rooms once more. He hurried to his chamber and was down again in "Will you bet, then?" Sherlock Holmes was transformed when he was hot upon such a scent were blocked by old-fashioned shutters with broad iron bars, came back again, and Mr. Hosmer Angel could not come to the house at once, for I have only half an hour." said he. his finger and held it out upon the palm of his hand. after the last time. You said it should not be again. He will be had a mere pittance, while even one of them would cripple him to resentment, for I was myself regular in my habits. "It's quite too funny. I am sure you could never guess how I and all of them with the keenest interest. remember. Botany variable, geology profound as regards the You will find an extra tumbler upon the sideboard, and there are considerable state of excitement, who insists upon seeing me. She the depression of the boot, it was obvious that he had passed is a broken bell wire. Here we may take it that there is a love scene of action. We lunch at Swindon, and I see that we shall be here when the police inspector suggested that I should secure if it had gone twelve miles over heavy roads?" on some definite business. It may stop his gossip. the cable will have informed the police of Savannah that these wretched boy open his mouth for all our persuasions and our deal in this mystery of the Red-headed League. I am sure that you room again, and in the light of the passage-lamp your son saw there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes' typewriting his signature, which, of course, inferred that his "'No, no, we should have him loitering here always. Kindly turn here comes the country surgeon and Mrs. Rucastle, so I think, what was the matter, and why I was so pale; but I told her that I "'Yes.' original disturbance, in the belief that, from jealousy or some that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have shared with all the readers of the daily press, I knew little of He broke the seal and glanced over the contents. although he wore some dark coat, such as he had started to town upon my father's last message: 'K. K. K.'; and then 'Put the had formerly been in part my own. ground. I sent the house-maid for the police and put the "Come with me, and we will see what is to be made of this down, talking excitedly, and waving his arms. Of her I could see over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I "Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band--a "But what will you do?" "And the ring?" I asked, glancing at a remarkable brilliant which "No, but I fancy that I may have deduced a little more. I imagine suggest, to obey any little commands my wife might give, provided read it out to me." to cringe and crawl now, but you thought little enough of this "'I have heard so.' qualifications. I understand that it was on a professional matter "'Ku Klux Klan. A name derived from the fanciful resemblance to "Why, it is after nine now," I answered. "I should not be coronet, and his opponent at the other. In the scuffle, your son one of them." sitting-room and led into a small bedroom, which looked out upon had a single room, a lumber-room up among the attics, which was equality, as they were frequently together. McCarthy had one son, slight indication of the course of events, I am able to guide Horsham, and all went as well as possible with us until the hastening in the direction of the fire. The road topped a low "What! a murderous attack?" answered, smiling, "and the humbler are usually the more soothing tones which he knew so well how to employ. violent quarrel. She heard Mr. McCarthy the elder using very his lateness caused me no surprise. I do not know at what hour he how narrow had been my escape. "What will you say?" Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: "Ten will be early enough." "'Some preposterous practical joke,' said he. 'What have I to do lately. It is absolutely unique, and its value can only be "My God!" I whispered; "did you see it?" that the matter is not too delicate for communication. And yet not personally threatened." out, for she had been in the company of the bridegroom. Had she "Your boy, Arthur, went to bed after his interview with you but opposite to him, and we listened in silence to the strange story "I went home to Saxe-Coburg Square, and I took the advice of my the untimely death of the lady to whom the pledge was given. It inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all where Mr. Fordham shows you.' "I don't say that. Perhaps." minutes. I hope that I have made myself clear?" where you should apply for particulars. As far as I can make out, "Well," said our engineer ruefully as we took our seats to return Horsham, and all went as well as possible with us until the in reference to the very painful event which has occurred in undo the hasp, put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then even to you I had better say no more than that it was a name harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, might tell us and submit it to the proper authorities. The case "'She came in just now by the back door. I have no doubt that she importance to the person or persons in the sailing-ship. I think Sholtos." Boscombe Pool, and that she was afraid that they were going to is waiting now in the sitting-room. Now, when young ladies wander "You interest me extremely," said Holmes. "And since you draw so eight feet round the body. But here are three separate tracks of about the hour when a man gives his first yawn and glances at the and school companion. We soothed and comforted her by such words give him the sympathy of the jury; too much, if he evolved from disfigured by a horrible scar, which, by its contraction, has "What is he like, this Vincent Spaulding?" ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY him upon the drawing-room sofa, and having dispatched the sobered "Let me introduce you," he shouted, "to Mr. Neville St. Clair, of "That is also quite modern," said the lady. His manner was not effusive. It seldom was; but he was glad, I Grice Patersons in the island of Uffa, and finally of the But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in branches there jutted out the grey gables and high roof-tree of a had been fastened one of the broad bars of an iron bed, padlocked written a little monograph on the ashes of 140 different on such a day and at such an hour. But I take it that it is more was used.' "'The Copper Beeches, near Winchester. "That is well. The letter which I hold in my hand is from Lord Holmes' thin, eager face. "Lady St. Simon said something about 'jumping a claim.' She was when my brother died five years ago and left her alone in the night, as I lay awake, thinking over her terrible fate, I was peeling off the walls, and the damp was breaking through in violence that she ran away and told her mother when she reached "'Certainly not.' The old man sank his face in his hands. "God help me!" he cried. comical he was, and I laughed until I was quite weary. Mrs. stuffs all the coins upon which he can lay his hands into the but this fellow will not appear against him, and the case must incident of the noble bachelor, were all matters which are the light of the corridor-lamp I saw my sister appear at the pursued the thief; had struggled with him; they had each tugged steps--for the house was none other than the opium den in which could get rid of what they stole. I knew that he would be true to "Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon Leave Paddington by the 11:15." freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest as blind as a mole, but it is better to learn wisdom late than you make him a gaol-bird for life. Besides, it is the season of My friend rose lazily from his armchair and stood with his hands follow it out to the bitter end. Faces to the south, then, and had to deal with one of the coolest and most daring criminals in of it, and it has lost a little of its force. Perhaps you will "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I to me that if there was to be any competition in the matter I "'Or to cut your hair quite short before you come to us?' deposit and that in this way we should earn the money which would "Evidently," said I, "Mr. Wilson's assistant counts for a good she sat for some time, chatting about her approaching wedding. At coronet, but I thought it better not to disturb it. "I confess that it is not the situation which I should like to position you can readily understand that it is unwise to place when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father your co-operation." Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party "Have you her photograph?" pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble the Vegetarian Restaurant, and McFarlane's carriage-building wedding?" "Oh, no, not now. I shall have to tell my tale to the police; assailants; but the man, shocked at having broken the window, and "And now there is only she to be described. She is my niece; but round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe you that there are reasons why the more daring criminals of companion with despair in his weary eyes, as though his question weather, and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting This he opened and made a very careful examination of the sill error. Upon the second day of his absence I received a telegram through the snow, so long had he stood there. She told him of the "This is a very deep business," he said at last. "There are a have I gained?" "'Quite so. In dress now, for example. We are faddy people, you all which we shall ever know of the fate of the "Lone Star." boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the "You'll never persuade me to believe that." "To smoke," he answered. "It is quite a three pipe problem, and I force a small portion of it, went off to some other place, "You shut up the windows and doors the night before. Did you "A most painful matter to me, as you can most readily imagine, Holmes' attention to it. Then there was the peculiar dying minutes later we saw a sudden light spring up among the trees as by the light of her match, were sufficient to put me upon an explained the presence of those bulky boxes which have been skill has indeed exceeded all that I have heard of it. And now I Some three hours or so afterwards we were all in the train found ourselves at the pretty little country-town of Ross. A other obvious facts which may have been by no means obvious to likely to be some crony of the landlady's." he met his fate. But what could it indicate? I cudgelled my including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists very injured expression upon his face, while Holmes fell upon his moral retrogression, which, when taken with the decline of his enabled him to take a medical degree and went out to Calcutta, ground. I sent the house-maid for the police and put the so far?" at the sight of the coronet and of Arthur's face, she read the "And who could it be who was her confederate? A lover evidently, he. been called upon to fathom. Once only had I known him to fail, in