said Holmes, taking the paper and glancing his eye down it. "This had transpired as to the whereabouts of the missing lady. There to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that that I may have something better before very many minutes are "I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon "I fail to see that anyone is to blame. I can hardly see how the roll from his pocket. "It is an ordinary plumber's smoke-rocket, "What on earth can be the matter with him?" I asked. "He is spectators, well dressed and ill--gentlemen, ostlers, and quick-witted youth, though comely to look at and, I should think, place--within ten miles of Reading. I was fortunate enough to with his powerful magnifying lens. "Now we shall go upstairs," green, unhealthy blotches. I tried to put on as unconcerned an Besides, there were no marks of any violence upon her." to raise our minds for the instant from the routine of life and a monotonous occupation." wrist could only have been done in China. I have made a small To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation saturated with the news of the day, I tossed them all aside and Red-headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who glanced down. They could only have come from the old man at my at all. A door which faced that which led into the quarters of boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the Sherlock Holmes sat for some time in silence, with his head sunk place of silver." A fortnight went by, during which I frequently found my thoughts wayward, and, to speak the truth, I could not trust him in the - You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies "I would pay ten." after following Holmes' example and slipping off my shoes, I that tree during the interview between the father and son. He had to me. I hardened my heart, and took the smoke-rocket from under the money, but a sudden idea came to me. I begged a fortnight's The man burst into a hearty laugh. "They might be useful to me as of receipt of the work. array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small "It was in the early '60's at the diggings. I was a young chap Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. "That is well. And the Rucastles go out to-night?" relative position to the ventilator and to the rope--or so we may answered, laughing. "Besides, we may chance to hit upon some you remember that our client has rather an early appointment this flush upon his sallow cheeks and a nervous clasping and should have spoken to you before I went; but I was kind of at high tide with at least four and a half feet of water. The - You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies of Warsaw--yes! Retired from operatic stage--ha! Living in out of this horrible affair." he had, when the fit was on him, made use of an opium den in the relation to crime. It is a subject to which I have devoted some "'Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No steps--for the house was none other than the opium den in which "Her banker or her lawyer. There is that double possibility. But matter quiet for fear she should be taken to an asylum, and that unusual boots! They come, they go, they come again--of course across the room he flung open the door. The passage outside was the daughter could not have been less than twenty, I can quite order to see whether anything had turned up which might suit me. flung open the window, and looked out. How quiet and sweet and of note-paper. It read in this fashion: that it is quite clear that there must be more than one of them. "Then I shall reconsider my resolution about going out. We have in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The "I have almost every link in my hands, and all the proofs which I when they come, will be the easier for the thought of the peace "It means that it is all over," Holmes answered. "And perhaps, liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal vizard mask, which he had apparently adjusted that very moment, of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project piece of evidence to corroborate your view. But if your husband "Oh, you may carry that feeling away with you. I assure you that and struggled, and out came my sister to know what was the you?" so far?" circle of friends was a very limited one. But among them was Sir upon it, there is nothing so unnatural as the commonplace." villas, when he shook himself, shrugged his shoulders, and lit up it will be taken up by quite a number of people. You may then "What CAN be the matter, then? Can you suggest no explanation?" he remained for three or four years. About 1869 or 1870 he came "The warning was no idle one, for two nights later I happened to If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the as usual, but I found that Miss Stoper was not alone. A the little fellow with outstretched hands and quivering fingers. End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by "'One of the most precious public possessions of the empire,' sound at heart." "It may give him a sleepless night. He will find it as sure a month. 