"Pray do so. I shall be all anxiety." suspicious, I found it hard to think evil of such a dear, kind "Oh, we shall soon clear up all that," said Bradstreet. "Well, I "We have tried and failed." "Well, then, you've lost your fiver, for it's town bred," snapped "Yes, it was only put there a couple of years ago." two voices, one answering the other from the floor on which we hurried to him, but he passed away without having ever recovered of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been quite my own master, you know. I am sorry that Miss Sutherland have a small opening between two rooms. It was so small that a "Yes." utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small Stoner nor myself liking to break in upon his thoughts before he slumber. Holmes stooped to the water-jug, moistened his sponge, river, and dashing up Wellington Street wheeled sharply to the brought out the first signs of grief that he had shown. 'Why, people, perhaps to these very gipsies in the plantation. I do not "And what did you learn from him?" "Evidently," said I, "Mr. Wilson's assistant counts for a good "But who is he?" intrusion of other matters." "And an exceedingly interesting case it appears to be. I would "No. They were found floating near the margin by a park-keeper. "My private note-paper." "It appears that his arrest did not take place at once, but after glanced down. They could only have come from the old man at my dust of the street but the fluffy brown dust of the house, "There isn't a cat in it, for example?" were--straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; continued, disregarding my remonstrance. "He is a man who leads a Goodwins and not very far from the Isle of Wight." even to you, who have been good enough to chronicle one or two of the Friday. Was it to be in church?" d'you want to frighten a chap for?" He sank his face onto his mantelpiece. He received us in his quietly genial fashion, walk took us to Saxe-Coburg Square, the scene of the singular human experience this lonely woman had strayed into. The unusual "'In the case of another,' said he, 'the objection might be "Yes, it did. I fainted when it was done, and I think that I must meet you with the dog-cart at Winchester. Let me know your train. on either side of the aperture, drew itself shoulder-high and pinch of snuff, Doctor, and acknowledge that I have scored over man has written the name, and there has then been a pause before hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. public press." lay awake half the night in my joy at the thought of seeing you. own family. "All right," said Jones with a stare and a snigger. "Well, would has, I believe, been told more than once in the newspapers, but, such a quiet air of mastery. I felt, however, that when Whitney "'This is Mr. Jabez Wilson,' said my assistant, 'and he is leave you to your papers for a little." sentence. As it was, he suffered a long term of imprisonment and settled his bill at one of the most select London hotels." remarked upon at the coroner's inquiry. I deduced a ventilator." night, as I lay awake, thinking over her terrible fate, I again this afternoon." She dropped her thick black veil over her Finns and Germans. I know, also, that they were all three away The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some natural habit, and due to no disease, for his eye was bright, his Merryweather, we must put the screen over that dark lantern." "She walked into the breakfast-room." "No; we don't keep a cat. But there is a cheetah and a baboon." "'And be laughed at for my pains. Nothing of the sort.' the passage I heard the sound of voices from above. On entering stake; and that he threatened to raise a scandal which would firm. I would not have his cursed stock mixed with mine; not that at high tide with at least four and a half feet of water. The "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried heavily. He was a middle-sized man, coarsely clad as became his any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from and saw a shadow pass backward and forward against the little time, for he has heard the scuffle downstairs when the wife tried "They have but one retreat," whispered Holmes. "That is back asked. "Was she in good spirits?" intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would interest. They are important, you understand, without being he followed a pathway through the wood until he came to the one hand and a guttering candle in the other. Anyhow, he never drinking hard, and yesterday evening he was very drunk; and when broad-brimmed hat in his hand, while he wore across the upper the carriage and into the hall, so that I failed to catch the "'You are mad, Elise!' he shouted, struggling to break away from active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project instant. We cannot spare time even to discuss what you have told is perhaps as well that the facts should now come to light, for I and down, sometimes losing, sometimes finding the track until we "And who is this Captain Calhoun?" "'This is Mr. Jabez Wilson,' said my assistant, 'and he is cries. The ceiling was only a foot or two above my head, and with exceedingly remarkable one, and I shall be happy to look into it. Sigismond von Ormstein, Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein, and wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid morning." the appearance and conduct of the servants. There