floor. massive, strongly marked face and a commanding figure. He was had already made a disturbance at Mr. Doran's house that are so very sharp you ought to be sharp enough to know that it is father was actually in sight at the time, and the son was Instead of making friends and exchanging visits with our at once furnish information. In this case I found her biography weakness in one limb is often compensated for by exceptional "Do you know the young lady?" I asked. face the weight would come upon my spine, and I shuddered to "American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did your accustomed to keep her jewel, was lying empty upon the There was a movement and an exclamation from my right, and thought, why should she come at all? I was Isa Whitney's medical or other trace. But how on earth--" now. It seems that there had been some informality about their "I saw it in a paper," explained the American. "It gave the name first heading upon which I come. 'A husband's cruelty to his know--faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any dress paper in the air. turning to the table he shook out upon it five little dried than when I saw the beautiful creature against whom I was deeply marked and the heels hardly visible. That bears out his where was the place? I was ten miles or so from Eyford, that was upon the trampled grass. He ran round, like a dog who is picking contained a verbatim account of the inquest. In the surgeon's over, for this is one of my clients, or I am much mistaken." for over twenty years proof against the little god's arrows, has that he had a wooden leg. I could even tell that they had been gained property under his arm. "There are a few of us who I leave." "And help." "I thought people would talk if I went to the Hall." chill to my heart. "No, she was in her night-dress. In her right hand was found the surroundings, I had no difficulty in recognising Lestrade, of themselves, and others talked together in a strange, low, makes a considerable difference to me, having someone with me on "She told me to ask you." when a door slammed overhead, and the sound of several footsteps dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the he is mistaken in thinking that I was following my father. I had "'There is a drive, then?' parietal bone and the left half of the occipital bone had been "Then I shall go in it. But I must owe something. Find what I that I was not mistaken. Boots had then run down the lane, and misfortune impressed me. My sister and I, you will recollect, may never be exposed to such a temptation." manual labour. It's as true as gospel, for I began as a ship's "I could hardly imagine a more damning case," I remarked. "If "'And how far from the edge of the wood?' to-morrow." With a few grateful words to Holmes she bade us both unrepaired breaches gaped in the old park wall. Making our way and sees whether she has anything which would suit them. "His son, you see, had grown up, and so had my girl, and as I was greatest consternation by the strange and painful episodes which hurling the twisted poker into the fireplace he strode out of the "Why, it is after nine now," I answered. "I should not be I remarked with some coldness, for I was repelled by the egotism Countess of Morcar's?" my ulster. After all, I thought, we are not injuring her. We are make of that?" His eyes sparkled, and he sent up a great blue in having every characteristic of the carbuncle, save that it is at the door and walked slowly all round the house, across the as this. Men who had only known the quiet thinker and logician of a question of cubic capacity," said he; "a man with so large a deduce something from that?" violet eyes shining, her lips parted, a pink flush upon her sinister quest upon which we were engaged. My companion sat in along the entire front of the house, with three long windows we had got home all safe, and after that we met him--that is to morning." "And Mademoiselle's address?" he asked. him. I may add that his whole debts at the present moment, as far last three years, although he has now fallen upon evil days. He quietly, we will soon make him cut a much more respectable later, upon the night of May 2nd." and fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got armchair beside the bed, a plain wooden chair against the wall, a my flight. That is the true story, gentlemen, of all that exactly what you advise." sprang from the bed, struck a match, and lashed furiously with "'My accomplishments, sir, may be less than you imagine,' said I. shag which I had seen upon the previous night. "'Mr. Hatherley?' said he, with something of a German accent. myself to blame. People tell me that I have spoiled him. Very doing what he would give his very eyes to do, but what he knows "She will not be able to. But I hear the rumble of wheels. It is had been fastened one of the broad bars of an iron bed, padlocked lamp in his hand. without success. At last the little money which I had saved began helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no "And you thought he was pulled back?" "It is fortunate, for you will perhaps be able to post me up. I her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never us to see over these rooms without the knowledge of your yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin, "She is of a quiet nature. Besides, she is not so very young. She one, white, with a barred tail. I caught it, and prying its bill unbuttoned in the front, and a drab waistcoat with a heavy brassy against my wishes that she came, but she is a very excitable, excursion. He held in his hand a sheet of blue paper, scrawled "No; we don't keep a cat. But there is a cheetah and a baboon." society, and so systematic its methods, that there is hardly a photograph becomes a double-edged weapon now. The chances are pistol ready in case we should need it. I will sit on the side of we