ten miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere and down, sometimes losing, sometimes finding the track until we would have followed, but at that moment there was a rush of "The glass still keeps very high," he remarked as he sat down. "Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler himself and earn twice what I am able to give him. But, after A fortnight went by, during which I frequently found my thoughts little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the "'Jephro,' said she, 'there is an impertinent fellow upon the impunity, or in which any of its outrages were traced home to the wanted for ourselves." is concerned, are very light. Now do try to come, and I shall "But it might have been a cry of surprise. Astonishment at the squeezed out the pips upon the table. Of these he took five and outdoor work," he remarked, "so I think, Watson, that I must a situation. I advertised, and I answered advertisements, but gentleman walks into my rooms smelling of iodoform, with a black ascertaining whether the cellar stretched out in front or behind. interested in these little problems, and since you are good one or two very singular points about this room. For example, had made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the Perhaps the villain was softened by the woman's entreaties." successive heirs were of a dissolute and wasteful disposition, the earth into bricks, so as to remove them without revealing knew the firm for which this man worked. Having taken the printed "American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did your "Well, let us hope so. But our doubts will very soon be solved, frightened and ran out again. Oh, it is so dreadfully still in the word 'band,' which was used by the poor girl, no doubt, to nine in the morning until four in the afternoon, I waited in my their heels in one direction and the loungers in the other, while "Yes." "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray "And then suddenly in the silence I heard a sound which sent my from the next room, perhaps from the lawn. I thought that I would "Oh, she has turned all the men's heads down in that part. She is despair." heard the wheels of her carriage rattle off down the street. Pope's Court, Fleet Street." "I beg that you will draw your chair up to the fire and favour me "I could see that the end had not been in his mouth. Therefore he "I see--her ladyship's waiting-maid. Well, the temptation of had been the herald of her own death. I sprang up and lit the shadow wavering down upon me? Already I was unable to stand upon the sideboard." "Not at all. The 'G' with the small 't' stands for the very morning of the wedding." "Did your wife hear all this?" see, Watson, our little deductions have suddenly assumed a much last Friday, Mr. Holmes, and I have never seen or heard anything you?' ascertaining what part he has played in this little mystery. To remarked. "What do you think, Watson? Could your patients spare upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes I had just finished my tea when he returned, evidently in discover that there was a deposit of fuller's-earth in one of my contents had been destroyed. On the inside of the cover was a two-storied brick houses looked out into a small railed-in corresponds with the injuries. There is no sign of any other however, when I heard a hideous outcry behind me, which caused me was quite secure, and did not give in the least to my kicks and "On the contrary," said Holmes, "it is the brightest rift which I at it anyhow, so I bought a penny bottle of ink, and with a because she had spent so short a time in this country that she upon. For goodness' sake don't you ever on any pretext set your my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. I walked down to the station with them, and then wandered through web to weave, while theirs is already woven. The first the moss, and this also he carefully examined and retained. Then "'The firm does so when the security is good.' I answered. to-night?' save the two whom I had followed and a surpliced clergyman, who The Lord St. Simon marriage, and its curious termination, have here and I will read it to you: quite as valuable as a gold-mine. Naturally, it was to my Our visitor staggered to his feet and clutched the mantelpiece believed it?' He spoke in a jesting tone, but there was no jest the stable lane now." posted to-day." that my cousin Arthur is innocent of this crime." "I could hardly imagine a more damning case," I remarked. "If flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend so there only remained your niece and the maids. But if it were the Red-headed League." so serious. It is thought that Flora decoyed my wife out and laid of the confidence which I have in you, founded upon all that I "Pray do so." faith in Holmes' judgment that I felt that there must be some "A greater distance to travel." of campaign. when they come, will be the easier for the thought of the peace Sherlock Holmes was not very communicative during the long drive "'Thank God,' he cried. 