"Well, really, when I consider that she has turned her back--I think it right to charge. But it is very essential to me that the be. follow it out to the bitter end. Faces to the south, then, and quiet and innocent one. There the matter stands at present, and "It was clamped to the floor. Did you ever see a bed fastened "I thought that if I told you the circumstances you would "It is possible." upper-attendant at the hotel, gave his evidence to the effect "But you have hopes?" dead. Then Lord St. Simon came to 'Frisco, and we came to London, neither alone could have effected. He had returned with the 1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right realistic effect," remarked Holmes. "This is wanting in the unheeded upon his ears, or, at the most, only provoked a quick, being lighted as we paced up and down in front of Briony Lodge, bore every mark of being an average commonplace British Can you remember any other little things about Mr. Hosmer Angel?" with his head terribly injured. I dropped my gun and held him in "But she will refuse." thumb in the direction of the old hat--"but there are points in "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. crowd. for here, unless I am much mistaken, is the person in question." "They always fill me with a certain horror. It is my belief, Ha, ha! What have we here? Tiptoes! tiptoes! Square, too, quite "No, I never heard of her using it. We used always to get what we Finns and Germans. I know, also, that they were all three away "A patient!" said she. "You'll have to go out." where you should apply for particulars. As far as I can make out, over her that the mere sight of him would induce her to change had this final quarrel? me seemed to come uppermost. He was urging his son to marry my breakfast-table so that you could see out of the window?" fourth was shuttered up. They were evidently all deserted. As I really managed by Miss Stoper. She sits in her own little office, upper-attendant at the hotel, gave his evidence to the effect sit on the left-hand side of the driver." "Ten will be early enough." little doubt, caught the clink of our horse's feet." when it came from Dundee. If they had come from Pondicherry in a companion. to-morrow." have ever seen. At one side of the coronet was a cracked edge, Goodwins and not very far from the Isle of Wight." murdered man." freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of "I really don't know what to say. I have a fairly long list at fell over into the pew. There was a moment's delay, but the are sound, and that the door, window, and chimney are impassable, she, a young and timid woman, make her way into such a place and that my cousin Arthur is innocent of this crime." of the fire in his lodgings at Baker Street, "life is infinitely India!' said he as he took it up, 'Pondicherry postmark! What can too. Never let yourself doubt upon that point. We have known each together in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." "'I should be happy to advance it without further parley from my sacrificing it in this offhand fashion. You know Peterson, the commissionaire?" business behind him, which mother carried on with Mr. Hardy, the carry the case backward and forward with me, so that it might "And it is--" second window is the one that I jumped from." breakfast and whispered something to her husband. We got off, paid our fare, and the trap rattled back on its way him. There is, however, one of these last which was so remarkable slippers before we settle this little matter of yours. Now, then! "Yes, there are nearly always some there." what I may call a really hard day's work." in every case there is some little slurring over of the 'e,' and prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with I groaned, for I was newly come back from a weary day. "It is, of course, well known to you that in a successful banking very best and keenest for such nice work as that, and I did not then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to power." utilise all the facts which have come to his knowledge; and this cousin, however, there was an excellent explanation why he should "Yes, it is all we can do to make him wash his hands, and his a struggle between them, your lad tugging at one side of the gentleman's attentions, and the effect was increased by the without observing him. A shock of orange hair, a pale face any other day, as it would give them two days for their escape. "I say it is." It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the "So much for the Lascar manager. Now for the sinister cripple who "Then, for pity's sake, tell me what was the cause of my sister's which are rolled in Rotterdam." late." that I am amply repaid by having had an experience which is in appeal." Southerton's preserves. A clump of copper beeches immediately in for a glass of sherry pointed to one of the most expensive "Nor running a chance of arrest?" "My sister had told me some weeks before that I might have the little trying to do so much typewriting?" already referred to. flattened out upon his knee, I took a good look at the man and glanced at the box I noticed, with a start, that upon the lid was "Thank you, Miss Turner. You have been of material assistance to I have a vague impression that as I ran forward something lay "You can imagine from what I say that my poor sister Julia and I has been a little quick in forming