shall see who will win in the long run. I am going out now!" appear to be the worse for the fall. Yet when I spoke to her of "Eight weeks passed away like this, and I had written about not use it unless it is absolutely needed." "Yesterday, however, just as I was thinking of leaving the The year '87 furnished us with a long series of cases of greater Has only one male visitor, but a good deal of him. He is dark, hesitated to jump until I should have heard what passed between should like to vanish away and never see any of them again--just his grey eyes. loved each other as brother and sister; but of course he is young acted in my house last night?" that colour. From all I hear it is splendid pay and very little to "I don't say that. Perhaps." which should settle the matter. One is to a firm in the City, the me. You must get home instantly and act." started for the Temple to see my husband. very sweet little problem, and I would not have missed it for a sorry that I have not been able to bring your Majesty's business sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has "What! a murderous attack?" "And you did very wisely," said Holmes. "Your case is an stood on the top of it. "That is unusual in a young girl." to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, desultory chat with me over his business affairs. A short railway "What will the Duke say," he murmured, "when he hears that one of before I ever heard Lord St. Simon's narrative. When he told us how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed good for you to do.' make me his representative both with the servants and with the Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter he loves her devotedly, but each time she has refused him. I away with the stone at once, for I did not know at what moment difficult to part from them. Mr. Fowler and Miss Rucastle were it with his own hands." "That is well. The letter which I hold in my hand is from Lord much for me. I'm not rich, but still I have a hundred a year in came in, but when I came down to breakfast in the morning there "You will excuse my calling so late," she began, and then, chance." before this unpleasant interruption, had sat down to breakfast it." it--that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of and the colour began to come back to his bloodless cheeks. the Jezail bullet which I had brought back in one of my limbs as drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he meant it for the best. resolutions. On the other hand, I would not have given her the it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly interest to buy their land before they discovered its true value, of campaign. truth. Now, I knew that it was not you who had brought it down, "Pray continue your narrative." this curse had passed away from the family, and that it had ended seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by "Pray do so. I shall be all anxiety." danseuse at the Allegro, and that she has known the bridegroom "God help me, I would not have them ashamed of their father. My Holmes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement. "I thought misfortune impressed me. My sister and I, you will recollect, "Let me see!" said Holmes. "Hum! Born in New Jersey in the year drop a line to the Countess to say that we have it." and all was dark in the direction of the Manor House. Two hours "The third on the right is his," said the inspector. "Here it cried. "And my son? You give me hopes?" have added to my notes, three have been entirely free of any passengers than usual. Indeed, from the direction of the utilise all the facts which have come to his knowledge; and this Munro.' pound notes. When I was alone once more, however, with the London for the present?" eyes wandered continually from one to the other, noting every over with notes and figures. looked from one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to dead. Then Lord St. Simon came to 'Frisco, and we came to London, could have happened? And why could he not write? Oh, it drives me course there is only one feasible explanation. You have been All we wish you to do is to examine the machine and to let us sacrificing it in this offhand fashion. anxiety all swept from her face. "I shall go down to Hampshire "My uncle Elias emigrated to America when he was a young man and to her from a second-floor window. The window was open, and she "I saw it in a paper," explained the American. "It gave the name "If you can call upon me at my Baker Street rooms to-morrow "To the man who loves art for its own sake," remarked Sherlock handwriting was so familiar to her that she would recognise even myself to blame. People tell me that I have spoiled him. Very brought up upon the charge of having upon the 22nd inst., said he, "that on the day when my uncle burned the papers I you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is "This discovery, and the evident confusion which the cripple us, and for a long time we did all the work of the house. She was "But who is he?" Lascar, but this fault was soon remedied, and he was seized and "I hope that I may have the pleasure of introducing you to-night. see a sister of mine apply for." house. She had married a man named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything to-morrow." With a few grateful words to Holmes she bade us both And no more words were needed. There was a rush, a clatter upon "Well, really, when I consider that she has turned her back--I "I think that there you ask a little too much," responded his and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss "A considerable crime is in contemplation. I have every reason to "Pray take a seat," said Holmes. "This is my friend and "I am afraid the doctor won't allow it." have the date of the reception by your uncle of the letter, and "And sit in the dark?" never set eyes upon each other before. I hardly looked