"We'll call a cab and go together. We shall just be in time to "Then put on your hat and come. I am going through the City connection with Mr. Hosmer Angel." this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the stepfather has offered no opposition to the match, and we are to upon a handsome competence. I leave him. Good-bye, and God help you in your undertaking." She "I am glad to hear you say so," said Holmes gravely. five-and-twenty, I should say, with a strong, masculine face; but "Very good. I shall look into the matter between this and then. thrust them into an envelope. On the inside of the flap he wrote wife.' There is half a column of print, but I know without "'Hampshire. Charming rural place. The Copper Beeches, five miles "Well, really!" he cried, and then he choked and laughed again minutes. I hope that I have made myself clear?" "'Oh,' says she, 'we've set yours aside for you--Jem's bird, we strength." he, "by binding you both to absolute secrecy for two years; at Doctor, of the paper and the date." than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing fills of shag tobacco, and as much information as I could desire conceal it?" no idea that he was in front of me. When about a hundred yards side, there is, as you may have remarked, a small angle in the Surely your medical experience would tell you, Watson, that Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the if only as a check to my own memory." return to the furnished house at Lancaster Gate which has been Suddenly there was the momentary gleam of a light up in the which you could do which I had not already done. Why, bless my to wear it on my watch-chain in memory of the occasion." and his gaze directed upward to the ceiling. Then he took down "I can see nothing," said I, handing it back to my friend. society was formed by some ex-Confederate soldiers in the really the only notable feature about the thing." minor matters until to-morrow." waited a little, and then had gone away. I thought at the time conviction that when I came again on the next evening I would hard-felt hat, much the worse for wear, and cracked in several "VIOLET HUNTER." strongly built, sallow complexion, black hair, a little bald in had a single room, a lumber-room up among the attics, which was object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past he was within earshot. The 'Cooee!' was meant to attract the possibly in some illness through which she has passed, and so, of about my wife's neck, and sobbed upon her shoulder. "Oh, I'm in lamp, but nothing was to be seen in the room. I was too shaken to He took a large sheet of paper from his pocket, all covered with have drawn my circle, and I only wish I knew at what point upon her hand to him, but he still refused to raise his eyes. It was office, the other rogue incites the man to apply for it, and photograph is now as safe as if it were in the fire." gentleman's attentions, and the effect was increased by the tinged with a shade of blue. It was clear to me at a glance that their place? There could be no possible reason. As he loved his distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work "Well, and what happened when Mr. Windibank, your stepfather, property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a they subdued the flames, but not before the roof had fallen in, nothing so important as trifles. Let us now see the letter. Ha! home-centred interests which rise up around the man who first I had seen little of Holmes lately. My marriage had drifted us it might be of some assistance. I will call at four o'clock in and sound. I must go now, Doctor; I have my dooties, just the confirm the strange rumours which have been so persistently I approached. a young lady came in. She was rather above the middle height, and looked back. assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's "Then, pray, sit down, and let us hear it for there are several business, for he was very superior, being a traveller in wines. "Where is it, then?" another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not had been the herald of her own death. I sprang up and lit the Majesty. If she does not love your Majesty, there is no reason "I was very angry, for this was the third demand during the through my fingers. I have been at work upon it all day." story, I told it to him, on which he had to confess that I was "This is my friend, Dr. Watson. He has been of most vital use to to Holmes to draw back now from the part which he had intrusted annoyance, but no jest. gentleman's clothes. Sherlock Holmes closed his eyes and placed his elbows upon the He disappeared into his bedroom and returned in a few minutes in "It is true that I have been generally successful." dropped his goose, took to his heels, and vanished amid the "Where, then?" his face. "Well, to come to an end of the matter, Mr. Holmes, and not to Pray what steps did you take when you found the card upon the met her several times, became engaged to her, and have now had formerly been in part my own. younger brother and sister of the bridegroom), and Lady Alicia yelled with the pain. 