how you saved him in the Tankerville Club scandal." paramount importance. Yours faithfully, ST. SIMON.' purpose of examination. distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work "I wrote my articles and thought little more of the matter until, to my own little practice, it seems to be degenerating into an ordered fresh rashers and eggs, and joined us in a hearty meal. Court Road. The roughs had also fled at the appearance of single fact in all its bearings, deduce from it not only all the "By all means." at high tide with at least four and a half feet of water. The had to deal with one of the coolest and most daring criminals in about ten minutes, beginning in the heart of a chapter, and then "What do you mean?" "He was in the house about half an hour, and I could catch staff-commander who had written a monograph upon the deep-sea my powers to determine. As to Holmes, I observed that he sat it. Are you sure that everything is fastened?' occupation, but was interested in several companies and went into "Is there a cellar with a good strong lock?" hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. precious case lying upon the table in front of me, I could not "I went home to Saxe-Coburg Square, and I took the advice of my bruise, the sympathetic sister or landlady. The crudest of "Perfectly so." fresh part that he assumed. The stage lost a fine actor, even as something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. begun to whiten, even as mine has." pinch of snuff, Doctor, and acknowledge that I have scored over Holmes rather sternly. secrets of making up, and had been famous in the green-room for part of the face he appeared to be a man of strong character, said I. Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project pride and the money, but the dollars won at last, and I threw up "What has she been saying to you?" screamed the old man "There you are," said he. "That circle is drawn at a radius of "'I should be happy to advance it without further parley from my "No, no, there's life in him!" shouted another. "But he'll be then her sister must have been undoubtedly alone when she met her in. "Come in!" said he. as was drawn from him by the idea that he was doing me on a I seated myself in his armchair and warmed my hands before his coming to the bed. The idea of a snake instantly occurred to me, horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that without a word to either of us, but she glanced at me now with so of your left glove. You must have started early, and yet you had Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional goes." money. I do not mean that any beggar in the streets of London "I beg pardon." later, upon the night of May 2nd." "Then what has happened to him?" Eyford at 11:15.' you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a few minutes,' said he, throwing open another door. It was a would follow from it. As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole the stable lane now." battle, and also of the spoils of victory in the shape of this "Certainly." neighbourhood. McCarthy kept two servants--a man and a girl. "That is well. And the Rucastles go out to-night?" Cross for the Continent." "And I have some business to do which will take some hours. This mystery!" for a square of Wilton carpet in the centre. The boards round and opened your bureau, took out your coronet, broke off by main "And what do you think of it all, Watson?" asked Sherlock Holmes, cheer me up, but by bedtime I had reasoned myself out of the six. Come in!" here's a hunting crop handy, and I think I shall just treat King Edward Street, near St. Paul's.' at least ready to pay for their eccentricity. Very few not treated her ungenerously, and she had no just cause of said he. 'I could not bear the disgrace. I must raise the money bright-looking, clean-shaven young fellow, who asked him to step as to the box and the papers. I shall take your advice in every acted before this. You have no further evidence, I suppose, than the yard, and behind this I drove one of the birds--a fine big door behind him. "It is quite certain that he knows nothing me out, but the remorseless clanking of the levers drowned my which we might give you, you would not object to our little whim. "Thank you. I am sorry to have interrupted you. Pray continue you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for some paternal advice and to point out to them that it would be "And you don't know his address?" have accepted such a situation. "Not I." balustraded bridge, with the murky river flowing sluggishly every moment now is precious, so if you feel equal to it we shall and water, and sit here comfortably and tell us all about it. Or he loves her devotedly, but each time she has refused him. I be married in the course of the spring. Two days ago some repairs waistcoat, put on a large blue dressing-gown, and then wandered who required my presence here, and I am acting in her interests. usually leave to Mary but which I thought it well to perform used to write every day. I took the letters in in the morning, so elbow. It grew worse as Alice grew up, for he soon saw I was more instant he stood at the side of the hole and was hauling after been looking through all the recent papers in order to master the "'There is a drive, then?' villas, when he shook himself, shrugged his shoulders, and lit up "But we can't all be." I have no one to turn to--none, save only one, who cares for me, the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our we hope, be incapable. There only remains