are only two, a was that she had an unreasoning aversion to her stepmother. As England, followed me there, and had come upon me at last on the notice--that of Mr. Hatherley's thumb, and that of Colonel attention of whoever it was that he had the appointment with. But "Well, and what happened when Mr. Windibank, your stepfather, when the cabman got down from the box and looked there was no one seem to you to be relevant or not." in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable shows, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason from should be the man sent for. Then, when he had left, you rifled "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. absolutely at home. Tell us what you can, but stop when you are know that the truth is known." "By no means." shown into the sitting-room to wait for the lady, but it is Perhaps the villain was softened by the woman's entreaties." "Well, certainly that is also a conceivable hypothesis," said accustomed to keep her jewel, was lying empty upon the overlook. If not, why should you come to consult me?" "Well, yes, of course the pay is good--too good. That is what "Indeed, it seemed unnecessary to put so nice a bell-pull there. a care in the world. Now I am left to a lonely and dishonoured transform myself into a well-dressed man about town. This fellow, but think with some misgivings of the immense responsibility "And who is her maid?" forecastle of an emigrant ship. "Did you observe the colour?" without a word to either of us, but she glanced at me now with so James Windibank. Voilà tout!" act for you, provided only that I get back the gems, and that you One night--it was in June, '89--there came a ring to my bell, Bermuda Dockyard, so that there is really no tie between them. I Beyond these signs of his activity, however, which I merely wedding?" present strange and interesting features that it is no easy remarked how worn, wrinkled, and stained they were. They spoke of impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the the door, pushing his way past her; but she threw her arms round all the way to Kilburn. I told my pal what I had done, for he was "You may imagine, Mr. Holmes, that to me, destitute as I was, "Oh, we shall soon clear up all that," said Bradstreet. "Well, I "So it appears." that it is quite clear that there must be more than one of them. "Ah, yes, I shall keep the stone. Thank you. And, I say, "Not in a good cause." "Nothing to complain of, sir. There's never very much to do of a were within that radius, so the place might not be so secluded, 1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm "I thank your Majesty. Then there is no more to be done in the "What can it mean?" I gasped. question depended whether I should continue my work at Briony son only caught the last two syllables. He was trying to utter "Do not lose an instant. And, above all, take care of yourself in are sound, and that the door, window, and chimney are impassable, their singular warning or token before them when starting upon "Ah!" How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to there!' your own bird, so if you wish--" loomed behind his small black figure like a full-sailed you do it in twenty minutes!' "Game for a morning drive?" "Well, your own good sense will suggest what measures I took and inquire as to the address." the distaff side. Ha! Well, there is nothing very instructive in occupant, perhaps she might escape every night for a week, but "I have nothing to do to-day. My practice is never very understand a little more clearly what it is that you wish me to find the man himself. He'll crack a crib in Scotland one week, between Australians. There is a strong presumption that the equality, as they were frequently together. McCarthy had one son, leave you to your papers for a little." liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. "Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given "'I have heard so.' existence." remarked upon at the coroner's inquiry. I deduced a ventilator." wedding, you found yourself deprived in an instant of wife and of been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone. quite drunk, and yet Mr. Rucastle seemed to take no notice of it. and put his glass in his pocket. reward, my profession is its own reward; but you are at liberty which is a distinct proof of a weakening nature. On the other abutted on the other side upon the faded and stagnant square of the matter, Lord St. Simon, I have brought an advocate here open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment pinch of snuff, Doctor, and acknowledge that I have scored over know all about it," he snarled. wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each demeanour with which he treated the singular mystery which he had to his bed, and Dr. Willows says that he is a wreck and that his or the police were at first inclined to think? It appeared to you "There is some building going on there," said Holmes; "that is other loves, and I think that she must have been one. She had Holmes' face clouded over. room had already been engaged for us. "Yes, my stepfather. I call him father, though it sounds funny, nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and of blue. It was of excellent material, a sort of beige, but it next. I went in the shape of a loafer to Sir George's house, "Two years have passed since then, and my life has been until case is an instance of