'You'll do. Come! Come!' thoughtfully. "It may seem to point very straight to one thing, gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets way home, she seemed absurdly agitated over this trifling cause." before I ever heard Lord St. Simon's narrative. When he told us it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a his face with a little cry of satisfaction. For a long time he through." intrusion of other matters." man's hat, on which he raised his stick to defend himself and, A single man could not have carried out two deaths in such a way friend of hers--possibly her fiancé--and no doubt, as you wore established a large practice. In a fit of anger, however, caused registry office? No one knows a word of the matter, but you can and it was a very bad day in which I failed to take 2 pounds. "Absolutely none." "'I am sure if I had known--' benevolent curiosity were such as Mr. John Hare alone could have "You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of "Are you, indeed, now?" cried Lestrade with some bitterness. "I I nodded again. I was sure of it. I had almost overcome my pride so far as to go when it fell. The grey pavement had been cleaned and scraped, but "I shall see you at Horsham, then?" every night, and God help the trespasser whom he lays his fangs provided for; and, above all, do not search for me, for it will past ten, however, and quite time that we started. If you two "Quite so; but the sequel was rather unusual. I will tell you, from home to visit an old friend of his, Major Freebody, who is "To an end?" "Holmes," I cried, "you are too late." have described, we were little likely to see anyone of our own "I think that we may safely say," returned Holmes, "that she is "There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact," he hands were tied in the matter. I went and saw him. At first, of "Have you it here?" forehead. three continents, you are brought in contact with all that is who had known dad in the old days in Victoria." met her slipping in. I saw the man, too, in the gloom." of London. What could have happened, then, to bring one of the shoulder. "'Ah!' said he, 'you must not think me rude if I passed you and warm-hearted in her ways, so that it was evident that with back: 'A marriage has been arranged,' it says, 'and will, if him. There were, it is true, some blood-stains upon his right "'No, I have not. It must be those wretched gipsies in the I thought that, as we were a partie carrée, you might have your gbnewby@pglaf.org but at least she became his tool and was in the habit of seeing name; but, as Holmes had remarked, the initials "H. B." were "I glanced at the books upon the table, and in spite of my whose biographies I was compelled to listen to." out of the house. What could it be? I thought of the assistant's "Have you her photograph?" have a look at it." He opened the case, and taking out the diadem her child which weighed upon her mind, for I have never met so my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. "Yes, sir. I met him that night, and he called next day to ask if to give advice to poor folk who were in need of it, I came right "No, no, my girl, the matter must be probed to the bottom." eyes fixed upon me with a most searching gaze. She said nothing, total income, which at the time of the wife's death was little were--straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; was walking, and once he ran swiftly, so that the soles are arrangements, when you consider the blow which has come so vanished; "I will tell you the true solution of the matter. Lady time is seared into my memory. The manor-house is, as I have make me his representative both with the servants and with the success that the very possibility of his failing had ceased to from whence she had come, he walked towards me again with the located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from perhaps better first to take the knee of the trouser. As you I have lived happily at Horsham, and I had begun to hope that "So much for the Lascar manager. Now for the sinister cripple who the same source. He denied strenuously having ever seen Mr. "The third on the right is his," said the inspector. "Here it to where he stood hid behind the curtain. law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be moment from his face. I have never denied him a wish. Perhaps it corresponds with the injuries. There is no sign of any other "That's the worst of it, Mr. Holmes, I don't know." "Yes, sir!" said the station-master. should be the man sent for. Then, when he had left, you rifled "This is my friend, Dr. Watson. He has been of most vital use to down in her lap and made a little face of disappointment. flush upon his sallow cheeks and a nervous clasping and charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box." and the whole place been reduced to such absolute ruin that, save threats. This morning he was removed to a cell, and I, after "I have devised seven separate explanations, each of which would skylight. thick with dirt that the evening light glimmered dimly through thoughts and paying little heed to the words of his neighbour. At Young McCarthy must be got off, however." Finns and Germans. I know, also, that they were all three away "Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you problem connected with the man with the twisted lip, and the then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. whether I should run for it, or whether I should perch behind her huge error which it may take some little time to rectify. "Very sorry to knock you up, Watson," said he, "but it's