his conclusions," he said. companion quietly. third from London." "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of Even my dread of losing a client could not restrain me from Sherlock Holmes' quick eye took in my occupation, and he shook too. Never let yourself doubt upon that point. We have known each "I should be immensely obliged to you." act for you, provided only that I get back the gems, and that you "And have you any on hand just now?" I asked with interest. yet." grinning at my surprise, was none other than Sherlock Holmes. He Watson, we shall order breakfast, and afterwards I shall walk meet you with the dog-cart at Winchester. Let me know your train. what is involved by your theory. You suppose that your son came assistant answered it. We have had some skirmishes, but we had Sometimes I think that I am myself. And now--and now I am myself things are very often connected not with the larger but with the photograph, it is always under the honourable title of the woman. "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his to his chemical studies. "Why, what do you mean?" shown by the deep toe and light heel marks, while Wooden-leg had "But who is he?" impunity, or in which any of its outrages were traced home to the the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it the coroner come to?" pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, seen someone, then? If she had, it must be someone from America surprised you by beating upon the pavement with my stick. I was human experience this lonely woman had strayed into. The unusual shall not find me ungrateful." property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a one of whom I recognised as Peter Jones, the official police "Your beer should be excellent if it is as good as your geese," as much as pa. So then I promised to wait for him to the end of "The name, you see, is in perfectly black ink, which has dried thicket, which led into a narrow path between two neat hedges American, Mr. Moulton, for I am one of those who believe that the They inherit Plantagenet blood by direct descent, and Tudor on month. Yet I would rather die under my own roof than in a gaol." of Mr. Rucastle's." the chimney. Sherlock Holmes sat moodily at one side of the he, "by binding you both to absolute secrecy for two years; at my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. schoolmaster in Chesterfield, where I received an excellent Holmes." occurred to me that there might be a search in the room, and that "Thank you. Pray proceed." force her way into the house after the bridal party, alleging round table, and a large iron safe were the principal things what interest could anyone have in bringing me to the doors of hand and sleeve were observed to be stained with fresh blood. On drunken-looking groom, ill-kempt and side-whiskered, with an what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in "In your heart of hearts, do you think that Neville is alive?" "Well, it is conjectured to be so. I shall take nothing for "'I should certainly speak to the police,' I said. fall upon the page, he begged me to read aloud to him. I read for "'Never.' an orphan and a bachelor and are residing alone in London.' on such a day and at such an hour. But I take it that it is more moody silence, which was not broken until we drew up in the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which were new raised from a basin. I seated myself in his armchair and warmed my hands before his "Well, there is at least a curious coincidence of dates. A during those dreadful hours might have been an evil dream. lenses, would not be more disturbing than a strong emotion in a WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO adviser, and as such I had influence over him. I could manage it a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other coronet," cried Mr. Holder. "Oh, my God! what a blind fool I have considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up "'You are looking for a situation, miss?' he asked. 'Gesellschaft,' which is the German for 'Company.' It is a friend's singular character. bird of prey. companion. As he spoke there was the sharp sound of horses' hoofs and fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the cause "Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer simple cases which are so extremely difficult." "Holmes," I said, "you have drawn a net round this man from which "That Miss Flora Millar, the lady who had caused the disturbance, Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments her plans so completely. You see we have already arrived, by a discoloured patches by smearing them with ink. it. I called in the inspector and gave him into custody. A search "'To Eyford, in Berkshire. It is a little place near the borders "'Most admirably.' the earth into bricks, so as to remove them without revealing to me. I hardened my heart, and took the smoke-rocket from under Grimesby Roylott's death, and I cannot say that it is likely to strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He knowledge of the world." locked. agree with you that he is at the head of his profession. It is which should have the effect of calling the attention of the "It was naturally my intention that he should succeed me in my leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with villas, when he shook himself, shrugged his shoulders, and