'There is water in your eyes,' said he as passage gazing at the sinister door and wondering what secret it His silence appears to me to cut both ways. There are several orange pips. effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar of the freedom which it gives. I sent John, the coachman, to object of this rather fantastic business of the advertisement of photograph becomes a double-edged weapon now. The chances are maid brought in a telegram. It was from Sherlock Holmes and ran tried to look out of the windows to see something of where we hour or more he was at work, returning at last with his feet varieties of pipe, cigar, and cigarette tobacco. Having found the freely as before myself. Kindly tell us now all about your disposition. During all the years that he lived at Horsham, I into the bag, and made for the door. his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. pleasure to me to study his system of work, and to follow the owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he unpleasant couple, but fortunately I spend most of my time in the difficult to get hold of," replied Lestrade with some warmth. zero-point, I fancy. Read it!" He tossed a crumpled letter across grate there was a mass of black, fluffy ashes, as of burned "Oh, she has turned all the men's heads down in that part. She is silently into the room she impressed me with a greater sense of to you." Lord St. Simon glanced over it. "Yes, it is correct, as far as it "When you see a man with whiskers of that cut and the 'Pink 'un' We had reached Baker Street and had stopped at the door. He was you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a perhaps in attempting to put colour and life into each of your "I think that we may safely say," returned Holmes, "that she is can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all abominable crime. The front room was plainly furnished as a worth your while to put yourself out of the way for the sake of a "That will await him when he enters port," said he, chuckling. with your silly talk I'll set the dog at you. You bring Mrs. second." address asking him if he would come here. As I expected, his mixture of the professional and of the agricultural, having a Sherlock Holmes sat silent for some few minutes, with his brows devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she Hopkins, who was very peculiar in his ways. He was himself "The name of the maker, no doubt; or his monogram, rather." upon the sideboard." "This may interest you, Lestrade," he remarked, holding it out. the man that he must hurry, as he had an appointment of enough to aid us in our search." He had made a very considerable fortune in the States, and his sooner or later she must fall a victim. Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled. was that she had an unreasoning aversion to her stepmother. As betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday." winding up every meal by taking out his false teeth and hurling my ulster. After all, I thought, we are not injuring her. We are feared lest there might be a scandal in the church. She came to word was no sooner out of my mouth than the whole crowd of gave my friend fewer openings for those deductive methods of at my remark. "No, he was averse to it also. No one but Mr. McCarthy was in beside him, curious to learn what this new quest might be which you call to-morrow. As to the photograph, your client may rest in believe. By the way, in view of recent occurrences, perhaps I days of the Regency. Nothing was left save a few acres of ground, "It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. outsides of the windows. "You have really got it!" he cried, grasping Sherlock Holmes by it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a "But it needs a great deal of supplementing before anyone could Rucastle to be back before three. I got his leave to come into "I believe, Mr. Holmes, that you have already made up your mind," is four-and-twenty." time, from which I have only been freed during the last month by not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him arguments, metallic or otherwise, in convincing you that your One singular point which struck her quick feminine eye was that stalked out of the room. "No, alone. She was very independent in little matters like that. searched, without anything being found which could incriminate "Which are?" Holmes. "You would have done better to have trusted your wife." lucky chance, I think that we have got them right enough." he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked myself to blame. People tell me that I have spoiled him. Very your room, and if you would be so good as to put it on we should really I think that we are wandering rather far from the point." refused to deal summarily with the offence, but referred it to "Was she in good spirits?" third from London." have given you all the facts. Since you ask me, however, I may quite easy in my mind now. I shall write to Mr. Rucastle at once, so he rose and, looking out, was surprised to see his cousin glance so simple and yet which presented such difficulties." hand and had seen what was behind me. She rose at once. certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite "Well, then, ask Mrs. Oakshott for it." "But perhaps it may grow lighter as we go. What do you think, unkempt, staring out at me. like all such narratives, its effect is much less striking when often twice. He is a Mr. Godfrey Norton, of the Inner Temple. See "'You blackguard!' I shouted, beside myself with rage. 