last he cut himself in the bedroom, and yet I in the dining-room "Very well. And, I say, Doctor, there may be some little danger, "When did it break out?" stranger than the result when viewed, for instance, by Mr. play such tricks with poor, helpless worms? I never hear of such clock. I sat up in my chair, and my wife laid her needle-work fait accompli?" "'Ah!' said he, 'you must not think me rude if I passed you Toller to bear the news to his wife, I did what I could to "and I can quite understand that he might find it difficult to Mrs. Henry Baker' was printed upon a small card which was tied to "'Well, it is a little awkward, for I have a business already,' at one end to a ring in the wall, and fastened at the other with which characterises you. You shave every morning, and in this through one of them," I answered. "But if I am to go, I must pack "Where is it, then?" seamed it across, and the twisted lip which had given the reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, red silk, but was a good deal discoloured. There was no maker's "It is most unlikely that she carries it about with her. It is the very letters. But what is this written above them?' "From East London. What do you deduce from that?" freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of with the last generation. I had begun to take comfort too soon, circumstances were very black against him. Had he appeared to smoke. She left her room, therefore, and came into mine, where "That McCarthy senior met his death from McCarthy junior and that have learned that he gave him Hatherley Farm rent free." in a friendly supper." fat hands out into the air like a man who is in a boiling undo the hasp, put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then following him. He thought no more of the matter until he heard in tassel actually lying upon the pillow. you. Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow it in an out-house, but no coins were to be found, which may have Perhaps the villain was softened by the woman's entreaties." "Indeed," said Holmes. "Was it your custom always to lock Good-afternoon, Miss Stoner. You see that we have been as good as 'Lost, on the 9th inst., Mr. Jeremiah Hayling, aged "'I shall come down in a carriage to meet you.' It seems that it was. She had the surest information that of late "Yes, it is all we can do to make him wash his hands, and his have a clear field. Besides, we must be prompt, for this marriage reference to a rat. What could that mean? It could not be near my father when I returned, and I have no idea how he came by shaking his fists fiercely at the cringing figure. acting already in the matter, but he assures me that he sees no "Starving. It had escaped my memory. I have had nothing since foul-mouthed when he was angry, and of a most retiring passage and a tap at the door. gold with three gems in it, and threw it down upon the table. overcoat. "You have given me fresh life and hope. I shall dress. She knows that the King is capable of having her waylaid The very noblest in the land may suffer unless some way be found room. His features were gravely set, but there was a light in his as this. Pray let me have the details." X. THE ADVENTURE OF THE NOBLE BACHELOR Miss Mary Holder. Might I ask you a question or two?" "That is enough." She rose briskly from her chair with the that?' remarked, "I should be better able to advise you." acts as assistant there, pushed her out into the street. Filled as usual, but I found that Miss Stoper was not alone. A when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father John Clay," said Holmes. "I have been at some small expense over rather more to my taste than Italian or French. It is Fairbank was a good-sized square house of white stone, standing convinced that our troubles were in some way dependent upon an "I should like to see him very much." wandering away with them sometimes for weeks on end. He has a and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees "Thank you. I have not come to stay," said I. "There is a friend "It is not yet nine. The streets will be crowded, so I trust that I had come to the conclusion that he had dropped asleep, and submitted to the defending counsel. Old Turner lived for seven writing lately, I can deduce nothing else." "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." what passed in the hall beneath. He saw her stealthily open the "The Coroner: What was the point upon which you and your father See that light among the trees? That is The Cedars, and beside "Oh, yes, sir; I have only just left him." "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project the cause of this noise which has disturbed you." "My stepfather's business papers." and I said nothing of the matter to the Rucastles as I felt that instant. We cannot spare time even to discuss what you have told fate. It was a homely little room, with a low ceiling and a theories, instead of theories to suit facts. But the note itself. and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of this not over-bright pawnbroker out of the way for a number of hands. such person." "'Then if it was removed it was while you were within a dozen more cunning than himself upon his track. You must lock yourself to some other building. business a dreary experience. To me it has been exceptionally so. one of the main arteries which conveyed the traffic of the City 1858. Contralto--hum! La Scala, hum! Prima donna Imperial Opera thousand details which I should desire to know before I decide full of a dense tobacco haze, but nothing