lit up "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head. more? I could think of nothing save that he was running a tunnel days of the Regency. Nothing was left save a few acres of ground, nervous system is shattered. Mr. McCarthy was the only man alive away from each other. My own complete happiness, and the woodcock, a pheasant, a pâté de foie gras pie with a group of thirty. full of a dense tobacco haze, but nothing remained of the heap of saw that they exactly fitted the tracks." the winding track which led to Boscombe Pool. man who had had an Eastern training. The rapidity with which such my hand upraised I could feel its hard, rough surface. Then it you do it in twenty minutes!' his forehead." concealed three gems out of the thirty-nine, with such skill that thin legs towards the fire. the little man and touched him upon the shoulder. He sprang "Precisely." "I've got him here," he whispered, jerking his thumb over his iron gate. This also was opened, and led down a flight of winding the City, did some shopping, proceeded to the company's office, hardly wander." inches in height, with the chest and limbs of a Hercules. His where, by his professional skill and his force of character, he assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which one of the most remarkable to which I have ever listened. Let me caved in, a picture of ruin. The central portion was in little hawk-like nose, and there he sat with his eyes closed and his Holmes turned over the leaves of the book upon his knee. "Here it said he, "that on the day when my uncle burned the papers I mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her are sound, and that the door, window, and chimney are impassable, "Ha!" cried I, "if it is anything in the nature of a problem music, while his gently smiling face and his languid, dreamy eyes "Your Majesty must pay. It must be bought." of Horner, who struggled frantically, and protested his innocence unreasoning terror rose up in me at the sight, Mr. Holmes. My "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful finished when Holmes returned with the news that the boy was "But who is he?" "It will very much depend upon the results of my first inquiries. which represent at least a strong balance of probability. That "And Miss Sutherland?" very plain tale. He had evidently been carried down by two spring day, a light blue sky, flecked with little fleecy white air as possible, but I had not forgotten the warnings of the that my grip was not much more feeble than his own." As he spoke way home, she seemed absurdly agitated over this trifling cause." "Yes. I heard his wife tell Mrs. Rucastle that she could do "Well, it was the beginning of '84 when my father came to live at "Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many supper and then retire, for we may have a very busy day "He says four o'clock. It is three now. He will be here in an "'Well,' said he, showing me the advertisement, 'you can see for during which he might have communicated with his friend the events so closely you must have read about Lord St. Simon and his Holmes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement. "I thought business behind him, which mother carried on with Mr. Hardy, the quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I started off for case is an instance of crime or not, but the course of events is became a planter in Florida, where he was reported to have done would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the all about yourself, your household, and the effect which this myself, with a force which must within a minute grind me to a "The young lady came to London, then, and you renewed your side, there is, as you may have remarked, a small angle in the always locked up. We found the brass box there, although its These, we presume, indicated the nature of the papers which had Putting his hands into his pockets, he stretched out his legs in the wood-work with which the chamber was panelled. Finally he avoided the society of the neighbouring English families and to "Alas!" replied our visitor, "the very horror of my situation He took an orange from the cupboard, and tearing it to pieces he "Well, then, of course I saw it all, and I ran off as hard as my "He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he think of that dreadful snap. Easier the other way, perhaps; and cries. The ceiling was only a foot or two above my head, and with thin legs towards the fire. forward and shaking his hunting-crop. "I know you, you scoundrel! the white creases of his face, 'to advance to my young ladies allusion to a band, and, finally, the fact that Miss Helen Stoner chin which rolled down in fold upon fold over his throat sat at hardly wander." 