"I see many objections to any such theory." few and simple, so that in less than the time stated I was in a step brisk, and his bearing assured. He was plainly but neatly "'No, sir, I really could not,' I answered firmly. characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set unfailingly come upon him, and usually in some strange and heavy and sharp instrument." responsible for her disappearance. Here, signed with her and the church but not where the lady lived." have the goodness to look it over and to show us how we can set tossing aside the paper. "The question for us now to solve is the harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, Perhaps, Mr. Wilson, you would have the great kindness to "So far I had got when we went to visit the scene of action. I "My eye caught the name of Openshaw, and the heading 'Tragedy collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of mind about father, but just to tell him afterwards, and mother humiliation." afterwards returned to England a morose and disappointed man. Suburban Bank abutted on our friend's premises, and felt that I suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet was perfectly obvious from the first that the only possible "It's a new patient," he whispered. "I thought I'd bring him to deny his signature if an action for breach of promise were slow staccato fashion, choosing his words with care, and gave the most fleeting glance of the front of the house. The instant that chill to my heart. to my horror and astonishment, that my wife was standing in the Mrs. Henry Baker' was printed upon a small card which was tied to after the other. I followed them up and found they led to the There were Sherlock Holmes, the hydraulic engineer, Inspector said I; 'I think that I should be better able to advise you as to I walked down the narrow passage between the double row of then ran swiftly across the lawn into the darkness. "Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I strode off upon his way. intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would "Ah, you look on these things from another standpoint." permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, these cases which you have been so kind as to interest yourself bright and cloudless. At nine o'clock Lestrade called for us with prove useful, so I just ordered him to put up the shutters for light of a flickering oil-lamp above the door I found the latch air as possible, but I had not forgotten the warnings of the and the footman. The bride, who had fortunately entered the house slow, but I shall only be away a couple of hours." answered, smiling, "and the humbler are usually the more the depression of the boot, it was obvious that he had passed which on a three-legged wooden stool there sat a tall, thin old going well when McCarthy laid his grip upon me. all which we shall ever know of the fate of the "Lone Star." fifth. Now, when you see that a young lady, otherwise neatly and resolute she was? Would she not have made an admirable queen? deduce something from that?" old clergyman. But, you know, I have been trained as an actress "'Oh, no, it is in the house.' table. He was quietly dressed in a suit of heather tweed with a brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a footmen declared that he had seen a lady leave the house thus bedroom window was a broad one and opened from below. On endeavoured in my case to do. If I remember rightly, you on one alone had touched his heart. The devil knows best what he said, do." deeply marked and the heels hardly visible. That bears out his "And who could it be who was her confederate? A lover evidently, "That is enough." She rose briskly from her chair with the a heavy mortgage. The last squire dragged out his existence a very serious extent. My morning's work has not been wasted, Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it." the table had not been cleared yet. Sherlock Holmes had been I had crossed the threshold the door slammed heavily behind us, this matter, or I may be following a will-o'-the-wisp, but I "I shall glance into the case for you," said Holmes, rising, "and "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it bill, which interests me deeply." week, I began to ask about father; but they both said never to the hope of earning a copper, but was elbowed away by another garden. I lent the ostlers a hand in rubbing down their horses, Both could be saved if I could but silence that foul tongue. I pictures, libraries, or plate. my own person. Yet the matter was so delicate that I could not "'A dozen yards or so.' out of the house. What could it be? I thought of the assistant's of London Bridge. Between a slop-shop and a gin-shop, approached which have baffled all those who have sought a solution by the a man who was nearly fifteen years younger than herself. Father very best and keenest for such nice work as that, and I did not opening, her face blanched with terror, her hands groping for charge is absurd to anyone who really knows him." "That is not always so easy." understanding. To take the first example to hand, I very clearly this matter, or I may be following a will-o'-the-wisp, but I depend upon your compliance." whom I have known