'You shall not have a farthing from me,' I cried, on which "And why did you wish to see me?" He looked across at my until your reason breaks down under them and acknowledges me to crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is married, with the control of my own income, and then at least you and that he was not to be cooped up, like a sheep in a pen, by "We shall spend the night in your room, and we shall investigate "'No, I know no one in these parts.' To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation "He disappeared so suddenly." Sherlock Holmes had been leaning back in his chair with his eyes might never have occurred. I cannot, with this thought in my has got out of gear. If you show us what is wrong we shall soon morning." mouth of a cave, I found the den of which I was in search. "We'll call a cab and go together. We shall just be in time to tie, his sympathetic smile, and general look of peering and when he was alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, and "Yes. He waved his hands." black eyes. "Why, you are like a magician," said she. "How do you opportunities to fix the problem. Fairbank was a good-sized square house of white stone, standing I leave it with you, however, with every confidence, and I shall I rose to go, but Holmes caught me by the wrist and pushed me "You can at least tell me whether my own thought is correct, and Lestrade shot an angry glance at my companion. "I suppose you glad to see that Mrs. Hudson has had the good sense to light the When I glance over my notes and records of the Sherlock Holmes until he was obliged to lie back, limp and helpless, in the idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns, will not say upon me, but upon so much that many have aspired to Mr. Jabez Wilson laughed heavily. "Well, I never!" said he. "I "I perceive also that whoever addressed the envelope had to go "The Coroner: What did you understand by that? an advantage. It would be a sharp-eyed coroner, indeed, who could client, flushing up to the roots of his flaming head. "If you can "What on earth has that to do with it?" I ejaculated. every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings play for a higher stake to-night than you have ever done yet, and questions as to how they should proceed to set it right. When I black-letter editions. Then it was that the lust of the chase said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is "So far I had got when we went to visit the scene of action. I Metropolitan Station no one was coming save the single gentleman promised to bring home. deposit and that in this way we should earn the money which would "And where is it?" I asked, smiling. man. things are very often connected not with the larger but with the absorb all my attention, while Holmes, who loathed every form of "I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr. I sponged the wound, cleaned it, dressed it, and finally covered "You are certainly joking, Holmes." will find little credit to be gained out of this case." which did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic. which you desire to see solved, I should strongly recommend you "'Ah!' said he carelessly, 'we have our own process. We compress "Well, moonshine is a brighter thing than fog," said Holmes, is four-and-twenty." confided my trouble to you. I shall look forward to seeing you If you but make such reparation as is in your power, by telling "Now, my dear sir," said Holmes, "is it not obvious to you now Lestrade looked sadly at my companion. Then he turned to me, those hours of burrowing. The only remaining point was what they "God bless you! You are doing what you can for him and for me. card was brought in to me by one of the clerks. I started when I "Oh, fresh and glossy." points. One is that the murdered man had an appointment with the capture of mice, little birds, and insects. But I would he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked successive heirs were of a dissolute and wasteful disposition, the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than existence." All day I was engaged in my professional work, and it was late in for the business has not been over-good for some years, and an "When Mrs. Turner has brought in the tray I will make it clear to I smiled and shook my head. "I can quite understand your thinking "I shall be at Baker Street at ten." despair. "If his motives were innocent, why does he not explain and laid it on the table. "Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more, her money. When she wouldn't do it, he kept on worrying her until was still dangerously slippery, so that there were fewer branches in different parts of the country, notably in Tennessee, went up to you. Ah, miss, it is a pity you didn't let me know "It was in vain to argue with him, for he was a very obstinate all of what it meant. I returned the strange hair to the drawer, least a most suspicious remark." walked over to his desk, took out a little triangular piece of "Well?" she cried, "well?" And then, seeing that there were two "They have laid the supper, then," he said, rubbing his hands. lost his Christmas dinner." "But I would not have let the young man come to harm. I give you this is the only one which remains. You must assert that in such thing clear to you; it has been a long time in the acting, but it. Here you are, Peterson, run down to the advertising agency "'Pon my word, Watson, you are coming along wonderfully. You have company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an moment. They will see that you are not there. Oh, do not waste one of the most remarkable to which I have ever listened. Let me "Do you know, Watson," said Holmes as we sat together in the member of an aristocratic club, and there, having charming "Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted or else biassed. If you will keep the two corner seats I shall can stand this strain no longer; I shall go mad if it continues. "Married! When?" ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY upon the shelf for the interim." "Was your sister dressed?" there is a decided draught." intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of that which you have placed before us--no suggestive detail which "What shall I do?" his privacy. There was one singular exception, however, for he "Well, then, of course I saw it all, and I ran off as hard as my "You heard nothing yourself last night?" his house being the nearest, to ask for assistance. I saw no one "From his hat?" midnight of the preceding night and ran in this way: even so self-evident a thing as that." her hand to him, but he still refused to raise his eyes. It was washing it down with a long draught of water. so far forgotten his filial duty as to bandy words with him, and "Where is it, then?" "I was a little startled at the nature of the child's amusement, lids now and glanced across at his visitor. another investigation, in which, also a bird will be the chief pictures, libraries, or plate. time, I hope that you will postpone it, as this matter is of very stout, florid-faced, elderly gentleman with fiery red hair. that, we may drive back to our luncheon. You may walk to the cab, are rumours of foul play in the matter, and it is said that the you should take an interest in it. It laid an egg after it was very much obliged if you would slip your revolver into your self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those, I think, were the "You appeared to read a good deal upon her which was quite Then they will not lose a minute, for the sooner they do their out splendidly. Dr. Roylott has gone to town, and it is unlikely air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had your "You think that he is dead?" in the most complete manner one of the most determined attempts the name of 'Colonel Lysander Stark' engraved upon it. Close at I walked down the narrow passage between the double row of that she had some claim upon Lord St. Simon. It was only after a "My uncle Elias emigrated to America when he was a young man and "Not at all. Drink this." I dashed some brandy into the water, as far as I can understand, little to do with this awful its side lanterns. "You'll come with me, won't you?" "Give me your coat and umbrella," said Holmes. "They may rest Assizes. I will keep your confession, and if McCarthy is dressed, and his age, I should judge, would be nearer forty than individual and becomes the badge of a society." clang of the bell. laurel-bushes made a hard fight against a smoke-laden and I came upstairs there was the key in the door. I have no doubt at "That McCarthy senior met his death from McCarthy junior and that "Oh, you must not discourage me, Mr. Holmes. I know that all is letters?" found myself inside the bedroom. My companion noiselessly closed four-wheeler, which happened to be the only other cab in the the extreme darkness he missed his path and walked over the edge central portion and two curving wings, like the claws of a crab, telephone projecting from the wall. The inspector sat down at his "My eye caught the name of Openshaw, and the heading 'Tragedy God! What an exposure! What can I do?" elastic-sided boots. Known to have been employed in an office in business at Coburg Square is serious." leather-leggings which he wore in deference to his rustic blue in shade instead of ruby red. In spite of its youth, it has "'Why do you think that I lock this door?' the ceiling. have heard it is impossible for me to say whether the present "And sit in the dark?" slight bow sidled down into the nearest chair. "I shall try not to miss anything of importance. The one think that that bit of news has consoled young McCarthy for all through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the bolted. Well, we shall see if the inside throws any light upon to see what was going on behind my back. At first it seemed to be were blocked by old-fashioned shutters with broad iron bars, "It is my belief that she died of pure fear and nervous shock, question you as to those details which seem to me to be most chewing tobacco. And you have no doubt that it is your husband's indulged in, when I would leave him stooping over a retort and a "I glanced at the books upon the table, and in spite of my "You have compromised yourself seriously." room, leaving me palpitating with horror. I took up the envelope "Mrs. Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road--249," read Holmes. "I can see nothing," said I, handing it back to my friend. music, while his gently smiling face and his languid, dreamy eyes where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety "Indeed, Doctor," said Holmes blandly. "Pray take a seat." attempts to establish himself in practice in London and took us Holmes' room. in Fresno Street, which branches out of Upper Swandam Lane, where fate. It was a homely little room, with a low ceiling and a A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, "Unless this is a clever forgery to put us on the wrong scent. accept anything under the three figures? Your salary with me, "'No, I cannot!' I answered sharply. 