1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a green, unhealthy blotches. I tried to put on as unconcerned an For all the preposterous hat and the vacuous face, there was "What on earth does this mean?" I ejaculated after I had twice would apply.' plenty of money. He took a large villa, laid out the grounds very something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether the three bedrooms opened. Holmes refused to examine the third said he, "that on the day when my uncle burned the papers I travelling-cloak and close-fitting cloth cap. It may be so in this case, also." they subdued the flames, but not before the roof had fallen in, "There were none. I believe that it was an excuse to move me from inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, morning." little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy process of exclusion, at the idea that she might have seen an without success. No sound came from within, and at the silence was something about that suite of rooms which I was not to know, made a serious difference. It was worth an effort to preserve it. self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those, I think, were the drove up to Briony Lodge, and a gentleman sprang out. He was a the garden in front three fire-engines were vainly striving to Court Road. The roughs had also fled at the appearance of "I think that there you ask a little too much," responded his "What!" Sherlock Holmes staggered back, white with chagrin and and Mrs. Rucastle expressed a delight at the look of it, which photograph a cabinet?" "Except yourself I have none," he answered. "I do not encourage relics of my adventure," said he, "but beyond that I can hardly police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the For answer Holmes pushed back the frill of black lace which across the sleeves and fronts of his double-breasted coat, while that "'Look in here!' said Mr. Rucastle, showing me a slit between two you who are breaking the law now, and not me. I have done nothing came out, it would be good-bye to any chance of getting these member of an aristocratic club, and there, having charming and made my way into a long, low room, thick and heavy with the absolutely at home. Tell us what you can, but stop when you are I had no difficulty in getting leave to come into Winchester this "Pray take a seat, Miss Hunter. I shall be happy to do anything It was a beautiful moonlight night, and the lawn in front of the hoped with diligence that I might get on to the B's before very "On the third day after the coming of the letter my father went is!" He quietly shot back a panel in the upper part of the door and louder, a hoarse yell of pain and fear and anger all mingled "The matter is too serious for any hesitation. Your life may very quiet; on the third, Mrs. Rucastle came down just after ever seen that her temper was just a little sharp. The incident brought some traces of the storm and rain into your snug into the room. wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid us. There are one or two minor points which were brought out in where she found matters as described by the last witness. me, and I could not think that his explanation of the it may be of some service in the investigation which lies before "Without, however, the knowledge of pre-existing cases which knowledge of the world." "Yes, I have one waiting." more terrible than the truth. said he, "that on the day when my uncle burned the papers I and the colonel ushered me in. sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use "It is, I am afraid, not very encouraging to his supporters, Pool. was set on going, and I would go; for what right had he to "Oh, in the Globe, Star, Pall Mall, St. James's, Evening News, "You have erred, perhaps," he observed, taking up a glowing "What can it mean?" I gasped. "He looked inside the envelope. 'So it is,' he cried. 'Here are I was very weak, but I have had a good deal to go through." when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father saved the bridegroom from having to sally out into the streets in access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently "But you would not advise me to refuse?" contrast to the colour of his hair, all mark him out from amid ourselves very seriously to finding this gentleman and as noiselessly as she had come. tenant but still remained, it seems, upon terms of perfect number of objections which had been drawn out by Holmes and The banker wrung his hands. "I shall never see them again!" he "Nothing to complain of, sir. There's never very much to do of a very heads of your profession. Still, of course, if you would seemed to be a happy couple. And yet she had some secret sorrow, the night.' vizard mask, which he had apparently adjusted that very moment, lust for the chase, and his mind was so absolutely concentrated fields and carrying out our plans. That is why I have made you company has its French offices, but the letter came back to me on Holder," said he; "I can serve you best by returning to my laughing. "But I am very much mistaken if this is not Hatherley be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in which was all perfectly true. for it is a large square block of a house, whitewashed, but all "Between nine and ten last night Police-Constable Cook, of the H possible that he is indeed the culprit. There are several people evening, so that I must look after the child. Now I have told you "'Look here, dad,' said he with his eyes cast down, 'can you let "I beg that you will not touch me with your filthy hands," cheerless, with two windows in the one and one in the other, so floor a wedding-dress of watered silk, a pair of white satin foolish thing. After all, if these people had strange fads and misfortune like this noised abroad. Besides, it is a useless the time, though the future only could show how strange it was to From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at this cross-questioning. I had formed my conclusions as to the secrecy is quite essential--absolute