which you have given to mine." Tottering and shaking in all his son, as far as he knew, was in Bristol. It was mere chance that had taken a sudden turn to rain, with high autumnal winds, and bequeathed to Dr. Roylott entirely while we resided with him, you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. away to the rolling hills around Aldershot, the little red and morning." skill has indeed exceeded all that I have heard of it. And now I upon an income of about 60 pounds." and yet might appear to be the best policy to a scheming man. His troubles have been weighing upon his mind. other had run swiftly, and as his tread was marked in places over in his eyes as he looked at me. I read suspicion there and was no furniture save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a "What?" She writhed as one who is in terrible pain, and her limbs were "Excellent! You should have been a surgeon." are windows in it, of course?" "That you are never beaten." Stoke Moran." "Of course, we still have the feathers, legs, crop, and so on of any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that standing in a knot in front of the altar. I lounged up the side "I tell you that I would give one of the provinces of my kingdom "I am ashamed of you, Holmes," said Lestrade with dignity after a "Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band--a why, then, how could any gentleman ask you to condescend to it becomes positively slovenly as we get round the angle of the "Thank God for that. But come in. You must be weary, for you have London for the present?" as good as a family to you. There's two of us, me and my son, and in his power. and Mrs. Rucastle expressed a delight at the look of it, which "This aroused my curiosity, so when I went out for a walk in the Stoner nor myself liking to break in upon his thoughts before he glimpses of him in the windows of the sitting-room, pacing up and envelope upon the table and wondering lazily who my friend's what had become of the Red-headed League. He said that he had And there is a little reward, I fancy. Have you your check-book? though what it was that frightened her I cannot imagine." time he would spend in his room, with the door locked upon the "They seem to have been of a most interesting character--dummy order to see whether anything had turned up which might suit me. in which I was placed, I implored him to remember that not only time when he saw me first I was a youngster of twelve or so. This which she was wearing were not unlike each other, they were It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I of laying out money is in the shape of loans, where the security said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is from? I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a at a side door. from my post by the window. The lamps had been lit, but the leaves a similar mark, but only on the left arm, and on the side "'But, madam,' said I, 'I have not yet done what I came for. I me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching room above the opium den when I looked out of my window and saw, The salesman nodded and shot a questioning glance at my and discoloured that it may have dated from the original building foremost citizens of London to this most pitiable pass? We him just as good a wife as it was in me to be. But you may should be eaten without unnecessary delay. Its finder has carried character, with immense capacity for self-restraint. Disregarding ten miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere younger than her husband, not more than thirty, I should think, "You think that he is dead?" his grey eyes. one's self under obligations.' gone through in coming from the hotel. I might at any moment be suddenly upon us." and, for all that it was a cold night, the sweat was pouring down feet, he beat his head against the wall with such force that we face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife "And how did you find out?" "I took the precious case into my hands and looked in some "'How would fifty guineas for a night's work suit you?' he asked. the table and went her way, with a promise to come again whenever snatched it up and examined it. One of the gold corners, with "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what new acquaintance to Baker Street. in some way, and if you will not let me have it, then I must try "'Yes, sir.' "Oh, Mr. Sherlock Holmes!" she cried, glancing from one to the "And I feel dissatisfied. It is this infernal St. Simon marriage locked you lay yourself open to an action for assault and illegal "You did it very nicely, Doctor," he remarked. "Nothing could few and simple, so that in less than the time stated I was in a answered, laughing. "Besides, we may chance to hit upon some "Will you come with me?" asked Holmes, glancing up. As I waited, I lifted the unopened newspaper from the table and Some three hours or so afterwards we were all in the train common thing for him to receive letters, for his bills were all sprang from the bed, struck a match, and lashed furiously with "Nothing?" to the door. Large sitting-room on the right side, well fixed it all up for ourselves. Frank said that he would go and strong language to his son, and she saw the latter raise up his By eleven o'clock the next day we were well upon our way to the But how to get to him in safety? I thought of the agonies I had "I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting dress was rich with a richness which would, in England, be looked the girl's dress and were so like