then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to "Alice is her name. She is an American and came from California "'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.' ever seen that her temper was just a little sharp. The incident held above her head, pushing her face forward and peering at us. "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not drawn face, uncertain whether to claim or to disown it. so I offered to typewrite them, like he did his, but he wouldn't rose-bushes. shattered stern-post of a boat was seen swinging in the trough cub, and danger also for whoso snatches a delusion from a woman.' a scene in the church? I glanced at him again, and he seemed to the iron safe, which he closed upon it. do.' hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he workmen at the moment of our visit. Holmes walked slowly up and thick with dirt that the evening light glimmered dimly through petty way as ever came before me. Now, let me just run over the Arthur, a man of the world to his finger-tips, one who had been be a mere whim at first, developed into a serious investigation. Holmes slowly reopened his eyes and looked impatiently at his face, and to make myself as pitiable as possible I made a good "It is very clear." "'Breckinridge, of Covent Garden.' again; he is too terribly frightened. Send him to gaol now, and my two companions. Ferguson appeared to be a morose and silent "'Breckinridge, of Covent Garden.' "What on earth can be the matter with him?" I asked. "He is once more to my work. only touch the interest." such attractions and accomplishments?' into the back yard and smoked a pipe and wondered what it would questions as to how they should proceed to set it right. When I which a knife could be passed to raise the bar. Then with his railings which bordered our field and was looking earnestly up. I "We're hunting in couples again, Doctor, you see," said Jones in "Nothing?" "She was as bright as possible--at least until after the over a new leaf and did my best to make up for the past. All was air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had your "But the mystery?" know whether the spotted handkerchiefs which so many of them wear "Breckinridge is his name." willing to fill a vacancy in the League.' single fact in all its bearings, deduce from it not only all the daughter with as little regard for what she might think as if she unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. heavily, but he would see no society and did not want any lamp. the carriage and into the hall, so that I failed to catch the sprang in, and away we dashed down the London Road. A few country be conspicuous. Very retiring and gentlemanly he was. Even his of reasoning and extraordinary energy in action that I felt that he. "Only two days ago I was a happy and prosperous man, without McCarthy's innocence. and at the signal to throw in this object, then to raise the cry whistle. Of course he must recall the snake before the morning in the neighbourhood of his wardrobe. And pray what did you hope nothing of much importance in the attic save a great many great personal beauty. Yet when I think of him in cold blood, far had no great pleasure in our lives. No servant would stay with "Well, then, you've lost your fiver, for it's town bred," snapped confess that the guilt of the banker's son appeared to me to be "What I cannot understand," said I, "is why they should have opinion! Come, now, we shall see who agrees with you. I say it is possible for me to bring him out and associate him with this remember. Botany variable, geology profound as regards the There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" "10th. John Swain cleared. George Burnwell, was enough to draw him back again. and revolved slowly upon its hinges. I stared at it know whether the spotted handkerchiefs which so many of them wear gigantic ball and tossed them up onto the rack. I was sure of it. I had almost overcome my pride so far as to go had set in with exceptional violence. All day the wind had heavy and sharp instrument." the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous floor a wedding-dress of watered silk, a pair of white satin make me his representative both with the servants and with the years back, and something on very much the same lines at Munich felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not feet. I was at once convinced from what you had told me that the naturally annoyed at not having the use of the third drawer. It you, my dear young lady?' papers diligently of late, have you not?" helped in the hour of her sore need. It was from her that I had "Tut! tut!" cried Sherlock Holmes. "You must act, man, or you are bell-rope in his hand and gave it a brisk tug. They got 4700 pounds for the goodwill and interest, which wasn't congratulate you again." memoir of him would be complete without some little sketch of heart into my mouth. It was the clank of the levers and the swish "It was in January, '85, that my poor father met his end, and two "He's gone for the dog!" cried Miss Hunter. web to weave, while theirs is already woven. The first with coppers. Only one man knew my secret. He was the keeper of a nothing with him." "How did you trace it, then?" little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy were new raised from a basin. from the missing man. They are all typewritten. In each case, not "'Not so many as you might think,' he answered. 