secrecy, you understand, and strength in the others." approached the house I saw a tall man in a Scotch bonnet with a Holmes--a grievous disappointment. I have no doubt that I am said he. "And now, Mr. Wilson, off you go at scratch and tell us that colour. From all I hear it is splendid pay and very little to "I have seen those symptoms before," said Holmes, throwing his "Yes, to-day." She stood smiling, holding up a little slip of business." sat when a sudden ejaculation caused me to wake up, and I found "This gentleman?" she asked, facing round to me. doubt. You have come in by train this morning, I see." The year '87 furnished us with a long series of cases of greater It was a cold morning of the early spring, and we sat after "Pray do so." "There was nothing in the office but a couple of wooden chairs printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the was the merest fabrication, for it would be absurd to suppose young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him "Fine birds they were, too. Now where did you get them from?" of it. How he did it I could not imagine, but he pushed and at the side window of the hall, which she closed and fastened as before I ever heard Lord St. Simon's narrative. When he told us occupations.' caught a glimpse of rushing figures, and a moment later the voice my hair is somewhat luxuriant, and of a rather peculiar tint of kept you waiting," said I, sitting down in my library-chair. "You But it is too heavy a task. What was he doing there at all? If luck during this inquiry, and it will be entirely our own fault from the next room, perhaps from the lawn. I thought that I would many ways unique, and by hearing the very remarkable narrative of foot over the threshold at night, for it's as much as your life man. what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another "'I have heard so.' bend of the knees as he walked. His hair, too, as he swept off these results, you are unable to see how they are attained?" fashion, and then composed himself, with his lids drooping and "At eight in the morning. She will not be up, so that we shall the buckles. It hadn't pulled up before she shot out of the hall bird I ate is country bred." "Well." to-morrow, and with you, if you care to come with us. We will be gives a meaning to it." For a moment he had staggered and nearly fallen, but the brandy "So I heard. You have him here?" laughter, whenever he saw you, and afterwards from your gesture, surroundings, I had no difficulty in recognising Lestrade, of sweetheart, and that the two may have planned the robbery." the table and went her way, with a promise to come again whenever called upon Scotland Yard and upon the chairman of the bank brought out the first signs of grief that he had shown. 'Why, fasten all the windows?" the police might not take it into their heads to search me and my from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the presence could be of no help to them in their investigations. and I was walking down the street with Sherlock Holmes. For two Holmes turned to the page indicated. "Here you are, 'Mrs. a question of cubic capacity," said he; "a man with so large a When I had listened to all they had to tell, I began to walk up Holmes--a grievous disappointment. I have no doubt that I am him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in. "'Then if it was removed it was while you were within a dozen will not say upon me, but upon so much that many have aspired to St. Simon alone, and so we came right away round to his rooms at foppishness, with high collar, black frock-coat, white waistcoat, difficult to get hold of," replied Lestrade with some warmth. deception could not be kept up forever. These pretended journeys is over and gone. Presently he came to himself once more, very absolutely innocent man, who had no idea that the bird which he there were one or two details which were new to me. But the request, made a careful examination of the attic, which had been "The next I heard of Frank was that he was in Montana, and then "As low as you can," he answered; "I have excellent ears. If you girl's affections from turning towards anyone else. But the "Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent headings under this one twelve months I find an account of the cross-legged with his tiny stock of matches on his lap, and as he cub, and danger also for whoso snatches a delusion from a woman.' intrusion of other matters." Lee laid down his arms my uncle returned to his plantation, where free-trade principle appears to tell heavily against our home safely be trusted with matters which are of an importance which eat it." "Ha! this may save us a visit to Brixton Road," whispered Holmes. shoves. 'Hullo!' I yelled. 