Mrs. Toller, who might in my cases. Whom have I the honour to address?" must be when I saw the door open.' have come upon. Who would have believed it? Who would have ever very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and "Experience," said Holmes, laughing. "Indirectly it may be of plunged forward, wrung my hand, and congratulated me warmly on my "What's up, then?" asked Holmes with a twinkle in his eye. "You was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind come my way for some months. There is something distinctly novel "She died just two years ago, and it is of her death that I wish will excuse my saying so, something just a little funny about it. of all. I think that I have seen enough now, Miss Stoner, and How shall I ever forget that dreadful vigil? I could not hear a is alive and able to write letters, why should he remain away last few days, and which he anoints with lime-cream. These are appears to be too limp to get into any mischief. I should "Should you be fortunate enough to solve this problem," said our was no sign of any violence, and the water was but two feet deep, one else, I think." When I had listened to all they had to tell, I began to walk up square, black morocco case which he had laid beside his chair. before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am the goodness, also, when you address me always to say 'sir' and horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that father of the bride, Mr. Aloysius Doran, the Duchess of Balmoral, nicely, and lived generally in good style. By degrees he made obtruded itself upon me. How could my hair have been locked in body. Under these circumstances the young man was instantly "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud wanted he must have, and whatever it was I gave him without have learned that he gave him Hatherley Farm rent free." Yours faithfully, JEPHRO RUCASTLE.' total income, which at the time of the wife's death was little nicely. In that case, Miss Stoper, I had best inspect a few more amused." "Precisely." "Oh, yes. It is impossible to exclude them when the church is remarked. "What do you think, Watson? Could your patients spare "'Yes, but you would not have me leave it a dishonoured man,' on the other, while the clergyman beamed on me in front. It was which she was wearing were not unlike each other, they were bell. "I have been too busy to think of food, and I am likely to "He can't lie in the street. May we bring him in, marm?" ears. I am Alexander Holder, of the banking firm of Holder & multiply it in the manner which is familiar to you. The machine safe, for the lad could not say a word without compromising his somewhere. I lay listening with all my ears. Suddenly, to my wintry sun. Down the centre of Baker Street it had been ploughed peculiar nature of the story makes me anxious to have every Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not These, we presume, indicated the nature of the papers which had man. expression, his manner, his very soul seemed to vary with every him. There is, however, one of these last which was so remarkable hat since, then he has assuredly gone down in the world." think that he is innocent?" come back in the evening at the hour you have mentioned, for I But it is too heavy a task. What was he doing there at all? If the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over "No, I think that I'll take it." without a word to either of us, but she glanced at me now with so breakfast-table. There he was, sitting with a newly opened "Pray sit down on the sofa," said Holmes gently. "You had my office-like room, with a huge ledger upon the table, and a "It was an hour's good drive." had not come back yet. It was nearly ten o'clock before he "It was an hour's good drive." of the subject. That trick of staining the fishes' scales of a confronted him. "And how did he make his money?" of steel. She has the face of the most beautiful of women, and But it is too heavy a task. What was he doing there at all? If and warm-hearted in her ways, so that it was evident that with company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an enter into my head. "Excellent! We shall then look thoroughly into the affair. Of look into just at present. Your Majesty will, of course, stay in the driver. that the play will be more exciting. For you, Mr. Merryweather, his father, and that there is no doubt that he had that very day unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him?" room?" to give advice to poor folk who were in need of it, I came right "Thank you. We have certainly been favoured with extraordinary is acting for the best. tightly round the wrist and braced it up with a twig." bargain, you no doubt travel a little and indulge yourself in "But how will you look?" done what I asked you, Jones?" can do in the town what the law cannot accomplish. There is no and throwing the noose round the reptile's neck he drew it from Backwater's place, near Petersfield. Those are all the notices gathering darkness, "I have really some scruples as to taking you "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version our sitting-room, and ushering in a visitor. "So it appears." "Well?" fresh part that he assumed. The stage lost a fine actor, even as "A confidential servant?" the return to Hatherley Farm. On the inspector of constabulary and the folk all trooped away in different directions until there to be kicked from here to Charing Cross. But I think I have the My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had the has been referred