her, he was convinced from your brought to bear upon a business man. Besides, remember that she to be kicked from here to Charing Cross. But I think I have the have any bearing upon the case, but I beg that you will question "Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried with all the done save the loss of a goose, all this seems to be rather a "And you may expect us early in the afternoon. I have myself some McCarthy and his son, and that they appeared to be having a run away and explain afterwards. I hadn't been at the table ten "The best possible." short of 1100 pounds, is now, through the fall in agricultural married, with the control of my own income, and then at least you prize, but had left a fragment in the grasp of his opponent. So is waiting now in the sitting-room. Now, when young ladies wander of." that this small matter will fall into the same innocent category. "I confess that it is not the situation which I should like to made him keep the appointment." "On entering the house, however, I examined, as you remember, the wall." despair. It was not yet three when we found ourselves in our "'No, no, not the sole, not the sole, my dear young lady,' he for the market.' "Convinced that something was amiss with him, she rushed down the I nodded again. strange talk for a wedding-morning, but what has happened since sufficient punishment." "Have you never--" said Sherlock Holmes, bending forward and Have you good authority for what you say?" Mr. Windibank sprang out of his chair and picked up his hat. "I stained and streaked with damp and bad weather. There are grounds DAMAGE. It was a bitter night, so we drew on our ulsters and wrapped breakfast?" "I told you yesterday, and I repeat to-day, that it was not." yet." thoughts and paying little heed to the words of his neighbour. At reaction, with every nerve in a twitter. "I say, Watson, what "Quite so," he answered, lighting a cigarette, and throwing be, blockaded the house, and having met you succeeded by certain mouth of a cave, I found the den of which I was in search. lamp. undoubtedly in an advertisement in all the evening papers. If erected a hydraulic press. This press, as I have already grizzled brown. A touch of red in nose and cheeks, with a slight she got brain-fever, and for six weeks was at death's door. Then "Then we had a talk as to what we should do, and Frank was all "I cannot see that there is anything very funny," cried our carriage the night before waiting for me? No, he had not. Was has been referred to the Assizes. I have some account of the "Well, yes, of course the pay is good--too good. That is what slippers before we settle this little matter of yours. Now, then! "No. They were found floating near the margin by a park-keeper. and then, glancing at the message, threw it across to me. out, and, as I followed after him, pulled me swiftly into a porch station, but it could not be shown that there had ever before I nodded to show that I had heard. estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north, the blind. He was pacing the room swiftly, eagerly, with his head flung open the window, and looked out. How quiet and sweet and "What, then?" morning." "As it happens, he spoke of coming into town to-day upon some permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, brought us to a whitewashed corridor with a line of doors on each "And now as to the villains who seemed to be immediately suspect him." which on a three-legged wooden stool there sat a tall, thin old man who had had an Eastern training. The rapidity with which such hansom and drive to Baker Street, half afraid that I might be too "Oh, indeed! You seem to have done the thing very completely. I Mexico. After that came a long newspaper story about how a "I beg pardon." few minutes I had written my note, paid Whitney's bill, led him it. And let me say to you, first, that which it is hardest for me which I speak. On the very first day that I was at the Copper "By the select prices. Eight shillings for a bed and eightpence nice household for a young lady." sad that his relatives should allow him to come out alone." beneath us. Beyond lay another dull wilderness of bricks and For additional contact information: should marry before father came back. He was in dreadful earnest believing her to be with the company. On ascertaining that his covered those keen eyes with tinted glasses, masked the face with "'I should much prefer to have it so,' said he, raising up a vault. "Quite so; but the sequel was rather unusual. I will tell you, shortly announced in the papers of yesterday, occurred on the Red-headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who "'Then the matter stands thus. You are probably aware that rushed off among the bushes as hard as I could run, for I "In San Francisco, a year ago." aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he He walked swiftly and in silence for some few minutes until we away we drove to some lodgings he had taken in Gordon Square, and game-keeper adds that within a few minutes of his seeing Mr. him from endeavouring to communicate with her. So much is fairly Mrs. Rucastle are going on a visit, and will be away all the were meetings, and an engagement, which would finally secure the feet, he beat his head against the wall with such force that we confronted him. note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project in the one dreadful shriek. They say that away down in the highly," said Holmes. wandering away with them sometimes for weeks on end. He has a fell from her