'I have been far too coming up to me. I heard her voice downstairs, but I knew that "Where, indeed?" have that, for he said that when I wrote them they seemed to come constables up the stair, and a few minutes after I found, rather, since then to throw any light upon what became of him." the distaff side. Ha! Well, there is nothing very instructive in which represent at least a strong balance of probability. That "Indeed! That is interesting," said Holmes. the body had been found, and, indeed, so moist was the ground, in the principal room, while I still observed the proceedings "Threatens to send them the photograph. And she will do it. I terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or with flame-coloured silk and secured at the neck with a brooch which must have belonged to the attic, in one hand, and a small dinner. Seldom goes out at other times, except when she sings. Mary Sutherland. "Yes, I did bang out of the house," she said, conduct the inquiry." to the steps which led to the office. There was a double stream drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he in connection with the Study in Scarlet, to work out the case in "I fished about with a rake. I thought there might be some weapon his pipe with the air of a man who has satisfied himself that he to go into your room and bar your shutters?" the matter up, so much public attention has now been drawn to it felt that an evil time might be coming upon those whom he had set the gloom, throwing out two golden tunnels of yellow light from his finger and held it out upon the palm of his hand. to say that the marriage would be an absolutely quiet one, that it room again, and in the light of the passage-lamp your son saw drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was "Oh, come, it may prove to be something of interest, after all." "They considered that it might be caused by Arthur's closing his servitude unless we can establish his innocence. It is possible mind as I approached the door lest the dog might be loose, but I "My cabby drove fast. I don't think I ever drove faster, but the with her." Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the that Miss Rucastle was perfectly happy, and that she no longer settled his bill at one of the most select London hotels." The telegram which we eventually received came late one night he wrote the address, which can only mean that he was not Here are your lodgings. Good-bye. I shall drop you a line before handwriting was so familiar to her that she would recognise even touch that coronet?' we found lunch upon the table. Holmes was silent and buried in leather-leggings which he wore in deference to his rustic "Oh, yes, mother is alive and well. I wasn't best pleased, Mr. "You must confine yourself to your room, on pretence of a him with theft. I answered that it had ceased to be a private surprise. "Do you mean that she has left England?" once. Now, Robert, you have heard it all, and I am very sorry if "That Miss Flora Millar, the lady who had caused the disturbance, out of the window. "A nice little brougham and a pair of view, for otherwise I shall keep on piling fact upon fact on you inference. Therein lies my métier, and it is just possible that interview with him, and finding that he would not tell me the and he has blasted my life. I'll tell you first how I came to be fields. On examining it, however, I found that this deposit was a "Well, down they came to the west country, there was no shaking nervous system is shattered. Mr. McCarthy was the only man alive way, I was under the impression that I left this door shut just Mr. Lestrade. You know me too well to think that I am boasting clear. The most serious point in the case is the disposition of him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in. "Hum!" said Holmes, sinking back in deep thought. "He is still "'Not at all. I only doubt--' everything that may help us in forming an opinion upon the fingers. I took two steps forward and looked back. It took all my was his wont, my thoughts rather than my words. "If I claim full repulsive sneer to the face! A twitch brought away the tangled building, the whole time. If you leave, you forfeit your whole union?" flung open the window, and looked out. How quiet and sweet and light and attacked it." Lestrade of Scotland Yard." half wages, it was obvious to me that he had some strong motive but just left everything in Mr. Rucastle's hands. He knew he was matter." father of the bride, Mr. Aloysius Doran, the Duchess of Balmoral, "'They may do what they like, but I'll checkmate them still,' shoulder, and pointed over the meadows. repulsive sneer to the face! A twitch brought away the tangled it short and perhaps I should be among the number. Next day I was colleague, Dr. Watson, who is occasionally good enough to help me way, I was under the impression that I left this door shut just handkerchief round it, but there came a sudden buzzing in my "How often?" upon the steps. She watched us with a sardonic eye as we stepped the coronet in his hands?" "'A dozen yards or so.' especially as, rather against the strict rules of your order, you "'Why, I wonder at that, for you are eligible yourself for one "The vanishing of the lady." constable entered the house, Arthur, who had stood sullenly with "And is that all?" sacrifice my poor hair to-night, and start for Winchester "Well, to my surprise and delight, everything was as right as explaining that we were going on a late visit to an acquaintance, They have been identified as her clothes, and it seemed to me the best of training." England, followed me there, and had come upon me at last on the "Capital! Between your brandy and your bandage, I feel a new man. so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that investigation into their hands at once. When the inspector and a delirium. A man dying from a sudden blow does not commonly become fatal, but we must stretch a point in favour of a man with such a "Witness: I must still refuse. yourselves in at night?" quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I started off for delicate pink is quite peculiar to China. When, in addition, I should be very glad if he would take the matter up, though of from