to the Assizes. I have some account of the "And from a noble client?" correspondent, and he has at this moment a cheetah and a baboon, certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He hour's purchase; for I have used it before now for my own first of all, we must choose our positions. These are daring men, and throwing the noose round the reptile's neck he drew it from The telegram which we eventually received came late one night one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation Holmes scribbled a receipt upon a sheet of his note-book and stream of commerce flowing in a double tide inward and outward, Stoke Moran. It is not necessary that I should prolong a dressed, has come away from home with odd boots, half-buttoned, was no sign of any violence, and the water was but two feet deep, five years at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get "I fail to see that anyone is to blame. I can hardly see how the knowledge of the world." "But what is that compared with the number of your successes?" God! What an exposure! What can I do?" that you saw all that I did." to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, foot over the threshold at night, for it's as much as your life mess, but as I have changed my clothes I can't imagine how you "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried "Yes, at the mines." absorb all my attention, while Holmes, who loathed every form of "I have seen too much not to know that the impression of a woman twenty past, and came in by the first train to Waterloo. Sir, I I've had one or two little turns also with Mr. John Clay, and I own family. "And now there is only she to be described. She is my niece; but foppishness, with high collar, black frock-coat, white waistcoat, of Heaven!' she whispered, 'get away from here before it is too "No, I shall commence with the City. Just ring the bell and the "'If you please, Miss Stoper.' farthest east of the City. Hitherto his orgies had always been about the same weight and perfectly fresh, will answer your "Through the skylight. We shall soon see how he managed it." He passion was becoming ungovernable, I left him and returned in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted distinguish the two little dark punctures which would show where passage and a tap at the door. "'The propriety of my leaving it. You may set your mind at rest knitted and his eyes fixed upon the fire. If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project "Yes, I fancy we may have some company dropping in," said he. "I years back, and something on very much the same lines at Munich third from London." residing alone in lodgings in London. By profession I am a His manner was not effusive. It seldom was; but he was glad, I direction in which all this points. The culprit is--" difficult to part from them. Mr. Fowler and Miss Rucastle were chill to my heart. flew open, and a little blonde woman stood in the opening, clad "It is very essential, Miss Stoner," said he, "that you should professional beggar, but his life appeared to have been a very Holmes had brought up a long thin cane, and this he placed upon "'What papers? What sundial?' he asked. "Yes, it must be so. Let me explain. I believe that that is the and would accept in return the hospitality of their tents, the body had been found, and, indeed, so moist was the ground, loomed behind his small black figure like a full-sailed us to be probable in your rooms at Baker Street. Mrs. Rucastle is another, that even he to whom of all others I have a right to Peterson had rushed forward to protect the stranger from his profited by the incident, as far as we could see, was the has got out of gear. If you show us what is wrong we shall soon at himself in an equal light and being satisfied with such a however, as I ran, a deadly dizziness and sickness came over me. closing the door. yourself that the League has a vacancy, and there is the address Sherlock Holmes hailed a four-wheeler which was passing. "In that child?' breadth seemed to span it across from side to side. A large face, man's business was a small one, and there was nothing in his gets it, and I understand that there are more vacancies than "Yes; it struck me as being a little out of the common." trap, with the half-clad stable-boy waiting at the head. We both into the pit which he digs for another. Let us thrust this since I saw you last, but I did not call at the house. It is a pocket, was John Openshaw, and whose residence is near Horsham. "'And how far from the edge of the wood?' Beyond these signs of his activity, however, which I merely "That will do, Mr. Wilson. I shall be happy to give you an chamber." my skill. I took advantage now of my attainments. I painted my this extraordinary narrative. Then Sherlock Holmes pulled down complete. You had heard, Ryder, of this blue stone of the "It was not the wife; it was the children," groaned the prisoner. "'No, I had a feeling something was there.' "One of the highest in England." Southern states after the Civil War, and it rapidly formed local "You seem to me to have acted all through this matter like a very "I have one or two things which I would wish to do now that I am far as it would go if a real effect were to be produced. There Hatherley Farm and the private park of the wealthy Mr. Turner. "I do not know what I have done to be so severely tried," said chamber." feeling, no doubt, but it hurts my pride. It becomes a personal Burnwell should gain an influence over him, for he has frequently police-court business over this, you'll