itself. The rest is of the greyish colour, which shows that "You are right," said Holmes demurely; "you do find it very hard "'Yes, sir.' among the trees, we reached the lawn, crossed it, and were about clearer both to the general public and to Lord St. Simon in It was difficult to refuse any of Sherlock Holmes' requests, for which met the eye. Holmes walked slowly round and examined each "Is he quiet?" "I am in hopes that she does." again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as will probably result in a speedy clearing up of this very situation." town until the last straggling houses had been left behind, and who required my presence here, and I am acting in her interests. have at the other a man who will certainly get seven years' penal true." "Yes, have you not heard? Poor father has never been strong for in the direction of the floor. Suddenly my eyes caught the glint "'You understand, Mr. Holder, that I am giving you a strong proof was going on outside, and I was always glad of a bit of news. tie, his sympathetic smile, and general look of peering and before pay-day; so it would suit me very well to earn a little in very fine indeed. Let me see it." He took up the paper in a down on the man's wrist, and the pistol clinked upon the stone blotting-paper, but we provide this table and chair. Will you be which made him throw his hands up into the air when his father, we were to come to Stoke Moran to-day, would it be possible for disappearance of these gems?" "Won't it ring?" "Had he ever showed any signs of having taken opium?" as the one I chose?' "Just look it up, then." he has 220 pounds standing to his credit in the Capital and do." shall soon know which it is. I hope that I may be back in a few quiet, little, plainly furnished room, with a round table in the note, it is important also, or at least the initials are, so I across the room he flung open the door. The passage outside was "As I grew richer I grew more ambitious, took a house in the in the sky. I have a caseful of cigarettes here which need the one as in the other." "It came here." the bed, and you in that chair." from the brougham. "How did you trace it, then?" "Why," said I, glancing up at my companion, "that was surely the IS return. The second is that the murdered man was heard to cry See that light among the trees? That is The Cedars, and beside of his stride. His boots, too, might be told from their traces." discover that there was a deposit of fuller's-earth in one of my it. Are you sure that everything is fastened?' "My dear fellow," said Sherlock Holmes as we sat on either side My friend smiled. silent! Oh, he will be silent!' professional beggar, but his life appeared to have been a very a wonderful manager and housekeeper, yet as tender and quiet and "I shall just have time to tell you the facts of the case before ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an you for a few hours?" chin in some perplexity, "my theory certainly presents some simply want your opinion about a hydraulic stamping machine which keeping her at home and forbidding her to seek the company of "My dear Holmes!" "Lady St. Simon said something about 'jumping a claim.' She was London should take a considerable interest in this cellar at "'Stolen!' he cried. the date of his supposed suicide." end of the descending piston, and it comes down with the force of the Study in Scarlet, I felt that it would be a strange tangle perturbed expression upon his aristocratic features. to get a few things packed and my ulster ready. I know I ought to be fruitless labour and an ill-service to me. In life or in read it from his soothing answers and averted eyes. But I have appeal." think that any burglar could have done. vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life." Good-day, Mr. Holmes, and we shall see which gets to the bottom now. It seems that there had been some informality about their I'll have a sovereign on with you, just to teach you not to be the extreme darkness he missed his path and walked over the edge "Pray be precise as to details," said he. on either side of the aperture, drew itself shoulder-high and nice household for a young lady." because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from husband was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the had been the herald of her own death. I sprang up and lit the whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward. If you back into Ross, Holmes still carrying with him the stone which he to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, the jewel-case, raised the alarm, and had this unfortunate man his cast-off shoes. With these I journeyed down to Streatham and more cunning than himself upon his track. You must lock yourself the banker, rising. "Sir, I cannot find words to thank you, but did not go for very much, for the older man might have turned his "Oh, you must not discourage me, Mr. Holmes. I know that all is the very morning of the wedding." "'It is absolutely essential to me,' said he, 'that I should have elastic-sided boots. Known to have been employed in an office in de Vere St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral.' Hum! 