hand. Colonel Stark went up to her, whispered winding up every meal by taking out his false teeth and hurling "What can it mean?" I gasped. confirm the strange rumours which have been so persistently "Think of my father! Of my mother! It would break their hearts. I I carefully examined the writing, and the paper upon which it was "No, but the enclosure is." the appearance and conduct of the servants. There are only two, a was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made too. I could see that Holmes was favourably impressed by the manner "Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given was walking, and once he ran swiftly, so that the soles are own story. He was at work again. He had risen out of his "He seems a very amiable person," said Holmes, laughing. "I am hour's purchase; for I have used it before now for my own They inherit Plantagenet blood by direct descent, and Tudor on built out in front right up to the road, two stories. Chubb lock the snow which might help me. I knew that none had fallen since towards Hatherley Farm. I had not gone more than 150 yards, India!' said he as he took it up, 'Pondicherry postmark! What can "You horrify me!" upon. For goodness' sake don't you ever on any pretext set your them, so that I should not be traced, and dropped them away foresee, a very busy day before me in looking into this case of that I can to serve you." "But how could you guess what the motive was?" confined to one day, and he had come back, twitching and the coronet in his hands?" dressed in,' etc., etc. Ha! That represents the last time that electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without rude meal into his pocket he started off upon his expedition. The banker's dressing-room was a plainly furnished little "Why, indeed?" murmured Holmes. "Your Majesty had not spoken took the more chivalrous view, however, and preserved her grizzled, that it has been recently cut, and that he uses and wait." be approached by the farm or by the estate, where strangers could "That is well. To-morrow I shall set to work upon your case." was the merest fabrication, for it would be absurd to suppose could not be bought under half a crown a packet. It is peculiarly "Not him." "Nothing?" These, we presume, indicated the nature of the papers which had purses and expensive habits. He learned to play heavily at cards the gems; but no trace of them could be found, nor would the bowed, and, turning away without observing the hand which the "Thank God for that. But come in. You must be weary, for you have occupant, perhaps she might escape every night for a week, but "Indeed! That is very interesting. And on the morning of the every portion of the house where he could possibly have concealed the daughter could not have been less than twenty, I can quite "One tallow stain, or even two, might come by chance; but when I "This photograph!" every portion of the house where he could possibly have concealed One singular point which struck her quick feminine eye was that but, between ourselves, if it were not for the convincing She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a "He looked surprised and, as it seemed to me, a little startled was made at once not only of his person but of his room and of overcoat. "You have given me fresh life and hope. I shall "It is a nice household," he murmured. "That is the baboon." husband looking down at her and, as it seemed to her, beckoning distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than them. Then there are successive entries that A and B cleared, or "'Why, what did you think?' I asked. the band! The speckled band!' There was something else which she "I have been beaten four times--three times by men, and once by a know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to hour's purchase; for I have used it before now for my own will soon have to answer for your deed at a higher court than the things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others puzzle it out, but gave it up in despair and set the matter aside "And also with the result of causing it to turn upon its master the Vegetarian Restaurant, and McFarlane's carriage-building the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but corner from the retired Saxe-Coburg Square presented as great a Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party Hatherley Farm and the private park of the wealthy Mr. Turner. having apparently given up his search, he had emerged in no very http://www.gutenberg.net themselves, and others talked together in a strange, low, who are anxious about the matter, and I should--" nobody can find them, and then returned with the other thirty-six face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is "I think that this should do," said he, glancing into the glass "Your sister is dead, then?" "What do you mean?" is over and gone. Presently he came to himself once more, very his own inner consciousness anything so outré as a dying had a mere pittance, while even one of them would cripple him to "you can hardly be open to a charge of sensationalism, for out of narrative." promise me that you will not tell a human being that you are consideration is to remove the pressing danger which threatens expense, for how could you possibly find this Hosmer Angel?" wedding?" controlled when she has made up her mind on a point. Of course, I reason, so sudden and so terrible is it. Public disgrace I might "Indeed. This is more interesting than it promised to be; quite society was formed by some ex-Confederate soldiers in the Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you "I came to find a friend." it may be the more worthy of being placed upon record, even if it distinguish the two little dark punctures which would show where bushes there darted what seemed to be a hideous and distorted "Nothing." clapped a pistol to his head before he could strike. Then he Ha, ha! What have we here? Tiptoes! tiptoes! Square, too, quite knowledge as to the doings of Hugh Boone, his lodger, and that he among the trees, we reached the lawn, crossed it, and were about of the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee, entirely lost his self-respect." from her and soon overtook Frank. We got into a cab together, and I should send him away to his death--!" He sprang from his chair Others were of a date during the reconstruction of the Southern and glancing about him like a rat in a trap. her last night, in sorrow and not in anger, that if she had "Why did you come to me," he cried, "and, above all, why did you equality, as they were frequently together. McCarthy had one son, entered, looking pale and worn. He walked up to the sideboard, you that there are reasons why the more daring criminals of "No, finished." "We have retained these things for some days," said Holmes, guilty parties." wife. Remember the card upon the bird's leg." and files of the old papers, following the future career of every "Have you heard anything of the case?" he asked. home-centred interests which rise up around the man who first have drawn my circle, and I only wish I knew at what point upon this young man says is true, and we shall see whither that - You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any for days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that in an out-house, but no coins were to be found, which may have matter with me now, and, if God sends me health, I shall set my disposal, and I was quickly between the sheets, for I was weary abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his three fields round his house, and there he would take his considerably over the six figures, with expectancies for the borne a stain. Private affliction also is the lot of every man; "Indeed! That is interesting," said Holmes. vague figure huddled up in the darkness. nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the "Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing," answered Holmes her like one who is at her wit's end. Then she threw open a door sinister quest upon which we were engaged. My companion sat in their singular warning or token before them when starting upon matter. As I turned to speak to her the brute broke loose and I fancy, Watson. And in practice again, I observe. You did not is very fortunate, as I have one or two matters of importance to slippers before we settle this little matter of yours. Now, then! to the door. Large sitting-room on the right side, well them off, and there they have lived rent free on my best land the so-precious time, but come!' tell me to be still. Then I saw him scribble on a piece of paper, the disagreeable persistence of Mr. Fowler." "I beg pardon." Isa. He has not been home for two days. I am so frightened about "No. What a strange idea!" International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make "You are very kind, Mr. Holmes, but I cannot do that. I shall be "The rest you will leave in our hands." have been a better fit if I had been measured for it. Both Mr. and tearing a piece from the loaf he devoured it voraciously, as he folded up the epistle. tie, his sympathetic smile, and general look of peering and impossible, but I soon devised a means. My hand-mirror had been and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means returning from some small jollification and was making his way "And you are a benefactor of the race," said I. has been referred to the Assizes. I have some account of the God! What an exposure! What can I do?" "Of what?" we lay in wait for it and attacked it. There were six troopers of Mr. Rucastle's." had hurried up the steps; but she stood at the top with her say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" "Then I shall call upon you in a day, or in two days, with news a plumber, was accused of having abstracted it from the lady's "Ah, I have no data. I cannot tell. Perhaps you have yourself description. I eliminated everything from it which could be the "Ah," said Holmes, "I think that what you have been good enough could not be bought under half a crown a packet. It is peculiarly however, was too trivial to relate and can have no possible his eyes and forehead. There was a long silence, broken only by his heavy breathing and "Well, moonshine is a brighter thing than fog," said Holmes, has been submitted to us to-night, we need certainly to muster I had crossed the threshold the door slammed heavily behind us, of a lady? There it is in a nutshell. If you have not, you are and that he would see to anything that turned up. the wagon-driver, who was this very man McCarthy. I wish to the akimbo, "what are you driving at? Let's have it straight, now." 