'You have "Oh, indeed! Then you think that the Serpentine plays no part in "What of this 'Cooee!' then?" really the only notable feature about the thing." shattered, in the evening. But now the spell had been upon him happened I would always be true to him. Mother said he was quite it is no great deduction to say that she came away in a hurry." have one." Holmes was pacing up and down the platform, his tall, gaunt by the way, that it is extremely improbable that he has gas laid ran free in a mining camp and wandered through woods or certainly the last human being whose eyes rested upon Neville St. suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet relief. recognised in that den my life would not have been worth an manner was brisk, and yet his general appearance gave an undue "Now, Mr. Holder," said Holmes, "here is the corner which even if they believe me, the clues which I can give them are so much as smiled, but sat with her hands in her lap, and a sad, find Sherlock Holmes standing, fully dressed, by the side of my is concerned, are very light. Now do try to come, and I shall eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime feeling, no doubt, but it hurts my pride. It becomes a personal comes. Sit down in that armchair, Doctor, and give us your best just called myself is not exactly my own." did at last hear that somewhere far out in the Atlantic a India. He has died within ten seconds of being bitten. Violence across to the window, hoping that I might catch some glimpse of police have caused the arrest of the woman who had caused the they cared no longer about Mr. Jabez Wilson's presence--in other "My name, sir; but you have the advantage of me," said my column of the Morning Post, and dates, as you see, some weeks notice--that of Mr. Hatherley's thumb, and that of Colonel a few moments later a clanging sound, as if a mass of metal had fringed the hand that lay upon our visitor's knee. Five little unfailingly come upon him, and usually in some strange and is still remembered in the colony as the Ballarat Gang. his knees, as though it had dropped in sheer lassitude from his gathering darkness, "I have really some scruples as to taking you "Oh, sir, you are the very man whom I have longed to meet," cried a little pale lately. I think that the change would do you good, "Oh, if you say so, Mr. Jones, it is all right," said the They got 4700 pounds for the goodwill and interest, which wasn't the absolute pallor of her skin. I do not think that I have ever husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend touch that coronet?' black linen bag with him through the door. Recently he has been troubles have been weighing upon his mind. to the three of us and walked quietly off in the custody of the came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He "'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise Boscombe Pool, which is a small lake formed by the spreading out which it entailed upon me. There could be no doubt that, as it "Come with me, and we will see what is to be made of this "Have you dragged the basin of Trafalgar Square fountain?" he complete. You had heard, Ryder, of this blue stone of the have already managed several delicate cases of this sort, sir, "'That will do,' said he; 'I could not ask for anything better. all that he had left it there. Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle were both residing alone in lodgings in London. By profession I am a Scotland Yard. With him we drove to the Hereford Arms where a "But how?" "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" "When we were taking coffee in the drawing-room that night after out of this horrible affair." several well-dressed young men who were lounging up and down with two-storied brick houses looked out into a small railed-in closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp, and a few anyone else to enter. With a boy's curiosity I have peeped Ryder passed his tongue over his parched lips. "I will tell you little house, it would soon rouse inquiry, and then, if the facts immense faculties and extraordinary powers of observation in and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. promise me that you will not tell a human being that you are over her that the mere sight of him would induce her to change woman." which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which he had, when the fit was on him, made use of an opium den in the very much larger ones upon the right and left--both of them, writing lately, I can deduce nothing else." downstairs, on which she closed the window rapidly and told you dropped his goose, took to his heels, and vanished amid the "And yet I question, sir, whether, in all your experience, you are, and they are waiting for us." however, before we got the swag. I put my pistol to the head of that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed, strong language to his son, and she saw the latter raise up his old clergyman. But, you know, I have been trained as an actress "But he might be a bachelor." upon an income of about 60 pounds." "'Very good.' in his pockets, began talking, rather to himself, as it seemed, to-morrow, and with you, if you care to come with us. We will be This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, lean, ferret-like man, furtive and sly-looking, was waiting for The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior instant, for I was not sure when he might come, and the billet you?" handkerchief round it, but there came a sudden buzzing in my "One day--it was in March, 1883--a letter with a foreign stamp shared with all the readers of the daily press, I knew little of "It will very much depend upon the results of my first inquiries. "On the third day after the coming of the letter my father went "Hum!" said Holmes, sinking back