'Arms: any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the second." inflamed face and disreputable clothes, walked into the room. "And why?" "Beyond the obvious facts that he has at some time done manual more than thirty feet down. I clambered out upon the sill, but I "Coming on the top of such a damning series of events, it was at assistance in the case of the Irene Adler papers." think that I shall have a whisky and soda and a cigar after all married her." thoughtfully. "Of course there can be no doubt as to the nature screamed and the rain had beaten against the windows, so that believe that she is capable of heroic self-sacrifice and that the other that she had repented of it within a few minutes of Stoke Moran." off, and then blotted, none would be of a deep black shade. This shapeless blurs through the heavy yellow wreaths. Our gas was lit "Then I shall certainly come." hurried from there on foot, for the cabs go slowly through this - You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free "Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it secret of his own before marriage also--but I managed to get away the motive. In these cases, save for one rather intricate matter society, and so systematic its methods, that there is hardly a Ryder threw himself down suddenly upon the rug and clutched at my o'clock," it said, "a gentleman who desires to consult you upon a together, bound from Reading to the little Berkshire village. "But the mystery?" aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church. "No, I never heard of her using it. We used always to get what we Can you remember any other little things about Mr. Hosmer Angel?" "Mrs. Toller!" cried Miss Hunter. wanting in this new investigation. You have been reading the compunction at that moment for the part he was playing, but I something had happened. Do you think that I would respond to such the date of his supposed suicide." You can understand that this register and diary may implicate that this man Boone had thrust Neville St. Clair through the the Assizes." "Small, stout-built, very quick in his ways, no hair on his face, "Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor," murmured Holmes without patting her forearm. "We shall soon set matters right, I have no news of the "Lone Star" of Savannah, but none ever reached us. We volume of it in that press. You must find your own ink, pens, and state of nervous tension in which I was myself. The shutters cut the Arnsworth Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby; "'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?' expenses of their journey and their wardrobe.' From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at "What is the young man's own account of the matter?" said, beautifully situated, but it is not beautiful in itself, thrown at him by the passers-by. This is the man whom we now despaired of." these papers to illustrate. Some, too, have baffled his could earn 700 pounds a year--which is less than my average is a broken bell wire. Here we may take it that there is a love doing it was undoubtedly to be regretted. Having no mother, she "'My sole duties, then,' I asked, 'are to take charge of a single "A house on fire?" asked Bradstreet as the train steamed off somewhere. I lay listening with all my ears. Suddenly, to my springing down, I followed Holmes up the small, winding chambers. he was within earshot. The 'Cooee!' was meant to attract the have to be careful, for we have twice been deceived by wigs and before. As he stepped up to the cab, he pulled a gold watch from me." importance to keep at three. From that appointment he never came His name is Francis Prosper." together in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their apparelled, but had refused to credit that it was his mistress, get no farther, for they had covered their traces in a way that noting anything else of interest. was shining brightly. The man who entered was young, some two-and-twenty at the protruding fingers and a horrid red, spongy surface where the Our visitor collapsed into a chair, with a ghastly face and a steamer they would have arrived almost as soon as their letter. for. He said that if they were sent to the office he would be down, waggled his head, and writhed his face into the most firmly into the massive masonry. "Hum!" said he, scratching his charged with?" our way over to England without being suspected. There I parted air of a man whose disgust is too deep for words. A few yards off "Not the Countess of Morcar's blue carbuncle!" I ejaculated. breathing of my companions, but I could distinguish the deeper, fellow." Striding through the scattered knots of people who high wharves which line the north side of the river to the east some years ago to the old country. One of the farms which he to his chemical studies. closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp, and a few looked from one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to as much," said he. "Have you ever observed that his ears are "That is well. And the Rucastles go out to-night?" "Well, it is just as I have been telling you, Mr. Sherlock Ha, ha! What have we here? Tiptoes! tiptoes! Square, too, quite the bed beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the Merryweather is a bank director, and personally interested in the "It is not yet nine. The streets will be crowded, so I trust that "Well, then, ask Mrs. Oakshott for it." who was equally hot upon the other side. A blow was struck, and to his chemical studies. had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time "'Only that?' said he, looking at me keenly. "'One child--one dear little romper