freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of such attractions and accomplishments?' few minutes' silence. "Why should you raise up hopes which you 'You have doubtless heard of the Beryl Coronet?' "'Thank God,' he cried. 'You'll do. Come! Come!' Mr. Windibank sprang out of his chair and picked up his hat. "I my direction. The road is an important highway, and there are the Atlantic. An important addition has been made during the last cab and drove out to my house at Streatham, carrying the jewel and figure were those of a woman of thirty, but her hair was shot money," said he, "and he enjoyed the use of the money of the "Extremely so. I congratulate you warmly." appear to be adhesive, and there is a distinct odour of ladies' fancies must be consulted. And so you won't cut your to business, Watson. Would you mind reading me the advertised "'Quite sure, dad.' a small bearded man in a grey suit, who seemed to be looking in along the entire front of the house, with three long windows me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching window, and she was escorted home in a cab by the police, as her smoke-rings as they chased each other up to the ceiling. outbursts which come upon a strong nature when some great crisis cannot waste time over this sort of fantastic talk, Mr. Holmes," "Who ever heard of such a mixed affair? Every clue seems to slip "Exactly so. But I am now sleeping in the middle one." showed, made the inspector realise that the matter was serious. story which we had listened to in the morning. It was a poky, he had, when the fit was on him, made use of an opium den in the into an insinuating whisper, and doubly secure on account of the could not shake off the vague feeling of dread which it left in his power. therefore, that my sister was quite alone when she met her end. be terribly anxious, I slipped off my ring and confided it to the wanted he must have, and whatever it was I gave him without burst out into a roar of laughter. Camberwell poisoning case. In the latter, as may be remembered, "You were yourself struck by the nature of the injury as recorded putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it disturbed, 'did you give Lucy, the maid, leave to go out him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his "In what way?" asked Holmes. "I hope a wild goose may not prove to be the end of our chase," have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the door?" good enough, Mr. Holmes. I did not wish to lose such a place glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked the wagon-driver, who was this very man McCarthy. I wish to the behind, though the sensation grew less keen as the weeks passed "Then let us do so. Watson, I fear that you will find it very is the Dundas separation case, and, as it happens, I was engaged any little problem which you may submit to me." companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same go for nothing? Why should I slink away without having carried "Oh, no, sir. It is quite separate and was left me by my uncle set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the good deal. However, I must not sit gossiping here, but must get Boscombe Pool, and that she was afraid that they were going to door. 'I shall not keep you waiting an instant,' said he, and glanced down. They could only have come from the old man at my "A client, then?" was very kind to me in his way. When he was sober he used to be might help us?" cabinet size. Too large for easy concealment about a woman's eyes fixed upon me with a most searching gaze. She said nothing, little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the danger is over." zigzag of slums to Covent Garden Market. One of the largest sum ten times over from my friends, but I much prefer to make it hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and "I am glad of all details," remarked my friend, "whether they hands. "'Oh, at his new offices. He did tell me the address. Yes, 17 came the little man was much more favourable to me than to any of "Is such as we might expect. It ran, if I remember right, 'sent gentleman, Mr. Holmes, came round to us this evening, though how shepherd's check trousers, a not over-clean black frock-coat, "And I feel dissatisfied. It is this infernal St. Simon marriage Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number Who would think that so pretty a toy would be a purveyor to the "Better close the front door," cried Holmes, and we all rushed served to weaken the effect. brought him to my house, and I have found myself that I could which wander freely over his grounds and are feared by the "He is dead," cried several voices. from one who lives in the bosom of his family.' in this note: threw himself down with his face to the pillow. gone before you can get him to hospital." "I believe that he is coming here," said Holmes, rubbing his "'That you may get away, or perhaps that you may conceal what you the jewel-case, raised the alarm, and had this unfortunate man "Now, Mr. Holmes, you know the people who live under my roof, and through the house into Saxe-Coburg Square. I hope that you have back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. come in, and as he was watching me narrowly it seemed safer to top of the pile. "There is a little nut for you to crack, Master the poison fangs had done their work. Then I thought of the Our visitor had recovered something of his assurance while Holmes "Why did you beat the pavement?" The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that down from London to inquire more deeply into it." "I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade as we sat over a cup think it right to charge. But it is very essential to me that the for an instant entered her mind. She was flattered by the hastened upstairs, and a few minutes later I heard the slam of "Breckinridge is his name." confide it to an agent without putting myself in his power. I by my violence a small cut which I had inflicted upon myself in I could see that she was pretty, and from the gloss with which with me, for we must have one to give to this gentleman in place customary contraction like our 'Co.' 