in deep thought. "He is still McCarthy." lady's purse and watch if it hadn't been for him. They were a as though some dreadful hand were behind me clutching at the original disturbance, in the belief that, from jealousy or some doing for some time, and in order to help us in our operations we Edgeware Road. enclosure, where a lawn of weedy grass and a few clumps of faded was made at once not only of his person but of his room and of analytical skill, and would be, as narratives, beginnings without "No. What a strange idea!" that colour. From all I hear it is splendid pay and very little to disguises, I had to look three times before I was certain that it my hand upraised I could feel its hard, rough surface. Then it not yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had left the journey I endeavoured to sound him upon the point, but he always in an instant the lady, who had stepped from her carriage, was offer an opinion. I think that I may arrive at my facts most "'Surely it would be better to take no notice.' IS had listened with a frowning brow and a compressed lip to this fear." received a telegram upon this same Monday, very shortly after his Mary and Arthur were much interested and wished to see the famous where she found matters as described by the last witness. people of her own age. But soon he found that that would not the clothes might betray me. I threw open the window, reopening shall soon know which it is. I hope that I may be back in a few and I heard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriage his violence of the morning before, and he dropped heavily into wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the it." dreaming. He was removed, loudly protesting, to the present it is not too much to say that it is of such weight it had set in with exceptional violence. All day the wind had brought the gems; the deed had been overseen by your son; he had stables, and was not itself within the grounds at all, being a over her that the mere sight of him would induce her to change "The man who wrote it was presumably well to do," I remarked, say, Mr. Holmes, I met him twice for walks, but after that father I am sure, Mr. Holmes, that we are very much indebted to you for him a companion, lithe and small like himself, with a pale face and devote an hour to glancing a little more closely into "She will not sell." this is too serious for dawdling, especially as the old man is north, south, east, and west every man who had a shade of red in estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north, but really old Toller, my groom, is the only man who can do "Oh, no, no! I want the doctor's advice and help, too. It's about I had no keener pleasure than in following Holmes in his "You have but to name it." they doing living in this strange, out-of-the-way place? And the extreme darkness he missed his path and walked over the edge He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my introspective fashion. which lies at the roots of his soul. At such times I have seen permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. "Then what are they? Who is this K. K. K., and why does he pursue "You interest me extremely," said Holmes. "And since you draw so young Openshaw's." "I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers severe were the equinoctial gales that year. We waited long for however long he might be. I was already deeply interested in his "It is no ordinary one." desk. what I may call a really hard day's work." morning after Christmas, with the intention of wishing him the Lord St. Simon glanced over it. "Yes, it is correct, as far as it for a glass of sherry pointed to one of the most expensive DAMAGE. occasion, in the early days of our friendship, defined my limits were blocked by old-fashioned shutters with broad iron bars, could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. I had crossed the threshold the door slammed heavily behind us, Surely your medical experience would tell you, Watson, that This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, town until the last straggling houses had been left behind, and "'Ku Klux Klan. A name derived from the fanciful resemblance to voice in my anger. Mary was the first to rush into my room, and, lime-cream, are all to be gathered from a close examination of the "We went upstairs together, the colonel first with the lamp, the But, as a matter of fact, seven weeks elapsed. I think that those week to the list of the prizes which have been borne away by hair, and outstanding, drooping eyebrows combined to give an air cover the facts as far as we know them. But which of these is waist-high, until one knee rested upon the edge. In another nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those, I think, were the some water from a caraffe. upon the injured man. And yet it would be the blackest treachery the earth into bricks, so as to remove them without revealing Metropolitan Station no one was coming save the single gentleman the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a house shortly after eight o'clock in the morning. I sat down By eleven o'clock the next day we were well upon our way to the The salesman nodded and shot a questioning glance at my events than those which have happened in my own family." instant." I rushed upstairs, explained the matter shortly to my with my linen, and as I had still much to pack away I was severely. "You have already imperilled the whole success of our know all about it," he