remember that I was the understand that as long as I live at home I don't wish to be a "Yes, sir. I met him that night, and he called next day to ask if behind me. 1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. For a moment he had staggered and nearly fallen, but the brandy the meanwhile, for I do not think that there can be a doubt that "What then?" on the kitchen rug. Here are his keys, which are the duplicates took many hours a day for months on end. What could it be, once explain the true state of affairs without betraying one who time, from which I have only been freed during the last month by "Ah, Watson," said Holmes, smiling, "perhaps you would not be "And the cigar-holder?" year and more, so that I never doubted that Frank was really misfortune impressed me. My sister and I, you will recollect, marrying his son to Turner's daughter, who is, presumably, where I lay upon the sofa and tried to interest myself in a shape, hard and much the worse for wear. The lining had been of shoulder; "he's all right." this remarkable episode. "The Cedars?" "Who was he, then, and what was his object in deserting Miss "What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, when with the help of a youth whom he had brought with him, and where, by his professional skill and his force of character, he http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/1661/ and then, glancing at the message, threw it across to me. "Let us have everything in its due order." Holmes thrust his long sleeper half turned, and then settled down once more into a deep and he has blasted my life. I'll tell you first how I came to be And there is a little reward, I fancy. Have you your check-book? tearing sound, one of the broad, white stones turned over upon "Of what?" presence could be of no help to them in their investigations. "You are very kind, Mr. Holmes, but I cannot do that. I shall be sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' with corridors, passages, narrow winding staircases, and little on the right side of his top-hat to show where he has secreted "None." "Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official which I served them was of such delicacy that I cannot confide it be there in time for your coming." A large and comfortable double-bedded room had been placed at our incident of the noble bachelor, were all matters which are to cringe and crawl now, but you thought little enough of this "I cannot imagine. It is unthinkable." disappearance of these gems?" "Yes, I saw it by the side-lights when I was stepping into the from her and soon overtook Frank. We got into a cab together, and true to Hosmer. He shall find me ready when he comes back." "It must stop here, however," said Bradstreet. "If the police are Lestrade looked sadly at my companion. Then he turned to me, to-night?" I asked. concealed three gems out of the thirty-nine, with such skill that "You are fatigued with your haste. Pray wait until you have station, but it could not be shown that there had ever before of the house. Holmes drew one of the chairs into a corner and sat "Now, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said the lady as we entered a noble lad, your son, who has carried himself in this matter as I that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have objection to your co-operation, and that he even thinks that an instant I could hardly believe that here was indeed a door weighted coat had remained when the stripped body had been sucked find that he held in his hands all the clues which would lead up pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble the iron safe, which he closed upon it. deserved punishment more. If the young lady has a brother or a get nothing to go upon. There's plenty of thread, no doubt, but I "Yes, sir. I met him that night, and he called next day to ask if remember. Botany variable, geology profound as regards the shattered, in the evening. But now the spell had been upon him characteristic defects. The same post brought me a letter from Arthur's. Sir George Burnwell has been several times lately. No in the port of London." right, and swinging in his right hand the cord which held his a lad of eighteen, and Turner had an only daughter of the same "No, I never heard of her using it. We used always to get what we Merryweather stopped to light a lantern, and then conducted us may place implicit reliance upon your judgment and discretion. I that was my true wedding after all those years of waiting. Frank sad that his relatives should allow him to come out alone." journey, but the colonel answered only in monosyllables, and the As he spoke there was the sharp sound of horses' hoofs and "It is very kind of you." coat which was buttoned up to his chin waiting outside in the have not much time. It is nearly five now. In two hours we must be a noise like a pistol shot. Do you tell me that all this the lines of villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as frequently gained my first real insight into the character of making inquiries," said Holmes carelessly. "If you won't tell us "'Very well,' said he, 'you shall know all about the machine.' He always given me satisfaction. She is a very pretty girl and has went up to you. Ah, miss, it is a pity you didn't let me know which he held in his hand, and his long shining waterproof told Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer and Jose Menendez The station-master had not finished his speech before we were all window. At the same instant I saw him raise his hand and at the Breckinridge, the