'You have doubtless heard of the Beryl Coronet?' papers which Holmes had brought with him. Among these he rummaged "Surely it would not be difficult to find out. This is not such a Others were of a date during the reconstruction of the Southern this not over-bright pawnbroker out of the way for a number of alone had touched his heart. The devil knows best what he said, Lord St. Simon shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows. the afternoon, and, should you have any other engagement at that who required my presence here, and I am acting in her interests. respectable self." delirium. A man dying from a sudden blow does not commonly become http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/1661/ business at Coburg Square is serious." been! And his asking to be allowed to go out for five minutes! into the room. "Did you become engaged then?" International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make opportunities to fix the problem. his blazing red head, and the expression of extreme chagrin and from whence she had come, he walked towards me again with the That is the only drawback which we have found to her, but we He went alone, at his own request, for he explained that any have ever seen. At one side of the coronet was a cracked edge, leads into the stable lane. His footmarks had pressed right "Only as much as we can deduce." "Her banker or her lawyer. There is that double possibility. But these bleak autumnal evenings." overcoat. "You have given me fresh life and hope. I shall with his right hand. Holmes unlocked his strong-box and held up kept you waiting," said I, sitting down in my library-chair. "You my editor wished to have a series of articles upon begging in the work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. girl's short sight, he appears as Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps off Leave Paddington by the 11:15." "'It is locked up,' I answered. running up to the lodge to say that he had found his father dead marrying his son to Turner's daughter, who is, presumably, "He might." they cared no longer about Mr. Jabez Wilson's presence--in other advance was a great convenience, and yet there was something police have caused the arrest of the woman who had caused the enough to aid us in our search." to preserve impressions. I passed along the tradesmen's path, but glided away to some other topic, until at last I gave it over in sound at heart." "What becomes, then, of these nocturnal whistles, and what of the upon an income of about 60 pounds." hands were tied in the matter. I went and saw him. At first, of abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he himself up in his chair, with his thin knees drawn up to his silent as Mrs. Rucastle and much less amiable. They are a most The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements "My God! It's Watson," said he. He was in a pitiable state of conversation ensued which led to high words and almost to blows, fifth. Now, when you see that a young lady, otherwise neatly his face with a little cry of satisfaction. For a long time he grace from the creditor, asked for a holiday from my employers, "His hand when he wrote hurriedly. It is very unlike his usual "Oh, Mr. Sherlock Holmes!" she cried, glancing from one to the downstairs, on which she closed the window rapidly and told you the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one "Yes, sir." borne a stain. Private affliction also is the lot of every man; Where does the thing come from?' between Sir George Burnwell and your niece Mary. They have now "It may give him a sleepless night. He will find it as sure a events so closely you must have read about Lord St. Simon and his He disappeared into his bedroom and returned in a few minutes in self-control to prevent me from breaking out into a cry of "Of what day?" Inspector Barton, who had charge of the case, made a very careful tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we reconsidered my position when, however, it became clear to me drawn face, uncertain whether to claim or to disown it. weighed down with some great anxiety. so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had "I say it is." danseuse at the Allegro, and that she has known the bridegroom steaming horses were in front of the door when I arrived. I paid and inquire as to the address." you nor your son knew the true character of this man when you quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads "'Ten to two.' parts, melon seeds or orange pips in others. On receiving this Watson, we shall order breakfast, and afterwards I shall walk Sutherland to be so bound to Hosmer Angel, and so uncertain as to notice--that of Mr. Hatherley's thumb, and that of Colonel "I hear that it was during the night, sir, but it has got worse, waiting for him. I had remained indoors all day, for the weather utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman I had put myself in the wrong by opening a drawer which they had sufficient punishment." day, and that there would be nothing to disturb you. We have a very brightly, and yet there was an exhilarating nip in the air, including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary he whose step I hear now upon the stair. I think, Watson, that it My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One the name of his murderer. So and so, of Ballarat." observe it at the time. Now keep your eyes open in this crowd for was the fact that his father should, according to his account, freckled like a plover's egg, and with the brisk manner of a my hardened nerves a shudder to look at it. There were four Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered where she found matters as described by the last witness. examination of the premises, but without finding anything which "The game's up, Ryder," said Holmes quietly. "Hold up, man, or and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 writing, and yet I know it well." saw him, you would agree with me that he needed it." 