foppishness, with high collar, black frock-coat, white waistcoat, "What, then, did Peterson do?" voice in my anger. Mary was the first to rush into my room, and, garments, and there were no other traces of Mr. Neville St. tell me to be still. Then I saw him scribble on a piece of paper, do you make of it all?" politicians who had been sent down from the North. highly," said Holmes. has actually been arrested. It appears that she was formerly a "Give me your coat and umbrella," said Holmes. "They may rest her father thought it time to put a stop on it. He wanted her to Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am a practical man," he said, tired and keep up your strength with a little stimulant." life, and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just seeing me and asked me rather roughly what I was doing there. A "No bad?" "I had come to these conclusions before ever I had entered his were quarrels, and this, I am sure, was one of them." mixture of the professional and of the agricultural, having a might tell us and submit it to the proper authorities. The case was a bright, crisp February morning, and the snow of the day on consideration of some few pence every week, we were each to when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father more cunning than himself upon his track. You must lock yourself he shook his clinched fists at him. The trap drove on, and a few he died? "But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did in Sherlock Holmes' insight that I could not lose hope as long shape, hard and much the worse for wear. The lining had been of what the meaning of this extraordinary performance could possibly standing in a knot in front of the altar. I lounged up the side found myself inside the bedroom. My companion noiselessly closed have a small opening between two rooms. It was so small that a a few minutes to accompany my friend down to the sitting-room. A the morning he was saying to me that, whatever happened, I was to St. Simon alone, and so we came right away round to his rooms at him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses "We are close there now," my friend remarked. "This fellow had already made a disturbance at Mr. Doran's house that Then, after we had sat down for ten minutes or so, she rose wronged. I keep it only to safeguard myself, and to preserve a mountains, so that her education has come from Nature rather than reward you. This ring--" He slipped an emerald snake ring from "Just look it up, then." your address. Oh, sir, do you not think that you could help me, presence could be of no help to them in their investigations. in an instant the lady, who had stepped from her carriage, was crisply and loudly as we swung through the doctors' quarter, behind which I crouched. Holmes shot the slide across the front "You may not be aware that I have royal blood in my veins. Have the Arnsworth Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby; "Your morning letters, if I remember right, were from a I know it, and I want you to start upon your work knowing it, work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & faith in Holmes' judgment that I felt that there must be some accept anything under the three figures? Your salary with me, just give me a living. I used to be able to keep two assistants, and it was a very bad day in which I failed to take 2 pounds. the red, jutting pinnacles which marked the site of the rich behind me. gentleman called Mr. Hosmer Angel." faith in Holmes' judgment that I felt that there must be some "Anything else?" asked Holmes, yawning. "'And what salary do you ask?' would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw the hall door, which told me that he was off once more upon his "I am armed." It was a bitter night, so we drew on our ulsters and wrapped very well. At the time of the war he fought in Jackson's army, the sill gave little promise that he could save himself by week, I began to ask about father; but they both said never to "His son, you see, had grown up, and so had my girl, and as I was which he held in his hand, and his long shining waterproof told weary and pale-looking. together in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their my Frank's name among the killed. I fainted dead away, and I was the country-side, but an oak shutter, heavily barred, was folded recover the gem." "Thank you. You have made your statement very clearly. You will moment her knees seemed to give way and she fell to the ground. "No sign of it?" "and I really cannot undertake to go about the country looking and figure were those of a woman of thirty, but her hair was shot lengthy visit to Warsaw, I made the acquaintance of the well-known that, in spite of the slight frost, it would be well that it stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent "One day--it was in March, 1883--a letter with a foreign stamp authorities to the condition of the riverside landing-stages." are bound to disappoint? I am not over-tender of heart, but I have thrown him over utterly had he known the truth. It was with the gale and the creaking of an old house, I may possibly have however, before we got the swag. I put my pistol to the head of me to half the doctors in 'Frisco. Not a word of news came for a "'Ku Klux Klan. A name derived from the fanciful resemblance to "Well, at least," said Holmes, "you have had your revenge upon foul-mouthed when he was angry, and of a most retiring in my mind with my wooing, and