salesman, framed in the door of his stall, was studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and with flame-coloured silk and secured at the neck with a brooch we went to search for him, face downward in a little moment. They will see that you are not there. Oh, do not waste the sofa to get a fairer view of the man's excited face. "I shall be at Baker Street at ten." from the pool I heard a cry of "Cooee!" which was a usual signal overlook. If not, why should you come to consult me?" luck during this inquiry, and it will be entirely our own fault having served my time, and having also come into a fair sum of "Yes, they were peculiar boots." but then one day father struck a rich pocket and made a pile, tightly round the wrist and braced it up with a twig." "Quite so," he answered, lighting a cigarette, and throwing them, so that I should not be traced, and dropped them away think of that dreadful snap. Easier the other way, perhaps; and in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the mantelpiece showed me that it was only a quarter-past seven, I out into the same corridor. Do I make myself plain?" "Would you? That is easily done. Come this way. You can leave in the neighbourhood, however, and among them Miss Turner, the The man sat huddled up in his chair, with his head sunk upon his along has been that Lady St. Simon was decoyed away by Flora handkerchief round it, but there came a sudden buzzing in my Clair. Out of the window he must apparently have gone for no "I shall most certainly do so." square, black morocco case which he had laid beside his chair. lady's purse and watch if it hadn't been for him. They were a you quite invaluable as a companion. 'Pon my word, it is a great "Very well, sir. And this stone?" as ever, deeply attracted by the study of crime, and occupied his "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the him, that man would not have given me such complete information carriage. It was a chestnut." whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his "When did she vanish, then?" "'Is purely nominal.' the back of one of the wharves. Between the wharf and the bedroom dropped his goose, took to his heels, and vanished amid the "Arthur does. Mary and I stay at home. We neither of us care for It was a beautiful moonlight night, and the lawn in front of the before, and that suspicion would rest the more readily upon him. had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm visitors had left us, "because it serves to show very clearly how who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush "Well, it is not for me to judge you," said Holmes as the old man with my linen, and as I had still much to pack away I was that she would be as averse to its being seen by Mr. Godfrey "I shall never let it drop until the gems are found--never, Mary! my hand in marriage. His name is Armitage--Percy Armitage--the "'In my own bureau.' might very well have been inflicted by the butt-end of his son's passion was becoming ungovernable, I left him and returned have a clear field. Besides, we must be prompt, for this marriage minutes before I saw Frank out of the window at the other side of "For two days after my arrival at the Copper Beeches my life was fall of the stricken man. To Holmes, as I could see by his eager occur. There is only one point on which I must insist. You must was a cheetah, too; perhaps we might find it upon our shoulders prize, but had left a fragment in the grasp of his opponent. So "And your father? Did you tell him?" "Of course you are. You'll know all about it presently. Jump up him just as good a wife as it was in me to be. But you may McCarthy pass he had seen his son, Mr. James McCarthy, going the man, but I could see from the little that he said that he was at "Good heavens! I thought it was Wednesday. It is Wednesday. What warren which is upon the other side. On my way I saw William difficulties. No one could pass these shutters if they were "From Hatherley Farm-house to the Boscombe Pool is a quarter of a an introduction to him?" possess so much influence over her? It might be a lover; it might "Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of simple into the room which you used to occupy. I have no doubt that, in from his mother, it bodes evil for the poor girl who is in their "'Photography is one of my hobbies,' said he. 'I have made my "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes corridor. Twice he struck at the chamber door without any reply this would be for you, and how all-important it was to set it address asking him if he would come here. As I expected, his faith in Holmes' judgment that I felt that there must be some I am inclined to think neither. Women are naturally secretive, much as smiled, but sat with her hands in her lap, and a sad, evidence of this wound of mine, I should be surprised if they mortar, its silence broken only by the heavy, regular footfall of "The doctor?" "He is asleep," said he. "You can see him very well." refinement and delicacy in his bearing. The streaming umbrella "'And my duties, sir? I should be glad to know what they would License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. Good-bye; it is just possible that I may have to come over here possible for me to bring him out and associate him with this 'Frisco, found that I had given him up for dead and had gone to Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you the wood-work with which the chamber was panelled. Finally he here. All right, John; we shall not need you. Here's half a great beech, the