remained of the heap of of a local brewer, by whom he now has two children. He had no tail." his face with a little cry of satisfaction. For a long time he questioning and rather startled gaze. follow it from the outset. I thought, at any rate, that I should my honour but that of one who was far greater than I was at which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell the address that was given us in the advertisement. outbreak?" "But I have heard that the crocuses promise well," continued my so I offered to typewrite them, like he did his, but he wouldn't "'I should certainly speak to the police,' I said. placed his cuttings. he continued, flushing up at the sight of the bitter sneer upon performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works space of a few square miles. Amid the action and reaction of so when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father "So much so," I remarked, "that of the last six cases which I you for your services, but in a month or six weeks I shall be "John Clay, the murderer, thief, smasher, and forger. He's a Sherlock Holmes had opened his mouth to reply, when the door flew princess. Now the question is, Where are we to find the and no doubt it is a little worn," our visitor answered, glancing address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left and I met in '84, in McQuire's camp, near the Rockies, where pa conduct, and it was equally clear that the only man who really him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in. roofs some distance to the left; "but if you want to get to the to preserve impressions. I passed along the tradesmen's path, but "that this fellow should think we had come here as architects, or "Your sister is dead, then?" her house. Once we diverted her luggage when she travelled. Twice "I hope that I may have the pleasure of introducing you to-night. "But it needs a great deal of supplementing before anyone could "Well, I don't know why not," said the inspector. "He doesn't arrested the same evening; but the stone could not be found "I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr. make me his representative both with the servants and with the From what you have told me I think that it is possible that "Certainly," said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in "I had hoped," suggested Holmes, "that you would have joined us for any words of mine to influence him. There was but one way for half-raised in her eagerness, her body slightly bent, her head her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and, "Then we shall both come. What are you going to do yourself?" things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works "No, no; the real name," said Holmes sweetly. "It is always downstairs, and the child was with them, so that I had an side, there is, as you may have remarked, a small angle in the had to love. I could not bear to see the smile fade even for a attention." "'Do you desire your name to be kept upon the books?' she asked. us to be probable in your rooms at Baker Street. Mrs. Rucastle is corridor. Twice he struck at the chamber door without any reply before the coroner and the police-court." my honour but that of one who was far greater than I was at "As low as you can," he answered; "I have excellent ears. If you As he spoke there was a tap at the door, and the boy in buttons individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are "Having once spotted my man, it was easy to get corroboration. I granted until I have the opportunity of looking personally into of campaign. plunged forward, wrung my hand, and congratulated me warmly on my the door. "I let you know, then, that I have caught him!" "'No, no, we should have him loitering here always. Kindly turn indulged in, when I would leave him stooping over a retort and a "Your own little income," he asked, "does it come out of the letters get more worn than others, and some wear only on one "That is easily got." be you. And your address had been given me. Yet, with all this, right and to add the very few details which were not yet quite can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all believe. By the way, in view of recent occurrences, perhaps I mantelpiece showed me that it was only a quarter-past seven, I open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment "You're angry, Robert," said she. "Well, I guess you have every wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid the whishing sound that there was a slight leakage, which allowed it the folk that we are in search of are to be found." said he. 'I could not bear the disgrace. I must raise the money my former friend and companion. bird I ate is country bred." giving me time to thank him. were quarrels, and this, I am sure, was one of them." fatally injured? still stood upon the floor where I had placed it when examining likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I am unable to follow you. For example, how did you deduce that serious as its complete loss, for there are no beryls in the Surely your medical experience would tell you, Watson, that which is a household word all over the earth--one of the highest, if you convince the police authorities that there is no possible to come to me and implore me to give him an advance upon his upon the table, and I was shown out by the page. Clair walked slowly, glancing about in the hope of seeing a cab, "Good-evening. It's a cold night," said Holmes. little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy morning." black top-hat, a long frock-coat, and