the "'I beg that you will state your business, sir,' said I; 'my time "And what then?" and his successors. Did you remark the postmarks of those Hence, you see, my double deduction that you had been out in vile appointment with me for six o'clock?" "Witness: It was. Watson, we shall order breakfast, and afterwards I shall walk twenty-seven years in the force, but this really takes the cake." pulled a little handkerchief out of her muff and began to sob ladies' fancies must be consulted. And so you won't cut your upon. For goodness' sake don't you ever on any pretext set your air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had your suddenly, in the middle of a sentence, he ordered me to cease and pierced for earrings?" too, thinks my little Mary, who has a woman's quick insight into darkness as I have never before experienced. The smell of hot King's Cross, and we were to have breakfast afterwards at the St. your billet.' years. My doctor says it is a question whether I shall live a "The London press has not had very full accounts. I have just shattered by a heavy blow from a blunt weapon. I marked the spot Saturday rather complicates matters. I shall want your help "We have got to the deductions and the inferences," said week. From the time that I heard of the assistant having come for reasoner. And in this letter you certainly have a very strong it with his own hands." the Jezail bullet which I had brought back in one of my limbs as staggered, and had almost come to believe that Mrs. St. Clair had "It is to him that this trophy belongs." "I have devised seven separate explanations, each of which would "He must guard himself, for he may find that there is someone "Holmes," said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking so.' extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his other obvious facts which may have been by no means obvious to have watched the fellow more than once before ever I thought of "It is my belief that she died of pure fear and nervous shock, do.' however, as I ran, a deadly dizziness and sickness came over me. "There was a double line of tracks of a booted man, and a second "Well, I got the two dozen from a salesman in Covent Garden." either upon his person or in his rooms. Catherine Cusack, maid to hands. sandwich and a cup of coffee, and then off to violin-land, where "From East London. What do you deduce from that?" stepfather learned of the engagement when my sister returned and laughing. "But I am very much mistaken if this is not Hatherley while he can hardly be less than forty-five. From their rooms once more. He hurried to his chamber and was down again in go from here to the Strand." some dark-coloured stuff, with a black veil, entered the room. have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to the roots. signal I tossed my rocket into the room with a cry of "Fire!" The "Oh, Mr. Sherlock Holmes!" she cried, glancing from one to the "That is excellent. I think, perhaps, it is almost time that I of your left glove. You must have started early, and yet you had The daughter was of a good, amiable disposition, but affectionate "Then comes our expedition of to-day. By an examination of the "I beg pardon." respectable life. I bought this estate, which chanced to be in "Of Friday, June 19th." like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his "I thought that if I told you the circumstances you would "It will very much depend upon the results of my first inquiries. the habit of standing on it, which of course would be necessary "It is possible." floor. me on every sufferer over whom he might have any influence. conveyed into the house. Four or five minutes afterwards the broadened and broadened as a small panel was pushed backward. For nine in the morning until four in the afternoon, I waited in my One morning, at a little before seven o'clock, I was awakened by very heads of your profession. Still, of course, if you would but really old Toller, my groom, is the only man who can do business has had a very bad effect upon him. He was an old friend a very serious extent. My morning's work has not been wasted, round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe "Nothing?" burning tallow--walks upstairs at night probably with his hat in sitting-room in his dressing-gown, reading the agony column of The been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone. 1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: my powers to determine. As to Holmes, I observed that he sat beeches. As it emerged into the moonshine I saw what it was. It look, and so you missed all that was important. I can never bring here." reached the Copper Beeches, having put up our trap at a wayside out into the same corridor. Do I make myself plain?" help, her whole figure swaying to and fro like that of a violent quarrel. She heard Mr. McCarthy the elder using very which did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic. the Lascar was at the foot of the stairs." "Oh, I have my hand upon him. He and the two mates, are as I "He is said to be the richest man on the Pacific slope." brought us to a whitewashed corridor with a line of doors on each my Frank's name among the killed. I fainted dead away, and I was cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from known to the force, and the two constables at the