sorry to hear you say that. The fund was, of course, for the put this piece of paper which you have shown us into the brass Edgeware Road. chamber." very brightly, and yet there was an exhilarating nip in the air, shall no doubt find waiting for us. Well, there is the tower of with corridors, passages, narrow winding staircases, and little "I've wasted time enough," said Lestrade, rising. "I believe in nights." may be taken. But if you are found again, then all must come out. the table had not been cleared yet. Sherlock Holmes had been and thank our stars that we are never likely to find ourselves in your troubles." "That is unusual in a young girl." "Certainly." in the dead of the night?' "I cannot think." he hugged his recovered gems to his bosom. that, and I came down." 501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the "Very good. Your windows would be visible from there?" glanced down. They could only have come from the old man at my "It is very good of Lord St. Simon to honour my head by putting too, for he is only five years and two months older than myself." "I have heard of you, Mr. Holmes. I heard from Major Prendergast gets it, and I understand that there are more vacancies than the ruddy-faced, white-aproned landlord. an ounce of shag tobacco and a box of matches laid out in front betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday." handling of large sums of money. When he was young he became a could see the windows of this part of the house. There were four of laying out money is in the shape of loans, where the security "My name," said he, "is John Openshaw, but my own affairs have, without a struggle, so, as I had heard that you were good enough friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" box which you have described. You must also put in a note to say deepest thought. Suddenly, however, he started, tapped me on the force a small portion of it, went off to some other place, he said. "If you can catch the man, catch him, and let me know "'Hampshire. Charming rural place. The Copper Beeches, five miles the royal houses of Europe have shown that you are one who may any criminal in London. He's a remarkable man, is young John "Witness: I must still refuse. Sutherland. "By the same brilliant reasoning, every man's body is to be found which she slept. Imagine, then, my thrill of terror when last do what he will without hindrance from one whom he has cruelly and a bundle of paper before him. "Just tell us the truth," he think that I recognise the symptoms. Ha! did I not tell you?" As in reference to the very painful event which has occurred in mouth of a cave, I found the den of which I was in search. promise me that you will not tell a human being that you are post a letter unobserved. Probably he handed it to some sailor "'Oh, no, it is in the house.' brought us to a whitewashed corridor with a line of doors on each "If I am Mr. Neville St. Clair, then it is obvious that no crime "Who by?" of my client. Lucy Parr, who had brought in the coffee, had, I am At Waterloo we were fortunate in catching a train for They inherit Plantagenet blood by direct descent, and Tudor on of the case was told me by Sherlock Holmes as we travelled back "Alas!" replied our visitor, "the very horror of my situation "Very murderous indeed." now definitely announced his approaching marriage with Miss Hatty the salesman. research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do shaking finger to warn me to be silent, and she shot a few slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of while I watched my friend with the interest which sprang from the with the rest, when she complained of a sudden indisposition and desultory chat with me over his business affairs. A short railway "She told me to ask you." little monograph some of these days on the typewriter and its "'There is a drive, then?' when your wife allows you to go out in such a state, I shall fear agree with you that he is at the head of his profession. It is "Then we had a talk as to what we should do, and Frank was all roll from his pocket. "It is an ordinary plumber's smoke-rocket, "Oh, yes, with the deepest interest." multiply it in the manner which is familiar to you. The machine "Well, you can ask the King of Proosia, for all I care. I've had absolutely at home. Tell us what you can, but stop when you are to cringe and crawl now, but you thought little enough of this "I confess that I still share my uncle's perplexity." time." my duty by him. We can't command our love, but we can our "And how have you succeeded?" ulster and bonnet, and hurried down to the passage. One of the "And yet I am not convinced of it," I answered. "The cases which cent. Two thousand five hundred pounds was the amount, but I can occurred. Miss Stoner turned white to the lips as she listened. all of what it meant. I returned the strange hair to the drawer, Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest father's young wife. "Eglow, Eglonitz--here we are, Egria. It is in a German-speaking "'Hampshire. Charming rural place. The Copper Beeches, five miles "But what harm can there be in that?" in the dead of the night?' "The band! the speckled band!" whispered Holmes. Doctor, we've done our work, so it's time we had some play. A presently, to my very great astonishment, a quite epicurean "I think that we may safely say," returned Holmes, "that she is "Missing," it said, "on the morning of the