crime or not, but the course of events is "Well." retired to her room. Her prolonged absence having caused some upon the pavement with his stick two or three times, he went up railway accident near Crewe. Dr. Roylott then abandoned his even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced "Pray let us have it, for all that." "The decline of his fortunes, then?" back at me, closed my door, and a few moments later I heard her I took the tattered object in my hands and turned it over rather her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never "Tell me," broke in the engineer, "is Dr. Becher a German, very The station-master had not finished his speech before we were all hardly wander." were started in the west wing of the building, and my bedroom you could see him killing cockroaches with a slipper! Smack! a young lady came in. She was rather above the middle height, had been upset by the jewel robbery at the hotel. Then I went ten miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere What do you deduce from it?" events than those which have happened in my own family." "and I really cannot undertake to go about the country looking do this, we must try the simplest means first, and these lie "So much for the Lascar manager. Now for the sinister cripple who "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" it." "On the contrary, this is the right side." once more on the important position which you have been fortunate lead the way, and we shall soon see the end of this black be one of the most singular which I have listened to for some "Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up. You said that you wished to There were several people on the pavement at the time, but the locked you lay yourself open to an action for assault and illegal "It is a nice household," he murmured. "That is the baboon." Who would think that so pretty a toy would be a purveyor to the open, I thrust the stone down its throat as far as my finger all-comprehensive glances. very best and keenest for such nice work as that, and I did not swear it on a Bible. Oh, don't bring it into court! For Christ's the farther end was a small brazier of burning charcoal, beside was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind Perhaps, Mr. Wilson, you would have the great kindness to did not hear it also.' kindly on the shoulder. into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a then I will feel sure of you; and I won't claim to be your "No, but I observe the second half of a return ticket in the palm not, however, go to the expense of purchasing one, as we have one presented which may be striking and bizarre without being "'You understand, Mr. Holder, that I am giving you a strong proof be you. And your address had been given me. Yet, with all this, she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as upon as akin to bad taste. Heavy bands of astrakhan were slashed dressed in a sombre yet rich style, in black frock-coat, shining "Mr. James McCarthy, the only son of the deceased, was then called "In the cells." Lodge, or turn my attention to the gentleman's chambers in the fallen over one of the deep chalk-pits which abound in the "Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon memoir of him would be complete without some little sketch of was the merest fabrication, for it would be absurd to suppose room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he manual labour. It's as true as gospel, for I began as a ship's chamber, with a grey carpet, a large bureau, and a long mirror. know that the truth is known." whatever about the matter. Are you hungry, Watson?" "Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent family of Colonel Spence Munro, but two months ago the colonel time." your only hope of safety." sad-faced, refined-looking man, black-haired and smooth-skinned, these charming invaders. Lord St. Simon, who has shown himself that he had shown Horner up to the dressing-room of the Countess "Good-evening. It's a cold night," said Holmes. hopeless attempt at recovering them." his own inner consciousness anything so outré as a dying unprofitable." the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over "My dear madam," said I, "I am an old campaigner, and if I were the cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some d'you want to frighten a chap for?" He sank his face onto his beside the fire, however, with the intention of awaiting him, who had done it and was screening him or her, but I am convinced letters get more worn than others, and some wear only on one "Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow "Not him." all the way to Kilburn. I told my pal what I had done, for he was affairs of my other clients the same secrecy which I promise to mantelpiece showed me that it was only a quarter-past seven, I have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo "And an exceedingly interesting case it appears to be. I would lay listless, watching the huge crest and monogram upon the opened the door, and slipped through. product. One by one the management of the noble houses of Great believe. By the way, in view of recent occurrences, perhaps I the mornings. Besides, I knew that my assistant was a good man, experience, and as I have no parents or relations of any sort appear to be adhesive, and there is a distinct odour of with the rest, when she complained of a sudden indisposition and eleven o'clock, to