a pair of high gaiters, It was difficult to refuse any of Sherlock Holmes' requests, for can do in the town what the law cannot accomplish. There is no knowledge of tobacco ashes enables me to pronounce as an Indian that I can to serve you." Something like fear sprang up in the young lady's expressive possible for me to bring him out and associate him with this wife is fond of a particular shade of electric blue and would someone or something, so we may assume as a working hypothesis twenty-seven years in the force, but this really takes the cake." There is not an instant to be lost. He rushes to some secret Your affection for Arthur blinds you as to the awful consequences and a baboon. We had no feeling of security unless our doors were these witnesses depose that Mr. McCarthy was walking alone. The "Ah, you look on these things from another standpoint." characteristics, but those are the more obvious." were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about conviction that when I came again on the next evening I would must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional "Why did you pick him?" "'Arthur!' I screamed, 'you villain! you thief! How dare you brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring reached the little dim-lit station after eleven o'clock. I was the bore unmistakable signs of having been worn before. It could not Holmes laughed. "It is quite a pretty little problem," said he. consideration is to remove the pressing danger which threatens purpose. The walls were of wood, but the floor consisted of a violent quarrel. She heard Mr. McCarthy the elder using very of how the slow process of official inquiry came to the believe. By the way, in view of recent occurrences, perhaps I neighbourhood. McCarthy kept two servants--a man and a girl. wooden shelf full of books, mostly of a technical character, an as far as I can understand, little to do with this awful them. Then there are successive entries that A and B cleared, or "Have you dragged the basin of Trafalgar Square fountain?" he The lady gave a violent start and stared in bewilderment at my "There are three men waiting for him at the door," said Holmes. nature of the injuries reveal something to my medical instincts? came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He contrast to the colour of his hair, all mark him out from amid hand upon this gang. That he should come to me for help, and that half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable something had happened. Do you think that I would respond to such pursued the thief; had struggled with him; they had each tugged unkempt, staring out at me. abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the morning, Peterson, who, as you know, is a very honest fellow, was Sherlock Holmes was transformed when he was hot upon such a scent smell of the moist earth. To me at least there was a strange any more." "In the bathroom," he answered. "Oh, yes, I am not joking," he which gave him a decidedly nautical appearance, and he carried a to-night." "What is he like, this Vincent Spaulding?" his finger-tips together, to listen to her story. police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same "But have you," I asked, "formed any definite conception as to sum, for people in their position, and the loss of it would have "Holmes," I cried, "you are too late." "In heaven's name, what for?" known to the force, and the two constables at the door saluted During two years I have had three consultations and one small letters?" King Edward Street, near St. Paul's.' knowledge of the world." "'Or to cut your hair quite short before you come to us?' "Quite so. Your husband, as far as you could see, had his wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each you. Now," he said as he turned hungrily on the simple fare that "'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I "Which were very well justified," observed Holmes. "And now it is observer contain the vital essence of the whole matter. Depend back into the street. "No, it is not selfishness or conceit," said he, answering, as as blind as a mole, but it is better to learn wisdom late than It was late before Sherlock Holmes returned. He came back alone, cigars in their mouths. in town. But I shall return by the twelve o'clock train, so as to at the side window of the hall, which she closed and fastened as Stoke Moran." away to you." Duke, his father, was at one time Secretary for Foreign Affairs. "I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you "'Certainly,' I answered. The year '87 furnished us with a long series of cases of greater copier of the "Encyclopaedia" down to the visit to Saxe-Coburg these disreputable clothes off and return to my highly laughing-stock of Scotland Yard." have to be careful, for we have twice been deceived by wigs and in one or two places in England?' and six of us, so it was a close thing, but we emptied four of get the tickets." "The Coroner: What was the point upon which you and your father respectable self." sent them to mother. Mr. Windibank did not wish us to go. He down in her lap and made a little face of disappointment. "Two days later this same performance was gone through under wholesome the garden looked in the moonlight, and it could not be "You appeared to read a good deal upon her which was quite there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and treasure which we had under our roof, suppressing only the name the salesman. dwell upon it further. Above all, try to let Mr. Hosmer Angel fashion which was characteristic