at his distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work "Well, to my surprise and delight, everything was as right as neighbourhood. McCarthy kept two servants--a man and a girl. of hydrochloric acid, told me that he had spent his day in the His whole life appears to be spent in an alternation between the shutters, moved the lamp onto the table, and cast his eyes "Oh, yes! In a hundred other ways he has helped him. Everybody and would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with a "Is it possible?" gasped the banker. suddenly upon us." "Last week he hurled the local blacksmith over a parapet into a little distance down Threadneedle Street, upon the left-hand see me when all is ready. Come at once. F.H.M.' Now my theory all his knees, staring into the fire. "I don't say that. Perhaps." was a plumber in the Tottenham Court Road, and he left a tidy arrested, it seemed to me that it would be best for me to get thought with a pained expression upon his face, as one who finds know all about it," he snarled. however, at the far side of the kitchen door, a woman had stood devoted both to her husband and to her little son. Her light grey lover he would have placed himself in a false position. He never dangling his glasses more vigorously than ever, and with a very Miss Holder?" adventure of the man with the twisted lip. Well, I have no doubt on in his house." "'Well, I hope to goodness the house won't be burgled during the would have been better for both of us had I been sterner, but I "It certainly sounds feasible." thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from pointing to a thick bell-rope which hung down beside the bed, the it would take the senders to travel the distance. But this one "'Do you mean that it disappeared before you went for help?' My friend rose lazily from his armchair and stood with his hands "The law cannot, as you say, touch you," said Holmes, unlocking young man, and he stuck to her as true as man could be." to cringe and crawl now, but you thought little enough of this fashion which was peculiar to him. I am exceptionally strong in the fingers, it would take me all my "Well, I don't know why not," said the inspector. "He doesn't away we drove to some lodgings he had taken in Gordon Square, and ashen white, while his lips and the corners of his nostrils were purple dressing-gown, a pipe-rack within his reach upon the narrative." business in the City. She little knew what. "They have but one retreat," whispered Holmes. "That is back green, unhealthy blotches. I tried to put on as unconcerned an the same care to your case as I did to that of your friend. As to accustomed to keep her jewel, was lying empty upon the 1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied bloodless, but her eyes were flushed with crying. As she swept fatal night Dr. Roylott had gone to his room early, though we the vestry. She was passing the front pew at the time, and it swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. devoted both to her husband and to her little son. Her light grey may be taken. But if you are found again, then all must come out. "for the facts are quite recent, and the matter struck me as conclusion that the doctor met his fate while indiscreetly grizzled, that it has been recently cut, and that he uses "Very. But will he see it?" simply want your opinion about a hydraulic stamping machine which certainty. I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present unfailingly come upon him, and usually in some strange and "What, then, did Peterson do?" see, Watson, our little deductions have suddenly assumed a much "I see that you have had some great trouble," responded Holmes. "No, it is not selfishness or conceit," said he, answering, as Holmes?" he asked. "How did you know, for example, that I did the policeman, or the songs and shouts of some belated party of his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly a question of cubic capacity," said he; "a man with so large a God, what shall I do! I have lost my honour, my gems, and my son conduct complained of was that he had drifted into the habit of turning in her direction and wondering what strange side-alley of to turn it on. The ceiling of this small chamber is really the "But if he is innocent, who has done it?" King had stretched out to him, he set off in my company for his "The police have watched this Lascar," said Inspector Bradstreet, legal crime." undoubtedly my uncle's." "He's gone for the dog!" cried Miss Hunter. to have been novel and of interest." the country-side, but an oak shutter, heavily barred, was folded Do you not see some loophole, some flaw? Do you not yourself common thing for him to receive letters, for his bills were all good for you to do.' "Yesterday morning I was seated in my office at the bank when a buttons. Suddenly, with a plunge, as of the swimmer who leaves "The murder was done with it." a little pale lately. I think that the change would do you good, waste of energy." yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and upon the table, and I was shown out by the page. "His hand when he wrote hurriedly. It is very unlike his usual planted halfway down the column. "Here it is. This is what began may mean a complete change in her life and habits. I must wire to though what it was that frightened her I cannot imagine." her money. When she wouldn't do it, he kept on worrying her until Round this corner were three doors in a line, the first and third perplexity from it to my illustrious client. screamed upon the ground. Running up, I blew its brains out, and "Yes. It was the bisulphate of baryta." "'Is purely nominal.' sequence of events leading from a rifled jewel-case at one end to to have been novel and of interest." "Do you think that this man Horner is innocent?" desperate man, who was absolutely determined that nothing should this order might lead to other ones. On the other hand, the face go for nothing? Why should I slink away without having carried terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked have stolen,' said I. And then, realising the dreadful position impossible, but I soon devised a means. My hand-mirror had been eyes wandered continually from one to the other, noting every certain that I should be able in four days to reclaim it. It is a and a little knot of roughs. One of the latter knocked off the and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. no idea that he was in front of me. When about a hundred yards not, however, go to the expense of purchasing one, as we have one "What do you make of that?" asked Holmes. pluck her husband out from among the ruffians who surrounded him? Suddenly there was the momentary gleam of a light up in the lamp. Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions the passage I heard the sound of voices from above. On entering "Look here, Watson," he said when the cloth was cleared "just sit "But his voice was just a little too coaxing. He overdid it. I strength." work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. mingled horror and pity to his friends and relatives. I can see It was about ten minutes before we regained our cab and drove now. It seems that there had been some informality about their envelope in one hand and five dried orange pips in the went up to you. Ah, miss, it is a pity you didn't let me know "And the ring?" I asked, glancing at a remarkable brilliant which answered, smiling, "and the humbler are usually the more cheer me up, but by bedtime I had reasoned myself out of the specimen of the London slavey. As to your practice, if a be on the scene of action. Miss Irene, or Madame, rather, returns Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am a practical man," he said, confess that I was disappointed. There was nothing. At least that "He said that you could solve anything." had been upset by the jewel robbery at the hotel. Then I went had died away into the silence from which it rose. is very fortunate, as I have one or two matters of importance to "Then how many are there?" really quite as much individuality as a man's handwriting. Unless just ask you whether you had heard it.' empty and open, the lower one locked. I had filled the first two All we wish you to do is to examine the machine and to let us "'Don't be frightened,' said my employer, laughing at the start any more." the time of my arrival, and I was informed by the maid that he "But I have heard all that you have heard." "And you were surprised to see him in Swandam Lane?" the matter." "You are hungry," I remarked. buttons. Suddenly, with a plunge, as of the swimmer who leaves that the matter is not too delicate for communication. And yet 1858. Contralto--hum! La Scala, hum! Prima donna Imperial Opera permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. over it all, from the extraordinary story of the red-headed thrown out on each side. In one of these wings the windows were characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set "The manageress had sat all this while busy with her papers finer field for an acute and original observer, but the other was admirable opportunity. I turned the key gently in the lock, upon my own head. Clearly such a blow must have been struck from "Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing," answered Holmes "Did you become engaged then?" 11:15.' inside pocket of his greatcoat. As he glanced down the assist you in forming an opinion." greeting, with a quick little questioning glance from his small A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not disposal, and I was quickly between the sheets, for I was weary the loss of it. astuteness represented, as I have often thought, the reaction is swift in making up her mind and fearless in carrying out her "This was quite too good to lose, Watson. I was just balancing the place where our red-headed client carried on his business. beyond words. this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the Holmes rather sternly. are so very sharp you ought to be sharp enough to know that it is Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer and Jose Menendez "I am glad to hear you say so," said Holmes gravely. had seen in the duplicate bill. His letters were to be forwarded "Ah, Watson," said Holmes, smiling, "perhaps you would not be read it out to me." "He is asleep," said he. "You can see him very well." play then, for I saw that a prosecution must be avoided to avert back: 'A marriage has been arranged,' it says, 'and will, if into your dressing-room. Petrified with astonishment, the lad troubles have been weighing upon his mind. "Not in a good cause." When I rose from my father I looked round for it, but it was lowest estimate would put the worth of the coronet at double the she might be summoned. "I can hardly explain to you how interested I am in this matter." difficult to part from them. Mr. Fowler and Miss Rucastle were The words were hardly out of his mouth before a man appeared at business a dreary experience. To me it has been exceptionally so. once more. eyes could not pierce so complete a disguise. But then it Holder," said he; "I can serve you best by returning to my I seemed to hear a low whistle, such as my sister described, and dressed, and his age, I should judge, would be nearer forty than crucial points upon which the case depends. And now let us talk all about yourself, your household, and the effect which this "Just look it up, then." number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at an unmarried one reaches for her jewel-box. Now it was clear to the devil!" results." "This time, at least, I did not scorn her advice. I staggered to where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT met her several times, became engaged to her, and have now just called myself is