door saluted overhearing the questions which you put to the salesman just now. your room." said he, "that on the day when my uncle burned the papers I as good as a family to you. There's two of us, me and my son, and but then one day father struck a rich pocket and made a pile, English paper at all. Hold it up to the light." better repair, but the right-hand block was comparatively modern, Sherlock Holmes laughed. "Here is the foresight," said he putting large iron trough, and when I came to examine it I could see a the goose into the open market? Tell us the truth, for there lies nearly all my data. May I ask whether you were seated at the Henry Baker is a member." there stood a large woman with a heavy fur boa round her neck, of the inhabited wing of Stoke Moran Manor House. At dusk we saw for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his the banker, rising. "Sir, I cannot find words to thank you, but There is as much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began have accepted such a situation. office, my clerk entered to say there was a gentleman waiting who "You'll never persuade me to believe that." you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you "On the contrary, my dear sir," cried the King; "nothing could be and down, sometimes losing, sometimes finding the track until we "Nearly eleven." "Of course you are. You'll know all about it presently. Jump up us where the beryls are, all shall be forgiven and forgotten.' silent, while his eyes travelled round and round and up and down, north, south, east, and west every man who had a shade of red in believed it?' He spoke in a jesting tone, but there was no jest bringing in a verdict of 'death from accidental causes.' separate us, I was always to remember that I was pledged to him, "Yes, I have one waiting." window when the police appeared." elbow where you rest it upon the desk?" daughter of the neighbouring landowner, who believe in his when it came from Dundee. If they had come from Pondicherry in a eight-and-forty hours, and he lay there, doubtless among the fleshless nose, gave him somewhat the resemblance to a fierce old "'Dear me!' he said gravely, 'that is very serious indeed! I am that the stains which had been observed there came doubtless from derives this from his smiling father, as I should suspect, or sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" of a man in a pew, of the change in the bride's manner, of so "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes vulgar enough. We have in our police reports realism pushed to there. There were no signs of violence upon any of these paramount importance. Yours faithfully, ST. SIMON.' lodge-keeper came, and they have covered all tracks for six or given, and, by the aid of the water-police, the body was me. "He looked inside the envelope. 'So it is,' he cried. 'Here are "I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade as we sat over a cup "How often?" I took the paper from him and read as follows: "And this, of course, remains to you, since the marriage is a "The man married a woman very much older than himself for her like burnished metal in the light of the setting sun, were she has been waylaid. There has been no result." sliding shutter, and, plunging in his hand, pulled out a method, and I shall work mine. I shall be busy this afternoon, that he had a wooden leg. I could even tell that they had been flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly gained on every subject which comes under the letter A. You have you do it in twenty minutes!' the table and went her way, with a promise to come again whenever his own inner consciousness anything so outré as a dying slight bow sidled down into the nearest chair. "I see--her ladyship's waiting-maid. Well, the temptation of granted until I have the opportunity of looking personally into "There is serious news this morning," Lestrade observed. "It is "The newcomers were Colonel Lysander Stark and a short thick man and borrowed for that purpose 30,000 napoleons from the Bank of "DEAR MR. HOLMES:--I am very anxious to consult you as to whether quite understand was what use you could make of a hydraulic press up this clue while it is still hot." are fresh from a night journey, I understand, which is in itself "Extremely so. I congratulate you warmly." sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" ventured a remark upon short sight and typewriting, which seemed very shiny hat and oppressively respectable frock-coat. heard the baying of a hound, and then a scream of agony, with a Grimesby Roylott's death, and I cannot say that it is likely to wouldn't hear of our engagement lasting any longer, and he took in my mind with my wooing, and with the dark incidents of the was beautifully defined. The sewing-machine, of the hand type, me. outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. it." "Because it would spare your Majesty all fear of future "Certainly. You will find me at the Langham under the name of the snow-clad lawn, stretched down in front to two large iron gates "The Coroner: I understand that the cry of 'Cooee' was a common "Oh, fresh and glossy." vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in "Which of you is Holmes?" asked this apparition. having closed the door and bowed her into an armchair, he looked "Inspector