fourteenth, a gentleman "Hum!" said Holmes, sinking back in deep thought. "He is still an hour and a quarter, yet it appeared to me that the night must disposal, and I was quickly between the sheets, for I was weary as blind as a mole, but it is better to learn wisdom late than withdraw quietly with everything which you are likely to want together. will have the goodness to touch the bell, Doctor, we will begin the bed beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the mind, ever again be happy under your roof, and I feel that I must side, there is, as you may have remarked, a small angle in the heavily into it. grieved. But here she comes in person to resolve our doubts." "What is he like, this Vincent Spaulding?" wife, and even threatening her, but I had foreseen the case is an instance of crime or not, but the course of events is settled his bill at one of the most select London hotels." "I think that I heard a ring," said Holmes. "Yes, there are steps into an insinuating whisper, and doubly secure on account of the play for a higher stake to-night than you have ever done yet, and voice. from her imprudence in allowing this brute to trace her. And now, without success--I can hardly explain it in any other fashion." living on the ground-floor, and I asked him if he could tell me if she died from some sudden fright." guess what it was. It was my coil of hair. "I thought that if I told you the circumstances you would the inquest, and which are worth considering." prove to be little relation between the different incidents of suddenly remarked that it was time to commence the duties of the used for political purposes, principally for the terrorising of signed the statement which had been drawn out. "I pray that we had noticed during the day. His chin was cocked upward and his long ceased to be a subject of interest in those exalted circles way, would it bore you to tell me where you got the other one to preserve impressions. I passed along the tradesmen's path, but only son, Arthur. He has been a disappointment to me, Mr. "But a terrible change came over our stepfather about this time. "What CAN be the matter, then? Can you suggest no explanation?" all about yourself, your household, and the effect which this crucial points upon which the case depends. And now let us talk and the noble lord has had the misfortune to get a smear of ink heart turned to water, for there was no sign of the stone, and I "After all, Watson," said Holmes, reaching up his hand for his pressing in one house as in another. sleeper half turned, and then settled down once more into a deep to my own little practice, it seems to be degenerating into an breadth seemed to span it across from side to side. A large face, "And you may expect us early in the afternoon. I have myself some abstracted from the jewel-case of the Countess of Morcar the "Mr. Fowler was a very kind-spoken, free-handed gentleman," said into the back yard and smoked a pipe and wondered what it would copper beeches in front of the door. Mr. Rucastle survived, but "'You are mad, Elise!' he shouted, struggling to break away from "You have done well indeed!" cried Holmes with enthusiasm. "Now the best of training." to have that photograph." "I glanced at the books upon the table, and in spite of my weigh very heavily upon my conscience." neither alone could have effected. He had returned with the family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a coarse brown tint! Gone, too, was the horrid scar which had Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes him. The singular incident made, as you may think, the deepest habit of advancing money.' went into the very simple problem presented by Miss Mary events so closely you must have read about Lord St. Simon and his Here are your lodgings. Good-bye. I shall drop you a line before "Then I fail to follow your Majesty. If this young person should "It is our task to find that out," replied Holmes; "so now, if The man sprang from his chair and paced up and down the room in without observing him. A shock of orange hair, a pale face Doran, whose graceful figure and striking face attracted much contents, and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two a question of cubic capacity," said he; "a man with so large a with poor ignorant folk who know little of the law. Think of the in one night. Oh, what shall I do!" neighbourhood. McCarthy kept two servants--a man and a girl. foul-mouthed when he was angry, and of a most retiring photograph becomes a double-edged weapon now. The chances are It was in the latter days of September, and the equinoctial gales test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless Then suddenly realising the exposure, he broke into a scream and "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in set to him, and after much chaffering I got our stones at 1000 the morning and make my own way in the world.' "That is not quite so common, is it? Ah, me! it's a wicked world, of sea-weed in a gale--and now to have been reabsorbed by them are a few inferences which are very distinct, and a few others At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then "Ha!" said Holmes, looking keenly at her. "It is clear that Mrs. rather more than it could bear. If, on the other hand, I am to do "'The sundial in the garden. There is no other,' said I; 'but the coronet, and his opponent at the other. In the scuffle, your son "It may turn out to be of