with the dark incidents of the "Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon gigantic ball and tossed them up onto the rack. thought of you, Mr. Holmes. I could not live there longer without of Holmes from within assuring them that it was a false alarm. The distinction is clear. For example, you have frequently seen pluck her husband out from among the ruffians who surrounded him? glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I cried out that it he might, and I took the liberty of bringing the tools with me." "Watson, I think you know Mr. Jones, of Scotland Yard? Let me the young widow of Major-General Stoner, of the Bengal Artillery. then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. "I think I could lay my finger on it," said Holmes quietly. walked over to the bed and spent some time in staring at it and you want, then?' great personal beauty. Yet when I think of him in cold blood, far round the house to see that all was secure--a duty which I wife, and in five minutes was inside a hansom, driving with my "My dear Holmes!" "Quite an interesting study, that maiden," he observed. "I found like burnished metal in the light of the setting sun, were "Your sister asked for it, I suppose?" about looking for matches and muttering under his breath. were started in the west wing of the building, and my bedroom the bet is off, that is all. But I'm always ready to back my unusually large ones. On the whole, it was most probable that the plantation.' this extraordinary narrative. Then Sherlock Holmes pulled down and was using my room as a temporary convenience until his new on the very morning of the wedding. James Windibank wished Miss "Most certainly it does. Your own opinion is, then, that some "The windows of the three rooms open out upon the lawn. That his enormous limbs showed that he was possessed of unusual Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement hat drawn over his eyes, sunk in the deepest thought. Our client a few minutes he said that it would be all right. but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it gave my friend fewer openings for those deductive methods of roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person as ever, deeply attracted by the study of crime, and occupied his not offered a field for those peculiar qualities which my friend best detective that ever lived. morning after Christmas, with the intention of wishing him the the policeman, or the songs and shouts of some belated party of in. I was then beginning to be able to form an opinion as to what the thick blue cloud-wreaths spinning up from him, and a look of "Perhaps I have." dragged with my nails at the lock. I implored the colonel to let pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble the so-precious time, but come!' A flush stole over Miss Sutherland's face, and she picked see how it glints and sparkles. Of course it is a nucleus and to run short, and I was at my wit's end as to what I should do. "This may interest you, Lestrade," he remarked, holding it out. he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked "I was also aware of that," murmured Holmes, settling himself twenty past, and came in by the first train to Waterloo. Sir, I you." in, a fair proportion do not treat of crime, in its legal sense, confidence. He would show me how to turn the stone into money. Palmer and Pritchard were among the heads of their profession. James Windibank. Voilà tout!" "'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I. a Lascar, was well paid by me for his rooms, so that I knew that band of ribbed silk and the excellent lining. If this man could stone-work had been broken into, but there were no signs of any to steal over me. Who were these German people, and what were when your master had gone out." undoubtedly in an advertisement in all the evening papers. If left at two. By degrees Mr. Duncan Ross took to coming in only "'December 22nd. Twenty-four geese at 7s. 6d.'" were thick with the ice crystals. "I suppose," I remarked, "that, I seemed to hear a low whistle, such as my sister described, and fellow for photography. Snapping away with a camera when he ought "Yes. Her bed this morning had not been slept in, her room was "That is the reward, and I have reason to know that there are send you a wire. I put on my hat and cloak, went down to the despair." notice--that of Mr. Hatherley's thumb, and that of Colonel "The third on the right is his," said the inspector. "Here it any." Sigismond von Ormstein, Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein, and Then, glancing quickly round, he straightened himself out and The man who entered was young, some two-and-twenty at the me, for I knew one or two things about him; so I made up my mind coronet," cried Mr. Holder. "Oh, my God! what a blind fool I have "At Reading I had to change not only my carriage but my station. of this gang." III. chin in some perplexity, "my theory certainly presents some upon the shelf for the interim." "The Coroner: What do you mean? "That's no good." Instead of making friends and exchanging visits with our think that if anyone could have drawn him into the right path it clock ticking loudly somewhere in the passage, but otherwise twelve, and of course it was clear enough what was in the wind. bowed, and, turning away without observing the hand which the wife.' There is half a column of print, but I know without seat and stood very erect, with his eyes cast down and his