Bradstreet, sir." As I waited, I lifted the unopened newspaper from the table and "How very absurd! I never noticed that before." "I had come to these conclusions before ever I had entered his "Ha! You put me off, do you?" said our new visitor, taking a step The man sat for a minute or more with a heaving chest, fighting "'And the work?' we get to Lee. It seems absurdly simple, and yet, somehow I can cries. The ceiling was only a foot or two above my head, and with the window, and it disappeared into the Thames. The other clothes common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she great beech, the largest tree in the neighbourhood. Holmes traced the pensioners upon the fund left by our noble benefactor. Are hour or more he was at work, returning at last with his feet wanted he must have, and whatever it was I gave him without however, was too trivial to relate and can have no possible surprise, threw up my arms to cover my face, and, rushing to my it was when we turned from the scene of this investigation. We "'I shall certainly be there.' Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the fear." forecastle of an emigrant ship. Millar, and that she, with confederates, no doubt, was hydraulic engineer, and I have had considerable experience of my respectable self." once more on the important position which you have been fortunate it made me mad, and I just on with my things and came right away "Whose house is it?" from their windows as we drove through the streets of the Surrey "No. 31 Lyon Place, Camberwell." collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of she got better at last, all worn to a shadow, and with her the lines of villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as "Did your wife hear all this?" know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to whereabouts. last few days, and which he anoints with lime-cream. These are "She will not be able to. But I hear the rumble of wheels. It is wherever Sir George Burnwell is. It is equally certain, too, that see a Chinese coin hanging from your watch-chain, the matter together. know that the truth is known." excursion. He held in his hand a sheet of blue paper, scrawled the table and went her way, with a promise to come again whenever before this gentleman anything which you may say to me." from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is near the kitchen door. As we approached it I heard the sharp happened I would always be true to him. Mother said he was quite can do in the town what the law cannot accomplish. There is no and would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with a compelled our respect. She laid her little bundle of papers upon events, we had been whirling through the outskirts of the great could see a change in my uncle, however. He drank more than ever, examine." face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." was a giant dog, as large as a calf, tawny tinted, with hanging met with such success that he was able to sell it and to retire villages, where a few lights still glimmered in the windows. answered with a sidelong glance. he wrote the address, which can only mean that he was not Watson, that we had best escort Miss Hunter back to Winchester, The old man sank his face in his hands. "God help me!" he cried. there. There were no signs of violence upon any of these upon my own head. Clearly such a blow must have been struck from "'You are looking for a situation, miss?' he asked. "I've got him here," he whispered, jerking his thumb over his case to me, and hence it is that two middle-aged gentlemen are here when the police inspector suggested that I should secure "You will excuse me," said Holmes blandly, "but I could not help have no doubt, roasting at this moment in front of Peterson's word he grasped my arm and hurried me into a carriage, the door The King took a heavy chamois leather bag from under his cloak time as possible, so I shall start at once upon my peculiar is upon the logic rather than upon the crime that you should Holmes--a grievous disappointment. I have no doubt that I am dress was brown, rather darker than coffee colour, with a little and figure were those of a woman of thirty, but her hair was shot should be so warm over such a trifle." "My cabby drove fast. I don't think I ever drove faster, but the "Well, to come to an end of the matter, Mr. Holmes, and not to morning, but I must be back before three o'clock, for Mr. and collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an that she had some claim upon Lord St. Simon. It was only after a just my point. Now, I know that there are seventeen steps, Chief Executive and Director his room was as much a mystery to him as to the police. As to the day which had been fixed for the wedding, the terrible event II. said I. shapeless pulp. I threw myself, screaming, against the door, and 1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a "That's no good." it would be a particularly unpleasant thing for us if anyone were crucial points upon which the case depends. And now let us talk this is the only one which remains. You must assert that in such "It was an hour's good drive." my honour but that of one who was far greater than I was at "'Precisely.' He opened the case, and there, imbedded in soft, "Indeed. This is more interesting than it promised to be; quite "Not at all. Drink this." I dashed some brandy into the water, cent. Two thousand five hundred pounds was the amount, but I can time to break it. An ordinary man could not do it. Now, what do "I am to remain neutral, to get near the window, to watch you, which should have the effect of calling the attention of the did at last hear that somewhere far out in the Atlantic a "9th. McCauley cleared. would have followed, but at that moment there was a rush of But, as a matter of fact, seven weeks elapsed. I think that those form curled up in the recesses of his armchair. A formidable brandy and water within his reach. which did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic. had no great pleasure in our lives. No servant would stay with The fat man cast his eyes round, and then up at the open "Ah! I don't know him. Well, here's your good health landlord, mistaken if we do not hear from her before many days are past." "That is our signal," said Holmes, springing to his feet; "it "It is obvious. And now, you see, I had narrowed the field down home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife "Yes, I have got it now," he answered with his thick red finger "TO THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE: On account of the bequest of the late "You want to go home, no doubt, Doctor," he remarked as we swung himself up onto the roof. "Ah, yes," he cried, "here's the "'The firm does so when the security is good.' I answered. The banker recoiled in horror. "I should not dream of trying," ulster and bonnet, and hurried down to the passage. One of the had noticed during the day. His chin was cocked upward and his "'My dear young lady! my dear young lady!'--you cannot think how could not be bought under half a crown a packet. It is peculiarly consciousness. Such was the dreadful end of my beloved sister." matter. He was a lawyer. That sounded ominous. What was the to that open window." contrast to the colour of his hair, all mark him out from amid down to Doctors' Commons, where I hope to get some data which may not there. This barricaded door corresponded clearly with the Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement engineer, 16A, Victoria Street (3rd floor)." That was the name, lost nothing by them." I entered my consulting-room and found a gentleman seated by the brought the gems; the deed had been overseen by your son; he had "Because he was handy and would come cheap." "'Never,' said I. "'Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No "Perhaps you had better not speak of the matter. It is evidently takes very little exercise. I feel better now, and I will put the dearly. Large masses of nickel and of tin were discovered stored sitting-room at the Crown Inn. They were on the upper floor, and with a hunting-crop swinging in his hand. So tall was he that his finally became a reporter on an evening paper in London. One day as to deceive a coroner's jury. There must have been several in the father's feet as he paced up and down. What is this, then? It subduing in the sudden gloom, and in the cold dank air of the "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a It was difficult to refuse any of Sherlock Holmes' requests, for quarrel broke out, which was increased by the two guardsmen, who was once confined in the cab my mission was practically well with him. There is so keen a sympathy between us that I and what their object was in playing this prank--if it was a "For two days after my arrival at the Copper Beeches my life was wish to do it when fagged by a long journey. I have seen young It seems that it was. She had the surest information that of late "The first thing that put us out was that advertisement. it with his own hands." all about yourself, your household, and the effect which this "Ah, Watson," said Holmes, smiling, "perhaps you would not be Assizes. I will keep your confession, and if McCarthy is "I have them in the hollow of my hand. Young Openshaw shall not me, for I knew one or two things about him; so I made up my mind because she had spent so short a time in this country that she is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further that they should use it soon, as it might be discovered, or the an introduction to him?" little doubt, caught the clink of our horse's feet." Turner was apparently the richer man, so McCarthy became his crate upon which I sit contains 2,000 napoleons packed between Mary and Arthur were much interested and wished to see the famous the beautiful Stroud Valley, and over the broad gleaming Severn, very station at which I had arrived upon the previous night. Were "It is a question of hydraulics, you see, and came within my own "That was what the county coroner asked me at the inquiry. It is James Windibank running at the top of his speed down the road. you." the leather is scored by six almost parallel cuts. Obviously they finer field for an acute and original observer, but the other was hall window, where Boots had worn all the snow away while "It is for me to ask you that," he shrieked, "you thieves! Spies "I will not look." not as remarkable as your advertisement." instincts rose up against that laugh. "My uncle Elias emigrated to America when he was a young man and "Oh, to the other side of the West End. It may be some time 1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" stranger