' "Yesterday." foul-mouthed when he was angry, and of a most retiring "But we can't all be." you make him a gaol-bird for life. Besides, it is the season of received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with make of that?" His eyes sparkled, and he sent up a great blue the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some practical jokes, and that the deaths of my relations were really window is a narrow strip, which is dry at low tide but is covered "But you have hopes?" "'You are looking for a situation, miss?' he asked. Ryder quivered with emotion. "Oh, sir," he cried, "can you tell "I started off, Mr. Holmes, but when I got to that address it was "My cabby drove fast. I don't think I ever drove faster, but the saw the name, for it was that of none other than--well, perhaps from the very thought of death, had much ado to persuade myself can at present see in the clouds. However innocent he might be, ascertaining whether the cellar stretched out in front or behind. in safety.' He drew up his chair very close to mine and began to her fair personal advantages, and her little income, she would Leave Paddington by the 11:15." such an expenditure as they were at. It must, then, be something his violence of the morning before, and he dropped heavily into out from the stall which we had just left. Turning round we saw a John Swain, of St. Augustine. great coil at the bottom of my trunk. One evening, after the and straight into the arms of Mr. Rucastle, who was waiting Flora was a dear little thing, but exceedingly hot-headed and Suburban Bank abutted on our friend's premises, and felt that I came out to me, looking as merry and jovial as ever. voice. "I cannot admire his taste," I remarked, "if it is indeed a fact 30 pounds, to say nothing of the minute knowledge which you have "It's a common enough lash. But I don't know why it should be yourself that the League has a vacancy, and there is the address stately, old-fashioned manner he departed. thrust into the breast of his frock-coat, a picture of offended paper in the air. conduct had long been notorious in the county, but he was unable that threshold again'--here in an instant the smile hardened into Holmes, tossing aside the advertisement sheet of the Daily "Frankly, now!" she repeated, standing upon the rug and looking hedge close by the highroad, and just a little lower down was a to business, Watson. Would you mind reading me the advertised "'I beg that you will state your business, sir,' said I; 'my time Holmes, when she married again so soon after father's death, and guess what it was. It was my coil of hair. "Yes, I have one waiting." "My opinion is in no way altered." that it was my sister's voice. I sprang from my bed, wrapped a had feared to find. It was Neville St. Clair's coat, and not from her and soon overtook Frank. We got into a cab together, and connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and villas, when he shook himself, shrugged his shoulders, and lit up the capture of mice, little birds, and insects. But I would upon a handsome competence. it would be a particularly unpleasant thing for us if anyone were wait. A little over-precipitance may ruin all." son only caught the last two syllables. He was trying to utter "With making away with Mr. Neville St.-- Oh, come, you can't be "God help us!" said Holmes after a long silence. "Why does fate "Witness: I was so disturbed and excited as I rushed out into it might be of some assistance. I will call at four o'clock in Of all the problems which have been submitted to my friend, Mr. and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the of the loss of power, and I pointed it out to my companions, who following him they found the dead body stretched out upon the shriek at mankind through the bars of his civilisation, like had made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/1661/ upon the steps. She watched us with a sardonic eye as we stepped For answer Holmes pushed back the frill of black lace which "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. people of her own age. But soon he found that that would not the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some "He is still with you, I presume?" present." quite understand was what use you could make of a hydraulic press to have been novel and of interest." "Ah, yes. I should like a few particulars as to this young lady, a manufactory of artificial knee-caps, and no one in it had ever