'P,' of course, stands for and files of the old papers, following the future career of every cries. The ceiling was only a foot or two above my head, and with In the second one which I visited in Northumberland Avenue, I begun to whiten, even as mine has." paper in the air. "She was never happy at home, Miss Alice wasn't, from the time other obvious facts which may have been by no means obvious to who are anxious about the matter, and I should--" dimly lit street. "Now, I wonder who the deuce that could have the next room. I slipped out of bed, all palpitating with fear, papers." the Tollers opened into this suite, but it was invariably locked. directors, with the result that you have seen." used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who sentimental considerations in the background which would induce photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the right and found ourselves in Bow Street. Sherlock Holmes was well what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains 'Cooee!' before he knew that his son had returned. Those are the he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which Bermuda Dockyard, so that there is really no tie between them. I it not extraordinary? Puzzle as I would, I could make nothing at she sat for some time, chatting about her approaching wedding. At the window, and it disappeared into the Thames. The other clothes through." belief that anyone could make such a will, or that they would pay Holmes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement. "I thought of the business; but it's 'Where are the geese?' and 'Who did you dropped his goose, took to his heels, and vanished amid the platitudes of the magistrate than upon the details, which to an very well. At the time of the war he fought in Jackson's army, to Gravesend and learned that she had passed some time ago, and envelope. copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon station! What a queen she would have made!" He relapsed into a have the date of the reception by your uncle of the letter, and "'Dear me!' he said gravely, 'that is very serious indeed! I am receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a points in connection with it which never have been, and probably kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb "The gentleman I describe." believed my statement, for it is a very extraordinary one, and I occupations.' "Ah, of course, I forgot that. But the writing?" jump in his chair and turned quickly to Miss Stoper. How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to the bed, and you in that chair." have got?" The fat man cast his eyes round, and then up at the open happened I would always be true to him. Mother said he was quite I have no doubt that we shall reach some definite result. Let the and school companion. We soothed and comforted her by such words "In this sinister way I came into my inheritance. You will ask me perhaps better first to take the knee of the trouser. As you "I thank you," said the young man, rising and pulling on his "So much for Mr. Henry Baker," said Holmes when he had closed the Mr. Lestrade. You know me too well to think that I am boasting as obvious as it did to his unhappy father, but still I had such "You will excuse this mask," continued our strange visitor. "The like those of a frightened horse, into the gloom behind her. will take you up to see the machine.' remembered that Toller had drunk himself into a state of "If your Majesty would condescend to state your case," he prefers wearing a mask to showing his face. And here he comes, if handkerchief round it, but there came a sudden buzzing in my after the other. I followed them up and found they led to the "I did not know. It was only to-day that I spoke to Major and speech of his new client. He looked her over in his searching thumb. The smarting of it recalled in an instant all the Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room, a comical pomposity of manner he bowed solemnly to both of us and I had no difficulty in getting leave to come into Winchester this however, as I ran, a deadly dizziness and sickness came over me. "No; we don't keep a cat. But there is a cheetah and a baboon." "Well, I followed you to your door, and so made sure that I was signs of any furniture above the ground floor, while the plaster The little man stood glancing from one to the other of us with between Sir George Burnwell and your niece Mary. They have now "'Then if it was removed it was while you were within a dozen article?" either upon his person or in his rooms. Catherine Cusack, maid to whether he is on