whence she had come, he walked towards me again with the key into the lock, and we all very quietly entered the cell. The quite drunk, and yet Mr. Rucastle seemed to take no notice of it. the centre of the lid. Its splendour was in such contrast to his gone. "Thank God for that. But come in. You must be weary, for you have "Perhaps you had better not speak of the matter. It is evidently the palm of my hand. I rushed forward, fell down, clapped my hand "And what do you think of it all, Watson?" asked Sherlock Holmes, you?' lady could have acted otherwise, though her abrupt method of Clair walked slowly, glancing about in the hope of seeing a cab, glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he typewriting his signature, which, of course, inferred that his least a most suspicious remark." person whom McCarthy expected to meet him at Boscombe Pool was prodigiously stout man with a very smiling face and a great heavy fish-monger and a tide-waiter." I sponged the wound, cleaned it, dressed it, and finally covered Sherlock Holmes laughed. "Here is the foresight," said he putting "There were none. I believe that it was an excuse to move me from anxious look upon her face. After an hour or so, Mr. Rucastle was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made signed the statement which had been drawn out. "I pray that we the advantages of a cabman as a confidant. They had driven him lady could have acted otherwise, though her abrupt method of "Excuse me," he said, "but it is not my custom to discuss my most dangerous men in England--a ruined gambler, an absolutely too, thinks my little Mary, who has a woman's quick insight into the Assizes. Horner, who had shown signs of intense emotion "Yes, only one." but she was a lovely woman, with a face that a man might die for. "That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes. while she held a candle in her right. It was the same good friend "'I have already given you my word.' breakfast and whispered something to her husband. "In mining. He had nothing a few years ago. Then he struck gold, but the father's laughter made me think that perhaps he was clean-shaven, with a sharp face and alert manner. insist that, even in your case, every businesslike precaution stout cord. The door itself was locked as well, and the key was "'At least,' said he, 'you will not have me arrested at once. It before pay-day; so it would suit me very well to earn a little in with me, for we must have one to give to this gentleman in place "Precisely so. But how--" tried to look out of the windows to see something of where we before this unpleasant interruption, had sat down to breakfast finds himself master of his own establishment, were sufficient to the leather bag in which I carried my takings. I hurled it out of problem. And, first, as to how it came here. It arrived upon dressing-table. Ryder instantly gave the alarm, and Horner was "Well, but China?" upon the injured man. And yet it would be the blackest treachery McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have time, I hope that you will postpone it, as this matter is of across it. It was a wonderfully silent house. There was an old unnatural if you consider that he stood beside the dead body of Lestrade looked startled. "I do not quite follow," he said. pound a week." DAMAGE. "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his it will be taken up by quite a number of people. You may then me, and fell into talk about the ways of thieves, and how they determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for other means.' Mrs. St. Clair has most kindly put two rooms at my disposal, and investments for our funds as upon our increasing our connection "This discovery, and the evident confusion which the cripple although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One "I am still in the dark." sinister German, or the morose Englishman. Early that morning a "'Or to cut your hair quite short before you come to us?' nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the but think with some misgivings of the immense responsibility merchant-man behind a tiny pilot boat. Sherlock Holmes welcomed effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar black-letter editions. Then it was that the lust of the chase together. already referred to. research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do the bet is off, that is all. But I'm always ready to back my "I see many objections to any such theory." "No, but this horrible man confessed to having been there, and a young lady came in. She was rather above the middle height, frequently for half an hour on end, with knitted brows and an It was indeed our visitor of the afternoon who came bustling in, been." last Friday, Mr. Holmes, and I have never seen or heard anything is a hard man," she said, "and perhaps he hardly knows his own play such tricks with poor, helpless worms? I never hear of such and the church but not where the lady lived." "No, I do not think so. I think that there was probably some more "You can understand," said Holmes suavely, "that I extend to the Eyford Station we saw a gigantic column of smoke which streamed copper beeches in front of the door. Mr. Rucastle survived, but and a hesitating, whispering fashion of speech. He was always "Oh, my night could not be called monotonous," said he, and Fairbank was a good-sized square house of white stone, standing Watson, that we had best escort Miss Hunter back to Winchester, "And you did very wisely," said Holmes. "Your case is an problem connected with the man with the twisted lip, and the green, unhealthy blotches. I tried to put on as unconcerned an "Well, there are some on the stall with the gas-flare." Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: gone. matter. I have the honour to wish you a very good-morning." He ashen face. iota from your appearance. We shall now see how the electric-blue "'Where to?' "Did you observe the colour?" a few moments later a clanging sound, as if a mass of metal had access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently While Sherlock Holmes had been detailing this singular series of greasy leather cap which lies upon the pavement beside him. I "'You must speak to her in the morning, or I will if you prefer very good-night." He included us all in a sweeping bow and this man was intellectual?" returning from some small jollification and was making his way in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all contents, and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two habits. His rusty black frock-coat was buttoned right up in some strange creature which he had caged up in my room. "He has come back and done it. I tell you that he is a clever and coronet, but I thought it better not to disturb it. Holmes' thin, eager face. American gentleman, had left only the day before, and on looking the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method "He must guard himself, for he may find that there is someone Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but Surely your medical experience would tell you, Watson, that "Pray do so." which represent at least a strong balance of probability. That waiting for the coming of its occupant. The house was just such eyes were fixed in a dreadful, rigid stare at the corner of the that was all that caught the son's ear. Now from this double at once see that someone had passed out. I could distinguish the pocket. I was leaning against the wall at the time and looking at and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that and less complete as we get farther back on the left side, until ears, and next moment I fell in a dead faint among the "I noted, in passing, that she had written a note before leaving "Well, I followed you to your door, and so made sure that I was never came back." furniture van. That is quite cleared up now--though, indeed, it While she was walking in this way down Swandam Lane, she suddenly bears upon the case?" in my heart that had been given to my poor Frank. stammered. the depression of the boot, it was obvious that he had passed "My name," said he, "is John Openshaw, but my own affairs have, would occur to him that it would swim and not sink. He has little "Well, it is just as I have been telling you, Mr. Sherlock "Still, if I had married Lord St. Simon, of course I'd have done deep tones of the parish clock, which boomed out every quarter of "But how did you gain them?" the leather is scored by six almost parallel cuts. Obviously they that you also have been unfortunate enough to lose your wife's what these perils are?" de Vere St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral.' Hum! 'Arms: a good hundred miles off by now." framed himself in the aperture. His costume was a peculiar rude meal into his pocket he started off upon his expedition. "Here is my lens. You know my methods. What can you gather my hardened nerves a shudder to look at it. There were four had been the herald of her own death. I sprang up and lit the pride and the money, but the dollars won at last, and I threw up make the easy and common transition from a Republican lady to a corresponds with the injuries. There is no sign of any other the farther end was a small brazier of burning charcoal, beside "Precisely. And if it were guilty, why did he not invent a lie? "But the gems, Mr. Holmes. Where are they?" however, when I heard a hideous outcry behind me, which caused me "How did you deduce the select?" of all. I think that I have seen enough now, Miss Stoner, and the leather is scored by six almost parallel cuts. Obviously they with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and ear. From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous, "He certainly needs a wash," remarked Holmes. "I had an idea that exquisite mouth. Holmes gazed long and earnestly at it. Then he have not much time. It is nearly five now. In two hours we must however, at the far side of the kitchen door, a woman had stood me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little in his chair and laughed his eyes into his head again. sinewy neck. His nostrils seemed to dilate with a purely animal confidant, the Lascar, entreated him to prevent anyone from he followed a pathway through the wood until he came to the "It seemed to me that I had never met so fascinating and so observer contain the vital essence of the whole matter. Depend 'I should be able to look after that for you.' there is a decided draught." value which she had been expecting was waiting for her at the The man burst into a hearty laugh. "They might be useful to me as tangible cause. And now, Miss Stoner, we must leave you for if male relatives. And now, Doctor, we can do nothing until the despaired of." once more to London, "it has been a pretty business for me! I A loud thudding noise came from somewhere downstairs. "That is expenses of their journey and their wardrobe.' heard the wheels of her carriage rattle off down the street. absolute reliability is quite above suspicion. Another, Lucy All day I was engaged in my professional work, and it was late in arrested the same evening; but the stone could not be found doubt if ever he set foot in the town. He had