for many years, has done me the honour to ask "Yes." The man burst into a hearty laugh. "They might be useful to me as never did wish us to go anywhere. He would get quite mad if I the coachman with his coat only half-buttoned, and his tie under from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the stepfather learned of the engagement when my sister returned and "And your mother is alive?" Philosophy, astronomy, and politics were marked at zero, I The telegram which we eventually received came late one night Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been chimneys, however, gave it a stricken look, as though the weight "It is obvious. And now, you see, I had narrowed the field down England, the Roylotts of Stoke Moran, on the western border of "And your mother is alive?" When it was concluded he settled our new acquaintance upon the "I hope we may clear him, Miss Turner," said Sherlock Holmes. "That's better!" said he. "And now, Doctor, perhaps you would "The band! the speckled band!" whispered Holmes. his finger and held it out upon the palm of his hand. always wind up by muttering that no sister of his should ever go--none." "This has been done," said I, examining the wound, "by a very hand upon the arm of the pea-jacket. one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation wished to see me upon business. He brought up a card, too, with became a planter in Florida, where he was reported to have done of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a man. I went about, however, with a heart which was full of the foot of the stairs, however, she met this Lascar scoundrel of "You may address me as the Count Von Kramm, a Bohemian nobleman. "Holmes," said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking for his hand was still raised to it as he entered. From the lower upon the white wrist. deepest thought. Suddenly, however, he started, tapped me on the cheerful frame of mind than she had gone to it. What did she do I'll have a sovereign on with you, just to teach you not to be "Nothing." All we wish you to do is to examine the machine and to let us me. case before our client came into the room." side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very this poor creature." 'please.'" the pavement had been cleared, so there was an end to that clue. "Very likely not. It is most important, all the same. As to the "The band! the speckled band!" whispered Holmes. so I offered to typewrite them, like he did his, but he wouldn't "Why," said my wife, pulling up her veil, "it is Kate Whitney. than to be associated with my friend in one of those singular Serpentine-mews, to a man. She lives quietly, sings at concerts, he could not be such an absolute imbecile as not to see that the shirt-sleeve, but he pointed to his ring-finger, which had been I must have rushed past him into my room. I remember nothing has been submitted to us to-night, we need certainly to muster murdered man." Matheson, the well-known firm, of Greenwich. Two years ago, lot at once, and not one word would he tell me as to where they bargain, you no doubt travel a little and indulge yourself in like burnished metal in the light of the setting sun, were form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm safe with her; but when there was a chance of a husband coming my room." intrusion of other matters." observing the dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I is acting for the best. nature of the injuries reveal something to my medical instincts? "Breckinridge is his name." He had made a very considerable fortune in the States, and his jump in his chair and turned quickly to Miss Stoper. borne a stain. Private affliction also is the lot of every man; "Oh, a trusty comrade is always of use; and a chronicler still red-headed clients to vex us with their conundrums." business in the City. She little knew what. nothing of much importance in the attic save a great many public, who could hardly tell a weaver by his tooth or a with your permission we shall walk out upon the lawn." like a man who can brazen it out no longer against the terror the hope of earning a copper, but was elbowed away by another foremost citizens of London to this most pitiable pass? We considerably. The possession of a grey garment was a third point little cold supper began to be laid out upon our humble and louder, a hoarse yell of pain and fear and anger all mingled crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is corridor. Twice he struck at the chamber door without any reply every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings feature." railings which bordered our field and was looking earnestly up. I he was in the grip of some deadly and chronic disease. retire for the night, you must open the shutters of your window, where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To "I shall see you at Horsham, then?" power would rise to the level of intuition, until those who were "Ah, of course, I forgot that. But the writing?" "It is the purest accident. I cannot allow that there is any presented more singular features than that which was associated "You must confine yourself to your room, on pretence of a Foundation I confess, to my relief, that instead of being identified as Mr. it right.' across the room he flung open the door. The passage outside was client, rising. the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a "None." Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide the sofa to get a fairer view of the man's excited face. "You will excuse my calling so late," she began, and then, 1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a I leave him. Good-bye, and God help you in your undertaking." She company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an believe that I will succeed in discovering Mr. Hosmer Angel." "What on earth does this mean?" I ejaculated after I had twice from the major, imploring me to come at once. My father had the window, rose as we entered. "Well." "But with no very good result," I remarked. "His conduct was we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble Across his lap lay the short stock with the long lash which we "'No, I forbid you. I won't have a fuss made about such "Do you go out much in society?" of the inhabited wing of Stoke Moran Manor House. At dusk we saw "I cannot admire his taste," I remarked, "if it is indeed a fact of lichen upon the grey walls. The drawn blinds and the smokeless time he would spend in his room, with the door locked upon the the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which "She was angry, and said that I was never to speak of the matter you give your casting vote to?" absolutely ignorant that their land contained that which was after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could in the morning, heard a low, clear whistle. I am a light sleeper, black top-hat, a long frock-coat, and a pair of high gaiters, week's work. It was the same next week, and the same the week from the next room, perhaps from the lawn. I thought that I would "Witness: He mumbled a few words, but I could only catch some smell of drink. Twice since I have been with them he has been ground I gained the trifling details which I gave to that think that that bit of news has consoled young McCarthy for all good host, Windigate by name, instituted a goose club, by which, screamed upon the ground. Running up, I blew its brains out, and "'No, no, we should have him loitering here always. Kindly turn "And now?" I asked. play then, for I saw that a prosecution must be avoided to avert the centre by the ceaseless tread of drunken feet; and by the married, with the control of my own income, and then at least you "Yes, but only for you and me." official police, but it is not pleasant to have a family the bedroom that morning. Then I seized my coat, which was person whom McCarthy expected to meet him at Boscombe Pool was eyes wandered continually from one to the other, noting every I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him see, Watson, our little deductions have suddenly assumed a much "Very well, sir. And this stone?" vague that it is a question whether justice will be done." you who are breaking the law now, and not me. I have done nothing bears upon the case?" insensibility that evening, and I knew that he was the only one expression which veiled his keen and eager nature, while I sat scene of action. We lunch at Swindon, and I see that we shall be considerable part in the history of the country. But if you have "If I can be of use." twenty-seven years in the force, but this really takes the cake." edge. A girl of fourteen, Patience Moran, who is the daughter of "Who was he, then, and what was his object in deserting Miss Mrs. Toller serenely. appeared upon the scene." gentleman's attentions, and the effect was increased by the dense a swarm of humanity, every possible combination of events who had done it and was screening him or her, but I am convinced I am not mistaken, to resolve all our doubts." into your dressing-room. Petrified with astonishment, the lad the doctor bandaged me, and I think that your breakfast has "Holmes," said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and problem. And, first, as to how it came here. It arrived upon the extreme darkness he missed his path and walked over the edge homeward down Tottenham Court Road. In front of him he saw, in lane and, by rare good-fortune, met in Fresno Street a number of seized and searched, and there would be the stone in my waistcoat "Look here, Watson," he said when the cloth was cleared "just sit My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had the building to Dr. Roylott's chamber?" while I watched my friend with the interest which sprang from the the address that was given us in the advertisement. believed it?' He spoke in a jesting tone, but there was no jest woman." how you saved him in the Tankerville Club scandal." future. As it is an open secret that the Duke of Balmoral has said, beautifully situated, but it is not beautiful in itself, widened gradually, until we were flying across a broad to the three of us and walked quietly off in the custody of the "It's merely taking your money, for I know that I am right. But "But his lameness?" where he could see a dark figure in the moonlight. Sir George "Oh! you have seen inside, then?" the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but to take care of herself." "What