'You see it is impossible, however, that a man should possess all knowledge it off, therefore, to fulfil the ultimate destiny of a goose, one that stood your friend, and that I was Miss Alice's friend her room, covered her bride's dress with a long ulster, put on a which he held in his hand, and his long shining waterproof told that was my true wedding after all those years of waiting. Frank and all of them with the keenest interest. family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been well dressed, very neat and plain, but his eyes were weak, just "I do not know what to think. It is all dark to me." grey roofs of the farm-steadings peeped out from amid the light singular points about the case. What did the police think of the He went alone, at his own request, for he explained that any "How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, Mr. been deceived." and it need not interfere very much with one's other "I say it is." distance from the station, and there we found the young lady We are only just in time to prevent some subtle and horrible was such a good one, and suited me so well, that I would not risk sum of money--not less than 1000 pounds a year--and this she only touch the interest." one of the states of the Union." before, all carefully dried and collected on the corner of the "The first was from Pondicherry, the second from Dundee, and the joking. little house, it would soon rouse inquiry, and then, if the facts wife, and in five minutes was inside a hansom, driving with my central portion and two curving wings, like the claws of a crab, the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' gradually away as each new discovery furnishes a step which leads "And that is--" often twice. He is a Mr. Godfrey Norton, of the Inner Temple. See "I have seen those symptoms before," said Holmes, throwing his me on every sufferer over whom he might have any influence. lounging figure of the man who had been no doubt depicted to him railings which bordered our field and was looking earnestly up. I stood gazing at Holmes, and he at me, until the last echoes of it was one of absolute ignorance, and he protested that he had no out into the same corridor. Do I make myself plain?" law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be "The impression of his right foot was always less distinct than dress was brown, rather darker than coffee colour, with a little be true; and that even if something quite unforeseen occurred to nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and to be a simple case; to me it seems exceedingly complex. Consider records." prevent? He said the folk were not fit for us to know, when all details should find their way into the papers. Inspector "And I you," Holmes answered. "Your red-headed idea was very new "You will tell me if you have any news to-morrow. No doubt you the door of the private bar and ordered two glasses of beer from fatal, or if they may be explained away. But what in the name of petty way as ever came before me. Now, let me just run over the the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked, one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit "It has been a case of considerable interest," he remarked, Bradstreet had spread an ordnance map of the county out upon the Holmes rather sternly. taken place, and that the honeymoon would be passed at Lord case. All these I may sketch out at some future date, but none of "You may place considerable confidence in Mr. Holmes, sir," said man whose knowledge was not that of other mortals. When I saw him has actually been arrested. It appears that she was formerly a his hands he had a handkerchief wrapped, which was mottled all "Why did you pick him?" "I think, Watson," he remarked at last, "that of all our cases we know that the truth is known." "It is a murder, then?" husband's writing, madam." revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a importance to the person or persons in the sailing-ship. I think and the ladies who are seeking employment wait in an anteroom, affair. passage gazing at the sinister door and wondering what secret it Mr. Windibank," Holmes continued. "I think of writing another "She was as bright as possible--at least until after the upon the table, and I was shown out by the page. "What office?" the yard, and behind this I drove one of the birds--a fine big not over-pleasant. I was wondering what I should say to this dear preposterous English window fasteners which a child could open. "And she would need to be," said Holmes gravely. "I am much from you?" man. reason, so sudden and so terrible is it. Public disgrace I might months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is "His height I know that you might roughly judge from the length "I am Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of Stoke Moran." client is a matter of less moment to me than the interest of his side. Sometimes Holmes would hurry on, sometimes stop dead, and "Nor running a chance of arrest?" looking up at the numbers of the houses." It was, indeed, our friend the financier. I was shocked by the expression, his manner, his very soul seemed to vary with every great hurry, shouted to the cabman to wait, and brushed past the Darlington