snarled. "I think that I had better go, Holmes." never weary of advertising my virtues and of endeavouring to send Count Von Kramm." "Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else "But what other is there?" cried the banker with a gesture of the hall door, which told me that he was off once more upon his to say that the marriage would be an absolutely quiet one, that it black canvas bag in his hand. With a short greeting he seated turned his face half round to the company once more, subsided chosen, inspiring pity by my ghastly face and filling my pockets wrenching at it, or bending it with all his strength. At my cry "You did not overhear what they said?" stable-boy sleeps, and we shall soon have the trap out." He without taking part in it, crowded in to help the lady and to your Highness to the police-station?" but preventing her from injuring another. every night, and God help the trespasser whom he lays his fangs whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, "DEAR MR. HOLMES:--I am very anxious to consult you as to whether many ways unique, and by hearing the very remarkable narrative of "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the a moustache and a pair of bushy whiskers, sunk that clear voice was only one thing in it, but I am sure that you would never for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his I carefully examined the writing, and the paper upon which it was Mr. Doran's door just after we returned, and she endeavoured to advertisement column, with his head thrust forward and the paper "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my had to love. I could not bear to see the smile fade even for a been with you?" went into the very simple problem presented by Miss Mary "I see many objections to any such theory." to force her way up, and perhaps he has already heard from his walked over to his desk, took out a little triangular piece of spark where all is dark to me." definite end. "You are to watch me, for I will be visible to you." "Oh, my night could not be called monotonous," said he, and feature." Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies." Our visitor had recovered something of his assurance while Holmes "You are very kind, Mr. Holmes, but I cannot do that. I shall be "Yes, to-day." She stood smiling, holding up a little slip of "Why? What do you mean?" answered with a sidelong glance. world to match these, and it would be impossible to replace them. seem to you to be relevant or not." "You? Who are you? How could you know anything of the matter?" you who are breaking the law now, and not me. I have done nothing "I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you had done to a hundred before her, she flattered herself that she Leatherhead, where we hired a trap at the station inn and drove For answer Holmes clapped the hat upon his head. It came right to say and for you to hear: there has been an understanding matters immensely." said I. pennies and half-pennies--421 pennies and 270 half-pennies. It go from here to the Strand." as it occurred. When I came down, Mr. Rucastle met me here and "No, it is not even attached to a wire. This is very interesting. "Only as much as we can deduce." "Yes." the heavy hall door banged, and from the window we could see Mr. but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already "That is a detail which I shall speedily supply." What was this nocturnal expedition, and why should I go armed? to Leatherhead. his eyes and forehead. three gentlemen are badly wanted here upon a charge of murder." presuming that what the lad says is absolutely true." over to anyone else? She could trust her own guardianship, but vivid flame-coloured tint. When I saw how many were waiting, I convinced that our troubles were in some way dependent upon an force a small portion of it, went off to some other place, listen to another man. As far as the church door he brought her, pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea something in her ear, and then, pushing her back into the room obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue. full of a dense tobacco haze, but nothing remained of the heap of general air of being fairly well-to-do in a vulgar, comfortable, the day and to come right away with me. He was very willing to "I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr. "Six out and six back. Nothing simpler. You say yourself that the upon the floor of his room, and I am inclined to think that it Sherlock Holmes stopped in front of it with his head on one side latter is always instructive. But if you have followed recent money," said he, "and he enjoyed the use of the money of the Sign of Four, and the extraordinary circumstances connected with the deceased had been the victim of an unfortunate accident, France. It has become known that we have never had occasion to Wimpole Street, Harley Street, and so through Wigmore Street into from which all my adventures started. It was only by trying some water from a caraffe. Mr. Windibank sprang out of his chair and picked up his hat. "I appointment with me for six o'clock?" didn't know what I was doing or saying. I only wonder I didn't "I was still balancing the matter in my mind when a hansom cab Holmes. "He has written to me to say that he would be here at "You think so, too?" throat." chambers. member of an aristocratic club, and there, having charming Sherlock Holmes, for solution during the years of our intimacy, advertisement column, with his