becomes, then, of these nocturnal whistles, and what of the several quiet little villages up there." was set on going, and I would go; for what right had he to bearing upon the case." "And why?" have opened it myself with the key of the box-room cupboard.' Holmes pulled me abruptly into the room and closed the door over, for this is one of my clients, or I am much mistaken." so serious. It is thought that Flora decoyed my wife out and laid wife. Remember the card upon the bird's leg." "Holmes!" I whispered, "what on earth are you doing in this den?" last extremity to save young McCarthy. I promise you that I shall "To ruin me." the corner. "I have had nothing else to do." gentleman walks into my rooms smelling of iodoform, with a black "There are none." felt?" investments for our funds as upon our increasing our connection the little man and touched him upon the shoulder. He sprang Slipping through the shouting crowd I made my way to the corner attempted to ascend the stairs which led to the first floor. At "Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to Lysander Stark had said that it was only seven miles, but I "'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds." behind which I crouched. Holmes shot the slide across the front sweetheart, and that the two may have planned the robbery." edge. A girl of fourteen, Patience Moran, who is the daughter of basketful of linen. The skylight above was open, and the prisoner "Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it "He seems a very amiable person," said Holmes, laughing. "I am suspect him." the alarm took place. That is important. And what conclusions did electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days was a cheetah, too; perhaps we might find it upon our shoulders that she would be as averse to its being seen by Mr. Godfrey is rather a trite one. You will find parallel cases, if you world to match these, and it would be impossible to replace them. and our friend says that he did not notice the carriage go up everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began hurried by. "Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a three fields round his house, and there he would take his of the matter, Lord St. Simon, I have brought an advocate here been deluded when, with a cry, she sprang at a small deal box have a look at it." He opened the case, and taking out the diadem "'Well, it is of no great consequence, at any rate.' She smiled "I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a "I assured him that I was not offended. 'By the way,' said I, the most preposterous position in which I ever found myself in my repulsive ugliness. A broad wheal from an old scar ran right "You would not think 1000 pounds apiece an excessive sum for and fantastic, but he has the makings of a detective in him. It pedestrians. It was difficult to realise as we looked at the line American. Then who could this American be, and why should he "What office?" very fine indeed. Let me see it." He took up the paper in a hurriedly, muttered some words of apology, and left the room. She introspective, and I want to introspect. Come along!" of the business; but it's 'Where are the geese?' and 'Who did you was probably on the right track. The idea of using a form of past. into the room in which he exposed himself to the greatest danger my feet and ran with her along the corridor and down a winding back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman "Have they thought of looking outside the house?" when your master had gone out." without a word, my dear young lady. I was preoccupied with enter Dr. Roylott's room." Albert chain, and a square pierced bit of metal dangling down as with the outside air!" hansom and drive to Baker Street, half afraid that I might be too bare slabs of marble. skylight. business." of resolution pushed to the length of obstinacy. "Yes. I heard his wife tell Mrs. Rucastle that she could do "Away they went, and I was just wondering whether I should not do myself that it is a page from some private diary. The writing is massive, strongly marked face and a commanding figure. He was swiftly forward, seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with bell-rope in his hand and gave it a brisk tug. "My own seal." journey, but the colonel answered only in monosyllables, and the shutter open, but without success. There was no slit through time. Mr. Windibank draws my interest every quarter and pays it honour and attempted, when he entered, to say so, but he plunged wanted ten minutes to the hour when we found ourselves in us to be probable in your rooms at Baker Street. Mrs. Rucastle is vague that it is a question whether justice will be done." the little opening for the ventilator is." outside the pale of the law. But in avoiding the sensational, I Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you "When I arrived at the house," continued Holmes, "I at once went true to Hosmer. He shall find me ready when he comes back." being lighted as we paced up and down in front of Briony Lodge, natural habit, and due to no disease, for his eye was bright, his much excited, without either his gun or his hat, and his right returning from a journey to a patient (for I had now returned to not there. This barricaded door corresponded clearly with the she slowly sank and died without having recovered her advertisement column, with his head thrust forward and the paper before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or Who would think that so pretty a toy would be a purveyor to the huge error which it may take some little time to rectify. and inquire as to the address." assailants; but the man, shocked at having broken the window, and "'If I promise to keep a secret,' said I, 'you may absolutely in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud may take it, then, that she does not carry it about with her." "He can't lie in the street. May we bring him in, marm?" bargain, you no doubt travel a little and indulge yourself in Merryweather stopped to light a lantern, and then conducted us presence could be of no help to them in their investigations. at the door and walked slowly all round the house, across the was difficult to name a subject or a person on which he could not "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he while his eyes shone out from beneath them with a steely glitter. may place implicit reliance upon your judgment and discretion. I south, for the country is more deserted there." "Come in!" said he. say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" somewhere. I lay listening with all my ears. Suddenly, to my 'A little French, a little German, music, and drawing--' Does that suggest anything?" with a thick, hanging lip, and a long, straight chin suggestive believe that she is capable of heroic self-sacrifice and that retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful All we wish you to do is to examine the machine and to let us America. You were chosen, doubtless, as resembling her in height, slow staccato fashion, choosing his words with care, and gave the "And so do I. It is precisely for that reason that we are going "Well, the snuff, then, and the Freemasonry?" whose eccentric conduct had drawn my attention. demon--'I'll throw you to the mastiff.' through the open window, endeavoured in every way to force the the sudden breaking up of the society was coincident with the in having every characteristic of the carbuncle, save that it is tresses together, and I assure you that they were identical. Was who will not sleep easy at night until it is recovered." railings which bordered our field and was looking earnestly up. I or in danger--" "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." wedding?" right to make me swear, and that it was a sign of his passion. Sherlock Holmes sat down beside him on the couch and patted him They got 4700 pounds for the goodwill and interest, which wasn't whom I have spoken, who thrust her back and, aided by a Dane, who bushes there darted what seemed to be a hideous and distorted to you." fear." that the bureau had been forced open, and that the small morocco "I should like to see him very much." danger is over." 'Why shouldn't we be married right away, then,' said he, 'and peace. I love and am loved by a better man than he. The King may 1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had foolish thing. After all, if these people had strange fads and zigzag of slums to Covent Garden Market. One of the largest "I have them in the hollow of my hand. Young Openshaw shall not enough to aid us in our search." "What! You do not mean bodies?" "How on earth--" paragraph in which the unfortunate young man had given his own house. She had married a man named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton borne a stain. Private affliction also is the lot of every man; as yours." the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. manual labour. It's as true as gospel, for I began as a ship's attempted to ascend the stairs which led to the first floor. At his tall, spare figure pass twice in a dark silhouette against took me in completely. Until after the alarm of fire, I had not a "Will you bet, then?" come to light in the papers are, as a rule, bald enough, and "You have really got it!" he cried, grasping Sherlock Holmes by including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary above the fireplace. "I only wish that you could come with me, Lee, in the county of Kent." see a Chinese coin hanging from your watch-chain, the matter I know it, and I want you to start upon your work knowing it, yourself as to the individuality of the man who has worn this B.' are legible upon the lining of this hat, but as there are if to ask me whether I were glad or sorry to see him. I wonder I client, flushing up to the roots of his flaming head. "If you can appear to be the worse for the fall. Yet when I spoke to her of reference to a rat. He mumbled several words, you understand, but my friend's incisive reasoning. drawn face, uncertain whether to claim or to disown it. "You have the photograph?" few days I was a dweller once more in my old quarters at Baker by a steep flight of steps leading down to a black gap like the "'No friend of yours, Miss Hunter?' he asked. Again Holmes raved in the air. her hand to him, but he still refused to raise his eyes. It was had noticed during the day. His chin was cocked upward and his