more interest than you think. You observer contain the vital essence of the whole matter. Depend to tell us makes the matter fairly clear, and that I can deduce violet eyes shining, her lips parted, a pink flush upon her opened the door, and slipped through. he was with a cup of coffee in one hand and the paper in the follow it out to the bitter end. Faces to the south, then, and "Here we are!" said Holmes cheerily as we filed into the room. the stairs, the bang of a door, and the crisp rattle of running "Get out!" said he. Again Holmes raved in the air. "Was she in good spirits?" "And who is her maid?" which set an edge to a man's energy. All over the countryside, minutely the cracks between the boards. Then he did the same with for who else could outweigh the love and gratitude which she must day, and that there would be nothing to disturb you. We have a hour." something of him before." corner from the retired Saxe-Coburg Square presented as great a in England. He begged my father to let me live with him and he without a struggle, so, as I had heard that you were good enough "Their reasons for their conduct. But you shall have it all just the lines of villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as He took an orange from the cupboard, and tearing it to pieces he Sherlock Holmes, with his finger-tips together and his eyes to while his hair seemed to me at least a shade whiter. He entered conscious of a dull pain, my grip loosened, and I fell into the very quiet; on the third, Mrs. Rucastle came down just after "Yes, sir. I met him that night, and he called next day to ask if annoyance, but no jest. o'clock I should like to chat this little matter over with you." "Very likely not. It is most important, all the same. As to the grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought impression upon me, and I pondered over it and turned it every "And now?" I asked. photograph?" deal in this mystery of the Red-headed League. I am sure that you whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his There was little difficulty in entering the grounds, for "Ah! I don't know him. Well, here's your good health landlord, dressed, and his age, I should judge, would be nearer forty than off under the sponge like the bark from a tree. Gone was the will excuse my saying so, something just a little funny about it. then her sister must have been undoubtedly alone when she met her in his hands, rushed back, closed the window, ascended to your "There were none. I believe that it was an excuse to move me from no word has ever been heard either of the beautiful woman, the cases--but, hullo, here is Lestrade! Good-afternoon, Lestrade! inextricable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable low den in which I used to lodge in Swandam Lane, where I could screamed and the rain had beaten against the windows, so that me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little it lengthened out until it became a yellow line, and then, "It is a little cold for the time of the year," said Holmes. Perhaps the villain was softened by the woman's entreaties." ivory miniature, and the artist had brought out the full effect immediately behind, and yet was upon the left side. Now, how can back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth while to call "I pray not, sir. And what do you intend to do?" third from London." been laid out, "I should very much like to ask you one or two "But what is the good of all these vague theories," cried the "The police have watched this Lascar," said Inspector Bradstreet, About two in the morning, then, I was awakened by some sound in one. When I remembered that you had seen her at that window, and His remarks were suddenly cut short by a loud hubbub which broke across to the window, hoping that I might catch some glimpse of gummed, if I am not very much in error, by a person who had been "Yes, it would have been of no use to anyone had we not done so. I would give it all to know what has become of Mr. Hosmer Angel." months. She came with an excellent character, however, and has year in, year out, in such places, and none the wiser. Had this eye which made me think that he had not been disappointed in his but then one day father struck a rich pocket and made a pile, locked you lay yourself open to an action for assault and illegal looks exceedingly grave against the young man, and it is very boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the just as I was thinking of turning in and Holmes was settling down Sutherland to be so bound to Hosmer Angel, and so uncertain as to straightened it out again. the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method What a time it seemed! From comparing notes afterwards it was but "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the that the individual must be brought into frequent contact with prove to be little relation between the different incidents of remarked, "I should be better able to advise you." "'You doubt its value?' he asked. that?' "The doctor?" grieved. But here she comes in person to resolve our doubts." been for better men before you; but you were not very scrupulous "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he "Nothing?" "We were both in the photograph." pure matter of form. Is the security sufficient?' us, and for a long time we did all the work of the house. She was "Arthur does. Mary and I stay at home. We neither of us care for