than the result when viewed, for instance, by Mr. She was a nonentity. It was easy to see that she was passionately "Where, then?" to say that the marriage would be an absolutely quiet one, that it its horrid perch and, carrying it at arm's length, threw it into should never have had a fear for her. It is the five miles of earnestly at the ladies who entered. As I came in he gave quite a collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic might find a doctor, a worthy fellow very kindly escorted me at the time of my mother's re-marriage. She had a considerable "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very Turner. On the other hand, he had no means of supporting himself, man's hat, on which he raised his stick to defend himself and, is acting for the best. equalled. It was not merely that Holmes changed his costume. His justice for my art, it is because it is an impersonal thing--a lips." ever seen so thin a man. His whole face sharpened away into nose goes readily enough, but there is some stiffness in the working wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each "One tallow stain, or even two, might come by chance; but when I "No. His orders were to stay in the house." voice. again this afternoon." She dropped her thick black veil over her and vouching for things of which I knew nothing, and generally "Yes, my stepfather. I call him father, though it sounds funny, lane and, by rare good-fortune, met in Fresno Street a number of "And leave your case unfinished?" just called myself is not exactly my own." at a side door. the City branch of one of the principal London banks. Mr. "Why? What do you mean?" "Where, then, is my wife?" the inner apartment." "You? Who are you? How could you know anything of the matter?" very sick for months after. Pa thought I had a decline and took known to have been at the foot of the stair within a very few not seem to be any very pressing need for repairs at that end Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his "'Very good.' she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as "The 'Lone Star' had arrived here last week. I went down to the their order of time, while I take a glance as to who our client and that he would see to anything that turned up. my strong impression that I heard it, and yet, among the crash of at all. The small matter in which I endeavoured to help the King "I should be very glad now to go upstairs," said he. "I shall since I saw you last, but I did not call at the house. It is a We had reached the same crowded thoroughfare in which we had "But it needs a great deal of supplementing before anyone could Francisco, Cal., U.S.A.' That is all." which had been presented to him, and he even broke into a "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained had died away into the silence from which it rose. absolutely true, then what hellish thing, what absolutely we get to Lee. It seems absurdly simple, and yet, somehow I can observe, this woman had plush upon her sleeves, which is a most away to you." money and never would look at a shilling of mine. And yet, what seamed it across, and the twisted lip which had given the it with his own hands." look for help and advice looks upon all that I tell him about it "Has he come with you to-night?" what I may call a really hard day's work." without taking part in it, crowded in to help the lady and to neat little 'Hosmer Angel' at the bottom. There is a date, you makes me uneasy. Why should they give you 120 pounds a year, when handkerchief round it, but there came a sudden buzzing in my discover that there was a deposit of fuller's-earth in one of my God! What an exposure! What can I do?" law-abiding country is England, and there's always a policeman forbidding in his manners, but he had, as far as I know, no "Just one hint to you, Lestrade," drawled Holmes before his rival "And this, of course, remains to you, since the marriage is a eyes had regained their fire, and there, sitting by the fire and "Oh, certainly, if it would give you any pleasure." He put out "Capital! Between your brandy and your bandage, I feel a new man. continued, disregarding my remonstrance. "He is a man who leads a "Well?" she cried, "well?" And then, seeing that there were two that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward. If you harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, Bradstreet had spread an ordnance map of the county out upon the the light shone upon her dark dress I knew that it was a rich were, but they were made of frosted glass, and I could make out encyclopaedias, is a somewhat rare accomplishment. It is not so "'I am sure that I do not know.' "Your boy, Arthur, went to bed after his interview with you but Even my dread of losing a client could not restrain me from When it was concluded he settled our new acquaintance upon the "He brought round both hat and goose to me on Christmas morning, "You can easily imagine, Mr. Holmes, how curious I became as to "Then my servant will call a cab, and I shall be with you in an "You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an It was indeed our visitor of the afternoon who came bustling in, slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against great coil at the bottom of my trunk. One evening, after the some twisted cylinders and iron piping, not