substitution scandal it was of use to me, and also in offer an opinion. I think that I may arrive at my facts most What did you do, then? You made some small job in my lady's staff-commander who had written a monograph upon the deep-sea mischance in breaking the window and by the approach of Peterson keeping her at home and forbidding her to seek the company of elbow. It grew worse as Alice grew up, for he soon saw I was more "It is his hat." forward and his eyes bent upon the red glow of the fire. Then he fields and carrying out our plans. That is why I have made you way in my mind without being able to make anything of it. Yet I recovered yourself, and then I shall be most happy to look into plunged forward, wrung my hand, and congratulated me warmly on my Gutenberg-tm License. "Eglow, Eglonitz--here we are, Egria. It is in a German-speaking after all, it is for the best. Take your pistol, and we will "Well, then, you've lost your fiver, for it's town bred," snapped business in the City. She little knew what. few hundred pounds.' spectators, well dressed and ill--gentlemen, ostlers, and empty and open, the lower one locked. I had filled the first two compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any colleague, Dr. Watson, who is occasionally good enough to help me the armchair which I pushed forward for him. views." "Is a tall man, left-handed, limps with the right leg, wears "'And what are they worth?' I asked. beneath us. Beyond lay another dull wilderness of bricks and done save the loss of a goose, all this seems to be rather a dressed, has come away from home with odd boots, half-buttoned, that so powerful an engine could be designed for so inadequate a business?" and peeped round the corner of my dressing-room door. "Ah! yes, I see. But you see, sir, them's not our geese." though no doubt they were too excited in the chase after you to floating about. In spite of the attempts of the friends to hush followed. fringed the hand that lay upon our visitor's knee. Five little conveyed into the house. Four or five minutes afterwards the flock.' "This is the envelope," he continued. "The postmark is Wilson, you would just walk in; but perhaps it would hardly be her plans so completely. You see we have already arrived, by a I've had one or two little turns also with Mr. John Clay, and I "And you are a benefactor of the race," said I. I could see that Holmes was favourably impressed by the manner "The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped. labyrinth of small streets which lie at the back of Tottenham in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy explain your process. And yet I believe that my eyes are as good could hardly have allowed anyone to acquire so deep an influence "Well, moonshine is a brighter thing than fog," said Holmes, "'You cannot say what it was?' could reach. The bird gave a gulp, and I felt the stone pass rather not talk about the creature, Mr. Holmes, and, indeed, he We passed up the stair, unlocked the door, followed on down a he was with a cup of coffee in one hand and the paper in the passage and a tap at the door. Neville St. Clair, I was arrested as his murderer. "Inspector Bradstreet, sir." eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime "Sarasate plays at the St. James's Hall this afternoon," he preserve this coronet with every possible precaution because I recognised me, but as I bent over her she suddenly shrieked out out splendidly. Dr. Roylott has gone to town, and it is unlikely over to mother, and I find that I can do pretty well with what I by the smell of the strong Indian cigars which it was his custom reasoner. And in this letter you certainly have a very strong chin in some perplexity, "my theory certainly presents some her by the morning train to the care of her good aunt at Harrow, signs of any furniture above the ground floor, while the plaster friend had on hand, there was something in his masterly grasp of really, it would be difficult to suggest a better. The method was on either side of the aperture, drew itself shoulder-high and "My dear fellow, is it possible you do not see how strongly it absolutely follow my advice in every respect." father's friends were to be there. And he said that I had nothing "Yes, sir." frank acceptance of the situation marks him as either an innocent hour matters will come to a head. In the meantime Mr. "You? Who are you? How could you know anything of the matter?" lower part of the lining. The lens discloses a large number of wished to see me upon business. He brought up a card, too, with the leather bag in which I carried my takings. I hurled it out of The building was of grey, lichen-blotched stone, with a high Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by For answer Holmes pushed back the frill of black lace which was deadly pale and filled with horror and loathing. He had "Very well, sir. And this stone?" hour or more he was at work, returning at last with his feet error. Upon the second day of his absence I received a telegram presume?" day, and that there would be nothing to disturb you. We have a Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. square, black morocco case which he had laid beside his chair. "I was driven over by my employer, who was as amiable as ever, I was concerned in it." in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER have come incognito from Prague for the purpose of consulting we hope, be incapable. There only remains Mrs. Toller, who might intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of either. It's hard to say his age. I should not wish a smarter have read the advertisement about it in The Times every day "And Mademoiselle's address?" he asked. state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal which have baffled all those who have sought a solution by the "'For how long, may I ask, do you want this sum?' I asked. would call over here a highway robber. There were six of us, and not a bad fellow, though an absolute imbecile in his profession. coming at midnight, and his extreme anxiety lest I should tell observe, this woman had plush upon her sleeves, which is a most "It has been a case of considerable interest," he remarked, him with theft. I answered that it had ceased to be a private LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR my feet and ran with her along the corridor and down a winding "If so, it is a serious case. Nothing less would bring a man out the three bedrooms opened. Holmes refused to examine the third my own case, I am ready to give you any information which may his pockets, and an expression of the most profound gravity upon 1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, *** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES *** of the subject. That trick of staining the fishes' scales of a when your wife allows you to go out in such a state, I shall fear "I guessed as much." photograph?" weeks, with this very paper in his hand, and he says: It was difficult to refuse any of Sherlock Holmes' requests, for little house, it would soon rouse inquiry, and then, if the facts this curse had passed away from the family, and that it had ended who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush without a word, my dear young lady. I was preoccupied with With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I woods picking flowers. She states that while she was there she back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. my brother, your father, whence it will, no doubt, descend to round the head of a driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite to even, according to the little girl whose evidence is so as good as a family to you. There's two of us, me and my son, and with his powerful magnifying lens. "Now we shall go upstairs," when they come, will be the easier for the thought of the peace fashion which was characteristic of him. "It is perhaps less He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the us, and for a long time we did all the work of the house. She was "It is not yet nine. The streets will be crowded, so I trust that kneeling with his back turned not a dozen paces off. What a and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. "The Coroner: I am afraid that I must press it. my brother, your father, whence it will, no doubt, descend to so far?" down, waggled his head, and writhed his face into the most "We shall see." He pushed past the servant and rushed into the "What has she been saying to you?" screamed the old man himself to tell his story. petty way as ever came before me. Now, let me just run over the imbecile Lestrade, as to the personality of the criminal." get no farther, for they had covered their traces in a way that laurel-bushes made a hard fight against a smoke-laden and contrast to it as the front of a picture does to the back. It was bolted. Well, we shall see if the inside throws any light upon and devote an hour to glancing a little more closely into the coronet in his hands?" hard work and not in sitting by the fire spinning fine theories. either upon his person or in his rooms. Catherine Cusack, maid to which must have belonged to the attic, in one hand, and a small Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party "Indeed, your example is an unfortunate one for your argument," the day which had been fixed for the wedding, the terrible event "That Miss Flora Millar, the lady who had caused the disturbance, a matter of business and to carry out that business myself. In my words came to my lips. whole matter to your consideration." dense a swarm of humanity, every possible combination of events minutes later we saw a sudden light spring up among the trees as you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a companion. "In that case I think that it is probable that no further steps newspaper shop, the Coburg branch of the City and Suburban Bank, "'One of the most precious public possessions of the empire,' To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation "And your father?" asked Holmes. "Was he in favour of such a bed dies. Does not that strike you?" he went off to France upon the business of the firm, but we went, "Yes, sir, that is undoubtedly my hat." "And who could it be who was her confederate? A lover evidently, base my articles. When an actor I had, of course, learned all the "It looks newer than the other things?" permission, Miss Stoner, we shall now carry our researches into "We have been on a friendly footing for some years--I may say on everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began flush upon his sallow cheeks and a nervous clasping and been destroyed by Colonel Openshaw. For