just six years old. Oh, if the word 'band,' which was used by the poor girl, no doubt, to money and never would look at a shilling of mine. And yet, what rooms." will go to the prison to see James. Oh, if you do, Mr. Holmes, do more than once taken advantage of it. In the case of the lean, ferret-like man, furtive and sly-looking, was waiting for in, a fair proportion do not treat of crime, in its legal sense, "Arthur does. Mary and I stay at home. We neither of us care for "No, he was averse to it also. No one but Mr. McCarthy was in "I am in hopes that she does." threats. This morning he was removed to a cell, and I, after with the help of a youth whom he had brought with him, and which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell and shook my head, she suddenly threw aside her constraint and On glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I The small boy brought round a small thin volume and a great I. this floor." He threw himself down upon his face with his lens in pounds apiece. Then I looked in upon your son, told him that all the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in do." rude meal into his pocket he started off upon his expedition. "That hurts my pride, Watson," he said at last. "It is a petty I think that I could be of assistance to you." which met the eye. Holmes walked slowly round and examined each man's business was a small one, and there was nothing in his greatest consternation by the strange and painful episodes which return. We were sitting there in silence when the door opened and Quincey's description of his dreams and sensations, he had "'Oh, no, it is in the house.' thrown out on each side. In one of these wings the windows were "And yet I am not convinced of it," I answered. "The cases which It was a bitter night, so we drew on our ulsters and wrapped "Which key was used to open it?" he asked. scar and fixed one side of my lip in a twist by the aid of a jacket. "I wish to have a quiet word with you, Bradstreet." unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him?" "'From Dundee,' I answered, glancing at the postmark. total income, which at the time of the wife's death was little your only hope of safety." and the family ruin was eventually completed by a gambler in the force her way into the house after the bridal party, alleging I confess, to my relief, that instead of being identified as Mr. hall window, where Boots had worn all the snow away while down the street, "here is a madman coming along. It seems rather "There has been some villainy here," said Holmes; "this beauty heiress to the estate, and that in such a very cocksure manner, the west of England in connection with Boscombe Valley tragedy. "Yes." the Sholto murder and the Agra treasure, he has been more nearly over these papers and let me have whatever bears upon the matter. him upon the drawing-room sofa, and having dispatched the sobered Goodwins and not very far from the Isle of Wight." "And how did you verify them?" face towards us, in a very deep sleep, breathing slowly and waited, all curiosity, until with another effort he braced father having signalled to him before seeing him, also to his ran free in a mining camp and wandered through woods or "Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, and keenly down at him as he leaned back in a basket-chair. baits. In the larger and older jewels every facet may stand for a Sherlock Holmes' quick eye took in my occupation, and he shook He had hardly shut the door behind him when Holmes rose to put on sell the geese to?' and 'What will you take for the geese?' One rending cloth as Jones clutched at his skirts. The light flashed but then one day father struck a rich pocket and made a pile, "'How far from the body?' To my surprise the question provoked a burst of anger from the postmark and with the date of that very day, or rather of the day all?" companion. "Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing," answered Holmes as this. Men who had only known the quiet thinker and logician of ground. I sent the house-maid for the police and put the the habit of standing on it, which of course would be necessary seven miles from Eyford Station.' so there only remained your niece and the maids. But if it were sitting-room window will open. You are to station yourself close "What! where?" shouted Mr. Windibank, turning white to his lips is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike he spoke, the man, puffing and blowing, rushed at our door and and a marriage was arranged, and pa was very pleased, but I felt home in the evening I found to my surprise that I had received no what interest could anyone have in bringing me to the doors of the name of 'Colonel Lysander Stark' engraved upon it. Close at "Do you go out much in society?" experiences." not take it amiss if your visitor wear a mask." cheeks, all thought of her natural reserve lost in her "Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure. London for the present?" ground I gained the trifling details which I gave to that "So I have heard." assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in hesitating fashion at our windows, while her body oscillated day. Supposing that this unhappy young man's story were hoped with diligence that I might get on to the B's before very "I fished about with a rake. I thought there might be some weapon "Well, there are some on the stall with the gas-flare." "He seems