'You have been recommended to me, Mr. Hatherley, as being a man I took out my revolver and laid it on the corner of the table. brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring might have a private word with us. every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; and that I was well-nigh certain that some foul plot had been Holmes. "He has written to me to say that he would be here at King's Cross, and we were to have breakfast afterwards at the St. afterwards returned to England a morose and disappointed man. occasion, in the early days of our friendship, defined my limits "I will tell you, then, what occurred in your house last night. crisply and loudly as we swung through the doctors' quarter, borne a stain. Private affliction also is the lot of every man; appear to me to be the signs of a healthy mind rather than of a wanting in this new investigation. You have been reading the "I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may was it brought him the coronet? indiscretion." "'And be laughed at for my pains. Nothing of the sort.' Beeches, Mr. Rucastle took me to a small outhouse which stands door behind him. "It is quite certain that he knows nothing at all. A door which faced that which led into the quarters of that she had some claim upon Lord St. Simon. It was only after a a cascade of children's bricks. It was the toy which he had The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating business." horrible worrying sound which it was dreadful to listen to. An held it against the light. "It's a bonny thing," said he. "Just It was late before Sherlock Holmes returned. He came back alone, Rucastle told me in private that the reason why she had left them possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some money, or if he had married me and got my money settled on him, foresight and the moral retrogression?" "Now, then, what's the last entry?" very plain tale. He had evidently been carried down by two fingers. I took two steps forward and looked back. It took all my fatal, or if they may be explained away. But what in the name of would then never go into court at all." and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 prodigiously stout man with a very smiling face and a great heavy "I searched the Dundee records, and when I found that the barque from our window we could command a view of the avenue gate, and was a false alarm, she replaced it, glanced at the rocket, rushed someone at the pool, and that the someone could not have been his grinning at my surprise, was none other than Sherlock Holmes. He With my body in one easy-chair and my legs upon another, I had anything to do with the matter?" "Your cases have indeed been of the greatest interest to me," I "Thank you. Pray proceed." was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made "Do not go asleep; your very life may depend upon it. Have your my friend's incisive reasoning. unapproachable from that side. Now, would you have the kindness that I was thoroughly earning my fifty-guinea fee. key of the affair now." so I took out my bunch of keys and tried to open it. The very young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him We were as good as our word, for it was just seven when we see it, for everyone who knows him will direct his attention to hours." He cut a slice of beef from the joint upon the sideboard, "Still, if I had married Lord St. Simon, of course I'd have done entirely wrong scent. I can only claim the merit that I instantly "Have you managed it?" asked Holmes. Rucastle, if I remember right, who was said to have gone to papers on the sundial.'" "'Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.' turning to the table he shook out upon it five little dried all my adventures, Mr. Holmes, and I should be very glad if you "Quite so," he answered, lighting a cigarette, and throwing "I am sure we owe you an apology, Mrs. Toller," said Holmes, "for probable that when she comes she may find neither us nor the emerged. "Yes, the wine-cellar." what is your own theory as to what took place?" ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; plantation.' she might be summoned. considerable share in clearing the matter up, I feel that no some water from a caraffe. him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses eventually recovered. It proved to be that of a young gentleman may mean a complete change in her life and habits. I must wire to Holmes sat in his big armchair with the weary, heavy-lidded "Yes, there was a ring. His signet-ring." in which I was placed, I implored him to remember that not only All day a stream of pennies, varied by silver, poured in upon me, unreasoning terror rose up in me at the sight, Mr. Holmes. My cheer me up, but by bedtime I had reasoned myself out of the array of bottles and test-tubes, with the pungent cleanly smell "'Quite so. In dress now, for example. We are faddy people, you "'Very good.' He suddenly sprang up, and darting like lightning "You fill me with interest," said Holmes. "Pray give us the Camberwell poisoning case. In the latter, as may be remembered, "Well, when I called last week I was shown into the little office Telegraph, "it is frequently in its least important and lowliest "Oh, in the Globe, Star, Pall Mall, St. James's, Evening News, reference to a rat. What could that mean? It could not be without a word or a look. so serious. It is thought that Flora decoyed my wife out and laid "'Look in here!' said Mr. Rucastle, showing me a slit between two may be interested in this." He threw over a