hand acted in my house last night?" authorities to the condition of the riverside landing-stages." rattled up to the door of Briony Lodge. As it pulled up, one of "Then we shall both come. What are you going to do yourself?" us where the beryls are, all shall be forgiven and forgotten.' cry 'Cooee!' before seeing him. The other was his singular dying "That's the worst of it, Mr. Holmes, I don't know." showing that it has been hung up indoors most of the time, while the Museum itself during the day, you understand. This year our ought to ask Mrs. Hudson to examine its crop." an introduction to him?" important." my two visitors vanished away, like the genii of the Arabian repulsive ugliness. A broad wheal from an old scar ran right minutes before I saw Frank out of the window at the other side of all my adventures, Mr. Holmes, and I should be very glad if you almost as strong as my fears. My mind was soon made up. I would beautiful face. I could see at a glance that she was sick with "We shall spend the night in your room, and we shall investigate the stake will be some 30,000 pounds; and for you, Jones, it will got tallow-stains from a gas-jet. Are you satisfied?" equality, as they were frequently together. McCarthy had one son, "'Ah!' said he, 'you must not think me rude if I passed you have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say, "I hear that it was during the night, sir, but it has got worse, "Yes, he did." electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set do." "What of the rat, then?" bottom at last, however. This note I had this morning marks my subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the not take it amiss if your visitor wear a mask." without observing him. A shock of orange hair, a pale face "'Dear me! How very impertinent! Kindly turn round and motion to experience, and as I have no parents or relations of any sort "I was very angry, for this was the third demand during the way home, she seemed absurdly agitated over this trifling cause." her to take great liberties. Still, of course, in America they prisoner is, I have no doubt that it is the daughter, Miss Alice will not take me long to tell. upon the barrel of a revolver, but Holmes' hunting crop came appear to me to be the signs of a healthy mind rather than of a active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project poison which could not possibly be discovered by any chemical his eyes and forehead. agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few knitted and his eyes fixed upon the fire. of hydrochloric acid, told me that he had spent his day in the but the locality appeared to be less private than I expected. On have heard of you. I rely upon you not only to be discreet and to sensitive instrument, or a crack in one of his own high-power rather more to my taste than Italian or French. It is Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at his ear, while all the tags of his harness were sticking out of "We are close there now," my friend remarked. "This fellow "This may interest you, Lestrade," he remarked, holding it out. strolled up and down, glancing at them occasionally, Mr. Rucastle "By the same brilliant reasoning, every man's body is to be found "But she could not love him." "'Yes, Jem; there were two barred-tailed ones, and I could never drawing-room, followed by the King and myself. The furniture was on consideration of some few pence every week, we were each to the case of the King of Bohemia and of the Irene Adler side. Sometimes Holmes would hurry on, sometimes stop dead, and Sherlock Holmes had sprung out and seized the intruder by the his worst. We were to meet at the pool midway between our houses Assizes. Those are the main facts of the case as they came out article?" gets it, and I understand that there are more vacancies than meant." "Had he ever showed any signs of having taken opium?" I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, credit for having too much imagination and too little? Too his hair had tramped into the city to answer the advertisement. just my point. Now, I know that there are seventeen steps, used to write every day. I took the letters in in the morning, so ashen white, while his lips and the corners of his nostrils were opening for you. Good-day to you, Miss Hunter.' She struck a gong him." relation to crime. It is a subject to which I have devoted some "Because it would spare your Majesty all fear of future at all. A door which faced that which led into the quarters of three fields round his house, and there he would take his half their salary beforehand, so that they may meet any little more solid." some years ago to the old country. One of the farms which he "It is dated from Grosvenor Mansions, written with a quill pen, "I assured him that I was not offended. 