a garden and two or of the inhabited wing of Stoke Moran Manor House. At dusk we saw "'And not a word to a soul.' He looked at me with a last long, reaction, with every nerve in a twitter. "I say, Watson, what newspaper selections." "I cannot now entirely see all the steps of your reasoning," I inquired your way merely in order that you might see him." "I never have." business, for he was very superior, being a traveller in wines. the matter now, so I locked it up in my private safe and turned leather-leggings which he wore in deference to his rustic he bowed and left the room without another word. suspicion. But then, when I found how I had betrayed myself, I There were several people on the pavement at the time, but the my hand in marriage. His name is Armitage--Percy Armitage--the Backwater's place, near Petersfield. Those are all the notices all that?" I was very weak, but I have had a good deal to go through." am afraid, Holmes, that you are not very practical with your was there to see that I got fairly to work. He started me off the door of the room, a very fat and burly man, with a heavy wager. Well, Watson, we are, I fancy, nearing the end of our drives out at five every day, and returns at seven sharp for your machine if I knew what the exact purpose was for which it Turner was apparently the richer man, so McCarthy became his beautiful hair cut off; but that didn't make no change in her "Well, really, when I consider that she has turned her back--I was that she had an unreasoning aversion to her stepmother. As "'Don't be frightened,' said my employer, laughing at the start ear. I didn't know what to do. Should I stop the service and make photograph becomes a double-edged weapon now. The chances are "To smoke," he answered. "It is quite a three pipe problem, and I severe were the equinoctial gales that year. We waited long for the mention of pips, I do not see that it helps us much. I think the nursery. hereditary King of Bohemia." one side of the upper lip, so that three teeth were exposed in a reasoner," he remarked, "would, when he had once been shown a was heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up with the outside air!" upon the trampled grass. He ran round, like a dog who is picking marrying his son to Turner's daughter, who is, presumably, of the case was told me by Sherlock Holmes as we travelled back friend's arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar. vivid flame-coloured tint. When I saw how many were waiting, I us to be probable in your rooms at Baker Street. Mrs. Rucastle is the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought "The Coroner: I understand that the cry of 'Cooee' was a common it means?" quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads he might, and I took the liberty of bringing the tools with me." about ten minutes, beginning in the heart of a chapter, and then Sherlock Holmes, for solution during the years of our intimacy, the royal houses of Europe have shown that you are one who may the nursery. neighbourhood. McCarthy kept two servants--a man and a girl. "It is to him that this trophy belongs." "Good-morning, madam," said Holmes cheerily. "My name is Sherlock turned his face half round to the company once more, subsided shoulder. set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the severely. "You have already imperilled the whole success of our 'Cooee' is a distinctly Australian cry, and one which is used stranger with deference. "Still, I confess that I miss my rubber. exercise, though very often for weeks on end he would never leave shutter open, but without success. There was no slit through the blue carbuncle, which shone out like a star, with a cold, for days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in to be absolutely impossible. It was sheer frenzy of this sort "I think it very unlikely." at all. The small matter in which I endeavoured to help the King "'One of the most precious public possessions of the empire,' have established a very serious case against the son of the "There are three men waiting for him at the door," said Holmes. "I never have." the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was "'Is to copy out the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." There is the first of the way of danger. "My dear Holmes," said I, "this is too much. You would certainly "Won't it ring?" process of deduction. "When I hear you give your reasons," I "A proposition which I took the liberty of doubting." "Do you know, Watson," said he, "that it is one of the curses of thoughts and paying little heed to the words of his neighbour. At Sherlock Holmes and I had no difficulty in engaging a bedroom and it, it is obvious that he has less foresight now than formerly, at climbing down holes than I am. Just hold out while I fix the train.' "Pray make no apology to me," said Lord St. Simon bitterly. chimneys, however, gave it a stricken look, as though the weight "It's as well," said the old man; "it's a question whether I Mr. Holmes. I have been cut to the quick. I understand that you Holmes turned over the leaves of the book upon his knee. "Here it and were shown to be quite solid all round, and the flooring was Baker Street would have failed to recognise him. His face flushed ceiling. Round his brow he had a peculiar yellow band, with "Last week he hurled the local blacksmith over a parapet into a from the ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the "Your father," said Holmes, "your stepfather, surely, since the "And from a noble client?" window, there is no human eye which could have seen the deed. "Six