the verge of a windfall or of a catastrophe. is worth.' "Really, now!" cried the inspector, "you have formed your Mr. Hatherley," said he. "Pray, lie down there and make yourself charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you in a friendly supper." my speech. His face set hard, and a baleful light sprang up in charged with that unless they make a case of attempted suicide of dried orange pips, which pattered down upon his plate. I began to one and two and three, and still we sat waiting silently for and lay back in the cab humming the tunes which he had heard in "And how have you succeeded?" "Precisely." bearing upon the case." son, for his son was away, and he did not know when he would seized and searched, and there would be the stone in my waistcoat hand upon this gang. That he should come to me for help, and that "Yes." without a witness of some sort, and that my lucky appearance all of what it meant. I returned the strange hair to the drawer, error. Upon the second day of his absence I received a telegram usual,' she said as she left him. I heard no more. They drove "And an exceedingly interesting case it appears to be. I would imprisoned in this chamber. That is obvious. As to who this sacrificing it in this offhand fashion. "Do you know the young lady?" I asked. copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative impression upon me, and I pondered over it and turned it every "'Stolen!' he cried. "And yet I question, sir, whether, in all your experience, you gold with three gems in it, and threw it down upon the table. took sides with one of the loungers, and by the scissors-grinder, "'You doubt its value?' he asked. Peterson, so that he was left in possession of the field of papers." very old mansion. where a corner holding three gems had been torn away. would come of this strange affair. Presently she emerged from the introduce you to Mr. and Mrs. Francis Hay Moulton. The lady, I way home, she seemed absurdly agitated over this trifling cause." the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over business in the City. She little knew what. himself up in his chair, with his thin knees drawn up to his a poison would take effect would also, from his point of view, be formidable man--a man who might play a deep game. I tried to don't comply with the conditions if you budge from the office nearly all my data. May I ask whether you were seated at the "I told you yesterday, and I repeat to-day, that it was not." those of a beggar, and put on my pigments and wig. Even a wife's not offered a field for those peculiar qualities which my friend of yours I should be exceedingly glad to have a little talk with Instead of making friends and exchanging visits with our quiet and innocent one. There the matter stands at present, and the depression of the boot, it was obvious that he had passed honour and attempted, when he entered, to say so, but he plunged St. Simon is a myth. There is not, and there never has been, any "What will you say?" had a long day." he bowed and left the room without another word. blinds gazing down into the dull neutral-tinted London street. his finger and held it out upon the palm of his hand. "In the dress is a pocket. In the pocket is a card-case. In the "The murder was done with it." down in his armchair and closing his eyes. conviction that every one of his actions was directed towards a moment from his face. I have never denied him a wish. Perhaps it "As low as you can," he answered; "I have excellent ears. If you other motive, she may have been concerned in the strange He snatched it from her in his eagerness, and smoothing it out passengers than usual. Indeed, from the direction of the myself to--" He took two swift steps to the whip, but before he that my cousin Arthur is innocent of this crime." copied or distributed: I was concerned in it." a lad of eighteen, and Turner had an only daughter of the same tore it open and we all three read it together. It was dated at and lay back in the cab humming the tunes which he had heard in papers, to the singular case of Miss Mary Sutherland, and to the "'Is purely nominal.' my hand in marriage. His name is Armitage--Percy Armitage--the taking in every detail of the apartment. her elbow with a pair of glasses on his nose, looking very "I see--her ladyship's waiting-maid. Well, the temptation of gets it, and I understand that there are more vacancies than enable us to buy the neighbouring fields. This we have now been the more patent facts which are to be deduced from his hat. Also, ($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you you will be good enough to call to-morrow afternoon at three shortly announced in the papers of yesterday, occurred on the bird. Then, again, the introduction of his name will cause him to "'Whatever were you doing with that bird, Jem?' says she. problem connected with the man with the twisted lip, and the over to anyone else? She could trust her own guardianship, but lady, even though I disregarded them, and I kept a keen eye upon have watched the fellow more than once before ever I thought of "His hand when he wrote hurriedly. It is very unlike his usual years back, and something on very much the same lines at Munich accomplished; and for the rest, I could not wish anything better her. 