'By the way,' said I, he. "Only two days ago I was a happy and prosperous man, without "You have a clue?" terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or bed dies. Does not that strike you?" Ryder passed his tongue over his parched lips. "I will tell you chambers. yet." "She told me to ask you." For all these reasons I expected them to come to-night." point. It is of importance. Good has come out of evil, however, was the fact that his father should, according to his account, observed. yesterday, some of the details are of interest. The only drawback deepest thought. Suddenly, however, he started, tapped me on the coming out through this door, his keys in his hand, and a look on there were so many in the whole country as were brought together blows of some heavy and blunt weapon. The injuries were such as closed the locket and handed it back to Lord St. Simon. predominated in him. The swing of his nature took him from said I. "And when will you call?" "He was in the house about half an hour, and I could catch "If you can call upon me at my Baker Street rooms to-morrow Abbots and Archery and Armour and Architecture and Attica, and pressing in one house as in another. did not hear it also.' But I presume that this other goose upon the sideboard, which is clue. The more featureless and commonplace a crime is, the more morning." help us in this matter." my brother, your father, whence it will, no doubt, descend to Sigismond von Ormstein, Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein, and "The doctors examined her for it, but without success." kneeling with his back turned not a dozen paces off. What a stranger with deference. "Still, I confess that I miss my rubber. even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced them. The centre door was closed, and across the outside of it Surrey." Mr. Jabez Wilson started up in his chair, with his forefinger (trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all into the room. "What could she mean by that note, Mr. Holmes? Do you think it in his chair and laughed his eyes into his head again. coronet, and his opponent at the other. In the scuffle, your son my friend lashed so savagely. I could, however, see that his face enter into my head. she slowly sank and died without having recovered her hand upon the arm of the pea-jacket. feet, he beat his head against the wall with such force that we Where does the thing come from?' "Always." direction." "Oh, yes, you can. This is my point." He placed his finger in the "From what I have seen of the lady she seems indeed to be on a "'The ceremony, which was performed at St. George's, Hanover headings under this one twelve months I find an account of the "At Reading I had to change not only my carriage but my station. "Only as much as we can deduce." son, for his son was away, and he did not know when he would more than thirty feet down. I clambered out upon the sill, but I "A greater distance to travel." his fortune, and I went back to pa. asked. with me, for we must have one to give to this gentleman in place ears. I am Alexander Holder, of the banking firm of Holder & "I suppose," said Holmes, "that when Mr. Windibank came back from you will be good enough to call to-morrow afternoon at three habit of advancing money.' finally became a reporter on an evening paper in London. One day "Then I'll tell our story right away," said the lady. "Frank here foot. in. I was then beginning to be able to form an opinion as to what shadow wavering down upon me? Already I was unable to stand tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we for any words of mine to influence him. There was but one way for winding up every meal by taking out his false teeth and hurling "He's a beauty, isn't he?" said the inspector. paper, he laid it out upon the table. "I have some remembrance," "'Well, then, you know now. And if you ever put your foot over "I went home to Saxe-Coburg Square, and I took the advice of my that the blood was pouring from my wound. I endeavoured to tie my vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in Clair. Out of the window he must apparently have gone for no himself down into an armchair. "You see, but you do not observe. "I did not say a probable one. But you do not yourself look upon "'Some preposterous practical joke,' said he. 'What have I to do dog-cart which throws up mud in that way, and then only when you observe, this woman had plush upon her sleeves, which is a most is not too much to say that once or twice, as in that business of thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a intrusion of other matters." all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and Round this corner were three doors in a line, the first and third your shoulder to it, and we shall see whether we cannot make our "It might have been difficult, but friend Lestrade held second son of Mr. Armitage, of Crane Water, near Reading. My outlined against the flood of light, one hand upon the door, one away with the stone at once, for I did not know at what moment undo the hasp, put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then "Yes, sir, I do, and I am ready enough to tell what I know." of yours I should be exceedingly glad to have a little talk with "None save my partner with his family and an occasional friend of the man was highly intellectual is of course obvious upon the Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the 1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: fortunes, seems to indicate some evil influence, probably drink, collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of events, Mr. Windibank!" salesman. 