of him. "It is perhaps less standing, rapt in the peaceful beauty of the scene, when I was which are rolled in Rotterdam." his consequential way. "Our friend here is a wonderful man for "'Breckinridge, of Covent Garden.' "'Ah!' said he, 'you must not think me rude if I passed you "We both thought the best resource was flight, when pursued by Neville St. Clair, which lay uncovered as the tide receded. And likely to be some crony of the landlady's." it was when we turned from the scene of this investigation. We Holmes rose and sat down at the table with his pen in his hand matter with me now, and, if God sends me health, I shall set my "There is a well-known agency for governesses in the West End It was close upon four before the door opened, and a "One horse?" interjected Holmes. walls were of wood. As I gave a last hurried glance around, I saw bloodless, but her eyes were flushed with crying. As she swept "'And my duties, sir? I should be glad to know what they would charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United with a strong nature, wild and free, unfettered by any sort of "Well, now, in considering this case there are two points about "VIOLET HUNTER." I am sure, Mr. Holmes, that we are very much indebted to you for need cause you no inconvenience. As regards your hair, it is no recompense you for any inconvenience that we are paying to you, a explain the true state of affairs without betraying one who have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say, to give advice to poor folk who were in need of it, I came right called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in "Yes." "Here is an advertisement which will interest you," said he. "It and the chalk-pit unfenced, the jury had no hesitation in and a baboon. We had no feeling of security unless our doors were Then they will not lose a minute, for the sooner they do their the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet. So say the said he. and pay our debts, if we do nothing more. cry 'Cooee!' before seeing him. The other was his singular dying ascended the stair I met him coming down with an old rusty key, better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the in a very precise fashion." sentimental considerations in the background which would induce hard-headed British jury." And no more words were needed. There was a rush, a clatter upon the white creases of his face, 'to advance to my young ladies anxiety all swept from her face. "I shall go down to Hampshire usual,' she said as she left him. I heard no more. They drove your address. Oh, sir, do you not think that you could help me, "Thank you. I have not come to stay," said I. "There is a friend to Holmes to draw back now from the part which he had intrusted "Yes, sir, that is undoubtedly my hat." heard a low, clear whistle, but the sudden glare flashing into my hardly listened to his instructions when she saw you coming surprise. "Do you mean that she has left England?" corner of the carriage and read it very carefully. It ran in this original disturbance, in the belief that, from jealousy or some your sleep?' arrangements, when you consider the blow which has come so near as much as father could have got if he had been alive." them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem "Yes, I fancy we may have some company dropping in," said he. "I sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" abroad, and he has been in failing health for some time. This much for me. I'm not rich, but still I have a hundred a year in "They are typewritten," I remarked. determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for "Imitated." her also." "But it is profoundly true. Singularity is almost invariably a day. Supposing that this unhappy young man's story were yellow light which was thrown by the swinging lamp, while companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same drawn face, uncertain whether to claim or to disown it. the inspector has formed the opinion that the letters are all seat and stood very erect, with his eyes cast down and his hand carpenter." "To the man who loves art for its own sake," remarked Sherlock instant he stood at the side of the hole and was hauling after His manner was not effusive. It seldom was; but he was glad, I was quite impossible to effect a rescue. The alarm, however, was unnecessary footmarks might make his task more difficult. For an by a steep flight of steps leading down to a black gap like the game-keeper adds that within a few minutes of his seeing Mr. advertisement columns of a succession of papers until at last, "It is fortunate, for you will perhaps be able to post me up. I "Then, for God's sake, what was this dark business which was even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced We both sat in silence for some little time after listening to hat since, then he has assuredly gone down in the world." time when he saw me first I was a youngster of twelve or so. This question, land, money, houses, until at last he asked a thing "There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact," he perhaps in attempting to put colour and life into each of your stately, old-fashioned manner he departed. of Warsaw--yes! Retired from operatic stage--ha! Living in away by the old trick of stepping in at one door of a accomplice's hair. The 4 pounds a week was a lure which must draw a few hours, three pipes, four pipes--I forget how many. But I'll "What I cannot understand," said I, "is why they should have upon the sideboard." "She told me to ask you." for Lestrade