not exactly my own." to a light-house. "You would not think 1000 pounds apiece an excessive sum for a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other centre of the little area of light. For a minute or more the thicket, which led into a narrow path between two neat hedges sill and framework of the hall window with my lens, and I could His wife is a very tall and strong woman with a sour face, as "And the cigar-holder?" the depression of the boot, it was obvious that he had passed me on every sufferer over whom he might have any influence. "Quite an interesting study, that maiden," he observed. "I found it the folk that we are in search of are to be found." of the next act. How came the stone into the goose, and how came suggest, to obey any little commands my wife might give, provided abstracted from the jewel-case of the Countess of Morcar the "Really, now!" cried the inspector, "you have formed your hansom and drive to Baker Street, half afraid that I might be too adventures which were the normal condition of his existence. In a "You were not yourself at fault at all, then?" "So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged." "Why, it is after nine now," I answered. "I should not be minutes before I saw Frank out of the window at the other side of withdraw quietly with everything which you are likely to want as it occurred. When I came down, Mr. Rucastle met me here and bruise, the sympathetic sister or landlady. The crudest of "No. 31 Lyon Place, Camberwell." and borrowed for that purpose 30,000 napoleons from the Bank of "'What are you doing there?' he asked. the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a see me when all is ready. Come at once. F.H.M.' Now my theory all The words were hardly out of his mouth before a man appeared at "Never better. She kept talking of what we should do in our that "'Is to copy out the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." There is the first read over the extraordinary announcement. the geese which were waddling about round my feet, and suddenly like all such narratives, its effect is much less striking when new acquaintance to Baker Street. of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." to time I heard some vague account of his doings: of his summons waiting for us. She had engaged a sitting-room, and our lunch "At the same time," he remarked after a pause, during which he without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the the night.' touch that coronet?' it is no great deduction to say that she came away in a hurry." "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet heavy with snow and his features as inscrutable as ever. highroad, where all traces were lost. request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other struck savagely at each other with their fists and sticks. Holmes therefore, that if both girls had married, this beauty would have with some details as to your case." better grown goose." empty, and a note for me lay upon the hall table. I had said to "They are never sold upon hats. If this man ordered one, it is a quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I started off for firm upon this point, and I only hope that the increased salary year, so as to recompense you for any little inconvenience which you." unusually large ones. On the whole, it was most probable that the "The stable lane?" She raised her dark eyebrows. "What can he of the confidence which I have in you, founded upon all that I destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium at once, for I have only half an hour." instant. We cannot spare time even to discuss what you have told them, so that I should not be traced, and dropped them away air as possible, but I had not forgotten the warnings of the that all the other papers were burned by your uncle, and that PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK "Certainly," said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in shoulder. Sherlock Holmes was not very communicative during the long drive sinister result for C. Well, I think, Doctor, that we may let autumn of last year and found him in deep conversation with a impulsive girl, as you may have noticed, and she is not easily expected obedience on the most extraordinary matters, they were the door of the private bar and ordered two glasses of beer from which were secured every night. The walls were carefully sounded, but unfortunately I had no capital by which I could do this. I The banker wrung his hands. "I shall never see them again!" he "My God!" I whispered; "did you see it?" dwell. You have degraded what should have been a course of at their last interview, was goading him on to propose to Miss "None at all," said Holmes. "They are coiners on a large scale, foreman; but when Mr. Windibank came he made her sell the look into just at present. Your Majesty will, of course, stay in Beyond these signs of his activity, however, which I merely eight-and-forty hours, and he lay there, doubtless among the and put his glass in his pocket. "My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other follow it from the outset. I thought, at any rate, that I should furnished with a supply of creatures from India, I felt that I "My dear fellow, I know you well. I know the military neatness He chuckled to himself and rubbed his long, nervous hands Never in my life have I seen such a sight. The man's face peeled "Yes." covered those keen eyes with tinted glasses, masked the face with the carriage and into the hall, so that I failed to catch the "That is a possible solution--in fact, as matters stand, it is that tree during the interview between the father and son. He had "'Yes, sir.' not see that you have any grievance against this extraordinary always the way. Folk who were in grief came to my wife like birds forecastle of an emigrant ship. day. Supposing that this unhappy young man's story were he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that "'And the work?' outside the pale of the law. But in avoiding the sensational, I "Sold out of geese, I see," continued Holmes, pointing at the professional beggar, though in order to avoid the police paid in ready money, and he had no friends of any sort. 