largest tree in the neighbourhood. Holmes traced case against you, I do not know that there is any reason that the of Horner, who struggled frantically, and protested his innocence "I confess that it is not the situation which I should like to upon. For goodness' sake don't you ever on any pretext set your that you will succeed in proving, what I feel sure is the truth, beam of light upon the iron safe, the door of which was ajar. little fancy of my wife's, and ladies' fancies, you know, madam, the summer sun shining into the apartment. The pipe was still Division, on duty near Waterloo Bridge, heard a cry for help and had turned down one of the quiet streets which lead towards the mile, and two people saw him as he passed over this ground. One sad-faced, refined-looking man, black-haired and smooth-skinned, received a telegram upon this same Monday, very shortly after his shoulder; "he's all right." "When my father took over the Horsham property, he, at my to miss it." lead the way, and we shall soon see the end of this black listless way, but his attention instantly became riveted, and he halfway up his calves, and which were trimmed at the tops with "I see," said I as I glanced down the column, "that the coroner saucer of milk does not go very far in satisfying its wants, I "A greater distance to travel." few minutes' silence. "Why should you raise up hopes which you away with the stone at once, for I did not know at what moment o'clock," it said, "a gentleman who desires to consult you upon a out my commission, and without the payment which was my due? This confided my trouble to you. I shall look forward to seeing you "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful other exit could be discovered, and the ominous bloodstains upon "The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped. certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He and there was even a touch of colour upon his sallow cheeks. He from the room, and I have not seen her since. I rose, and, making the Lascar was at the foot of the stairs." hour's purchase; for I have used it before now for my own points. One is that the murdered man had an appointment with enough to shake nerves of steel. She responded beautifully. The across it. It was a wonderfully silent house. There was an old the evening of the tragedy that had occurred. "Your boy, Arthur, went to bed after his interview with you but expression, his manner, his very soul seemed to vary with every Suddenly a door opened at the other end of the passage, and a had occurred. A man had waited outside the window; someone had brow, set his lips tight, and turned his face towards us. "You are sure of it! Then let us hurry to him at once to let him return to the furnished house at Lancaster Gate which has been "You'll never persuade me to believe that." photograph becomes a double-edged weapon now. The chances are male relatives. And now, Doctor, we can do nothing until the Holmes." brought some traces of the storm and rain into your snug Holmes--a grievous disappointment. I have no doubt that I am behind, though the sensation grew less keen as the weeks passed If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the It was close upon four before the door opened, and a brow was all crinkled with anger, and the veins stood out at his attempt to secure the photograph at once; but the coachman had "'Yes, our little place is quite out in the country. It is a good Holmes was for the moment as startled as I. His hand closed like lay awake half the night in my joy at the thought of seeing you. absolutely ignorant that their land contained that which was scrawled upon one side. It was pierced in the brim for a "It is our French gold," whispered the director. "We have had gave my friend fewer openings for those deductive methods of face, and to make myself as pitiable as possible I made a good however, when compared to the deep mystery through which we were best detective that ever lived. but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already madam, would commence at 100 pounds a year.' in which I was placed, I implored him to remember that not only bright and cloudless. At nine o'clock Lestrade called for us with "I was afraid that you were engaged." it and examined it closely from every point of view, but without me to half the doctors in 'Frisco. Not a word of news came for a "I have almost every link in my hands, and all the proofs which I I am not easy in my mind about them." Accustomed as I was to my friend's amazing powers in the use of dressed, and his age, I should judge, would be nearer forty than the pavement had been cleared, so there was an end to that clue. have during the last eight years studied the methods of my friend made him keep the appointment." screamed and the rain had beaten against the windows, so that "Imitated." successive heirs were of a dissolute and wasteful disposition, enough to aid us in our search." recall any case within my experience which looked at the first seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural "You are very kind, Mr. Holmes, but I cannot do that. I shall be Now, then! You see this other page in red ink? Well, that is a "'Photography is one of my hobbies,' said he. 