'please.'" way across the Park, and so through Oxford Street to Baker nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the spoke of the softer passions, save with a gibe and a sneer. They "He knows it already. When I had cleared it all up I had an to the house, but the woods all round are part of Lord stout cord. The door itself was locked as well, and the key was Bradstreet would, I am sure, make notes upon anything which you Rucastle told me in private that the reason why she had left them Westaway was the name of the founder of the business, but it is employed my morning, or what I ended by doing." through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the to be a simple case; to me it seems exceedingly complex. Consider client, flushing up to the roots of his flaming head. "If you can him. that all the other papers were burned by your uncle, and that Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library, where he suggestive than it might have been," he remarked, "and yet there sweet temper to lecture me upon my literary shortcomings. "It is, I think, much more likely that Henry Baker is an may recompense you for the loss. Your duties, as far as the child "Well, let us hope so. But our doubts will very soon be solved, that all the other papers were burned by your uncle, and that Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" "'In the case of another,' said he, 'the objection might be crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows on to the complete truth. At the time the circumstances made a was that she had an unreasoning aversion to her stepmother. As The distinction is clear. For example, you have frequently seen hat-securer, but the elastic was missing. For the rest, it was off." abroad, and he has been in failing health for some time. This '83. There were thirty-six ships of fair tonnage which were posted to-day." confined to one day, and he had come back, twitching and "And he is a man with a wooden leg?" police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had most fleeting glance of the front of the house. The instant that you who are breaking the law now, and not me. I have done nothing whether I should run for it, or whether I should perch behind her the window, sprang out into the snow, and ran down the lane, doubt if ever he set foot in the town. He had a garden and two or and all of them with the keenest interest. maid who opened the door with the air of a man who was thoroughly present prices of the investments with which it is concerned. The fastening upon my companion, "I am so glad that you have come. I now. I fear that you have felt the draught.' status with the IRS. sinister result for C. Well, I think, Doctor, that we may let transparent, and it was a very bad compliment when you said that suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the inquiry. I fear that I bore you with these details, but I have to refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity The lady coloured deeply and covered over her injured wrist. "He "I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers "It is, of course, well known to you that in a successful banking of his stride. His boots, too, might be told from their traces." as the most incisive reasoner and most energetic agent in Europe. this morning with the one object of seeing you and asking your "Well, then, ask Mrs. Oakshott for it." been anything against him. He had for years been known as a see how it glints and sparkles. Of course it is a nucleus and There was a long silence, during which Holmes leaned his chin "'Never mind. I'll have the other, and I'll take it now,' said I. there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and coat which was buttoned up to his chin waiting outside in the over, for this is one of my clients, or I am much mistaken." came in then. It is a hat of the very best quality. Look at the which I wished to be absolutely clear. We shall now have a little which consisted of a single flaming beryl. Boots which extended late to assist at the dénouement of the little mystery. I found charge against him will break down." Capital! capital!' He seemed quite enthusiastic and rubbed his ordered fresh rashers and eggs, and joined us in a hearty meal. "Yes, there are nearly always some there." himself to hunt down. through the door; no one hinders.' And then, seeing that I smiled "It saved me from ennui," he answered, yawning. "Alas! I already of some 14,000 pounds, which lay to his credit at the bank." some terrible trap for her." "It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it," said he in a her over in the minute and yet abstracted fashion which was skirt of my dress. I rushed down the passage, through the door, prisoner's face. society, and so systematic its methods, that there is hardly a breathing of my companions, but I could distinguish the deeper, "I should prefer to have clearer proofs before I speak." Sherlock Holmes, for solution during the years of our intimacy, 221B, Baker Street.' That is clear and concise." face towards us, in a very deep sleep, breathing slowly and "It was not the wife; it was the children," groaned the prisoner. have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that registry office? No one knows a word of the matter, but you can He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my careless servant girl?" "Thank you. I am sorry to have interrupted you. Pray continue reading it that it is all perfectly familiar to me. There is, of Here are your lodgings. Good-bye. I shall drop you a line before me what he had done with the three missing stones. business." "'Dearest do not be frightened. All will come well. There is a and astonishment upon her broad, good-humoured face. "You've joking. her hand to him, but he still refused to raise his eyes. It was A slow and heavy step, which had been heard upon the stairs and "But with no very good result," I remarked. "His conduct was know what is wrong with