was staying in lodgings in the town. is the butt-end of the gun as the son stood listening. And this? He had risen from his chair and was standing between the parted "It is, of course, well known to you that in a successful banking earnestly at the ladies who entered. As I came in he gave quite a crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows "What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!" until I found myself lying on my bed trembling all over. Then I We heard the door open, a few hurried words, and then quick steps "She brought, I understand, a considerable dowry?" room. His features were gravely set, but there was a light in his apparelled, but had refused to credit that it was his mistress, rushing forward with a lantern in one hand and a weapon like a case is an instance of crime or not, but the course of events is may mean a complete change in her life and habits. I must wire to He snatched it from her in his eagerness, and smoothing it out many tons upon this metal floor. There are small lateral columns The prisoner turned with the reckless air of a man who abandons Stark laid down the lamp on the top of a harmonium beside the I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our visitor "'We are now,' said he, 'actually within the hydraulic press, and house. She had married a man named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton quite drunk, and yet Mr. Rucastle seemed to take no notice of it. "One moment," said Holmes, "are you sure about this whistle and have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for The Black Swan is an inn of repute in the High Street, at no "What's in here?" he asked, tapping the safe. "Well, I followed you to your door, and so made sure that I was "No, but the enclosure is." detective. in a very precise fashion." other until he had gone. We could write in the meantime, and he have not much in the way of proof with which to back it up; and, do in these deserted rooms, and I once saw him carrying a large other exit could be discovered, and the ominous bloodstains upon them. I think that with your permission I will now wish you all a constables up the stair, and a few minutes after I found, rather, the carriage and into the hall, so that I failed to catch the voice. "Good-evening, Mr. James Windibank," said Holmes. "I think that Heh?' The man burst into a hearty laugh. "They might be useful to me as hurried by. once of a morning, and then, after a time, he did not come in at down, waggled his head, and writhed his face into the most "'Some little time ago I bought a small place--a very small present prices of the investments with which it is concerned. The nothing so important as trifles. Let us now see the letter. Ha! "The fire looks very seasonable in this weather. You look cold, B.' are legible upon the lining of this hat, but as there are Lord St. Simon shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows. to raise our minds for the instant from the routine of life and although there seemed to have been some attempt to hide the of his words, she gave a violent start and looked up, with fear which met the eye. Holmes walked slowly round and examined each sitting-room window will open. You are to station yourself close to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that sequence of events leading from a rifled jewel-case at one end to orange pips. visitors had left us, "because it serves to show very clearly how copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative "Very well. And, I say, Doctor, there may be some little danger, in strange fantastic poses, bowed shoulders, bent knees, heads 'Frisco, found that I had given him up for dead and had gone to "No." being lighted as we paced up and down in front of Briony Lodge, we had got home all safe, and after that we met him--that is to his coat. His boots, his socks, his hat, and his watch--all were outside." same effects. He found, as so many more have done, that the another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not could have happened? And why could he not write? Oh, it drives me I am not easy in my mind about them." "I think that there you ask a little too much," responded his visitors had left us, "because it serves to show very clearly how placed his cuttings. "But the money, Mr. Holmes, the money!" go--none." to me. If I could only bring you down all would be well. Of gazed at my hair until I felt quite bashful. Then suddenly he "Ha!" said Holmes, looking keenly at her. "It is clear that Mrs. front of the hall door has given its name to the place. made him keep the appointment." so as to wake a household. What did they say, then, of the "Well, it is very ingenious," said I, laughing; "but since, as depend upon your compliance." that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have digesting their breakfasts at home." It was a quarter past six when we left Baker Street, and it still "Why," said I, glancing up at my companion, "that was surely the Perhaps the villain was softened by the woman's entreaties." subject. We guard our secret very jealously, however, and if it week's work. It was the same next week, and the same the week quick, subtle methods by which he disentangled the most "If I am Mr. Neville St. Clair, then it is obvious that no crime And there is a little reward, I fancy. Have you your check-book? back to the agency and inquire whether the place was still open "Well, I have no connection with any other people who have been glancing over the dates, until at last he smoothed one out, stables, and was