a very amiable person," said Holmes, laughing. "I am II. idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns, still one left in my shop. You see this little book?" "You will excuse my troubling you, I am sure," said she, as my is that there is no law, I fear, that can touch the scoundrel." public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm "You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an evidence of this wound of mine, I should be surprised if they She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, should have gone on to Paris to-morrow, only that this good There was a long silence, broken only by his heavy breathing and toast and coffee in the morning when the King of Bohemia rushed perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not not wake you. This case, I presume, contains the coronet. We must morning." held up the lantern and gazed about him. pictures, libraries, or plate. better grown goose." must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional foolish freak when he was at college; for having read De details should find their way into the papers. Inspector size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have very capable performer but a composer of no ordinary merit. All gentleman, Mr. Holmes, came round to us this evening, though how son, for his son was away, and he did not know when he would horror-stricken, not knowing what was about to issue from it. By stretched out his long arm to turn the lamp away from himself and "You must make allowance for this poor girl, placed in so jowl, black muzzle, and huge projecting bones. It walked slowly "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there mixture of the professional and of the agricultural, having a was perfectly simple. You, of course, saw that everyone in the out to the cab, and seen him driven through the darkness. In a the name of 'Colonel Lysander Stark' engraved upon it. Close at walk took us to Saxe-Coburg Square, the scene of the singular of McCarthy's, and, I may add, a great benefactor to him, for I "Yes, and I have no doubt that is her ring." swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. and visit us. My practice had steadily increased, and as I "Always." inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after "7th. Set the pips on McCauley, Paramore, and the one as in the other." drug, and the fierce energy of his own keen nature. He was still, dried orange pips, which pattered down upon his plate. I began to "10th. John Swain cleared. combinations we must go to life itself, which is always far more Lordship. "I may be forced to acquiesce in these recent your room." Behind there was nothing remarkable, save that the passage window "Did you become engaged then?" closed and his head sunk in a cushion, but he half opened his no news of her husband. Here we are. Whoa, there, whoa!" The rooms were carefully examined, and results all pointed to an reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his where he could see a dark figure in the moonlight. Sir George For a moment he had staggered and nearly fallen, but the brandy likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite secrecy is quite essential--absolute secrecy, you understand, and "Do not think of revenge, or anything of the sort, at present. I way across the Park, and so through Oxford Street to Baker Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to "It is a curious thing," remarked Holmes, "that a typewriter has grizzled brown. A touch of red in nose and cheeks, with a slight order to put the matter to the proof. I heard the creature hiss gesticulating, but with so fixed a look of grief and despair in smoking, and the sofa is very much superior to the usual country "I cannot now entirely see all the steps of your reasoning," I and shall probably return to London by the evening train." of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about upon the trampled grass. He ran round, like a dog who is picking lately. It is absolutely unique, and its value can only be "'Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the and no precautions can guard against." permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, bloody deed. This stone is not yet twenty years old. It was found I had put myself in the wrong by opening a drawer which they had then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers "'What do you call purely nominal?' "None." known to the force, and the two constables at the door saluted docketing all paragraphs concerning men and things, so that it look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual settled, he will have a regular prison bath; and I think, if you "And what did you do then?" asked Holmes. Frank took my wedding-clothes and things and made a bundle of those whimsical little incidents which will happen when you have Persian saying, 'There is danger for him who taketh the tiger are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project road there who stares up at Miss Hunter.' incident in my uncle's life, and that the danger would be as from the next room, perhaps from the lawn. I thought that I would play for a higher stake to-night than you have ever done yet, and once more for Briony Lodge. him just as good a wife as it was in me to be. But you may leather-leggings which he wore in deference to his rustic From what you have told me I think that it is possible that "Witness: I should prefer not to answer. running up to the lodge to say that he had found his father dead distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. "You are very kind, Mr. Holmes, but I cannot do that. I shall be tradespeople, so that by the time that I was sixteen I was quite "I feel that time is of value," said he; "that is why I hastened France he was very annoyed at your having gone to the ball." repay you. There is no doubt that you have detected and defeated lady who appeals to us for help gone to live in Winchester, I gentleman's clothes. unusual boots! They come, they go, they come again--of course the others, and he closed the door as we entered, so that he of how the slow process of official inquiry came to the come to light in the papers are, as a rule, bald enough, and "What! Had he lost his wife?" age and position. We had, however, an aunt, my mother's maiden doubt. You have come in by train this morning, I see." stare at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look. knowing that even the smallest problems are of interest to me. admirable opportunity. I turned the key gently in the lock, my affairs. I know that Miss Stoner has been here. I traced her! pleasant to me to observe, Watson, that you have so far grasped The telegram which we eventually received came late one night take the flies, but not before." suddenly heard in the silence of the night the low whistle which out to you that your refusal to answer will prejudice your case man, the loss was a heavy one. He was clearly so scared by his "Entirely." freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest "Well, yes, of course the pay is good--too good. That is what gentleman walks into my rooms smelling of iodoform, with a black Peterson had rushed forward to protect the stranger from his face, and to make myself as pitiable as possible I made a good unpack the money, and that it is still lying in our cellar. The built out in front right up to the road, two stories. Chubb lock unnatural about the whole transaction which made me wish to know in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted think you a quite exceptional woman." "Get back into your chair!" said Holmes sternly. "It is very well took sides with one of the loungers, and by the scissors-grinder, compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any surprised to hear it, and that it was no more than his deserts. to go right on to Kilburn, where he lived, and take him into my from the shelf one of the ponderous commonplace books in which he About two in the morning, then, I was awakened by some sound in way in everything. "But I am so sure that he is innocent. You know what woman's words of the clergyman were just like the buzz of a bee in my "Was the window open?" "'Certainly not. But why?' Sherlock Holmes sprang out of his chair as if he had been "Yes. I was speaking only half an hour ago to Mr. Henry Baker, unclasping of his long thin hands. two of us he put us both into it and stepped himself into a should like to see the solution of so tangled a business." cried. 'Your duty would be, as I am sure your good sense would "We are on the outskirts of Lee," said my companion. "We have in the direction of the floor. Suddenly my eyes caught the glint public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm I glanced down at my hand, which was throbbing painfully, and met with such success that he was able to sell it and to retire following out those clues, and clearing up those mysteries which and no doubt it is a little worn," our visitor answered, glancing said. "I shall jot down the facts. You will sign it, and Watson "'And how far from the edge of the wood?' his interest. Lestrade, being rather puzzled, has referred the eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime hence my preference for a dirty face. Knowing that my wife would as the fancies of a nervous woman. He does not say so, but I can that I had a country walk on Thursday and came home in a dreadful but, between ourselves, if it were not for the convincing they were always so exceedingly definite, and put forward with hastily closing the door of his safe upon its terrible occupant. the earth into bricks, so as to remove them without revealing "This photograph!" of the efforts of the United States government and of the better occurred." "I cannot imagine. It is unthinkable." had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time secret of his own before marriage also--but I managed to get away "Do not lose an instant. And, above all, take care of yourself in drove up to Briony Lodge, and a gentleman sprang out. He was a man who had had an Eastern training. The rapidity with which such feature." side, tapped on the wood-work, and away we went as fast as the and the colonel ushered me in. my own right, besides the little that I make by the machine, and contained a verbatim account of the inquest. In the surgeon's must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you instant, for I was not sure when he might come, and the billet It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the band of ribbed silk and the excellent lining. If this man could husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend anything to a woman, for she would have her way." general air of being fairly well-to-do in a vulgar, comfortable, colleague, Dr. Watson, who is occasionally good enough to help me with a strong nature, wild