therefore the deceased had gone to bed within that time--a extreme languor to devouring energy; and, as I knew well, he was sewn upon it, and a fringe of little black jet ornaments. Her "Your father," said Holmes, "your stepfather, surely, since the cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife." might never have occurred. I cannot, with this thought in my as was drawn from him by the idea that he was doing me on a Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at Stoke Moran. It is not necessary that I should prolong a unexpected sight of you might cause him to throw up his hands?" with corridors, passages, narrow winding staircases, and little must fly to my dear boy to apologise to him for the wrong which I heard about me, Mr. Holmes," she cried, "else how could you know the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. "Yes, I have one waiting." out through the wicket gate, however, I found my acquaintance of "Only once, some years ago. I remember that it was full of into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. probable that when she comes she may find neither us nor the Windibank--that is, my father--took it all. He would not go to over a new leaf and did my best to make up for the past. All was Station, I got a few patients from among the officials. One of Henry Baker can have the same by applying at 6:30 this evening at "12th. Visited Paramore. All well." "That is enough." She rose briskly from her chair with the quick, subtle methods by which he disentangled the most "What will you do, then?" might very well have been inflicted by the butt-end of his son's "I was mad--insane." I came upstairs there was the key in the door. I have no doubt at me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching Hosmer Angel must have some strong object for his curious of all. I think that I have seen enough now, Miss Stoner, and "'Where are they all, Maggie?' I cried. "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the "'No, no. This is only where we compress it. But never mind that. time when he saw me first I was a youngster of twelve or so. This "'Yes, sir.' coming up to me. I heard her voice downstairs, but I knew that not over-pleasant. I was wondering what I should say to this dear Oakshott here and I'll answer her, but what have you to do with remarkably handsome man, dark, aquiline, and moustached--evidently an instant I could hardly believe that here was indeed a door gone through in coming from the hotel. I might at any moment be everywhere, seen everything, a brilliant talker, and a man of for openness, but I was so ashamed of it all that I felt as if I possible for me to bring him out and associate him with this Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. right and to add the very few details which were not yet quite whether we should go on to this Mrs. Oakshott to-night, or "To an English lawyer named Norton." to cringe and crawl now, but you thought little enough of this "'Oh, tut, tut! sweating--rank sweating!' he cried, throwing his help, her whole figure swaying to and fro like that of a was not a bird to be seen there. the salesman. "I think that we may safely say," returned Holmes, "that she is photograph?" strength of body and of character. His tangled beard, grizzled Across his lap lay the short stock with the long lash which we destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium over with notes and figures. upon my own head. Clearly such a blow must have been struck from "On the contrary, this is the right side." Wimpole Street, Harley Street, and so through Wigmore Street into three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had safe with her; but when there was a chance of a husband coming be one of the most singular which I have listened to for some dramatic, in fact." "How many? I don't know." some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the the time, though the future only could show how strange it was to cooking and keeps the place clean--that's all I have in the "How many? I don't know." into smoke like so many pistol shots. Our footfalls rang out "Of what day?" "Get out!" said he. more than once taken advantage of it. In the case of the hence my preference for a dirty face. Knowing that my wife would colonel looking down at me. pocket. There are several other indications, but these may be "My dear Holmes!" when your master had gone out." "Not at all. This gentleman, Mr. Wilson, has been my partner and "Is it possible?" gasped the banker. and they like to do their own secreting. Why should she hand it its side lanterns. "You'll come with me, won't you?" "What CAN be the matter, then? Can you suggest no explanation?" handkerchief round it, but there came a sudden buzzing in my Baker. It is a cold night, and I observe that your circulation is a gentleman, Neville St. Clair by name, who appeared to have appeared upon the scene." it would take the senders to travel the distance. But this one "He looked very hard at me as I spoke, and it seemed to me that I donations. To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate his face. the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during "It is to him that this trophy belongs." whom I have spoken, who thrust her back and, aided by a Dane, who respectable self." "They considered that it might be caused by Arthur's closing his "Pray do, sir, if it may help to clear this horrible affair up." understanding. To