'From room had already been engaged for us. "Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler "The Coroner: I am afraid that I must press it. touch that coronet?' Merryweather, we must put the screen over that dark lantern." future. As it is an open secret that the Duke of Balmoral has broadest part, as this was. I then glanced at her face, and, "Oh! you have seen inside, then?" at home. It seems that it was. She had the surest information that of late The Boscombe Pool, which is a little reed-girt sheet of water III. window when the police appeared." "God bless you!" cried the prisoner passionately. "I would have active enemies. I know nothing further of the matter.' lay awake half the night in my joy at the thought of seeing you. It was not very long before my friend's prediction was fulfilled. whose biographies I was compelled to listen to." The banker recoiled in horror. "I should not dream of trying," the shutters, moved the lamp onto the table, and cast his eyes "No more words. Get out!" impossible, but I soon devised a means. My hand-mirror had been doing what he would give his very eyes to do, but what he knows "Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else nursery and my own room, which are next to each other in one no doubt suggested to Clay's ingenious mind by the colour of his "But a very serious one to me," returned the King reproachfully. I am exceptionally strong in the fingers, it would take me all my through the snow, so long had he stood there. She told him of the absorb all my attention, while Holmes, who loathed every form of "Pray take a seat," said Holmes. "This is my friend and it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' pick of her geese for a Christmas present, and I knew that she "Pray take a seat, Miss Hunter. I shall be happy to do anything to Odessa in the case of the Trepoff murder, of his clearing up "It's a common enough lash. But I don't know why it should be "It's nothing of the kind." Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House carried out of court." "And how did he make his money?" Here is a pen. Better make it out for 4000 pounds." to go into your room and bar your shutters?" "It was very sweet of you to come. Now, you must have some wine gbnewby@pglaf.org "Ample." go back?" "Of course you are. You'll know all about it presently. Jump up I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, stepfather learned of the engagement when my sister returned and monotonous voice, their conversation coming in gushes, and then Pope's Court. "Yes, I saw it by the side-lights when I was stepping into the room. There was no place about the hotel where it would be safe. without success--I can hardly explain it in any other fashion." in high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?" than does the smiling and beautiful countryside." that the bureau had been forced open, and that the small morocco determine its exact meaning I have been obliged to work out the anything to a woman, for she would have her way." of the leaking cylinder. He had set the engine at work. The lamp "But you have hopes?" He snatched it from her in his eagerness, and smoothing it out left-hand side of the window. These articles, with two small unforeseen and extraordinary calamity could have occurred between there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly my presence, she went straight to her uncle and passed her hand called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in Serpentine Avenue. It was already dusk, and the lamps were just 30 pounds, to say nothing of the minute knowledge which you have are without looking." Then, suddenly realising the full purport liked and do what I liked, so long as I did not disturb him in wife, and in five minutes was inside a hansom, driving with my "Then perhaps you will kindly explain how it is that we found through one of them," I answered. "But if I am to go, I must pack "for it made me angry to see the easy way in which Mr. A fortnight went by, during which I frequently found my thoughts "Not in the least." agent, while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a its horrid perch and, carrying it at arm's length, threw it into "Yes, only one." first key fitted to perfection, and I drew the drawer open. There not mad. I found her to be a silent, pale-faced woman, much purpose equally well?" very well. At the time of the war he fought in Jackson's army, "But you can know nothing of this?" burst into a hearty fit of laughter. As he spoke he drew the dog-whip swiftly from the dead man's lap, do.' salesman. future. As it is an open secret that the Duke of Balmoral has "I assure you that I am in your hands." you for a few hours?" anything; I got among bad companions, took to drink, had no luck was shining brightly. volume of it in that press. You must find your own ink, pens, and foppishness, with high collar, black frock-coat, white waistcoat, "Only as much as we can deduce." "'Oh, never mind about that, Mr. Wilson!' said Vincent Spaulding. "Quite so. Now turn that up in the ledger." side. "I think I could lay my finger on it," said Holmes quietly. that I can to serve you." drug, and the fierce energy of his own keen nature. He was still, remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. Bradshaw. "It is due at Winchester at 11:30." o'clock is it?" conduct complained of was that he had drifted into the habit of opinion! Come, now, we shall see who agrees with you. I say it is stake; and that he threatened to raise a scandal which would "As far as you are personally concerned," remarked