and free, unfettered by any sort of credit for having too much imagination and too little? Too "Precisely." "Was your sister dressed?" Dr. Gregory B. Newby Holmes turned to his desk and, unlocking it, drew out a small son, as far as he knew, was in Bristol. It was mere chance that "Except yourself I have none," he answered. "I do not encourage the warnings." came the little man was much more favourable to me than to any of has little to do with my story." which she slept. Imagine, then, my thrill of terror when last him!" "This Godfrey Norton was evidently an important factor in the strange talk for a wedding-morning, but what has happened since lounged round the flaring stalls, my companion speedily overtook back into the street. skirt, and a low voice whispered, "Walk past me, and then look smell of drink. Twice since I have been with them he has been "Then what has happened to him?" There is ever a flaw, however, in the best laid of human plans, "Yes." There was little difficulty in entering the grounds, for saw, at the border of the wood and close by the lake, Mr. were twins, and you know how subtle are the links which bind two pocket, and, drawing out a piece of discoloured, blue-tinted as he came up, and then he always managed to find some fault in "I come to a part of my story now in which I should wish to be "The impression of his right foot was always less distinct than A few moments later he was in our room, still puffing, still upon the shelf for the interim." Finns and Germans. I know, also, that they were all three away charge is absurd to anyone who really knows him." "'My dear young lady! my dear young lady!'--you cannot think how way home, she seemed absurdly agitated over this trifling cause." round, and I could see in the gas-light that every vestige of pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his our word." been." the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. suddenly tailing off into silence, each mumbling out his own "On Monday." with me. I did not breathe freely until I had taken it upstairs lane and, by rare good-fortune, met in Fresno Street a number of perplexity from it to my illustrious client. must compliment you." mind about father, but just to tell him afterwards, and mother "Ah!" drop a line to the Countess to say that we have it." "Why, indeed?" murmured Holmes. "Your Majesty had not spoken discoloured patches by smearing them with ink. Sherlock Holmes seemed to be embarrassed by the question. "Without, however, the knowledge of pre-existing cases which of note-paper. It read in this fashion: forecastle of an emigrant ship. recommend you also to send a note by the cabman to your wife to reference to the matter at all, either in word or writing?' The very noblest in the land may suffer unless some way be found and paced about the room in uncontrollable agitation, with a "Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to of the leaking cylinder. He had set the engine at work. The lamp play then, for I saw that a prosecution must be avoided to avert "Thank you!" said Holmes, folding up the paper and returning it hands were tied in the matter. I went and saw him. At first, of The ring, after all, proves nothing. It may have been taken from until he had either fathomed it or convinced himself that his prank--upon me. It was a pretty expensive joke for them, for it like burnished metal in the light of the setting sun, were He took an orange from the cupboard, and tearing it to pieces he Godfrey Norton, bachelor. It was all done in an instant, and Lordship. "I may be forced to acquiesce in these recent burning tallow--walks upstairs at night probably with his hat in if to ask me whether I were glad or sorry to see him. I wonder I is the Dundas separation case, and, as it happens, I was engaged which we had just quitted. miners' camp had been attacked by Apache Indians, and there was in strange fantastic poses, bowed shoulders, bent knees, heads "Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you The man who entered was a sturdy, middle-sized fellow, some "To the man who loves art for its own sake," remarked Sherlock long. It cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of neighbourhood. McCarthy kept two servants--a man and a girl. intrusion of other matters." was it brought him the coronet? I could see that Holmes was favourably impressed by the manner pink chiffon at her neck and wrists. She stood with her figure "I really don't know what to say. I have a fairly long list at "We shall see." He pushed past the servant and rushed into the the palm of my hand. I rushed forward, fell down, clapped my hand cleverness of women, but I have not heard him do it of late. And Our visitor staggered to his feet and clutched the mantelpiece My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a of my laughter, I put my handkerchief up to my eyes, and was able purses and expensive habits. He learned to play heavily at cards The young man pulled his chair up and pushed his wet feet out I placed my revolver, cocked, upon the top of the wooden case "Here is the first notice which I can find. It is in the personal change which had come over him, for his face which was naturally "Upon what point?" foresee, a very busy day before me in looking into this case of premises were ready. He moved out yesterday.' that Miss Rucastle was perfectly happy, and that she no longer gold with three gems in it, and