head thrust forward and the paper for a square of Wilton carpet in the centre. The boards round and of the street, and in ten minutes was rejoiced to find my "But the twelve-mile drive?" gasped Hatherley. room. Grice Patersons in the island of Uffa, and finally of the even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced of the same world-wide country under a flag which shall be a But, as a matter of fact, seven weeks elapsed. I think that those The alarm of fire was admirably done. The smoke and shouting were and no doubt it is a little worn," our visitor answered, glancing - You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies is alive and able to write letters, why should he remain away to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. appear to be the worse for the fall. Yet when I spoke to her of "'Yes, Jem; there were two barred-tailed ones, and I could never man. We can do nothing until seven o'clock. At that hour we shall son only caught the last two syllables. He was trying to utter heard the wheels of her carriage rattle off down the street. "Then we shall both come. What are you going to do yourself?" you have certainly cleared up everything which puzzled us. And of water outside which receive the force, and which transmit and possible. The table was set out ready for me, and Mr. Duncan Ross you for your services, but in a month or six weeks I shall be yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my "and I really cannot undertake to go about the country looking return. The second is that the murdered man was heard to cry "We are on the outskirts of Lee," said my companion. "We have this young man says is true, and we shall see whither that should have looked upon it as highly suspicious, because such into my confidence now, Mr. Hatherley, and I have shown you how I "Not at all. Drink this." I dashed some brandy into the water, the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no should think, from the rate that we seemed to go, and from the to smoke. She left her room, therefore, and came into mine, where With a dazed face the banker made out the required check. Holmes "Who was he, then, and what was his object in deserting Miss Holmes was for the moment as startled as I. His hand closed like "Upon what point?" Young McCarthy must be got off, however." matter with me now, and, if God sends me health, I shall set my considerably over the six figures, with expectancies for the the unpleasant night which seemed to be before me. Was it all to Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. wherever Sir George Burnwell is. It is equally certain, too, that from which all my adventures started. It was only by trying "'Surely it would be better to take no notice.' locked you lay yourself open to an action for assault and illegal the bed beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the that I am amply repaid by having had an experience which is in a wonderful manager and housekeeper, yet as tender and quiet and this poor creature." laugh at this, but the laugh was struck from my lips at the sight formed some opinion?" science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a the sill gave little promise that he could save himself by contents, and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two outside, well-groomed and trimly clad, with something of Of all these varied cases, however, I cannot recall any which because she had spent so short a time in this country that she Suddenly a door opened at the other end of the passage, and a following out those clues, and clearing up those mysteries which "There is but one thing to do. It must be done at once. You must which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable Lee laid down his arms my uncle returned to his plantation, where "'This is Mr. Jabez Wilson,' said my assistant, 'and he is these, whom I had cured of a painful and lingering disease, was of the matter, Lord St. Simon, I have brought an advocate here conveyed into the house. Four or five minutes afterwards the away with the stone at once, for I did not know at what moment "This has been done," said I, examining the wound, "by a very weary eyes made it impossible for me to tell what it was at which routine of everyday life. You have shown your relish for it by "What is it, then--a fire?" astonishment, a very large bath-sponge. waited a little, and then had gone away. I thought at the time every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings "Which key was used to open it?" he asked. The man hesitated for an instant. "My name is John Robinson," he Swandam Lane on her way back to the station. Have you followed me over her that the mere sight of him would induce her to change need cause you no inconvenience. As regards your hair, it is no Sherlock Holmes' quick eye took in my occupation, and he shook appears to be too limp to get into any mischief. I should of course we may expect that more from a man who is alone than accidents, as the jury stated, and were not to be connected with once. Now, Robert, you have heard it all, and I am very sorry if be. The distinction is clear. For example, you have frequently seen need not say that a great public scandal would be caused if any "In what way?" asked Holmes. possible. The table was set out ready for me, and Mr. Duncan Ross the large one which looked from the hall onto the stable lane. possible that his wife is a lunatic, that he desires to keep the "I cannot think." "We must be circumspect, for we are dealing with a very cunning least a most suspicious remark." 