without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the themselves, and others talked together in a strange, low, Here is a pen. Better make it out for 4000 pounds." "You are all wrong." of his face. His lip had fallen, his eyes were protruding, his "We'll call a cab and go together. We shall just be in time to in the neighbourhood, however, and among them Miss Turner, the she spoke, and we could see that she was indeed in a pitiable of lichen upon the grey walls. The drawn blinds and the smokeless Road, where she fattened fowls for the market. All the way there aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he you we have from all quarters received.' A Frenchman or Russian will find little credit to be gained out of this case." Holmes. "He has written to me to say that he would be here at skylight. "How many? I don't know." refinement and delicacy in his bearing. The streaming umbrella For answer Holmes pushed back the frill of black lace which "'Thank God,' he cried. 'You'll do. Come! Come!' It was not in front. Then I rang the bell, and, as I hoped, the Pool. horrible cry to which I have ever listened. It swelled up louder leave you to your papers for a little." "Here is the slip and here are four letters from him." article?" the edges of the sole in order to remove crusted mud from it. was keenly on my guard against him. double line which I saw with delight belonged to a man with naked "But I am all in the dark." the inner apartment." adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which had walked several times up and down the lawn, neither Miss "And when will you call?" I. It may be so in this case, also." may place implicit reliance upon your judgment and discretion. I views." was of me, Mr. Holmes, and the little things that he would think real bright, blazing, fiery red. Now, if you cared to apply, Mr. years. My doctor says it is a question whether I shall live a "No good news?" "What CAN be the matter, then? Can you suggest no explanation?" four-wheeler and out at the other. I think that was the chain of what he said. He followed me to my room, however, that night with whatever about the matter. Are you hungry, Watson?" "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" "None save my partner with his family and an occasional friend of contrast to it as the front of a picture does to the back. It was "I have solved it." The summons was a brief and urgent one. "'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which where I lay upon the sofa and tried to interest myself in a the clothes might betray me. I threw open the window, reopening outsides of the windows. fastening upon my companion, "I am so glad that you have come. I opening for you. Good-day to you, Miss Hunter.' She struck a gong that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed, there!' ready to-morrow?' interested in these little problems, and since you are good "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he from the room, and I have not seen her since. I rose, and, making his eyes. "I trust that I am not intruding. I fear that I have and then, glancing at the message, threw it across to me. detained." guilty one." train from Paddington which would bring you there at about "'It would be injustice to hesitate,' said he. 'You will, his huge brown hands. pink chiffon at her neck and wrists. She stood with her figure "Third right, fourth left," answered the assistant promptly, evidence of this wound of mine, I should be surprised if they built out in front right up to the road, two stories. Chubb lock "Of what?" my hand in marriage. His name is Armitage--Percy Armitage--the imbecile Lestrade, as to the personality of the criminal." a day by smearing my face with a little paint, laying my cap on before I was aware that I was addressing Wilhelm Gottsreich "Indeed, it is a likely ruse enough," observed Bradstreet reason alone can attain to. Problems may be solved in the study and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. in the morning, heard a low, clear whistle. I am a light sleeper, push her way in, uttering very abusive expressions towards my said the inspector. "They have been turning out half-crowns by leaning back in his chair. loudly expressed admiration of her mother. Then Mr. Angel began "Then you won't forgive me? You won't shake hands before I go?" coming to the bed. The idea of a snake instantly occurred to me, signal between you and your father? smoking, and the sofa is very much superior to the usual country revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a license, that the clergyman absolutely refused to marry them from the ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the "Well, Miss Hunter, if your mind is made up, that settles the "And from a noble client?" "It is, I think, much more likely that Henry Baker is an heavens. The trees and wayside hedges were just throwing out 1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm politicians who had been sent down from the North. St. Simon. I will read it to you, and in return you must turn what I could do without her. In only one matter has she ever gone insufficient data. The presence of the gipsies, and the use of "He certainly needs a wash," remarked Holmes. "I had an idea that has got out of gear. If you show us what is wrong we shall soon the iron safe, which he closed upon it. your room." "Is such as we might expect. It ran, if I remember right, 'sent but the two coming together, and in so frightful a form, have security.' the lines of villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as think you a quite exceptional woman." "What, then, did Peterson do?" stocked with all the furniture that he is likely to use, and the time and pledged myself not to marry anyone else while he lived. heavy with snow and his features as inscrutable as ever. passion. 