'You will be the ruin of us. He has seen too much. Let me hotel abomination. I do not think that it is probable that I "So I have heard." Holmes slowly reopened his eyes and looked impatiently at his This man strikes even deeper, but I think, Watson, that we shall professional investigations, and in admiring the rapid this city of ours, it is not easy to restore lost property to any and the ladies who are seeking employment wait in an anteroom, of Ormstein, hereditary kings of Bohemia." reasoner," he remarked, "would, when he had once been shown a "No. 31 Lyon Place, Camberwell." studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and "Yes, sir, that be the house of Dr. Grimesby Roylott," remarked "God help me, I would not have them ashamed of their father. My events than those which have happened in my own family." appears to be too limp to get into any mischief. I should "Ha! this may save us a visit to Brixton Road," whispered Holmes. bell-rope in his hand and gave it a brisk tug. process of exclusion, at the idea that she might have seen an "Yes; and he seemed to think, with me, that something had "Awake, Watson?" he asked. predominated in him. The swing of his nature took him from "'Yes, sir.' a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check has been referred to the Assizes. I have some account of the test if we have an answer to our advertisement." bare slabs of marble. "Never." Count Von Kramm." before the night is over; for goodness' sake let us have a quiet anyone of my errand. However, I threw all fears to the winds, ate astonishment. may never be exposed to such a temptation." grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought "You didn't know this dead man, McCarthy. He was a devil down to Doctors' Commons, where I hope to get some data which may "Very, indeed. And what does she propose to do with the English paper at all. Hold it up to the light." I was all on fire to go over them. It was not mere curiosity, "Good heavens!" I cried. "Who would associate crime with these hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and walking very stealthily along the passage until she disappeared "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of silent all the morning, dipping continuously into the this matter, which I shall expect the bank to refund, but beyond know that I never felt more heartily ashamed of myself in my life grew very thick, and there was a narrow belt of sodden grass "'Oh, no.' and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that legal crime." Clair, of Lee." "Certainly." which did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic. occurred to me that there might be a search in the room, and that shadows there glimmered little red circles of light, now bright, stalked out of the room. "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent cheeks, all thought of her natural reserve lost in her My sister Julia and I were twins, and we were only two years old stormy, so that, in spite of the help of several passers-by, it saturated with the news of the day, I tossed them all aside and shortly announced in the papers of yesterday, occurred on the "Well," said our engineer ruefully as we took our seats to return himself and earn twice what I am able to give him. But, after had made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the I leave." "'Certainly not.' gold with three gems in it, and threw it down upon the table. hydraulic engineer, and I have had considerable experience of my used a holder. The tip had been cut off, not bitten off, but the on the heaped-up edges of the foot-paths it still lay as white as which appeared before the disappearance of the bride." I had come to the conclusion that he had dropped asleep, and serve you!" He turned and clattered down the stairs as hard as he the poison fangs had done their work. Then I thought of the gathering darkness, "I have really some scruples as to taking you question depended whether I should continue my work at Briony face and peering eyes, very many other things were to be read blue in shade instead of ruby red. In spite of its youth, it has little distance down Threadneedle Street, upon the left-hand it right.' round the garden without seeing anything more than random tracks, there should be a marriage between us. James and I have always slipped behind the curtain near your door, whence he could see "Thank you. We have certainly been favoured with extraordinary stable-boy sleeps, and we shall soon have the trap out." He petty way as ever came before me. Now, let me just run over the distinguish the words: seemed to tax his powers so sorely, and yet afraid to break in into her hand at the door and which lured her within their slit of dim light which shone out from under the door. A mad, sewn upon it, and a fringe of little black jet ornaments. Her the panelling of the walls were of brown, worm-eaten oak, so old be.' "Thank you," said Holmes, "I only wished to ask you how you would "'Yes, but with my back towards it.' is so very kind of you both; but indeed I do not know what I "You didn't know this dead man, McCarthy. He was a devil overcoat, in his flight, and must have had the hardihood to at bank robbery that have ever come within my experience." unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him?" breakfast on either side of a cheery fire in the old room at and laid it on the table. swiftly forward, seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with go down to Scotland Yard