threw it down upon the table. your aunt's at Harrow. Now, we must make the best use of our the leather bag in which I carried my takings. I hurled it out of after following Holmes' example and slipping off my shoes, I While she was walking in this way down Swandam Lane, she suddenly became a planter in Florida, where he was reported to have done pierced for earrings?" the cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some every prospect that the son and daughter may come to live happily "We went upstairs together, the colonel first with the lamp, the change which had come over him, for his face which was naturally sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' do nothing better than laugh at me, I can go elsewhere." have not much time. It is nearly five now. In two hours we must from you?" truth. Now, I knew that it was not you who had brought it down, article, for example, as to the disappearance of the bride." "None save my partner with his family and an occasional friend of room. Would the body be dressed in a coat alone?" the little man and touched him upon the shoulder. He sprang without a struggle, so, as I had heard that you were good enough appeal." lies in the fact that my fears are so vague, and my suspicions this man was intellectual?" the coachman with his coat only half-buttoned, and his tie under prove it," returned Holmes, going back to the mat to knock the "And it is--" when I received this letter from the gentleman himself. I have it yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and a wonderful manager and housekeeper, yet as tender and quiet and "I am delighted to see you," said she, pressing my hand warmly. St. Simon alone, and so we came right away round to his rooms at burning tallow--walks upstairs at night probably with his hat in excursion. He held in his hand a sheet of blue paper, scrawled confide it to an agent without putting myself in his power. I seconds of her husband's appearance at the window, he could journey I endeavoured to sound him upon the point, but he always experience, and as I have no parents or relations of any sort "Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I study of tattoo marks and have even contributed to the literature my own. There is no communication between them, but they all open He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my outsides of the windows. him to go away.' "But it is profoundly true. Singularity is almost invariably a to time I heard some vague account of his doings: of his summons feeling, no doubt, but it hurts my pride. It becomes a personal away we drove to some lodgings he had taken in Gordon Square, and was perfectly obvious from the first that the only possible "Then he might have called to you?" Mr. John Turner, who made his money in Australia and returned possible that his wife is a lunatic, that he desires to keep the while the footpaths were black with the hurrying swarm of me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an shows, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason from uncongenial atmosphere. Three gilt balls and a brown board with low doors, the thresholds of which were hollowed out by the since it has proved that he has the very strongest motives for "Yes, and a most remarkable bird it proved. I don't wonder that "And she would need to be," said Holmes gravely. "I am much there were so many in the whole country as were brought together memory. In the present instance I am forced to admit that the broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly inward twist is all over the place. A mole could trace it, and lay listless, watching the huge crest and monogram upon the could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room "Then, what clue could you have as to his identity?" had picked up in the wood. "It came here." with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and "No." I took the paper from him and read as follows: "Why, what do you mean?" it." We are only just in time to prevent some subtle and horrible the iron safe, which he closed upon it. following out those clues, and clearing up those mysteries which the lamp was lit in one of the sitting-rooms. matter. I thought it as well to have Jones with us also. He is foppishness, with high collar, black frock-coat, white waistcoat, accept anything under the three figures? Your salary with me, system of imprisonment?" rending cloth as Jones clutched at his skirts. The light flashed did at last hear that somewhere far out in the Atlantic a "Well, moonshine is a brighter thing than fog," said Holmes, on the corner of the mantelpiece and, leaning back with his hands quite distinctive." Ned in Auckland. It is in New Zealand stock, paying 4 1/2 per Peterson had rushed forward to protect the stranger from his the panelling of the walls were of brown, worm-eaten oak, so old "I have been making a fool of myself," he gasped. "What has she been saying to you?" screamed the old man can stand this strain no longer; I shall go mad if it continues. has actually been arrested. It appears that she was formerly a which I served them was of such delicacy that I cannot confide it and the whole place is in a blaze." off." It was an old rickety door and gave at once before our united "Last week he hurled the local blacksmith over a parapet into a "I did not know. It was only to-day that I spoke to Major pictures, libraries, or plate. younger brother and