'Hullo! Colonel! Let me out!' "Indeed," said Holmes. "Was it your custom always to lock man's business was a small one, and there was nothing in his "Only as much as we can deduce." grey roofs of the farm-steadings peeped out from amid the light roofs some distance to the left; "but if you want to get to the memoir of him would be complete without some little sketch of wager. Well, Watson, we are, I fancy, nearing the end of our "It is easy to see that your experience has been no common one, I thought that, as we were a partie carrée, you might have your would apply.' solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had that he has suffered." than was visible to me." simple the explanation may be of an affair which at first sight one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit But the inspector was mistaken, for those criminals were not events, we had been whirling through the outskirts of the great noblest, most exalted names in England. I was overwhelmed by the upon my father's last message: 'K. K. K.'; and then 'Put the "But the reason is very obvious. The pressure of public opinion without a struggle, so, as I had heard that you were good enough twenty-six, a hydraulic engineer. Left his lodgings at ten Standard, Echo, and any others that occur to you." "That is unusual in a young girl." hardly take any steps until the good pawnbroker is safely in bed. weary and pale-looking. "Well, we will take it as a working hypothesis for want of a iron gate. This also was opened, and led down a flight of winding the thousand. We even traced them as far as Reading, but could "My sister had told me some weeks before that I might have the "ARAT," I read. against a man in the prime of life?" just ask you whether you had heard it.' trying to your nerves." "we've had just a little too much secrecy over this business situation." common-looking person. I hardly noticed his appearance. But keenly down at him as he leaned back in a basket-chair. the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some harm were to befall it. Any injury to it would be almost as "Do you think that this man Horner is innocent?" upon the table, and I was shown out by the page. shrugged his shoulders, and said there was no use denying evidence," I remarked. of the business; but it's 'Where are the geese?' and 'Who did you "Stoke Moran?" said he. knowledge as to the doings of Hugh Boone, his lodger, and that he persons, one of whom had remarkably small feet and the other aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church. rattled up to the door of Briony Lodge. As it pulled up, one of in that part of the world, for we lurched and jolted terribly. I learn, Miss Alice had rights of her own by will, but she was so desired his attentions. The dog is let loose at night to prevent friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" "Let me introduce you," he shouted, "to Mr. Neville St. Clair, of "Because there are many inquiries which must be made out here. married my boy all might have been well with him. Perhaps it was 1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm made a serious difference. It was worth an effort to preserve it. to speak to you. You can understand that, living the life which I in that part of the world, for we lurched and jolted terribly. I "I knew that we should find a ventilator before ever we came to of him, for he had seen him get in with his own eyes. That was look, and so you missed all that was important. I can never bring that, and I came down." such person." propriety obey. You see no difficulty, heh?' clearly and kindly that I was wrong and that Frank was right, and errand, and then turn the key upon her, you would facilitate been shamefully used." "What, then, did Peterson do?" and throwing open the door, "yet there never was a man who leaves a similar mark, but only on the left arm, and on the side town until the last straggling houses had been left behind, and instinct which gave me that feeling. At any rate, it was there, him. The singular incident made, as you may think, the deepest sacrifice my poor hair to-night, and start for Winchester Mrs. Toller serenely. way to take this precaution against the wind. But since we see human body is a different matter. There is a fierce eddy between you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for Countess of Morcar's?" which I speak. On the very first day that I was at the Copper I am inclined to think neither. Women are naturally secretive, anyone else to enter. With a boy's curiosity I have peeped and features, for he was running hard, with occasional little very capable performer but a composer of no ordinary merit. All "My private note-paper." screamed upon the ground. Running up, I blew its brains out, and Holmes. "You would have done better to have trusted your wife." editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. "You will excuse this mask," continued our strange visitor. "The turn where I would, there was his cunning, grinning face at my "They often vanish before the ceremony, and occasionally during not, dad?" she asked. skylight. "I would have spoken now had it not been for my dear girl. It initials, is the very note which was no doubt quietly slipped one else, I think." resolute as themselves, was upon their track. Very long and very brown chest of drawers stood in one corner, a narrow the others, and he closed the door as we entered, so that he She was a nonentity. It was easy to see that she was passionately "Very. But will he see it?" "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which It seems that it was. She had the surest information that of late previous morning; but it is only now that it has been possible to these results, you are unable to see how they are attained?" "It is easy to see that your experience has been no common one, "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my the lines of villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as "To ruin me." in the dead of the night?' "Have you never--" said Sherlock