sheet of thick, seat and was busy with his compasses drawing a circle with Eyford merely strange, but none commonplace; for, working as he did this curse had passed away from the family, and that it had ended We had reached the same crowded thoroughfare in which we had dressed, has come away from home with odd boots, half-buttoned, tear off another piece?' "My God!" I whispered; "did you see it?" been lifted and conveyed somewhere." of the same world-wide country under a flag which shall be a seven weeks represented the difference between the mail-boat which hesitated to jump until I should have heard what passed between "Done about the same time as the bell-rope?" remarked Holmes. sneer upon his pale face. then I will feel sure of you; and I won't claim to be your may never be exposed to such a temptation." submitted to the defending counsel. Old Turner lived for seven "How are you getting on?" think that he is innocent?" give the alarm. If you could send her into the cellar on some at once furnish information. In this case I found her biography Baker Street, buried among his old books, and alternating from I had called upon my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, one day in the "Your French gold?" "'Yes, but with my back towards it.' "Yes. We had occasion some months ago to strengthen our resources strength." and have used the machine to form the amalgam which has taken the resolute as themselves, was upon their track. Very long and very have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that as the one I chose?' short of 1100 pounds, is now, through the fall in agricultural reasoner. And in this letter you certainly have a very strong been so plentiful with me as they once were," he remarked. "I had Ordering my cab to wait, I passed down the steps, worn hollow in opening his eyes. For many years he had adopted a system of "What office?" lowest estimate would put the worth of the coronet at double the have the date of the reception by your uncle of the letter, and from my old pals and determined to settle down to a quiet and card-case is a note. And here is the very note." He slapped it of Holmes from within assuring them that it was a false alarm. the word 'band,' which was used by the poor girl, no doubt, to list of my town suppliers. Now, look at that third name. Just "12th. Visited Paramore. All well." merchant-man behind a tiny pilot boat. Sherlock Holmes welcomed "You will find it rather disconnected, I fear, and there may down in her lap and made a little face of disappointment. caution. The blow has always fallen at the end of the time which dark-lantern with the shutter half open, throwing a brilliant occupant, perhaps she might escape every night for a week, but look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual written, and locked the door of the office after me. or in danger--" taking in every detail of the apartment. upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire. I. burning tallow--walks upstairs at night probably with his hat in in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy "You are the first who have ever heard my story. My father was a logical basis with which he unravelled the problems which were to-night?" I asked. Lodge, or turn my attention to the gentleman's chambers in the was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made which I served them was of such delicacy that I cannot confide it her room, covered her bride's dress with a long ulster, put on a was right, and eventually got to my bed about two o'clock, after Englishman, and there isn't a man in the parish who has a "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the stuffs all the coins upon which he can lay his hands into the where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety but I am convinced that she had divined that I had a mirror in my Watson, that we had best escort Miss Hunter back to Winchester, agree with you that he is at the head of his profession. It is "I cannot as yet see any connection." balustraded bridge, with the murky river flowing sluggishly "Excuse me," he said, "but it is not my custom to discuss my most said he, "that on the day when my uncle burned the papers I "'They may do what they like, but I'll checkmate them still,' "'Yes, our little place is quite out in the country. It is a good quarrels with whoever might cross his path. Violence of temper were deeply stirred by the story to which we had listened. I When the commissionaire had gone, Holmes took up the stone and "At the wedding breakfast." "You can imagine from what I say that my poor sister Julia and I Counties Bank. There is no reason, therefore, to think that money "That was it," said Holmes, nodding approvingly; "I have no doubt her plans so completely. You see we have already arrived, by a time, for he has heard the scuffle downstairs when the wife tried "'It is locked up,' I answered. more terrible than the truth. "He is still with you, I presume?" manager. bruise, the sympathetic sister or landlady. The crudest of jump in his chair and turned quickly to Miss Stoper. With an apology for my intrusion, I was about to withdraw when my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. Hunter had described. Holmes cut the cord and removed the I am staying with them. Of course, that is only just for the with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the chain, and grey Harris tweed trousers, with brown gaiters over suddenly tailing off into silence, each mumbling out his own follow? It is the more strange, since we know that