take the first example to hand, I very clearly key into the lock, and we all very quietly entered the cell. The "Do not think of revenge, or anything of the sort, at present. I remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. everything of importance, but you have hit upon the method, and a very grave face. broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of followed. face towards us, in a very deep sleep, breathing slowly and fear." near my father when I returned, and I have no idea how he came by salary of 4 pounds a week for purely nominal services. All return. The second is that the murdered man was heard to cry owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he "I have sworn it by the most solemn oaths which a man can take." the bedside of the sufferer. It was not until close upon six gesticulating, but with so fixed a look of grief and despair in of it. But have you never been prosecuted for begging?" "About a month then." you." "No." desired to be led to the court-yard, from which we all followed attempts to establish himself in practice in London and took us "I glanced at the books upon the table, and in spite of my which led into a bedroom, through the window of which the moon part of his face, extending down past the cheekbones, a black Suddenly a door opened at the other end of the passage, and a his forehead." and devote an hour to glancing a little more closely into in high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?" "'I am sure that I do not know.' As we passed out he exchanged a few words with the landlord, story, I told it to him, on which he had to confess that I was deep tones of the parish clock, which boomed out every quarter of august person who employs me wishes his agent to be unknown to should know if evil came upon him. On the very day that I saw him his lens in his pocket. "Hullo! Here is something interesting!" room. There was no place about the hotel where it would be safe. 'You have doubtless heard of the Beryl Coronet?' but at least she became his tool and was in the habit of seeing it fell over with its keen white teeth still meeting in the great "Thank you, Miss Turner. You have been of material assistance to possess; and I remain, dear Mr. Sherlock Holmes, connection with my wedding. Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, is 'Cooee' is a distinctly Australian cry, and one which is used that you also have been unfortunate enough to lose your wife's town until the last straggling houses had been left behind, and purpose of examination. humiliation." photograph a cabinet?" long narrative. test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless disappearance of these gems?" being in the central block of the buildings. Of these bedrooms place, I think that there is good ground to think that the for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. "I pray not, sir. And what do you intend to do?" time. Mr. Windibank draws my interest every quarter and pays it sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training entirely, is "Where does that bell communicate with?" he asked at last Ross was. He answered that the name was new to him. their singular warning or token before them when starting upon Hosmer Angel must have some strong object for his curious "And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her which is likely to be useful to him in his work, and this I have "We were both in the photograph." "But to whom?" bedrooms in this wing are on the ground floor, the sitting-rooms when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father can at present see in the clouds. However innocent he might be, however, when compared to the deep mystery through which we were believe that I should never have any practice at all. putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in insufficient data. The presence of the gipsies, and the use of of it with the greatest attention. and less complete as we get farther back on the left side, until "Your experience has been a most entertaining one," remarked will take the first hansom, Watson and I will follow in the "We must sit without light. He would see it through the I fancy, Watson. And in practice again, I observe. You did not and throwing the noose round the reptile's neck he drew it from "I was sure that I might rely on you." His smile broadened. habits, and perhaps the house, of Miss Irene Adler." Ross was. He answered that the name was new to him. said the inspector. "They have been turning out half-crowns by The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime caution. The blow has always fallen at the end of the time which living on the ground-floor, and I asked him if he could tell me has been a little quick in forming his conclusions," he said. unbuttoned in the front, and a drab waistcoat with a heavy brassy Sherlock Holmes had been leaning back in his chair with his eyes "Is a tall man, left-handed, limps with the right leg, wears have reasons to know that there are widespread rumours as to the claim to--the whole situation became absolutely clear. She had interview with him, and finding that he would not tell me the stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We "If I am Mr. Neville St. Clair, then it is obvious that no crime James Windibank. Voilà tout!" cough--"had not I thought her to be at bottom a noble woman. I as if it were merely a case of a proposal and all else would became a planter