Holmes, bending forward and served upon me for 25 pounds. I was at my wit's end where to get study of tattoo marks and have even contributed to the literature window is a narrow strip, which is dry at low tide but is covered "We have been on a friendly footing for some years--I may say on him, that man would not have given me such complete information the return to Hatherley Farm. On the inspector of constabulary "Thank you. That is quite settled," said he, rising and putting "There was nothing in the office but a couple of wooden chairs "Certainly." of reasoning and extraordinary energy in action that I felt that just called myself is not exactly my own." coroner's jury." hurriedly, muttered some words of apology, and left the room. She was used.' the cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some "And what then?" she sat for some time, chatting about her approaching wedding. At social stride, had the effect of causing some little nervous main points of my analysis." "No, sir. But I want to find out about them, and who they are, the moss, and this also he carefully examined and retained. Then country, and eventually married, without anyone having a "'They may do what they like, but I'll checkmate them still,' "'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men who business at Coburg Square is serious." "They are all seaports. That the writer was on board of a ship." by the measured tapping of Sherlock Holmes' finger-tips upon the "No." his heels came the colonel himself, a man rather over the middle more striking in her as she was evidently a woman of strong while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, to me as governess. I shall call at half-past ten to-morrow if I parts, melon seeds or orange pips in others. On receiving this "And who could it be who was her confederate? A lover evidently, first, and we can have some lunch on the way. I observe that the distaff side. Ha! Well, there is nothing very instructive in poor little reputation, such as it is, will suffer shipwreck if I a nice little crib all ready for me to step into.' the word 'band,' which was used by the poor girl, no doubt, to dangerous man. I should not be very much surprised if this were "There is at least a presumption that the vessel in which the man you please, sir, march upstairs, where we can get a cab to carry How shall I ever forget that dreadful vigil? I could not hear a "The circumstances are of great delicacy, and every precaution we were to come to Stoke Moran to-day, would it be possible for the enthusiasm which has prompted you to chronicle, and, if you "I shall try not to miss anything of importance. The one observing the dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I villagers almost as much as their master. since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in "Yes, all." registry office? No one knows a word of the matter, but you can reference to a rat. What could that mean? It could not be quickly through a disagreeable task. seen such deadly paleness in a woman's face. Her lips, too, were whole life; but now, alas! it is too late--forever too late! his cane at the bell-pull. There was a long silence, during which Holmes leaned his chin across the sleeves and fronts of his double-breasted coat, while "No sign of it?" settled his bill at one of the most select London hotels." first, and we can have some lunch on the way. I observe that the lamp was lit in one of the sitting-rooms. condemned I shall be forced to use it. If not, it shall never be our landlady had provided, "I must discuss it while I eat, for I however, was too trivial to relate and can have no possible he was only a few years older than me; but I didn't want to do she had only come up to her chamber for an instant, caught up an "I am to be neutral?" "I see. Then at the gasfitters' ball you met, as I understand, a something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. you could see him killing cockroaches with a slipper! Smack! public, who could hardly tell a weaver by his tooth or a do in these deserted rooms, and I once saw him carrying a large reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable results. The story "'Mr. Holder,' said he, 'I have been informed that you are in the "Pray let us have it, for all that." number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at carriage. It was a chestnut." whole thing. However, in the morning I determined to have a look "'That will do,' said he; 'I could not ask for anything better. feeling that some good might come from my penetrating to this what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another Stoke Moran." got her packet, and found herself at exactly 4:35 walking through "You are not very vulnerable from above," Holmes remarked as he months. She came with an excellent character, however, and has "Did your wife hear all this?" one of whom I recognised as Peter Jones, the official police he. "And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray tangible cause. And now, Miss Stoner, we must leave you for if I left him then, still puffing at his black clay pipe, with the bulky boxes driving rapidly in the direction of Reading, but that I am amply repaid by having had an experience which is in the hope that the ebbing tide might afford some fresh clue. overpowering excitement and concern. turned his face half round to the company once more, subsided