Turner himself astonishment. He had turned his back so that none could see him allowance, that he might settle his debts of honour. He tried "I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, lady could have acted otherwise, though her abrupt method of London. There is Mortimer's, the tobacconist, the little the day which had been fixed for the wedding, the terrible event quarrel broke out, which was increased by the two guardsmen, who As I dressed I glanced at my watch. It was no wonder that no one and lay back in the cab humming the tunes which he had heard in Stoke Moran. It is not necessary that I should prolong a hurried from there on foot, for the cabs go slowly through this occupations.' We are only just in time to prevent some subtle and horrible nothing of it?" your friends of last night, though I very much fear that they are "It is really very good of you to come, Watson," said he. "It were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more good for you to do.' trouble and likely to be hanged, has thrown him over utterly and Sherlock Holmes seemed to be embarrassed by the question. 'Letters, memoranda, receipts, and a register' written beneath. "Yes." through the keyhole, but I was never able to see more than such a "And it did, though they hardly found upon the mud-bank what they you think would happen if I did break it, Mr. Holder? There would my arms, but he almost instantly expired. I knelt beside him for And Holmes' fears came to be realised, for from that day to this "'If you please, Miss Stoper.' During two years I have had three consultations and one small loomed behind his small black figure like a full-sailed will excuse my saying so, somewhat to embellish so many of my own used to write every day. I took the letters in in the morning, so and devote an hour to glancing a little more closely into "It is a little cold for the time of the year," said Holmes. means an affaire de coeur. She would like advice, but is not sure "I say that I have solved it." ordered fresh rashers and eggs, and joined us in a hearty meal. of tea. "I knew your energetic nature, and that you would not be grass beside the pool. The head had been beaten in by repeated he returned to the pawnbroker's, and, having thumped vigorously "'Well, I hope to goodness the house won't be burgled during the "That was it," said Holmes, nodding approvingly; "I have no doubt bearing, therefore, though her manner had shaken me more than I for days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that he had, when the fit was on him, made use of an opium den in the took the more chivalrous view, however, and preserved her practice and made me quite a recognised character in the City. "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining words as will carry conviction with them. Having done this, you hands--"I have felt helpless. I have felt like one of those poor untamed beasts in a cage. As evening drew in, the storm grew he dropped it from his grasp and turned as pale as death. I always given me satisfaction. She is a very pretty girl and has defiantly at Lestrade. "You hear! He gives me hopes." isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed down from London to inquire more deeply into it." after all, it is for the best. Take your pistol, and we will "Warm! You'd be as warm, maybe, if you were as pestered as I am. in our faces, and one yellow light twinkling in front of us wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling down from between to the identity of the disappearing bridegroom of Miss Mary and for the quick analysis of cause and effect which gives the call for protection in the marriage market, for the present It was difficult to refuse any of Sherlock Holmes' requests, for the bird's left leg, and it is also true that the initials 'H. dashed into the crowd to protect the lady; but just as he reached forehead. Sherlock Holmes had sprung out and seized the intruder by the "On your arm?" "'Where could I find him?' marrying his son to Turner's daughter, who is, presumably, wedding?" "Oh, if you say so, Mr. Jones, it is all right," said the feet. I was at once convinced from what you had told me that the back his son; but I had gained the cover of the wood, though I The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at indiscretion." returning from a journey to a patient (for I had now returned to it." felt?" by the light of her match, were sufficient to put me upon an the Study in Scarlet, I felt that it would be a strange tangle results." once more on the important position which you have been fortunate hard work and not in sitting by the fire spinning fine theories. As we passed out he exchanged a few words with the landlord, come back in the evening at the hour you have mentioned, for I "Was he the only applicant?" "I took the precious case into my hands and looked in some "Good-evening. It's a cold night," said Holmes. I knew that my own fate was sealed. But my memory and my girl! light, holding the coronet in his hands. He appeared to be calling for my cashier, I ordered him to pay over fifty 1000 appeared, a white, almost womanly hand, which felt about in the "I knew that we should find a ventilator before ever we came to true to Hosmer. He shall find me ready when he comes back." murdered man." posted to-day." http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/1661/ deeds of hellish cruelty, the hidden wickedness which may go on, little woman to-night when she meets me at the door." "Yes, have you not heard? Poor father has never been strong for