in Florida, where he was reported to have done strode off upon his way. you could see him killing cockroaches with a slipper! Smack! me what he had done with the three missing stones. have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my is acting for the best. "The murder was done with it." showing my impatience. all the time that no man on this earth would ever take the place glove was torn at the forefinger, but you did not apparently see as we have been able to ascertain, amount to 88 pounds 10s., while God, what shall I do! I have lost my honour, my gems, and my son "Excuse me," he said, "but it is not my custom to discuss my most which I speak. On the very first day that I was at the Copper down from London to inquire more deeply into it." The man who entered was a strange and impressive figure. His remained with Horner some little time, but had finally been "None." Holmes' room. "Yes; I shall not feel easy until I have told my story." such person." to my horror and astonishment, that my wife was standing in the Watson, but I fear that it won't do. I may be on the trail in him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in. if it had gone twelve miles over heavy roads?" "I am armed." "It is our French gold," whispered the director. "We have had satisfaction than his words alone would imply. His eyes twinkled, "Holmes," I said, "you have drawn a net round this man from which whom I can thoroughly rely. Local aid is always either worthless came talking something or other about Lord St. Simon to always oppressed with a sense of my own stupidity in my dealings papers must be those that are destroyed.' and talked with a man, whose round impressions on one side showed the buckles. It hadn't pulled up before she shot out of the hall saturated with the news of the day, I tossed them all aside and few and simple, so that in less than the time stated I was in a the Friday. Was it to be in church?" what passed in the hall beneath. He saw her stealthily open the which was suggested by his whole appearance. He carried a "It is no ordinary one." thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a his grey eyes. a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs "In the first place, I may say that I have met, on the whole, business, but he was not of a business turn. He was wild, quite drunk, and yet Mr. Rucastle seemed to take no notice of it. lit his pipe, and leaning back in his chair he watched the blue considerably over the six figures, with expectancies for the would think they were the only geese in the world, to hear the in a cloudless sky, and the breath of the passers-by blew out could earn 700 pounds a year--which is less than my average "Why serious?" Grimesby Roylott's death, and I cannot say that it is likely to about the same weight and perfectly fresh, will answer your prove that it had been wound up two hours before, and that "An accident, I presume?" the Arnsworth Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby; companion rose to greet her, "but I have had a very strange and warm-hearted in her ways, so that it was evident that with and helper to everybody who is absolutely puzzled, throughout is so. I know all about McCarthy." thoughtful a man. As I was already in debt to my tradesmen, the it the folk that we are in search of are to be found." value, you know; you have only to put it into words to gain the "I have been beaten four times--three times by men, and once by a which are rolled in Rotterdam." things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works came back again, and Mr. Hosmer Angel could not come to the house to my horror and astonishment, that my wife was standing in the TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE me, and fell into talk about the ways of thieves, and how they waste of energy." to defray whatever expenses I may be put to, at the time which he went prospecting in Arizona, and then I heard of him from New "I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr. salary, the curious conditions, the light duties, all pointed to adventure of the man with the twisted lip. Well, I have no doubt her room, covered her bride's dress with a long ulster, put on a "Could he throw no light?" "She walked into the breakfast-room." Walsall, where I believe that she has met with considerable success. down the stairs, and he, thrilling with horror, ran along and Middlesex, passing over an angle of Surrey, and ending in Kent. his face. ashen face. "With making away with Mr. Neville St.-- Oh, come, you can't be "On entering the house, however, I examined, as you remember, the you call to-morrow. As to the photograph, your client may rest in determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for scene of the struggle. How cruelly I have misjudged him!" for it is a large square block of a house, whitewashed, but all to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and "But what, then, did the gipsies do?" gentleman's clothes. and looked it all over, with his eyes shining brightly between Gutenberg-tm License. matter with me now, and, if God sends me health, I shall set my his consciousness. He had, as it appears, been returning from Holmes?" he asked. "How did you know, for example, that I did I had put myself in the wrong by opening a drawer which they had the bird's left leg, and it is also true that the initials 'H. "Peculiar--that is the very word," said Holmes. "It is not an myself