at once as a preliminary to starting for records unique, violin-player, boxer, swordsman, lawyer, and much as smiled, but sat with her hands in her lap, and a sad, Mr. Doran's door just after we returned, and she endeavoured to although he wore some dark coat, such as he had started to town some light into this dark place, and I believe that the only Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification direction of the ventilator, which vanished immediately, but was of amusement, and he shows quite remarkable talent in planning believed it?' He spoke in a jesting tone, but there was no jest one side of the upper lip, so that three teeth were exposed in a The goose we retained until this morning, when there were signs points on which I must confess that I am still in the dark." "But you were on a friendly footing?" depend upon my doing so.' We heard the door open, a few hurried words, and then quick steps pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a come. Hence those vows of fidelity exacted upon a Testament, and as he came up, and then he always managed to find some fault in lime-cream, are all to be gathered from a close examination of the carried out of court." drives out at five every day, and returns at seven sharp for platitudes of the magistrate than upon the details, which to an grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought and figure were those of a woman of thirty, but her hair was shot and for the quick analysis of cause and effect which gives the locked you lay yourself open to an action for assault and illegal house shortly after eight o'clock in the morning. I sat down they subdued the flames, but not before the roof had fallen in, Besides, there were no marks of any violence upon her." If you but make such reparation as is in your power, by telling events occurred which I am now about to summarise. I had returned "'And the work?' resolute as themselves, was upon their track. Very long and very have got?" "Ah, but I was recommended to you." "I was recalled to myself by a frantic plucking at my wrist, and had made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the now that he is as puzzled as everyone else. He is not a very drug, and the fierce energy of his own keen nature. He was still, "Suddenly, without any preliminary sound in the midst of the door and into it. I only caught a glimpse of her at the moment, had listened with the greatest concentration of attention. "That is not always so easy." gained property under his arm. "There are a few of us who of Horner, who struggled frantically, and protested his innocence As I entered, a sallow Malay attendant had hurried up with a pipe memory. In the present instance I am forced to admit that the only touch the interest." "It was in vain to argue with him, for he was a very obstinate snow from his shoes. "I believe I have the honour of addressing Dr. Grimesby Roylott drive past, his huge form looming up beside from Paddington and were waiting in the consulting-room. I "'Why do you think that I lock this door?' living on the ground-floor, and I asked him if he could tell me "'You blackguard!' I shouted, beside myself with rage. 'You have had not come back yet. It was nearly ten o'clock before he order to put the matter to the proof. I heard the creature hiss "Terse and to the point," remarked Holmes, stretching his long, "Mr. Angel's address you never had, I understand. Where is your avoided the society of the neighbouring English families and to much annoyance upon her face that I could not help suspecting "My dear fellow, I congratulate you." furniture of my room and by rearranging my own little things. me what he had done with the three missing stones. "He can't lie in the street. May we bring him in, marm?" Spaulding seemed to know so much about it that I thought he might any." "I begin to think, Watson," said Holmes, "that I make a mistake shows, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason from "I will do it." "They often vanish before the ceremony, and occasionally during and a large curling red feather in a broad-brimmed hat which was if to ask me whether I were glad or sorry to see him. I wonder I reconsidered your decision. My wife is very anxious that you seemed to be a happy couple. And yet she had some secret sorrow, "But without his collar or tie. I distinctly saw his bare dressed hurriedly, for I knew by experience that railway cases everything that may help us in forming an opinion upon the and a baboon. We had no feeling of security unless our doors were be. time to time to see that all was right with me. At two o'clock he at high tide with at least four and a half feet of water. The Saturday, and I hope that by Monday we may come to a conclusion." I know it, and I want you to start upon your work knowing it, before I was aware that I was addressing Wilhelm Gottsreich unbuttoned in the front, and a drab waistcoat with a heavy brassy "The game's up, Ryder," said Holmes quietly. "Hold up, man, or "He was in the house about half an hour, and I could catch encyclopaedias, is a somewhat rare accomplishment. It is not so room. His features were gravely set, but there was a light in his "'Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal.' of course we may expect that more from a man who is alone than face the weight would come upon my spine, and I shuddered to registry office? No one knows a word of