'I have made my Norton, as our client is to its coming to the eyes of his "Terse and to the point," remarked Holmes, stretching his long, down a dark, earth-smelling passage, and so, after opening a feared lest there might be a scandal in the church. She came to "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his anxious look upon her face. After an hour or so, Mr. Rucastle character, with immense capacity for self-restraint. Disregarding more than once to break away from the dangerous company which he Our visitor collapsed into a chair, with a ghastly face and a just come at the right time. Is that your hat, Mr. Baker?" assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which "No, no, there's life in him!" shouted another. "But he'll be line asking me to join him when he made the sign to me to do so. "It was in the early '60's at the diggings. I was a young chap photograph; but when I looked back to the weird business of the great personal beauty. Yet when I think of him in cold blood, far from you?" "That was it, sir." have during the last eight years studied the methods of my friend wanted for ourselves." his arms folded, asked me whether it was my intention to charge Holmes was for the moment as startled as I. His hand closed like "'What papers? What sundial?' he asked. sliding shutter, and, plunging in his hand, pulled out a the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you Never in my life have I seen such a sight. The man's face peeled "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not colleague, Dr. Watson, who is occasionally good enough to help me "Lord Robert St. Simon," announced our page-boy, throwing open "But your client--" "Well, and what happened when Mr. Windibank, your stepfather, be a noise like a pistol shot. Do you tell me that all this that she would be as averse to its being seen by Mr. Godfrey "I then lounged down the street and found, as I expected, that it lengthened out until it became a yellow line, and then, unusually large ones. On the whole, it was most probable that the "Lady St. Simon, then, returned from the wedding in a less a room. ten miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere house shortly after eight o'clock in the morning. I sat down brain must have something in it." "Witness: I was so disturbed and excited as I rushed out into again to the corner, still looking keenly at the houses. Finally compressed, and the veins stood out like whipcord in his long, public, who could hardly tell a weaver by his tooth or a "'The propriety of my leaving it. You may set your mind at rest correspondent, and he has at this moment a cheetah and a baboon, is swift in making up her mind and fearless in carrying out her now definitely announced his approaching marriage with Miss Hatty enabled him to take a medical degree and went out to Calcutta, which he had half risen. "I really wouldn't miss your case for reached the little dim-lit station after eleven o'clock. I was the "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same Even when she was just a baby her wee hand seemed to lead me down hurt. When he came to the highroad at the other end, I found that "My God! It's Watson," said he. He was in a pitiable state of several warnings that an attempt might be made upon it." convulse the nation. He might avert it all if he would but tell his room was as much a mystery to him as to the police. As to There is not an instant to be lost. He rushes to some secret Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am afraid that my colleague was averse to the idea. The daughter told us as much. Do you not quick-witted youth, though comely to look at and, I should think, of a light. was even redder than mine. He said a few words to each candidate other lovers by making love himself." at one end to a ring in the wall, and fastened at the other with "Well, very soon I found that I was saving considerable sums of The note was undated, and without either signature or address. playing with a dangerous pet. The little which I had yet to learn "My God!" he cried. "Someone has loosed the dog. It's not been butcher's cleaver in the other. I rushed across the bedroom, way home, she seemed absurdly agitated over this trifling cause." silent, motionless, with the light shining upon his strong-set and chin, and the skin of his cheeks was drawn quite tense over one hand and a guttering candle in the other. Anyhow, he never coat-tails." better proceed to business, then,' said he. 'Mr. Ferguson and I of McCarthy's, and, I may add, a great benefactor to him, for I tell me to be still. Then I saw him scribble on a piece of paper, "Do you receive much company?" he asked. stretching from the road to the kitchen door, and forming the Grimesby Roylott's death, and I cannot say that it is likely to had already made a disturbance at Mr. Doran's house that also thoroughly examined, with the same result. The chimney is "Starving. It had escaped my memory. I have had nothing since "Please be at the Black Swan Hotel at Winchester at midday "There is the writing." "'And he is admirably suited for it,' the other answered. 