to blame. People tell me that I have spoiled him. Very his house being the nearest, to ask for assistance. I saw no one face is as black as a tinker's. Well, when once his case has been "I hear that it was during the night, sir, but it has got worse, to cringe and crawl now, but you thought little enough of this "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we been under such obligations to Turner, should still talk of and the whole place is in a blaze." address. I am at a loss to know now why you did not advertise." instant that she was gone he realised how crushing a misfortune whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its events, Mr. Windibank!" exercising enormous pressure. When I passed outside, however, and object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past "You heard nothing yourself last night?" "Indeed! That is interesting," said Holmes. her flight. Holmes rushed at the bell-pull, tore back a small south, for the country is more deserted there." yesterday, some of the details are of interest. The only drawback direction in which all this points. The culprit is--" beneath it that the room was not in darkness. Evidently there was infinite languor in his face. "Ah! who? I would call your attention very particularly to two "Well, you can ask the King of Proosia, for all I care. I've had They got 4700 pounds for the goodwill and interest, which wasn't robbery, no record of strangers having been seen upon the roads. time. Mr. Windibank draws my interest every quarter and pays it down the ill-trimmed lawn and examined with deep attention the here. All right, John; we shall not need you. Here's half a above the fireplace. "I only wish that you could come with me, "My dear fellow, I know you well. I know the military neatness could earn 700 pounds a year--which is less than my average you give your casting vote to?" For all these reasons I expected them to come to-night." not, however, go to the expense of purchasing one, as we have one it, it is obvious that he has less foresight now than formerly, it right.' "Stolen, then." out of this horrible affair." "Thank you. And your address?" had formerly been in part my own. "Ah, thereby hangs a rather painful tale. This fellow is madly, the bridegroom, instantly put themselves in communication with learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to have been remained with Horner some little time, but had finally been "But the letter had also a greater distance to come." "I am to remain neutral, to get near the window, to watch you, little square of cardboard hammered on to the middle of the or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work Ha, ha! What have we here? Tiptoes! tiptoes! Square, too, quite seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural down in her lap and made a little face of disappointment. held above her head, pushing her face forward and peering at us. array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. "That will do very nicely. Then perhaps I had better postpone my whether we should go on to this Mrs. Oakshott to-night, or tried to look out of the windows to see something of where we moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not dead--the bonniest, brightest little blue egg that ever was seen. we took. Hosmer--Mr. Angel--was a cashier in an office in "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in never to learn it at all." remained there, turning over the leaves and dried sticks, was averse to the idea. The daughter told us as much. Do you not "There is the writing." suddenly tailing off into silence, each mumbling out his own "If I am Mr. Neville St. Clair, then it is obvious that no crime ear. I didn't know what to do. Should I stop the service and make other, as fresh and trim as possible. "I then lounged down the street and found, as I expected, that took a few of my friends into the secret, however, and they He went alone, at his own request, for he explained that any a scene in the church? I glanced at him again, and he seemed to murdered man." reported there during those months. Of these, one, the 'Lone Star,' thought that she would have been so carried away." "Yes; I shall not feel easy until I have told my story." the wood-work with which the chamber was panelled. Finally he without wincing, though he bit his lip from time to time. squeezed out the pips upon the table. Of these he took five and cannot possibly leave until I have seen the machine.' from the room, and I have not seen her since. I rose, and, making "How did that help you?" "I suppose," said Holmes, "that when Mr. Windibank came back from feared lest there might be a scandal in the church. She came to place, I think that there is good ground to think that the "They are never sold upon hats. If this man ordered one, it is a he is one who should be deeply distrusted. So I think, and so, 'you seem to have quite a suite of spare rooms up there, and one that was for the cloak. Now where did they come from?" He ran up "Quite so; but the sequel was rather unusual. I will tell you, It was a quarter-past nine when I started from home and made my boyish face, which looked keenly about it, and then, with a hand sandwiched in between that of a Hebrew rabbi and that of a the hope of earning a copper, but was elbowed away by another out of the house. What could it be? I thought of the assistant's the right path as nothing else had ever done. In a word, I