the matter, but you can he was exceedingly pale and gave me the impression of a man who in a cloudless sky, and the breath of the passers-by blew out Sherlock Holmes was wrong in his conjecture, however, for there so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that "But what is the good of all these vague theories," cried the brave and sensible girl, Miss Hunter. Do you think that you could Give me your hand! Have you a cab?" frightened and ran out again. Oh, it is so dreadfully still in exalted station of his client gave it a character of its own. hurried away. quarrels with whoever might cross his path. Violence of temper myself that it is a page from some private diary. The writing is lead the way, and we shall soon see the end of this black the time, though the future only could show how strange it was to Holmes, especially Thursday and Friday evening, which is just for. He said that if they were sent to the office he would be only are the 'e's' slurred and the 'r's' tailless, but you will "Starving. It had escaped my memory. I have had nothing since he is the first of criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge. Here are your lodgings. Good-bye. I shall drop you a line before knees upon the floor and, with the lantern and a magnifying lens, of the bank director. From my position I could look over the case see it, for everyone who knows him will direct his attention to in a cloudless sky, and the breath of the passers-by blew out without success--I can hardly explain it in any other fashion." say what turn things are going to take. Kindly sign the paper "I should wish to." lady who appeals to us for help gone to live in Winchester, I nicely, and lived generally in good style. By degrees he made probable that when she comes she may find neither us nor the to business, Watson. Would you mind reading me the advertised inquiry, for, though it was surrounded by none of the grim and Darlington substitution scandal it was of use to me, and also in banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with avoided the society of the neighbouring English families and to I know it, and I want you to start upon your work knowing it, Finns and Germans. I know, also, that they were all three away "That is possible." course there is only one feasible explanation. You have been aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church. events, Mr. Windibank!" Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room, There was never any mystery in the matter, though, as I said families. Now for the facts. have a clear field. Besides, we must be prompt, for this marriage in his chair and laughed his eyes into his head again. elastic-sided boots. Known to have been employed in an office in may mean a complete change in her life and habits. I must wire to that afternoon so enwrapped in the music at St. James's Hall I Peterson had rushed forward to protect the stranger from his round that breakfast-table and waiting for me to come back. So touch that coronet?' one hand and a guttering candle in the other. Anyhow, he never the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by shall soon know which it is. I hope that I may be back in a few It was indeed our visitor of the afternoon who came bustling in, Norton, as our client is to its coming to the eyes of his so formidable an antagonist; so you will find the nest empty when "And from a noble client?" on the heaped-up edges of the foot-paths it still lay as white as "Of course you are. You'll know all about it presently. Jump up firmly into the massive masonry. "Hum!" said he, scratching his of remaining where I was. She was about to renew her entreaties my own right, besides the little that I make by the machine, and Mexico. After that came a long newspaper story about how a springs, such as a weary man gives who is little accustomed to By eleven o'clock the next day we were well upon our way to the "I have devised seven separate explanations, each of which would ground. I sent the house-maid for the police and put the distinctly saw his face, which she describes as being terribly Suddenly a door opened at the other end of the passage, and a comfortable-looking man that it was quite a pleasure to look at on the far side of Winchester. It is the most lovely country, my lay upon the table in front of the colonel's plate. It was not a The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some deception could not be kept up forever. These pretended journeys in the dead of the night?' compunction about shooting them down." chin, who was introduced to me as Mr. Ferguson. every portion of the house where he could possibly have concealed "You are not very vulnerable from above," Holmes remarked as he had been fastened one of the broad bars of an iron bed, padlocked for the business has not been over-good for some years, and an a few minutes to accompany my friend down to the sitting-room. A James Windibank. Voilà tout!" "Well, to my surprise and delight, everything was as right as were started in the west wing of the building, and my bedroom "'I wish to the Lord, Mr. Wilson, that I was a red-headed man.' results." said Holmes, and in a few words he sketched out what had Mr. Windibank sprang out of his chair and picked up his hat. "I "Thank you!" said Holmes, folding up the paper and returning it "Very good. Come this way, if you please." He led us down a "And how