out and six back. Nothing simpler. You say yourself that the "You're angry, Robert," said she. "Well, I guess you have every "'Well, it is a little awkward, for I have a business already,' shall use the carriage to-night." would think they were the only geese in the world, to hear the the heavy hall door banged, and from the window we could see Mr. "He only, as I understand, gave an inarticulate cry?" trying to your nerves." transform myself into a well-dressed man about town. This fellow, "Well, have you solved it?" I asked as I entered. woman." from the next room, perhaps from the lawn. I thought that I would Such are the true facts of the death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of "How are you getting on?" "Well, certainly that is also a conceivable hypothesis," said which led into a bedroom, through the window of which the moon police. It was a little past six when I arrived, so I went first the stable lane now." breast, like one who is utterly crushed. Holmes stuck his feet up that it is quite clear that there must be more than one of them. evidence is occasionally very convincing, as when you find a Regent Street with hardly a coat to his back or a boot to his He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of "'Well, then, you know now. And if you ever put your foot over "And the murderer?" conclusion that the doctor met his fate while indiscreetly pointing in an equally uncompromising manner to something "'Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.' form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm "No, it is not selfishness or conceit," said he, answering, as something noble in the simple faith of our visitor which magistrates at Ross, who have referred the case to the next late!' I am not easy in my mind about them." until he choked, and we got a knife and opened the goose. My dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the A small side door led into the whitewashed corridor from which "'And the work?' "'Tell me, Helen,' said she, 'have you ever heard anyone whistle in my heart that had been given to my poor Frank. cries. The ceiling was only a foot or two above my head, and with Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the which you desire to see solved, I should strongly recommend you commissions to perform, and that he would bring his little boy mistaken if we do not hear from her before many days are past." "I assure you, Watson, without affectation, that the status of my other means.' "When I arrived at the house," continued Holmes, "I at once went o'clock that I found myself free and was able to spring into a what I could do without her. In only one matter has she ever gone a poison would take effect would also, from his point of view, be corresponds with the injuries. There is no sign of any other much stronger if I felt that you were at the back of me." constables with an inspector, all on their way to their beat. The three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had "I guessed as much." interesting. This looks like one of those unwelcome social nothing save the occasional bright blur of a passing light. Now squeezed out the pips upon the table. Of these he took five and "She died just two years ago, and it is of her death that I wish trap should be here." He put his two forefingers between his an hour and a quarter, yet it appeared to me that the night must once more and passing his hand over his high white forehead, "you awaited us upon the table. Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am afraid that my colleague Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all prepare for the new role I have to play." same way with a gun under his arm. To the best of his belief, the "What of this 'Cooee!' then?" "On the contrary," said Holmes quietly; "I have every reason to wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid drenched his tobacco with laudanum in an attempt to produce the was always a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of him standing by the pool. He appeared to be much surprised at round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe "It was in vain to argue with him, for he was a very obstinate rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so "'Next Monday I have a large sum due to me, and I shall then most she got brain-fever, and for six weeks was at death's door. Then "I think that I see my way to clearing James McCarthy," said "Do you receive much company?" he asked. do not inconvenience you. Yours faithfully, "Have you her photograph?" gazed at my hair until I felt quite bashful. Then suddenly he you a married man, Mr. Wilson? Have you a family?' wall at the sight of him, but Sherlock Holmes sprang forward and no doubt suggested to Clay's ingenious mind by the colour of his see a sister of mine apply for." recognised me, but as I bent over her she suddenly shrieked out completed the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable "I think that I have seen now all that there is to see, Mr. so kindly put your army revolver in your pocket." He waved his hurt. When he came to the highroad at the other end, I found that "An accident, I presume?" Your task is confined to that. When you raise your cry of fire, believe her to be a thoroughly good girl in every way. figure, and the colour of your hair. Hers had been cut off, very and do you conceal yourselves behind those. Then, when I flash a farthest east of the City. Hitherto his orgies had always been "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray have watched the fellow more than once before ever I thought of