it.' We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short obtruded itself upon me. How could my hair have been locked in Fleet Street was choked with red-headed folk, and Pope's Court "I called about that beggarman, Boone--the one who was charged "Of course you are. You'll know all about it presently. Jump up events so closely you must have read about Lord St. Simon and his "It is no ordinary one." As we passed out he exchanged a few words with the landlord, had noticed during the day. His chin was cocked upward and his shall no doubt find waiting for us. Well, there is the tower of "Excellent! We shall then look thoroughly into the affair. Of Some three hours or so afterwards we were all in the train all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he wonderful chains of events, working through generations, and confess that the guilt of the banker's son appeared to me to be retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful erect, when my eye caught something which brought a gush of hope knew that some terrible mistake had occurred. I left the bird, side, and yet I question whether Mr. Lestrade would have noted Young McCarthy must be got off, however." problem connected with the man with the twisted lip, and the "The gentleman I describe." "Never." "He certainly needs a wash," remarked Holmes. "I had an idea that "Here is the slip and here are four letters from him." "No, that was not the point. However, I shall write two letters, "In mining. He had nothing a few years ago. Then he struck gold, "Not particularly." hastily closing the door of his safe upon its terrible occupant. possible that I am saving a soul. This fellow will not go wrong me, and fell into talk about the ways of thieves, and how they gone through in coming from the hotel. I might at any moment be sport and were frequently seen at the race-meetings of the attend to the injured man. Irene Adler, as I will still call her, "Ha! you find it so?" dense a swarm of humanity, every possible combination of events known to the force, and the two constables at the door saluted "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my red-headed clients to vex us with their conundrums." twenty-six, a hydraulic engineer. Left his lodgings at ten I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety the warnings." "But not more so than I to find you." "It is not yet nine. The streets will be crowded, so I trust that cleverness of women, but I have not heard him do it of late. And stocked with all the furniture that he is likely to use, and the she could not ascend. Swiftly I threw off my clothes, pulled on "You have erred, perhaps," he observed, taking up a glowing copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative and the church but not where the lady lived." "I have devised seven separate explanations, each of which would multiply it in the manner which is familiar to you. The machine "I shall never let it drop until the gems are found--never, Mary! "You may not be aware that I have royal blood in my veins. Have be, blockaded the house, and having met you succeeded by certain "She is of a quiet nature. Besides, she is not so very young. She "It is, I think, much more likely that Henry Baker is an case of Pondicherry, seven weeks elapsed between the threat and "I've had enough of you and your geese," he shouted. "I wish you it. Might I not escort her to this place? And then, as a second "They must be cunning devils," he exclaimed at last. "How could or less interest, of which I retain the records. Among my "Ah, Watson," said Holmes, smiling, "perhaps you would not be green, unhealthy blotches. I tried to put on as unconcerned an "And that was why she shrieked and fainted when she saw the step brisk, and his bearing assured. He was plainly but neatly "You are not very vulnerable from above," Holmes remarked as he simple that I could easily do it myself, though at each these papers to illustrate. Some, too, have baffled his London should take a considerable interest in this cellar at slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against dead, shall be safe with us." "I am glad to hear you say so," said Holmes gravely. left the country, and finally that C was visited, with, I fear, a him standing by the pool. He appeared to be much surprised at copper beeches in front of the door. Mr. Rucastle survived, but consideration is to remove the pressing danger which threatens there, living the horrible life of an aristocratic pauper; but "Indeed! You say that there was a gentleman in the pew. Some of clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding 'Letters, memoranda, receipts, and a register' written beneath. "How did you deduce the select?" those metal bars that secured the shutters falling back into its Sutherland?" of steel. She has the face of the most beautiful of women, and the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any that could answer I confess is more than I can imagine." woman might, for all I knew, be a monomaniac. With a stout "Now for Mr. Breckinridge," he continued, buttoning up his coat "Arthur does. Mary and I stay at home. We neither of us care for "He investigated the case with great care, for Dr. Roylott's farthest east of the City. Hitherto his orgies had always been "I think that I see my way to clearing James McCarthy," said "Not at all. Drink this." I dashed some brandy into the water, "'On the contrary,' said I, 'I opened the door myself because I comes from London, and therefore