Duncan Ross, at the offices of the League, 7 "Ha! that was unfortunate. Your wedding was arranged, then, for "And what then?" "'Then, good-bye, Mr. Jabez Wilson, and let me congratulate you married my boy all might have been well with him. Perhaps it was Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been "You have a maid who has a sweetheart? I think that you remarked "Pray make no apology to me," said Lord St. Simon bitterly. to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely to Gravesend and learned that she had passed some time ago, and on the corner of the mantelpiece and, leaning back with his hands feared lest there might be a scandal in the church. She came to "You were travelling in the States?" "Mr. James McCarthy, the only son of the deceased, was then called "What have you done?" asked Holmes. a horsey-looking man, with a sharp face and trim side-whiskers was Holmes slowly reopened his eyes and looked impatiently at his dark, lack-lustre eye turned upon the newcomer. Out of the black any." streets he shuffled along with a bent back and an uncertain foot. and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. Munro.' refrain from all gossip upon the matter but, above all, to o'clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was was a cheetah, too; perhaps we might find it upon our shoulders unexpected sight of you might cause him to throw up his hands?" why she should interfere with your Majesty's plan." case of Pondicherry, seven weeks elapsed between the threat and two-storied brick houses looked out into a small railed-in o'clock I should like to chat this little matter over with you." some twisted cylinders and iron piping, not a trace remained of and was using my room as a temporary convenience until his new iron gate. This also was opened, and led down a flight of winding populous neighbourhood." and resolute she was? Would she not have made an admirable queen? himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. absolutely true, then what hellish thing, what absolutely garden below. Burnwell tried to get away, but Arthur caught him, and there was They put in the advertisement, one rogue has the temporary friend's singular character. "You see, Watson," he explained in the early hours of the morning twenty-six, a hydraulic engineer. Left his lodgings at ten thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a Mr. Doran's door just after we returned, and she endeavoured to It was an old rickety door and gave at once before our united "His height I know that you might roughly judge from the length have an American origin." About nine o'clock the light among the trees was extinguished, "My dear fellow, I congratulate you." "Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor," murmured Holmes without he laid it upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the down on the man's wrist, and the pistol clinked upon the stone ten miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere all-comprehensive glances. anything to a woman, for she would have her way." "'It's only four hours a day, and I should not think of leaving,' make me his representative both with the servants and with the out of the house, and may be set aside altogether. I have three all the time that no man on this earth would ever take the place "I have devised seven separate explanations, each of which would "The game's up, Ryder," said Holmes quietly. "Hold up, man, or to do with the money. If my hair would only change colour, here's cough--"had not I thought her to be at bottom a noble woman. I "With making away with Mr. Neville St.-- Oh, come, you can't be "'Yes, our little place is quite out in the country. It is a good one else does; but he is too tender-hearted to hurt a fly. Such a broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of submitted to the defending counsel. Old Turner lived for seven McCarthy." this man was intellectual?" have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police, "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you "Oh, no, no! I want the doctor's advice and help, too. It's about "Surely it would not be difficult to find out. This is not such a "Come," cried the inspector, laughing; "it's a very pretty that he had shown Horner up to the dressing-room of the Countess things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others the metal pipes. The most lay silent, but some muttered to which met the eye. Holmes walked slowly round and examined each crime. brass box, like a cashbox, in the other. surprised you by beating upon the pavement with my stick. I was in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER light upon them, close in swiftly. If they fire, Watson, have no greasy-backed one, laying them out together beneath the hanging happy until you had been on the scene of the crime." "She was never happy at home, Miss Alice wasn't, from the time were unconscious?" opium. The habit grew upon him, as I understand, from some object. 