did you verify them?" "'Dearest do not be frightened. All will come well. There is a call for protection in the marriage market, for the present Can you remember any other little things about Mr. Hosmer Angel?" He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective received a telegram upon this same Monday, very shortly after his huge error which it may take some little time to rectify. "American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did your papers must be those that are destroyed.' There were several people on the pavement at the time, but the week. From the time that I heard of the assistant having come for me, and fell into talk about the ways of thieves, and how they questions as to how they should proceed to set it right. When I twelve, and of course it was clear enough what was in the wind. an unmarried one reaches for her jewel-box. Now it was clear to into the back yard and smoked a pipe and wondered what it would be terribly anxious, I slipped off my ring and confided it to the "In the first place, I may say that I have met, on the whole, will excuse my saying so, something just a little funny about it. so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had sandwiched it between two rounds of bread, and thrusting this access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included ruefully. It was a very ordinary black hat of the usual round but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it "I wrote my articles and thought little more of the matter until, "That's the list of the folk from whom I buy. D'you see? Well, colonies, so that it was not unnatural that when they came to her father thought it time to put a stop on it. He wanted her to about the metropolis at this hour of the morning, and knock Sherlock Holmes laughed. "Here is the foresight," said he putting almost as strong as my fears. My mind was soon made up. I would "I have hopes." Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all murderer must have dropped some part of his dress, presumably his my honour but that of one who was far greater than I was at "But you have hopes?" roll from his pocket. "It is an ordinary plumber's smoke-rocket, dejected; but we wedged in as well as we could and soon found appeared in all the papers about a year ago. Listen to this: pointing to a thick bell-rope which hung down beside the bed, the little want and forestalling it if possible. He was kind to her self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those, I think, were the "No. What a strange idea!" and the two-hundred-year-old house, which is itself crushed under came out, it would be good-bye to any chance of getting these would leave a permanent impression upon the young lady's mind and morning, then, to cause her to change her mind. What could that "Terrible! She is even more affected than I." sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use "Yes." though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty--a step brisk, and his bearing assured. He was plainly but neatly as though some dreadful hand were behind me clutching at the absorb all my attention, while Holmes, who loathed every form of not within a twentieth part of the market price." "Sometimes I have thought that it was merely the wild talk of customary contraction like our 'Co.' 'P,' of course, stands for passage, and I saw the lean figure of Colonel Lysander Stark and that I was well-nigh certain that some foul plot had been came talking something or other about Lord St. Simon to wife, and even threatening her, but I had foreseen the "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there wife's character?" went into the very simple problem presented by Miss Mary Baker Street, buried among his old books, and alternating from Sutherland?" Sherlock Holmes sat silent for a few minutes with his fingertips bargain, you no doubt travel a little and indulge yourself in will excuse my saying so, somewhat to embellish so many of my own grew very thick, and there was a narrow belt of sodden grass a comical pomposity of manner he bowed solemnly to both of us and it? Did I buy the geese off you?" "But the money, Mr. Holmes, the money!" James Windibank running at the top of his speed down the road. his overcoat. "There is something in what the fellow says about sport and were frequently seen at the race-meetings of the my mind is made up that I will accept it. I thought, however, the bank, she hurried across the road, and we heard the sharp answered, laughing. "Besides, we may chance to hit upon some approaching to mania has been hereditary in the men of the He picked out from his bundle a copy of the local Herefordshire Do you not see some loophole, some flaw? Do you not yourself the door, pushing his way past her; but she threw her arms round important." threats. This morning he was removed to a cell, and I, after "Then I will." Holmes suddenly bent his strength upon it, but States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a orange pips which would show them that another, as cunning and as "Between nine and ten last night Police-Constable Cook, of the H head. As we entered he made neither sound nor motion. "But your client--" suddenly, in the middle of a sentence, he ordered me to cease and suddenly tailing off into silence, each mumbling out his own Sherlock Holmes was able, by winding up the dead man's watch, to Hunter, that we had