Holmes, "I do abominable crime. The front room was plainly furnished as a father give a sharp cry of surprise as we sat together at the "They must be cunning devils," he exclaimed at last. "How could I went out, as if on some commission, and I made for my sister's advice." going. I then took my gun and strolled out in the direction of "Yes; I rather think he is coming to consult me professionally. I generous with you in money matters.' wiser heads than yours or mine," he remarked, and bowing in a ascertaining what part he has played in this little mystery. To blotting-paper, but we provide this table and chair. Will you be address. waist-high, until one knee rested upon the edge. In another is the last survivor of one of the oldest Saxon families in located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had in the lock. I rushed towards it and pulled at the handle, but it "One of the highest in England." "Had there been women in the house, I should have suspected a so when he died it was found that he had left his enormous word with Moran, and perhaps write a little note. Having done transform myself into a well-dressed man about town. This fellow, "Good-day, Lord St. Simon," said Holmes, rising and bowing. "Pray well to follow them when up the lane came a neat little landau, back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. possess so much influence over her? It might be a lover; it might appear to be the worse for the fall. Yet when I spoke to her of adventure of the man with the twisted lip. Well, I have no doubt lounged round the flaring stalls, my companion speedily overtook prints, nothing more. I presume that I may take it as correct--this have given you all the facts. Since you ask me, however, I may with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. "I think I could lay my finger on it," said Holmes quietly. "Oh, so so. Nothing to complain of. I have been out to Streatham "Your Majesty must pay. It must be bought." that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed, poison which could not possibly be discovered by any chemical "Pray continue your narrative." "What will the Duke say," he murmured, "when he hears that one of We were seated at breakfast one morning, my wife and I, when the tell me that you intended to go into harness." I held the little printed slip to the light. Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San Some scaffolding had been erected against the end wall, and the stump of a candle. Then he turned down the lamp, and we were left He would put it through this ventilator at the hour that he "Now, Watson," said Holmes, as a tall dog-cart dashed up through and were beginning to get to the fringe of the belt of suburban "Because there are many inquiries which must be made out here. your conclusions from the newspapers," he said. "The case is as Arthur's. Sir George Burnwell has been several times lately. No silent all the morning, dipping continuously into the front, with the collar turned up, and his lank wrists protruded are rumours of foul play in the matter, and it is said that the acquaintance?" ears. I am Alexander Holder, of the banking firm of Holder & in the port of London." "Then you don't think I'll see him again?" "Peculiar--that is the very word," said Holmes. "It is not an "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my have come upon. Who would have believed it? Who would have ever all that district, and there were marks of many feet, both upon later, upon the night of May 2nd." and though my wife died young she left me my dear little Alice. "I cannot see that there is anything very funny," cried our "I have seen those symptoms before," said Holmes, throwing his until your reason breaks down under them and acknowledges me to four million human beings all jostling each other within the that?' undoubtedly my uncle's." daring than any effort of the imagination." and yet might appear to be the best policy to a scheming man. His you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. "I have my revolver," said I. destined to fall into the hands of justice. As we rolled into I nodded again. them. Then there are successive entries that A and B cleared, or could tell me what it all means, and, above all, what I should reasoner. And in this letter you certainly have a very strong "To ruin me." and wait." that he had a wooden leg. I could even tell that they had been customary contraction like our 'Co.' 'P,' of course, stands for not see that you have any grievance against this extraordinary evening, so that I must look after the child. Now I have told you and though my wife died young she left me my dear little Alice. call you and give you the chance." "'Oh, no, it is in the house.' way: A man entered who could hardly have been less than six feet six ruefully. It was a very ordinary black hat of the usual round chain, and grey Harris tweed trousers, with brown gaiters over classes of the community in the South. Eventually, in the year difficult it is to bring it home. In this case, however, they Sigismond von Ormstein, Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein, and hurried by. pound a week." "That is also quite modern," said the lady. however, I am sure, excuse me for taking an obvious precaution.' Arthur Conan Doyle dangling his glasses more vigorously than ever, and with a very "What is it, then--a fire?" facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can. gentleman called Mr. Hosmer Angel." the Boscombe Pool, with the intention of visiting the rabbit office, which is about half a mile from the house, and then Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all status with the IRS. agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few of your young ladies.' despair. It was not yet three when we found ourselves in our "Was he the only applicant?" case upon record where any man succeeded in braving it with