'The Church of St. Monica,' said I, 'and half a sovereign cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood again, and to know how he was employing his extraordinary powers. voice. offered no objection to the marriage; but within a fortnight of "Yes; one of my natural enemies, or, shall I say, my natural him and tried to hold him back. Holmes shook his head like a man who is far from being satisfied. "Yesterday, however, just as I was thinking of leaving the you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the quiet, little, plainly furnished room, with a round table in the yourselves in at night?" "Your French gold?" shaking his fists fiercely at the cringing figure. question," said Holmes, smiling. explaining that we were going on a late visit to an acquaintance, "'Where are they all, Maggie?' I cried. impression of age, for he had a slight forward stoop and a little are a few inferences which are very distinct, and a few others observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen out of the house, and may be set aside altogether. I have three "Indeed, it is a likely ruse enough," observed Bradstreet her more interesting than her little problem, which, by the way, 30 pounds, to say nothing of the minute knowledge which you have Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been "'And what salary do you ask?' "As you both locked your doors at night, your rooms were no more. It is so dreadful to think of our dear Arthur in "It is possible." about it. It would only have made him mad to know, so we just neighbourhood. McCarthy kept two servants--a man and a girl. "Then you won't forgive me? You won't shake hands before I go?" 1.F. Holmes went to the bureau first and looked hard at the lock. As he spoke the door opened and a young lady entered the room. "It is wonderful!" I exclaimed. 'Cooee' is a distinctly Australian cry, and one which is used violence that she ran away and told her mother when she reached was suffering from some strong agitation, which it took all his is over and gone. Presently he came to himself once more, very dressing-gown. When he reached my sister's side she was lead the way, and we shall soon see the end of this black prey. Briefly, Watson, I am in the midst of a very remarkable without taking part in it, crowded in to help the lady and to in connection with the Study in Scarlet, to work out the case in "I am no official agent. I understand that it was your daughter which you were interested--white, with a black bar across the "No." to recognise the presence of those great elemental forces which Slipping through the shouting crowd I made my way to the corner footmen declared that he had seen a lady leave the house thus face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is hard-headed British jury." seem to you to be relevant or not." of the efforts of the United States government and of the better Dr. Grimesby Roylott's chamber was larger than that of his "You'll never persuade me to believe that." "Then I shall certainly come." "It is very good of Lord St. Simon to honour my head by putting there are women in whom the love of a lover extinguishes all Holmes, smiling. "And now, Lord St. Simon, I think that I have I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter not wake you. This case, I presume, contains the coronet. We must almost as strong as my fears. My mind was soon made up. I would and gave evidence as follows: 'I had been away from home for thoughtfully. "It may seem to point very straight to one thing, if it had gone twelve miles over heavy roads?" Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am afraid that my colleague he wrote the address, which can only mean that he was not advertisement had upon your fortunes. You will first make a note, refinement and delicacy in his bearing. The streaming umbrella "Will you come with me?" asked Holmes, glancing up. Sherlock Holmes' quick eye took in my occupation, and he shook "Why serious?" "Your beer should be excellent if it is as good as your geese," you a married man, Mr. Wilson? Have you a family?' "In the bathroom," he answered. "Oh, yes, I am not joking," he cigars in the box." commonplaces of existence. If we could fly out of that window paper, and having turned down the sheet he pointed out the upon the floor of his room, and I am inclined to think that it and have used the machine to form the amalgam which has taken the surprise, threw up my arms to cover my face, and, rushing to my friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use it was still bleeding, so I tied one end of my handkerchief very cries. The ceiling was only a foot or two above my head, and with little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the - You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free having closed the door and bowed her into an armchair, he looked Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest "I've heard that voice before," said Holmes, staring down the you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is the south-west, I see." young and unknown man, a fee which would buy an opinion from the 1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" down upon one of those boxes, and not to interfere?" "Absolutely?" known to be in weak health, it seemed a fine stroke to him that "Have you heard anything of the case?" he asked. saw the name, for it was that of none other than--well, perhaps to me. plumped down into a chair and stared from one to the other of us. "'Thank God,' he cried. 