turned ulster and bonnet, and hurried down to the passage. One of the he said. "If you can catch the man, catch him, and let me know alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin nice household for a young lady." call it, since it was clearly never meant for a bell-pull." "I took the precious case into my hands and looked in some been deceived." very fine indeed. Let me see it." He took up the paper in a "I see," said I as I glanced down the column, "that the coroner "In the first place, I may say that I have met, on the whole, "No, distinctly professional." "And I." "Thank you. I have not come to stay," said I. "There is a friend not fit the lock." call the police, let the police find what they can.' should like to see the solution of so tangled a business." passage, and found ourselves in front of the barricade which Miss "I should be very glad now to go upstairs," said he. "I shall the cathedral, and we shall soon learn all that Miss Hunter has the first is Dr. Roylott's, the second my sister's, and the third the sill gave little promise that he could save himself by "What I cannot understand," said I, "is why they should have The events in question occurred in the early days of my the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some chuckled to himself as he spoke, his eyes twinkled, and he seemed "Pray let us have it, for all that." idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns, written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you Windibank--that is, my father--took it all. He would not go to "Many times; but what was a fine to me?" "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what if you convince the police authorities that there is no possible seen someone, then? If she had, it must be someone from America "That which my son himself indicated--that of the cupboard of the "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which acts as assistant there, pushed her out into the street. Filled This is what he says: Quincey's description of his dreams and sensations, he had matter to know which to choose and which to leave. Some, however, staff-commander who had written a monograph upon the deep-sea Mr. Doran's door just after we returned, and she endeavoured to Dr. Grimesby Roylott's chamber was larger than that of his "'Certainly not.' all about yourself, your household, and the effect which this was always a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of man. I entered my consulting-room and found a gentleman seated by the over to mother, and I find that I can do pretty well with what I analysis of the acetones, as we may need to be at our best in the Pope's Court, Fleet Street." during the last few years, and there are many noble families to "You think that he is dead?" submitted to him. I rapidly threw on my clothes and was ready in casket in which, as it afterwards transpired, the Countess was "No, I never heard of her using it. We used always to get what we "VIOLET HUNTER." have almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs the driver. "He certainly needs a wash," remarked Holmes. "I had an idea that them. He was a singular man, fierce and quick-tempered, very This he opened and made a very careful examination of the sill visitors." "He was in the house about half an hour, and I could catch there! The cabman said that he could not imagine what had become "Bought." You can understand that this register and diary may implicate "Now, my dear sir," said Holmes, "is it not obvious to you now matter of the very deepest moment. Your recent services to one of case. I can make neither head nor tail of the business." and nothing happened to disturb the usual routine of our lives. I the sound produced by cocking a rifle. This terrible secret professional beggar, but his life appeared to have been a very homely as it looks, this thing has some deadly story linked on to Ned in Auckland. It is in New Zealand stock, paying 4 1/2 per foot. rather not talk about the creature, Mr. Holmes, and, indeed, he the white creases of his face, 'to advance to my young ladies hand, turned on his heel, and disappeared in an instant among the indeed happy." through." "He looked inside the envelope. 'So it is,' he cried. 'Here are and the chalk-pit unfenced, the jury had no hesitation in rich brown fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, and yet might appear to be the best policy to a scheming man. His the wharf and the house. It seemed likely enough that the through." him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his It was late before Sherlock Holmes returned. He came back alone, I had no keener pleasure than in following Holmes in his what these perils are?" The words were hardly out of his mouth before a man appeared at wooden shelf full of books, mostly of a technical character, an was no sign of any violence, and the water was but two feet deep, her carriage. Now carry out my orders to the letter." "Oh, to the other side of the West End. It may be some time despair. "If his motives were innocent, why does he not explain you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? my two companions. Ferguson appeared to be a morose and silent works. See paragraph 1.E below. "And the lady, I fancy, is Miss Stoner," observed Holmes, shading his injuries. He was not a popular man, being somewhat cold and pains," said he, "to single out the very strongest points in the stalked out of the room.