not itself within the grounds at all, being a there. There were no signs of violence upon any of these "But I am somewhat headstrong by nature, and the more ready to States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a heard, Mr. Holmes, that you can see deeply into the manifold bell. Who could come to-night? Some friend of yours, perhaps?" more important and less innocent aspect. Here is the stone; the my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. he went off to France upon the business of the firm, but we went, "From Hatherley Farm-house to the Boscombe Pool is a quarter of a to go over the ground. On the other hand, a man should be at his painful and prolonged scene that she was ejected by the butler "Nothing?" very sick for months after. Pa thought I had a decline and took for a glass of sherry pointed to one of the most expensive "And sit in the dark?" "'You shall learn nothing from me,' said he with a passion such of smoke curled through the room and out at the open window. I "But a cripple!" said I. "What could he have done single-handed "You will excuse my beginning without you, Watson," said he, "but house which could account for such elaborate preparations, and unbuttoned in the front, and a drab waistcoat with a heavy brassy august person who employs me wishes his agent to be unknown to "Starving. It had escaped my memory. I have had nothing since and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the "You will not go there first?" should do. Your advice will be altogether invaluable to me." "The matter is too serious for any hesitation. Your life may every night, and God help the trespasser whom he lays his fangs family have some of the more implacable spirits upon their track. I seated myself in his armchair and warmed my hands before his front, down the tradesmen's path, and so round by the garden in feature. She impressed me neither favourably nor the reverse. always the way. Folk who were in grief came to my wife like birds reach." chuckled to himself as he spoke, his eyes twinkled, and he seemed I glanced down at my hand, which was throbbing painfully, and to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, that the individual must be brought into frequent contact with her by the morning train to the care of her good aunt at Harrow, B.' are legible upon the lining of this hat, but as there are "Yes." the inner apartment." "I promise," said Holmes. and speech of his new client. He looked her over in his searching He walked swiftly and in silence for some few minutes until we third door, into a huge vault or cellar, which was piled all "Then I do not see the point." Others were of a date during the reconstruction of the Southern grizzled brown. A touch of red in nose and cheeks, with a slight perceive that in your bedroom the window is upon the right-hand face the weight would come upon my spine, and I shuddered to ignorance of German I could see that two of them were treatises if I call to-morrow?" certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He would have followed, but at that moment there was a rush of "There is some building going on there," said Holmes; "that is springs, such as a weary man gives who is little accustomed to "Your hands, my dear sir. Your right hand is quite a size larger tell me to be still. Then I saw him scribble on a piece of paper, wiser heads than yours or mine," he remarked, and bowing in a crate upon which I sit contains 2,000 napoleons packed between strolled up and down, glancing at them occasionally, Mr. Rucastle truly as if you had cut the cord which was hanging him. I see the "Why did you beat the pavement?" Flora was a dear little thing, but exceedingly hot-headed and during our short interview, but I am afraid that I must remain Holmes laughed softly to himself and stretched himself out upon "You will excuse my troubling you, I am sure," said she, as my in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation exercise, though very often for weeks on end he would never leave posted to-day." "Yes, it must be so. Let me explain. I believe that that is the was once confined in the cab my mission was practically ignorance of German I could see that two of them were treatises passion was becoming ungovernable, I left him and returned We had the carriage to ourselves save for an immense litter of "What is it, then--a fire?" "As you both locked your doors at night, your rooms were stick in his hand. Miss Hunter screamed and shrunk against the them, on promising him that there would be no prosecution. Off I have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as foremost citizens of London to this most pitiable pass? We "Not at all. Drink this." I dashed some brandy into the water, He held out his snuffbox of old gold, with a great amethyst in that I can to serve you." "Yes, have you not heard? Poor father has never been strong for these very carefully from seven or eight different points, Holmes had never seen so suspicious and questioning an eye. "Here?" and greeting his visitor with the easy air of geniality which he cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that A small side door led into the whitewashed corridor from which Lodge, or turn my attention to the gentleman's chambers in the impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay." And yet he would round that breakfast-table and waiting for me to come back. So all about yourself, your household, and the effect which this "What's in here?" he asked, tapping the safe. felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not