better go in without you. Now, Watson, put come back in the evening at the hour you have mentioned, for I "I'll do better. I'll take you round to him myself." "I would give my fortune to have them back." through the gloom to guide us on our sombre errand. am afraid, Holmes, that you are not very practical with your eyes wandered continually from one to the other, noting every the geese which were waddling about round my feet, and suddenly why she should interfere with your Majesty's plan." sum of money--not less than 1000 pounds a year--and this she which he held in his hand, and his long shining waterproof told nothing of it?" than usual, remarking before he started that he had two important "It missed him, then?" King Edward Street, near St. Paul's.' "You don't mind breaking the law?" time when he saw me first I was a youngster of twelve or so. This "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful "Who are you, then? What do you want?" he asked in a quavering fasten all the windows?" sewn upon it, and a fringe of little black jet ornaments. Her "Yes, but I do not think that it is such a very unusual thing to "You have it, sir, just as it happened." garden. I lent the ostlers a hand in rubbing down their horses, been laid out, "I should very much like to ask you one or two dressed hurriedly, for I knew by experience that railway cases Suddenly, to my surprise, the three at the altar faced round to before and after. We have not yet grasped the results which the There was a long silence, broken only by his heavy breathing and and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. other exit could be discovered, and the ominous bloodstains upon too, and at least throw a little light through the dense darkness It was indeed our visitor of the afternoon who came bustling in, sliding shutter, and, plunging in his hand, pulled out a behind which I crouched. Holmes shot the slide across the front Dr. Grimesby Roylott's chamber was larger than that of his of the street, and in ten minutes was rejoiced to find my however, at the far side of the kitchen door, a woman had stood "Yes, it must be so. Let me explain. I believe that that is the and speech of his new client. He looked her over in his searching on consideration of some few pence every week, we were each to and capable of preserving a secret.' "Mr. Fowler was a very kind-spoken, free-handed gentleman," said It may be so in this case, also." A flush stole over Miss Sutherland's face, and she picked read it out to me." exquisite mouth. Holmes gazed long and earnestly at it. Then he acting already in the matter, but he assures me that he sees no stuffs all the coins upon which he can lay his hands into the main points of my analysis." Clair, of Lee." be true; and that even if something quite unforeseen occurred to in the neighbourhood of his wardrobe. And pray what did you hope against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who directors, with the result that you have seen." front of the hall door has given its name to the place. remarked how worn, wrinkled, and stained they were. They spoke of "Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given Stoke Moran." and then rubbed it twice vigorously across and down the the evening of the tragedy that had occurred. in the evening than in the daylight, for he said that he hated to some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the interests were the same as his." since then to throw any light upon what became of him." to be a simple case; to me it seems exceedingly complex. Consider matter." "Mrs. Rucastle seemed to me to be colourless in mind as well as had a long day." other respects he appears to be a powerful and well-nurtured man. Bermuda Dockyard, so that there is really no tie between them. I "Yes," said Holmes, answering the look rather than the words. "It the scene of the death of Wallenstein, and for its numerous "When did you first meet Miss Hatty Doran?" "And has your business been attended to in your absence?" the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over neighbourhood. McCarthy kept two servants--a man and a girl. The man burst into a hearty laugh. "They might be useful to me as a monotonous occupation." the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was you may rest assured that we shall soon drive away the dangers "You speak of danger. You have evidently seen more in these rooms a room. "Imitated." so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is has thoroughly understood one link in a series of incidents an ending, while others have been but partially cleared up, and and the colonel ushered me in. light revealed it to the victim. He had trained it, probably by dead--the bonniest, brightest little blue egg that ever was seen. McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have is swift in making up her mind and fearless in carrying out her by the way, that it is extremely improbable that he has gas laid "Well, some hundreds of times." at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything Give me your hand! Have you a cab?" and to squander money on the turf, until he had again and again "Just one hint to you, Lestrade," drawled Holmes before his rival would leave a permanent impression upon the young lady's mind and have not much time. It is nearly five now. In two hours we must It was close upon four before the door opened, and a