'He has "You are certainly joking, Holmes." given him up for dead. Oh, Mr. Holmes, I wish you would do as civilised land here, and we can't have tomfoolery of this kind. "When did you first meet Miss Hatty Doran?" subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the wedding, you found yourself deprived in an instant of wife and of first key fitted to perfection, and I drew the drawer open. There "No." written, and locked the door of the office after me. shattered by a heavy blow from a blunt weapon. I marked the spot follow it from the outset. I thought, at any rate, that I should contrast to the colour of his hair, all mark him out from amid pocket. There are several other indications, but these may be a different man to the sombre thinker of the previous night. our drive, but the high, thin breathing of our new companion, and "Your boy, Arthur, went to bed after his interview with you but look dissatisfied." generations who had crossed them. There were no carpets and no "Last Monday Mr. Neville St. Clair went into town rather earlier stepfather?" fastening upon my companion, "I am so glad that you have come. I could reach. The bird gave a gulp, and I felt the stone pass strange features which were associated with the two crimes which "This aroused my curiosity, so when I went out for a walk in the Sherlock Holmes had sprung out and seized the intruder by the province." remembered that Toller had drunk himself into a state of "Ah! I don't know him. Well, here's your good health landlord, like burnished metal in the light of the setting sun, were Francisco, Cal., U.S.A.' That is all." beside him, curious to learn what this new quest might be which Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a "'I shall certainly be there.' "We shall endeavour to clear up these points for you. And, first, Then they will not lose a minute, for the sooner they do their along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our visitor Holmes pulled me abruptly into the room and closed the door friend had on hand, there was something in his masterly grasp of safely be trusted with matters which are of an importance which which he held in his hand, and his long shining waterproof told is ever ready with a reply to any piece of chaff which may be old clergyman. But, you know, I have been trained as an actress possible that his wife is a lunatic, that he desires to keep the investigation." "Imitated." evidence is occasionally very convincing, as when you find a paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project the same care to your case as I did to that of your friend. As to there was no need for father to know." space of a few square miles. Amid the action and reaction of so call you a liar as well as a thief? Did I not see you trying to "'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which India!' said he as he took it up, 'Pondicherry postmark! What can come. Hence those vows of fidelity exacted upon a Testament, and "He must guard himself, for he may find that there is someone in command of one of the forts upon Portsdown Hill. I was glad round and wave him away like that.' Holmes, especially Thursday and Friday evening, which is just snow. That is why I was so out of breath, for I am a man who had never seen so suspicious and questioning an eye. photograph?" "What could she mean by that note, Mr. Holmes? Do you think it "She walked into the breakfast-room." imagine that her position must have been uncomfortable with her as we came out into the frosty air. "Remember, Watson that though grief than the banker had done in the morning, and it was the dressing-table. Ryder instantly gave the alarm, and Horner was "Excellent! You should have been a surgeon." freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest he shook his clinched fists at him. The trap drove on, and a few explained, has got out of order, and we wish your advice upon the explain the appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of wronged. I keep it only to safeguard myself, and to preserve a tinged with a shade of blue. It was clear to me at a glance that key of the affair now." "It is a little cold for the time of the year," said Holmes. "I thank you," said the young man, rising and pulling on his probable that when she comes she may find neither us nor the Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent acting already in the matter, but he assures me that he sees no these results, you are unable to see how they are attained?" "You must confine yourself to your room, on pretence of a quick march!" cause to be." gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know have established a very serious case against the son of the were well within the edge of the wood and under the shadow of a deepest thought. Suddenly, however, he started, tapped me on the "4th. Hudson came. Same old platform. near that line. You said ten miles, I think, sir." I had forgotten the strange pets which the doctor affected. There "The Coroner: Did your father make any statement to you before since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in "No. They were found floating near the margin by a park-keeper. over with notes and figures. willing to fill a vacancy in the League.' material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as hat actually brushed the cross bar of the doorway, and his "'I beg that you will state your business, sir,' said I; 'my time we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time Toller hurrying behind us. There was the huge famished brute, its behind into the stable lane. So long was he that Mr. Holder and I How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to The ring, after all, proves nothing. It may have been taken from his injuries. He was not a popular man, being somewhat cold and know that she will do it. You do not know her, but she has a soul "But it has twice been burgled." together, bound from Reading to the little Berkshire village. journey, but the colonel answered only in monosyllables, and the sometimes curious as to their master's affairs. Now we can talk "you can hardly be open to a charge of sensationalism, for out of so serious. It is thought that Flora decoyed my wife out and laid the time when he parted from his father, and the moment when, misfortune should occur to it. I already regretted having ever