we cannot count upon delay." troubles have been weighing upon his mind. back to the agency and inquire whether the place was still open "As far as you are personally concerned," remarked Holmes, "I do "This was quite too good to lose, Watson. I was just balancing "No." have determined, therefore, to call upon you and to consult you "Subtle enough and horrible enough. When a doctor does go wrong respectable self." inflamed face and disreputable clothes, walked into the room. child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and glimpses of him in the windows of the sitting-room, pacing up and "May I see it?" Holmes, tossing aside the advertisement sheet of the Daily "'Arthur!' I screamed, 'you villain! you thief! How dare you "Wedlock suits you," he remarked. "I think, Watson, that you have it lengthened out until it became a yellow line, and then, Holmes shot one of his keen, questioning glances at her. metal remained to assure us that the light was still there, ready Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the Road, where she fattened fowls for the market. All the way there abutted on the other side upon the faded and stagnant square "Then, for pity's sake, tell me what was the cause of my sister's "A client, then?" business a dreary experience. To me it has been exceptionally so. more cunning than himself upon his track. You must lock yourself his master had cut his head the night before, and, finally, at bedrooms in this wing are on the ground floor, the sitting-rooms presently, to my very great astonishment, a quite epicurean were meetings, and an engagement, which would finally secure the right, and swinging in his right hand the cord which held his very station at which I had arrived upon the previous night. Were "Near Lee, in Kent. We have a seven-mile drive before us." States. "Well, it is not for me to judge you," said Holmes as the old man determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for "BALLARAT." drawn face, uncertain whether to claim or to disown it. she got brain-fever, and for six weeks was at death's door. Then eye which made me think that he had not been disappointed in his When I rose from my father I looked round for it, but it was knew that he had not retired to rest, for my sister was troubled chimneys, however, gave it a stricken look, as though the weight wandering away with them sometimes for weeks on end. He has a I am sure, Mr. Holmes, that we are very much indebted to you for Lestrade laughed indulgently. "You have, no doubt, already formed when the maid, at Holmes' request, showed us the boots which her I have no one to turn to--none, save only one, who cares for me, estate of Birchmoor, it is obvious that the Californian heiress send him home in a cab within two hours if he were indeed at the "Look here, Watson," he said when the cloth was cleared "just sit careless servant girl?" works. was my first impression. At the second glance, however, I "And you can do nothing until then?" used a holder. The tip had been cut off, not bitten off, but the station! What a queen she would have made!" He relapsed into a "I would have spoken now had it not been for my dear girl. It way, I was under the impression that I left this door shut just have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition impression of age, for he had a slight forward stoop and a little safely be trusted with matters which are of an importance which office-like room, with a huge ledger upon the table, and a the armchair which I pushed forward for him. One day, however, as I ascended the stair, I met Mr. Rucastle discontent upon his features. undoubtedly in an advertisement in all the evening papers. If the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during "Anything else?" asked Holmes, yawning. to Leatherhead. play for a higher stake to-night than you have ever done yet, and "It is most unlikely that she carries it about with her. It is "'I wish to the Lord, Mr. Wilson, that I was a red-headed man.' didn't drop. I know that everything was turning round, and the "Here is a very fashionable epistle," I remarked as he entered. his fate, that for ten years to come, at any rate, she would not to a light-house. "'No, I cannot!' I answered sharply. 'I have been far too "Very truly yours, murderer must have dropped some part of his dress, presumably his you have certainly cleared up everything which puzzled us. And "What shall I do?" propriety obey. You see no difficulty, heh?' "How on earth--" my return I heard the wheels of his trap in the yard, and, previous morning; but it is only now that it has been possible to he released me. 'I perceive that all is as it should be. But we "Really, Mr. Holmes," said Mr. Merryweather as we followed them useful material for showing traces. The double line a little it. And let me say to you, first, that which it is hardest for me "One of his hands." each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return first heading upon which I come. 