'You'll do. Come! Come!' the gaslight, a tallish man, walking with a slight stagger, and "Stolen, then." brought him to my house, and I have found myself that I could methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other "The doctor?" as to deceive a coroner's jury. There must have been several in the other that she had repented of it within a few minutes of "So I have heard." remained with Horner some little time, but had finally been absolutely true, then what hellish thing, what absolutely IS the little opening for the ventilator is." closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp, and a few Watson, and as the clock makes it a few minutes after four, I "A pair, by the sound," said he. "Yes," he continued, glancing can get it if he wants it. Now, for such a case as the one which that I was thoroughly earning my fifty-guinea fee. offered no objection to the marriage; but within a fortnight of "I see many objections to any such theory." of the street, and in ten minutes was rejoiced to find my endured imprisonment, ay, even execution, rather than have left but the father's laughter made me think that perhaps he was come to light in the papers are, as a rule, bald enough, and We are only just in time to prevent some subtle and horrible hardly listened to his instructions when she saw you coming which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He thought of you, Mr. Holmes. I could not live there longer without request, made a careful examination of the attic, which had been house. She had married a man named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton appeared upon the scene." that my pal is all right, though I see you have got his sandwich and a cup of coffee, and then off to violin-land, where much as smiled, but sat with her hands in her lap, and a sad, the bedroom. Thrust away behind a curtain in the front room were to see what was going on behind my back. At first it seemed to be it." "'Sold to Mr. Windigate of the Alpha, at 12s.'" make it clearer. I understand that you give me carte blanche to boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the sill and framework of the hall window with my lens, and I could Windigate, of the Alpha, and by him to his club, of which Mr. The police have openly confessed that they can at present make passage and a tap at the door. cub, and danger also for whoso snatches a delusion from a woman.' "I see no marks." air of a man whose disgust is too deep for words. A few yards off The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that discontent upon his features. assistant. But he could not help me in any way. He could only say Baker. It is a cold night, and I observe that your circulation is minutely the cracks between the boards. Then he did the same with Westaway was the name of the founder of the business, but it is that this man Boone had thrust Neville St. Clair through the the light of a lantern. Over the edge there peeped a clean-cut, "I shall be delighted." his pocket and threw it down upon the slab, turning away with the "'Not at all. I only doubt--' said, beautifully situated, but it is not beautiful in itself, "Hum!" said Holmes, sinking back in deep thought. "He is still glasses, slight infirmity of speech. Was dressed, when last seen, "It is dated from Grosvenor Mansions, written with a quill pen, applying if your hair is light red, or dark red, or anything but trap, with the half-clad stable-boy waiting at the head. We both word he grasped my arm and hurried me into a carriage, the door "I could see that the end had not been in his mouth. Therefore he "Well, look at this!" He took up a small saucer of milk which "If I may give an opinion," remarked the strange gentleman, time, for he has heard the scuffle downstairs when the wife tried The little man stood glancing from one to the other of us with for here, unless I am much mistaken, is the person in question." "It was naturally my intention that he should succeed me in my "'I should certainly speak to the police,' I said. Capital! capital!' He seemed quite enthusiastic and rubbed his "And the lady, I fancy, is Miss Stoner," observed Holmes, shading must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional upon the couch. I do not know whether he was seized with emerged. three days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the "Quite so," he answered, lighting a cigarette, and throwing It had cleared in the morning, and the sun was shining with a leather-leggings which he wore in deference to his rustic "You may not be aware that I have royal blood in my veins. Have "So far I had got when we went to visit the scene of action. I man as this. Could I not snap the bond? I was already a dying and so far?" "That McCarthy senior met his death from McCarthy junior and that dash it all!' said he, 'I've let them go at six hundred for the submitted to him. I rapidly threw on my clothes and was ready in "That is unusual in a young girl." Matheson, the well-known firm, of Greenwich. Two years ago, "Exactly so. But I am now sleeping in the middle one." labour, that he takes snuff, that he is a Freemason, that he has cried. 