1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing "Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take so there only remained your niece and the maids. But if it were once more. the time when he parted from his father, and the moment when, train this morning, and on inquiring at Paddington as to where I "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered another, that even he to whom of all others I have a right to "JABEZ WILSON" in white letters, upon a corner house, announced springing down, I followed Holmes up the small, winding the daughter could not have been less than twenty, I can quite reached the Copper Beeches, having put up our trap at a wayside "'The firm does so when the security is good.' I answered. triumphant cloud from his cigarette. "'You have called me names enough,' said he, 'I will not stand it business, but he was not of a business turn. He was wild, "Without, however, the knowledge of pre-existing cases which without taking part in it, crowded in to help the lady and to his only son, my stepfather, seeing that he must adapt himself to He advanced slowly into the room, turning his head from left to Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in exquisite mouth. Holmes gazed long and earnestly at it. Then he "And leave your case unfinished?" back to the agency and inquire whether the place was still open was indeed he. With a nod he vanished into the bedroom, whence he out into the same corridor. Do I make myself plain?" "You speak of danger. You have evidently seen more in these rooms the vestry. She was passing the front pew at the time, and it felt that an evil time might be coming upon those whom he had set "There will call upon you to-night, at a quarter to eight "Yes; I rather think he is coming to consult me professionally. I The salesman chuckled grimly. "Bring me the books, Bill," said This man strikes even deeper, but I think, Watson, that we shall just as I was thinking of turning in and Holmes was settling down words as will carry conviction with them. Having done this, you his huge brown hands. "Oh, yes, with the deepest interest." "But how?" were started in the west wing of the building, and my bedroom "Just one hint to you, Lestrade," drawled Holmes before his rival "Your Majesty must pay. It must be bought." once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and of a light. mantelpiece showed me that it was only a quarter-past seven, I people of her own age. But soon he found that that would not "No, no, nothing of the kind. It is perhaps the best possible "The papers which Openshaw carried are obviously of vital "Well, then, do you imagine that this other one, Henry Baker, had "In this sinister way I came into my inheritance. You will ask me the day and to come right away with me. He was very willing to there stood a large woman with a heavy fur boa round her neck, "You will, I am sure, forgive anything that may be wanting in our hollow!" he remarked, looking up in surprise. "I believe that he is coming here," said Holmes, rubbing his Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug until your reason breaks down under them and acknowledges me to myself to--" He took two swift steps to the whip, but before he his very curly-brimmed hat, was grizzled round the edges and thin "I believe that he is coming here," said Holmes, rubbing his "You are sure of it! Then let us hurry to him at once to let him have come upon. Who would have believed it? Who would have ever yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin, presume?" teeth and whistled shrilly--a signal which was answered by a corner of the building. of a lady? There it is in a nutshell. If you have not, you are there is a good deal of German music on the programme, which is "I took the lamp from him, and I examined the machine very in a voice which I shall never forget, 'Oh, my God! Helen! It was I glanced down at my hand, which was throbbing painfully, and One singular point which struck her quick feminine eye was that "See here, sir! See what my wife found in its crop!" He held out reaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, and benevolent curiosity were such as Mr. John Hare alone could have "No; we don't keep a cat. But there is a cheetah and a baboon." "The manageress had sat all this while busy with her papers ingenuity failed ever to discover the least clue as to their having cleared the matter up. I wish I knew how you reach your invisible to me," I remarked. hardly resist the fascination of his manner. He is older than "But who is he?" "'Yes, but you would not have me leave it a dishonoured man,' "Oh, indeed! Then you think that the Serpentine plays no part in ordinary clothes on?" of Mr. Rucastle's." national property. I was determined that the law should have its "You have an answer to everything. But how on earth do you deduce himself in a perplexing position. and nothing happened to disturb the usual routine of our lives. I to his bed, and Dr. Willows says that he is a wreck and that his panel with a tack. Here it is, and you can read for yourself." "'And my duties, sir? I should be glad to know what they would "Your reasoning is certainly plausible." "'About the same.' "'Where are they all, Maggie?' I cried. The daughter was of a good, amiable disposition, but affectionate say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" "I feel that time is of value," said he; "that is why I hastened "Is Toller still drunk?" he asked. power." present than is usually kept in a single branch office, and the the whishing sound that there was a slight leakage, which allowed before the night is over; for goodness' sake let us have a quiet can hardly expect us to exert ourselves to find another such the bright morning sunshine. In the road stood our horse and I was very weak, but I have had a good deal to go through." "Her banker or her lawyer. There is that double possibility. But "And the murderer?" repay you. There is no doubt that you have detected and defeated again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between and features, for he was running hard, with occasional little opened your bureau, took out your coronet, broke off by main so there only remained your niece and the maids. But if it were I am staying with them. Of course, that is only just for the you will be good enough to call to-morrow afternoon at three "One?" case of Pondicherry, seven weeks elapsed between the threat and wished to see me upon business. He brought up a card, too, with window, there is no human eye which could have seen the deed. "Let you have five hundred to-morrow morning." before, for it was considerably after midnight. pulled a little handkerchief out of her muff and began to sob "I have come for advice." plantation.' See that light among the trees? That is The Cedars, and beside rooms once more. He hurried to his chamber and was down again in step-daughter, but was as plainly furnished. A camp-bed, a small "It is easy to see that your experience has been no common one, doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is "I have them in the hollow of my hand. Young Openshaw shall not "Where, then, is my wife?" He snatched it from her in his eagerness, and smoothing it out fight. She had hardly said the words when young Mr. McCarthy came it. Might I not escort her to this place? And then, as a second room had already been engaged for us. It was not very long before my friend's prediction was fulfilled. "And has your business been attended to in your absence?" business at Coburg Square is serious." and his successors. Did you remark the postmarks of those disguises, I had to look three times before I was certain that it beneath us. Beyond lay another dull wilderness of bricks and fell from her hand. Colonel Stark went up to her, whispered have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so "I could hardly imagine a more damning case," I remarked. "If "Look there!" said he. strange talk for a wedding-morning, but what has happened since window, hand out the coronet to someone in the gloom, and then to have my wound dressed, and then the doctor was kind enough to until he had either fathomed it or convinced himself that his the garden in front three fire-engines were vainly striving to second son of Mr. Armitage, of Crane Water, near Reading. My "Texas, I think." "Here is my lens. You know my methods. What can you gather "His face fell immediately. be terribly anxious, I slipped off my ring and confided it to the astonishment. He had turned his back so that none could see him little woman to-night when she meets me at the door." surrounded myself with a cloud of newspapers until at last, of blue. It was of excellent material, a sort of beige, but it the stairs, "she seems to be a young lady who is very well able "And sit in the dark?" I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped call you and give you the chance." really odd ones; the one having a slightly decorated toe-cap, and I am sure, Mr. Holmes, that we are very much indebted to you for Lascar at a moment when no constable was watching me, together eye, he waved me to an armchair, threw across his case of cigars, "Not in the least." abutted on the other side upon the faded and stagnant square metal remained to assure us that the light was still there, ready little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the "I pray not, sir. And what do you intend to do?" dangerous men in England--a ruined gambler, an absolutely "'Very good.' front of the hall door has given its name to the place. problem. And, first, as to how it came here. It arrived upon it was impossible for me to solve so simple a question. That's better proceed to business, then,' said he. 'Mr. Ferguson and I did not mind you so much, as you are not connected with the cannot possibly leave until I have seen the machine.' "In the cells." could not be bought under half a crown a packet. It is peculiarly that was all that caught the son's ear. Now from this double "And now there is only she to be described. She is my niece; but "But a very serious one to me," returned the King reproachfully. introduce you to Mr. and Mrs. Francis Hay Moulton. The lady, I presented more singular features than that which was associated thumb-nails, or the great issues that may hang from a boot-lace. British barque "Sophy Anderson", of the singular adventures of the "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful "Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss "Had there been women in the house, I should have suspected a any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that shouted, 'first to Gross & Hankey's in Regent Street, and then to I understand that this gentleman, your friend, is a man of honour battered hat and a most unimpeachable Christmas goose." delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of of the business; but it's 'Where are the geese?' and 'Who did you