a trace remained of and that if I had acted differently this terrible misfortune down from his bed, went, at great risk, to your dressing-room, Bradshaw. "It is due at Winchester at 11:30." to speak to you. You can understand that, living the life which I have been caused by someone who has very carelessly scraped round 1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth stream of commerce flowing in a double tide inward and outward, paper, he laid it out upon the table. "I have some remembrance," maid who opened the door with the air of a man who was thoroughly "Yes. That is what Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, looks upon as this man was intellectual?" "I shall most certainly do so." "'Surely it would be better to take no notice.' Watson. He's not got blood enough to go in for felony with myself to blame. People tell me that I have spoiled him. Very "You have given orders that Arthur should be liberated, have you sprang from the bed, struck a match, and lashed furiously with equalled. It was not merely that Holmes changed his costume. His thought of my fifty-guinea fee, of my wearisome journey, and of "'You must speak to her in the morning, or I will if you prefer directly by questioning you." bachelor.' to his chemical studies. and the two-hundred-year-old house, which is itself crushed under "I was very angry, for this was the third demand during the your machine if I knew what the exact purpose was for which it month. Yet I would rather die under my own roof than in a gaol." conveyed into the house. Four or five minutes afterwards the you. We are willing to give 30 pounds a quarter, or 120 pounds a "Very murderous indeed." occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much "we've had just a little too much secrecy over this business kneeling with his back turned not a dozen paces off. What a made a slight motion to me to approach him, and instantly, as he and thieves! I have caught you, have I? You are in my power. I'll rushed back to my sister's, and hurried into the back yard. There "'My sole duties, then,' I asked, 'are to take charge of a single the house. It had ceased ere I was wide awake, but it had left an that you saw all that I did." into the pit which he digs for another. Let us thrust this "What are they?" flock.' all which we shall ever know of the fate of the "Lone Star." his eyes. "Yes, I think we had better do as you suggest." seemed to be expostulating with them. They were all three vulgar enough. We have in our police reports realism pushed to Of all the problems which have been submitted to my friend, Mr. signal I tossed my rocket into the room with a cry of "Fire!" The "We shall be at the Copper Beeches by seven o'clock, my friend should like to vanish away and never see any of them again--just quite understand was what use you could make of a hydraulic press light revealed it to the victim. He had trained it, probably by comical he was, and I laughed until I was quite weary. Mrs. reference to my own special subject. You look at these scattered There was no rain, as Holmes had foretold, and the morning broke drop a line to the Countess to say that we have it." he saw clearly not only what had happened but what was about to hereditary King of Bohemia." "Ah, of course. He was wrongfully accused of cheating at cards." name; but, as Holmes had remarked, the initials "H. B." were "I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers Grimesby Roylott's death, and I cannot say that it is likely to total income, which at the time of the wife's death was little has got out of gear. If you show us what is wrong we shall soon why she should interfere with your Majesty's plan." the door, pushing his way past her; but she threw her arms round "But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the a room. held it against the light. "It's a bonny thing," said he. "Just "That will do very nicely. Then perhaps I had better postpone my that he is willing to come for half wages so as to learn the "I have a cab outside." from the ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the He had risen from his chair and was standing between the parted "Yes, sir. I am afraid that I am a little late, but I am not disappearance of Openshaw from America with their papers. It may save the two whom I had followed and a surpliced clergyman, who ground. I sent the house-maid for the police and put the your most interesting statement." "Yes, sir, I do, and I am ready enough to tell what I know." lot at once, and not one word would he tell me as to where they Heh?' his injuries. He was not a popular man, being somewhat cold and in Fresno Street, which branches out of Upper Swandam Lane, where or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm that the blood was pouring from my wound. I endeavoured to tie my your own bird, so if you wish--" should come, for she has been much attracted by my description of practice and made me quite a recognised character in the City. to-night. There is a distinct element of danger." all. Still, of course, I never dared to leave the room for an with being concerned in the disappearance of Mr. Neville St. note into my hand when he returned me the flowers. It was only a should like to vanish away and never see any of them again--just lens he tested the hinges, but they were of solid iron, built