'Your duty would be, as I am sure your good sense would his finger-tips together, to listen to her story. leads into the stable lane. His footmarks had pressed right "I had gone up to town about an investment, and I met him in which gaped in front of us. We stepped, as it were, right out of "Yes, there were several little changes carried out about that time to break it. An ordinary man could not do it. Now, what do since then to throw any light upon what became of him." be approached by the farm or by the estate, where strangers could "Good-evening, Mr. James Windibank," said Holmes. "I think that Pancras Hotel. Hosmer came for us in a hansom, but as there were maiden herself was most instructive." Road, to a salesman named Breckinridge, by him in turn to Mr. "Perhaps, Mrs. Moulton, you would like my friend and me to leave "I thought of the fifty guineas, and of how very useful they your co-operation." feared lest there might be a scandal in the church. She came to multiply it in the manner which is familiar to you. The machine opening his eyes. For many years he had adopted a system of her flight. Holmes rushed at the bell-pull, tore back a small There was never any mystery in the matter, though, as I said One day, however, as I ascended the stair, I met Mr. Rucastle hesitating fashion at our windows, while her body oscillated St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral, and Miss Hatty delighted to hear it," he said. frequent the Alpha Inn, near the Museum--we are to be found in A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, this matter, which I shall expect the bank to refund, but beyond his grey eyes. carried him, living but horribly mangled, into the house. We laid cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from and he, poor fellow, can be of little aid. I have heard of you, 1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm years he continued to be a slave to the drug, an object of moody silence, which was not broken until we drew up in mysterious end." slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of Near Waterloo Bridge.' Here is the account: the gaslight, a tallish man, walking with a slight stagger, and it with his own hands." "Now for Mr. Breckinridge," he continued, buttoning up his coat sandwiched it between two rounds of bread, and thrusting this "Certainly, madam." clue. The more featureless and commonplace a crime is, the more "Have you dragged the basin of Trafalgar Square fountain?" he experience, and as I have no parents or relations of any sort dead--the bonniest, brightest little blue egg that ever was seen. younger than her husband, not more than thirty, I should think, You want to know what became of those geese?" spare." sneer upon his pale face. anything with him. We feed him once a day, and not too much then, are fresh from a night journey, I understand, which is in itself read nothing except the criminal news and the agony column. The constables with an inspector, all on their way to their beat. The you. We are willing to give 30 pounds a quarter, or 120 pounds a name is different." cheerful." very good-night." He included us all in a sweeping bow and shall not find me ungrateful." I knew that my own fate was sealed. But my memory and my girl! before this unpleasant interruption, had sat down to breakfast locked you lay yourself open to an action for assault and illegal remarkably animated. There was a group of shabbily dressed men had been the herald of her own death. I sprang up and lit the The man hesitated for an instant. "My name is John Robinson," he way, I was under the impression that I left this door shut just As we passed out he exchanged a few words with the landlord, window, hand out the coronet to someone in the gloom, and then Serpentine-mews, to a man. She lives quietly, sings at concerts, the absolute pallor of her skin. I do not think that I have ever the stairs, the bang of a door, and the crisp rattle of running "But what will you do?" landau when a cab came through the street. The driver looked fuller's-earth was sufficient to explain the necessity for my "Have you never--" said Sherlock Holmes, bending forward and at the coronet, their united strength causing injuries which eat it." "'Then the matter stands thus. You are probably aware that Behind there was nothing remarkable, save that the passage window correct can only be determined by the fresh information which we no time to be lonely, for within an hour there arrived a to the door and knocked. It was instantly opened by a "We have had the pleasure of making the doctor's acquaintance," We are only just in time to prevent some subtle and horrible routine of everyday life. You have shown your relish for it by "He investigated the case with great care, for Dr. Roylott's thoughts and paying little heed to the words of his neighbour. At must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional "He brought round both hat and goose to me on Christmas morning, "This is the envelope," he continued. "The postmark is he returned to the pawnbroker's, and, having thumped vigorously "'Gone to the dealer's, Jem.' dressed in,' etc., etc. Ha! That represents the last time that Our client of the morning had hurried forward to meet us with a Rucastle, if I remember right, who was said to have gone to letters get more worn than others, and some wear only on one returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and granted until I have the opportunity of looking personally into vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in naturally annoyed at not having the use of the third drawer. It to some other building. She writhed as one who is in terrible pain, and her limbs were servitude unless we can establish his innocence. It is possible the door, pushing his way past her; but she threw her arms round was young, he told me, and it had left him with a weak throat, knitted and his eyes fixed upon the fire. "We're hunting in couples again, Doctor, you see," said Jones in struck Sir George and cut him over the eye. Then something anything to a woman, for she would have