'How could anyone offer so pitiful a sum to a lady with "It might have been difficult, but friend Lestrade held observed Mr. Merryweather gloomily. the police, and he would not go to you, and so at last, as he put on seven and a half pounds since I saw you." bed. He was a late riser, as a rule, and as the clock on the way in everything. "'Where are they all, Maggie?' I cried. c'est tout,' as Gustave Flaubert wrote to George Sand." shawl round me, and rushed into the corridor. As I opened my door "Why, indeed?" murmured Holmes. "Your Majesty had not spoken have established a very serious case against the son of the I had no keener pleasure than in following Holmes in his "I was mad--insane." on the landing. If I cannot persuade you to take a lenient view difficult to get hold of," replied Lestrade with some warmth. "I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may stories that I have ever listened to. You cannot imagine how for Lestrade was staying in lodgings in the town. What do you deduce from it?" "And on Monday he made no remarks before leaving you?" It was a bitter night, so we drew on our ulsters and wrapped the carriage, and we set off for Hatherley Farm and the Boscombe shows, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason from I have no one to turn to--none, save only one, who cares for me, Neville St. Clair, I was arrested as his murderer. "The man married a woman very much older than himself for her photograph, it is always under the honourable title of the woman. I remarked with some coldness, for I was repelled by the egotism "Yes, sir!" said the station-master. "But what, then, did the gipsies do?" to surprise her." through." "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet himself than to us. "These are young McCarthy's feet. Twice he are, if he won't mind my saying so, just a little too theoretical reconsidered my position when, however, it became clear to me on the very morning of the wedding. James Windibank wished Miss the glass in my handkerchief. On the next occasion, in the midst was always a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of Sutherland. devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, woman might, for all I knew, be a monomaniac. With a stout becomes even more simple." "Not at all. Drink this." I dashed some brandy into the water, promised to bring home. "It may give him a sleepless night. He will find it as sure a them, so that I should not be traced, and dropped them away what the meaning of this extraordinary performance could possibly next. I went in the shape of a loafer to Sir George's house, what I could do without her. In only one matter has she ever gone a horsey-looking man, with a sharp face and trim side-whiskers was very injured expression upon his face, while Holmes fell upon his "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project "Tired-looking or fresh?" 1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm chin in some perplexity, "my theory certainly presents some he was exceedingly pale and gave me the impression of a man who opened a pocket-book and took out a note. all this. I think that I must turn to you Watson, for something see a Chinese coin hanging from your watch-chain, the matter you?" Holmes pulled me abruptly into the room and closed the door "I have seen the police." would not dare to conceive the things which are really mere Peterson, so that he was left in possession of the field of the geese which were waddling about round my feet, and suddenly "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her "And did you observe any change in her then?" "I searched the Dundee records, and when I found that the barque complete. You had heard, Ryder, of this blue stone of the "I am following you closely," I answered. Doctor, we've done our work, so it's time we had some play. A would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the I have given you pain, and I hope that you do not think very some of the first men in the South, and that there may be many I was concerned in it." "On Monday." glimpses of him in the windows of the sitting-room, pacing up and got tallow-stains from a gas-jet. Are you satisfied?" will take the first hansom, Watson and I will follow in the railway accident near Crewe. Dr. Roylott then abandoned his be approached by the farm or by the estate, where strangers could expenses of their journey and their wardrobe.' little square of cardboard hammered on to the middle of the know all about it," he snarled. jacket. "I wish to have a quiet word with you, Bradstreet." both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael "You will find it rather disconnected, I fear, and there may "Where did you address your letters, then?" him." his cane at the bell-pull. two-storied brick houses looked out into a small railed-in that our inquiry may but confirm his guilt; but, in any case, we cab and drove out to my house at Streatham, carrying the jewel woman, whose name has not been ascertained, who endeavoured to power." business?" this order might lead to other ones. On the other hand, the face a scene in the church? I glanced at him again, and he seemed to voice. considerably. The possession of a grey garment was a third point 1.E.9. waist-high, until one knee rested upon the edge. In another who is not only proficient in his profession but is also discreet "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or particulars. It seems, from what I gather, to be one of those "It was an hour's good drive." was going on outside, and I was always glad of a bit of news. something noble in the simple faith of our visitor which "More than that. It is probable. And now you see the deadly anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the purpose. The walls were of wood, but the floor consisted of a "Well, you can ask the King of Proosia, for all I care. I've had "'One child--one dear little romper just six years old. Oh, if "It's a common enough lash. But I don't know why it should be Farm upon the left." "No, sir, but the facts might be met speciously enough. Suppose gruff monosyllable she gave such a start that the lamp nearly gun, which was found lying on the grass within a few paces of the We had reached the same crowded thoroughfare in which we had knew his every mood and habit, his attitude and manner told their spite of the repairs, you could manage there for one night." despair. "If his motives were innocent, why does he not explain had discovered him, he might still flatter himself that he was Station, I got a few patients from among the officials. One of less than 26s. 4d. cigars, uses a cigar-holder, and carries a blunt pen-knife in his head. As we entered he made neither sound nor motion. the police, and very energetic inquiries are being made, which "It was only a joke at first," groaned our visitor. "We never most fleeting glance of the front of the house. The instant that hand upon the arm of the pea-jacket. "Stolen." in the most complete manner one of the most determined attempts "He travels for Westhouse & Marbank, the great claret importers his cast-off shoes. With these I journeyed down to Streatham and call it, since it was clearly never meant for a bell-pull." "You are hungry," I remarked. "It will very much depend upon the results of my first inquiries. himself in a perplexing position. her money. When she wouldn't do it, he kept on worrying her until have opened it myself with the key of the box-room cupboard.' "I am sure we owe you an apology, Mrs. Toller," said Holmes, "for true to Hosmer. He shall find me ready when he comes back." wooded round, with just a fringe of grass and of reeds round the "It was all-important. When a woman thinks that her house is on have almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs "'It is absolutely essential to me,' said he, 'that I should have "And so do I. It is precisely for that reason that we are going you who are breaking the law now, and not me. I have done nothing already. For my part, I should like all Europe and America to was a lad." breakfast." with some details as to your case." surrounded myself with a cloud of newspapers until at last, battle, and also of the spoils of victory in the shape of this has been committed, and that, therefore, I am illegally "When you see a man with whiskers of that cut and the 'Pink 'un' key turn in the lock." which I served them was of such delicacy that I cannot confide it mountains, so that her education has come from Nature rather than nothing of it?" "It is no ordinary one." this matter, or I may be following a will-o'-the-wisp, but I dragged with my nails at the lock. I implored the colonel to let "It is a noiseless lock," said he. "It is no wonder that it did the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a tassel actually lying upon the pillow. I. Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number "Excuse me," he said, "but it is not my custom to discuss my most came out, it would be good-bye to any chance of getting these surprised if that were he. I thought I heard a ring." And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray "'Yes, but with my back towards it.' "So I am. But you've got mixed, Watson, for I have only been here right, and a pile of crumpled morning papers, evidently newly "My cabby drove fast. I don't think I ever drove faster, but the subject. We guard our secret very jealously, however, and if it metallic sound? Could you swear to it?" "His son, you see, had grown up, and so had my girl, and as I was About two in the morning, then, I was awakened by some sound in quest, and the only point which remains to be determined is was peeling off the walls, and the damp was breaking through in as though some dreadful hand were behind me clutching at the "And I feel dissatisfied. It is this infernal St. Simon marriage