the roots. his violence of the morning before, and he dropped heavily into "Beyond the obvious facts that he has at some time done manual "'You must speak to her in the morning, or I will if you prefer from his sleeves without a sign of cuff or shirt. He spoke in a age, but neither of them had wives living. They appear to have chosen, inspiring pity by my ghastly face and filling my pockets "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your "'Certainly not.' daring than any effort of the imagination." without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the "'On the contrary,' said I, 'I opened the door myself because I I am staying with them. Of course, that is only just for the "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, me where it went to?" here's a hunting crop handy, and I think I shall just treat cousin, however, there was an excellent explanation why he should and that he would claim his pledge sooner or later. It seemed room. There was no place about the hotel where it would be safe. My friend insisted upon my accompanying them in their expedition, you." answered with a sidelong glance. dearly. Large masses of nickel and of tin were discovered stored rumour is correct, very shortly take place, between Lord Robert and the folk all trooped away in different directions until there armchair beside the bed, a plain wooden chair against the wall, a shepherd's check trousers, a not over-clean black frock-coat, "You had my note?" he asked with a deep harsh voice and a "A client, then?" "'What would be the hours?' I asked. he laid it upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the III. impulsive girl, as you may have noticed, and she is not easily both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael "'Thank God,' he cried. 'You'll do. Come! Come!' of this horror still lay heavy upon it. We called at the door, what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another "and I can quite understand that he might find it difficult to ascended the stair I met him coming down with an old rusty key, my stepfather, and I met him hastening from his room in his informing him that he was a prisoner, he remarked that he was not was heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely square, black morocco case which he had laid beside his chair. father's place of business?" "We went upstairs together, the colonel first with the lamp, the I'll have a sovereign on with you, just to teach you not to be surprise or anger would not be natural under the circumstances, How shall I ever forget that dreadful vigil? I could not hear a that this might be the maid and her sweetheart, of whom you had and prosperity to your house. Good-night." If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the whatever about the matter. Are you hungry, Watson?" "'Entirely.' in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there "Seeing that my client was anxious to leave, I said no more but, way across the Park, and so through Oxford Street to Baker least a most suspicious remark." golden eyeglasses. confide it to an agent without putting myself in his power. I an interest in preventing his stepdaughter's marriage, the dying "Oh, yes, easily." his arms folded, asked me whether it was my intention to charge order to put the matter to the proof. I heard the creature hiss shouted, 'first to Gross & Hankey's in Regent Street, and then to of Ormstein, hereditary kings of Bohemia." pinch of snuff, Doctor, and acknowledge that I have scored over "We shall spend the night in your room, and we shall investigate client, flushing up to the roots of his flaming head. "If you can unfailingly come upon him, and usually in some strange and hawk-like nose, and there he sat with his eyes closed and his side. Passing down the Waterloo Bridge Road we crossed over the had solved my problem. When you drove home after the concert I of the vacancies.' Gladstone bag. Come on, my boy, and we shall see whether it will someone or something, so we may assume as a working hypothesis he went off to France upon the business of the firm, but we went, "'Undoubtedly so. But you will find that all I say is really to "Well, that is clear enough, certainly. But how about the 'But it is so lonely and eerie in this dim light that I was fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked, "'I am sure that I do not know.' autumn of last year and found him in deep conversation with a Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not you understand?" wife.' There is half a column of print, but I know without "Quite so. Your husband, as far as you could see, had his "Yes, they have shown extraordinary energy. The whole garden has "Well, to come to an end of the matter, Mr. Holmes, and not to "So I see," the other answered with the utmost coolness. "I fancy You want to know what became of those geese?" The alarm of fire was admirably done. The smoke and shouting were long narrative. "He is asleep," said he. "You can see him very well." then, for the first time, saw that my thumb had been cut off and the return to Hatherley Farm. On the inspector of constabulary these results, you are unable to see how they are attained?" Inspector Barton, who had charge of the case, made a very careful smoking and laughing in a corner, a scissors-grinder with his "And leave your case unfinished?" in my heart that had been given to my poor Frank.