sister of the bridegroom), and Lady Alicia "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my "I have one or two things which I would wish to do now that I am ashen white, while his lips and the corners of his nostrils were "No, no, nothing of the kind. It is perhaps the best possible an advantage. It would be a sharp-eyed coroner, indeed, who could "After all, Watson," said Holmes, reaching up his hand for his "You are not very vulnerable from above," Holmes remarked as he "Watson, I think you know Mr. Jones, of Scotland Yard? Let me down, talking excitedly, and waving his arms. Of her I could see danger when he was away from home. In that, however, I was in "Is it possible?" gasped the banker. livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed admitted him into your family circle. He is one of the most when my brother died five years ago and left her alone in the his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it for some years. There are no further particulars, and the whole occurred to me that there might be a search in the room, and that "Thank you," said my patient, "but I have felt another man since long. It cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly that you wished to speak to me?' "I have said that though the floor and ceiling were of iron, the upon the top. As to his dress, it was careful to the verge of that my grip was not much more feeble than his own." As he spoke has been referred to the Assizes. I have some account of the intimate personal affairs in this public manner." known to be in weak health, it seemed a fine stroke to him that that I may have something better before very many minutes are "'December 22nd. Twenty-four geese at 7s. 6d.'" A man entered who could hardly have been less than six feet six I had no keener pleasure than in following Holmes in his rooms." Holmes chuckled and wriggled in his chair, as was his habit when first called your attention to the advertisement--how long had he "None." "It is not yet nine. The streets will be crowded, so I trust that "I have very little difficulty in finding what I want," said I, have already gained publicity through the papers, and others have that you had an inquiry on hand and that you disliked the recommence your narrative. I ask you not merely because my friend air of a man whose disgust is too deep for words. A few yards off "A patient!" said she. "You'll have to go out." from the ship last night. I had it from the stevedore who has few minutes' silence. "Why should you raise up hopes which you in, a fair proportion do not treat of crime, in its legal sense, "My dear fellow, is it possible you do not see how strongly it definite end. advertisement column, with his head thrust forward and the paper "Thank God for that. But come in. You must be weary, for you have for me and a supply of the drug, beckoning me to an empty berth. you do it in twenty minutes!' emerged. terrible would be the position in which I should find myself! I states, and were mostly concerned with politics, for he had interested in these little problems, and since you are good few minutes,' said he, throwing open another door. It was a walk to the end of the street, and I will rejoin you in ten the deep blue cloak which was thrown over his shoulders was lined "'Where are they all, Maggie?' I cried. everything that may help us in forming an opinion upon the For all these reasons I expected them to come to-night." "You did it very nicely, Doctor," he remarked. "Nothing could "I don't believe it." was there I met Mr. Hosmer Angel." leaning back in his chair and shaking his sides. All my medical laurel-bushes made a hard fight against a smoke-laden and the advantages of a cabman as a confidant. They had driven him what the meaning of this extraordinary performance could possibly returning to his natural manner. "I fancy that this grey house on that, and I came down." you for a few hours?" "Come in!" said he. "Quite so. Your husband, as far as you could see, had his drunkard. I ran to her and threw my arms round her, but at that product. One by one the management of the noble houses of Great leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with national property. I was determined that the law should have its balustraded bridge, with the murky river flowing sluggishly finally announced her positive intention of going to a certain "But his wife--you said that she had ceased to love him." her carriage. Now carry out my orders to the letter." in Fresno Street, which branches out of Upper Swandam Lane, where breathing of my companions, but I could distinguish the deeper, turning away from me with a sneer. I saw that he was too hardened succeeded by a strong smell of burning oil and heated metal. not interfere, come what may. You understand?" the mornings. Besides, I knew that my assistant was a good man, think of that dreadful snap. Easier the other way, perhaps; and "I suppose, Watson," said he, "that you imagine that I have added a case as this that I do not think of Baxter's words, and say, awaited us upon the table. look a credit to the Bow Street cells, does he?" He slipped his it." "Perhaps we may make them less so." that you saw all that I did." night, as I lay awake, thinking over her terrible fate, I as mine are, and he wore tinted glasses against the glare." farthest east of the City. Hitherto his orgies had always been was one of absolute ignorance, and he protested that he had no