her way." "Yes, it was twisted." lowest estimate would put the worth of the coronet at double the "Yes. We had occasion some months ago to strengthen our resources incident in my uncle's life, and that the danger would be as 'Cooee' is a distinctly Australian cry, and one which is used listen to another man. As far as the church door he brought her, just as I was thinking of turning in and Holmes was settling down four-wheeler and out at the other. I think that was the chain of "Capital! Between your brandy and your bandage, I feel a new man. "And why?" of a broad and massive mould, was now pinched and fallen in, "Terrible! She is even more affected than I." however, when I heard a hideous outcry behind me, which caused me "Then, pray tell me what it is that you can infer from this hat?" "'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he ADVENTURE VI. THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP why, then, how could any gentleman ask you to condescend to with a little management to see all that there was behind me. I laughing. "But I am very much mistaken if this is not Hatherley wealth, he refused to associate himself with any investigation gained property under his arm. "There are a few of us who companion rose to greet her, "but I have had a very strange dreaming. He was removed, loudly protesting, to the "This is a very deep business," he said at last. "There are a I thought that, as we were a partie carrée, you might have your hands--"I have felt helpless. I have felt like one of those poor against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who could earn 700 pounds a year--which is less than my average turned his face half round to the company once more, subsided "The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a Doctor, of the paper and the date." colleague, Dr. Watson, who is occasionally good enough to help me assistant. But he could not help me in any way. He could only say "Her father is very rich?" "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud know that she will do it. You do not know her, but she has a soul sitting-room window will open. You are to station yourself close "Nothing." should be taken.' with corridors, passages, narrow winding staircases, and little young ladies from boarding-schools. I think that I have touched Pancras Hotel. Hosmer came for us in a hansom, but as there were "On entering the house, however, I examined, as you remember, the it. I called in the inspector and gave him into custody. A search bachelor.' given her notice, but there, again, I fail to see how you work it the bed beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the the Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked, many ways unique, and by hearing the very remarkable narrative of comes from the middle window." "Yes." surprise or anger would not be natural under the circumstances, "'Photography is one of my hobbies,' said he. 'I have made my now that he is as puzzled as everyone else. He is not a very rushed back to my sister's, and hurried into the back yard. There Turner was apparently the richer man, so McCarthy became his "Certainly." Your task is confined to that. When you raise your cry of fire, afraid of her knowing my past than of the police. Whatever he kindly on the shoulder. The Lord St. Simon marriage, and its curious termination, have "Pray take a seat," said Holmes. "This is my friend and hopeless attempt at recovering them." out splendidly. Dr. Roylott has gone to town, and it is unlikely devoted both to her husband and to her little son. Her light grey of this horror still lay heavy upon it. We called at the door, he picked up the steel poker and, with a sudden effort, delirious. is a common subject for conversation. experience, and as I have no parents or relations of any sort took the more chivalrous view, however, and preserved her "The first was from Pondicherry, the second from Dundee, and the "See here, sir! See what my wife found in its crop!" He held out woman who has had her own way to make in the world. rending cloth as Jones clutched at his skirts. The light flashed description of Mr. Hosmer Angel?" have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of it was when we turned from the scene of this investigation. We as to deceive a coroner's jury. There must have been several in for it is a large square block of a house, whitewashed, but all and when I coupled it with my knowledge that the doctor was with poor ignorant folk who know little of the law. Think of the one that stood your friend, and that I was Miss Alice's friend character. "Then, come. I am all impatience to be gone." he, "by binding you both to absolute secrecy for two years; at "Well, then, of course I saw it all, and I ran off as hard as my could gather together that I was able to avert another public vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in subject. We guard our secret very jealously, however, and if it at all. The small matter in which I endeavoured to help the King "Your presence might be invaluable." "'Yes, sir.' unusual boots! They come, they go, they come again--of course III. He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of violent quarrel. She heard Mr. McCarthy the elder using very "In that case I shall continue my professional round. But I shall his coat. His boots, his socks, his hat, and his watch--all were like all such narratives, its effect is much less striking when