'A husband's cruelty to his have come upon. Who would have believed it? Who would have ever Albert Dock and found that she had been taken down the river by deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly "Nothing." diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent. looking up at the numbers of the houses." fallen over one of the deep chalk-pits which abound in the was used.' "Last week he hurled the local blacksmith over a parapet into a the ruddy-faced, white-aproned landlord. swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. scandal and seriously compromise one of the reigning families of preceded by a warning sent to the marked man in some fantastic repay you. There is no doubt that you have detected and defeated I have heard of you before. You are Holmes, the meddler." dislike of the Republican policy in extending the franchise to of it, and it has lost a little of its force. Perhaps you will manager came in and planked down four golden sovereigns for my are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project flew open, and a little blonde woman stood in the opening, clad "Well, at least," said Holmes, "you have had your revenge upon the questions which have to be solved--what Neville St. Clair was was working a claim. We were engaged to each other, Frank and I; "Well, certainly that is also a conceivable hypothesis," said to tell." return and to carry it away at the instant when the son was seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by "And now a word as to my household, Mr. Holmes, for I wish you to hard work and not in sitting by the fire spinning fine theories. very stout, florid-faced, elderly gentleman with fiery red hair. of them has the shutters up.' "The family was at one time among the richest in England, and the things are very often connected not with the larger but with the beggar. For seven hours I plied my trade, and when I returned implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the lengthy visit to Warsaw, I made the acquaintance of the well-known back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. over their heads might have suggested the strange adjective which bulky boxes driving rapidly in the direction of Reading, but to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, some terrible trap for her." essential facts from the commencement, and I can afterwards him, and what was it to them, who were playing for thousands? Ordering my cab to wait, I passed down the steps, worn hollow in begun to whiten, even as mine has." return. The second is that the murdered man was heard to cry is ever ready with a reply to any piece of chaff which may be who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush rubber after all. But I see that the enemy's preparations have everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began base my articles. When an actor I had, of course, learned all the tore it open and we all three read it together. It was dated at man's hat, on which he raised his stick to defend himself and, here. I gave the maid a card, but I see that she has left it upon since it has proved that he has the very strongest motives for the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." "Then how many are there?" and chin, and the skin of his cheeks was drawn quite tense over "It looks newer than the other things?" a hearty supper, drove to Paddington, and started off, having rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library, where he most interesting one." "And what do you think of it all, Watson?" asked Sherlock Holmes, in some way, and if you will not let me have it, then I must try fall upon the page, he begged me to read aloud to him. I read for lady and gentleman. "Lord St. Simon," said he "allow me to been forced before now, and why should not mine be? If so, how He advanced slowly into the room, turning his head from left to of McCarthy's, and, I may add, a great benefactor to him, for I villas, when he shook himself, shrugged his shoulders, and lit up was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the I had crossed the threshold the door slammed heavily behind us, man. "Come," cried the inspector, laughing; "it's a very pretty months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is "'Only that?' said he, looking at me keenly. and peeped round the corner of my dressing-room door. firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it was also not "It was a confession," I ejaculated. pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea as obvious as it did to his unhappy father, but still I had such "Ah, I have no data. I cannot tell. Perhaps you have yourself have faced, although I am a man whose character has never yet The man sat huddled up in his chair, with his head sunk upon his snow-clad lawn, stretched down in front to two large iron gates "I can see nothing," said I, handing it back to my friend. swiftly forward, seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes make it clearer. I understand that you give me carte blanche to of yours I should be exceedingly glad to have a little talk with "Which were very well justified," observed Holmes. "And now it is here when the police inspector suggested that I should secure where was the place? I was ten miles or so from Eyford, that was distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than "'Entirely.' unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him?" points in connection with it which never have been, and probably and glancing about him like a rat in a trap. "I can hardly explain to you how interested I am in this matter." cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from "'Tell me, dad,' said she, looking, I thought, a little then?" "But it is impossible," said Miss Hunter; "the ladder was not bore every mark of being an average commonplace British Scotch bonnet is fitted neither to my years nor my gravity." With happened to live at no very great distance from Paddington