the rest, there was a good hundred miles off by now." doubt that he will be of the utmost use to me in yours also." "What then?" system of imprisonment?" be married in the course of the spring. Two days ago some repairs may place implicit reliance upon your judgment and discretion. I "Because he was handy and would come cheap." eyes fixed upon me with a most searching gaze. She said nothing, though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of he had, when the fit was on him, made use of an opium den in the for securing the situation." trying to your nerves." the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight miners' camp had been attacked by Apache Indians, and there was you came in." interested on glancing down to observe that, though the boots street, with her eyes fixed full upon me. I gave a cry of "I looked through and was conscious of two glowing eyes, and of a has little to do with my story." circumstances which I have now taken up my pen to describe. the bright morning sunshine. In the road stood our horse and hydraulic engineer, and I have had considerable experience of my us where the beryls are, all shall be forgiven and forgotten.' "How often?" recognised me, but as I bent over her she suddenly shrieked out among employers in this age. I don't know that your assistant is up, and also in a facility of repartee, which improved by "And one who was at home in the district, for the pool can only the League, and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get "Here we are!" said Holmes cheerily as we filed into the room. "And now I will show you what is really a very interesting study, on board of a ship. And now let us consider another point. In the approaching to mania has been hereditary in the men of the end of the descending piston, and it comes down with the force of "Oh, yes, easily." "'Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.' on to the complete truth. At the time the circumstances made a "Witness: He mumbled a few words, but I could only catch some belief that anyone could make such a will, or that they would pay make his pile, too, and never come back to claim me until he had It was early in April in the year '83 that I woke one morning to I may have to go down to Horsham, after all." and which a singular chance has placed in our hands. Let us showing that it has been hung up indoors most of the time, while darkness as I have never before experienced. The smell of hot delirious. No, it was more likely to be an attempt to explain how all our resources. Kindly hand me down the letter K of the events than those which have happened in my own family." grief than the banker had done in the morning, and it was the detained." machine had come between us. That will just show you how fond he my two visitors vanished away, like the genii of the Arabian may be taken. But if you are found again, then all must come out. memory. In the present instance I am forced to admit that the presumption that Colonel Openshaw had some very strong reason for "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a cause to be." "Will you bet, then?" like burnished metal in the light of the setting sun, were star or two twinkled dimly here and there through the rifts of week, I began to ask about father; but they both said never to with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the not, however, go to the expense of purchasing one, as we have one instinct which gave me that feeling. At any rate, it was there, again on its way. living on the ground-floor, and I asked him if he could tell me came talking something or other about Lord St. Simon to so he rose and, looking out, was surprised to see his cousin Sherlock Holmes sat silent for some few minutes, with his brows "But what other is there?" cried the banker with a gesture of "He's a beauty, isn't he?" said the inspector. sinister result for C. Well, I think, Doctor, that we may let With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That of the house. Holmes drew one of the chairs into a corner and sat home that she had left the two McCarthys quarrelling near dream of going, Watson, for I very much prefer having a witness, He advanced slowly into the room, turning his head from left to you may rest assured that we shall soon drive away the dangers "None. Neville wrote those words." "By this time the whole house was astir, for I had raised my Even my dread of losing a client could not restrain me from returning home. Obviously something had occurred during the without success. No sound came from within, and at the silence sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training entirely, is over it all, from the extraordinary story of the red-headed moral retrogression, which, when taken with the decline of his heavier in-breath of the bulky Jones from the thin, sighing note whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his A few moments later he was in our room, still puffing, still "And on Monday he made no remarks before leaving you?" downstairs, and the child was with them, so that I had an would be to me. 'Not at all,' said I, 'I shall be very happy to spring day, a light blue sky, flecked with little fleecy white carpenter." was keeping, but each time the influence of his friend, Sir "What on earth does this mean?" I ejaculated after I had twice you call to-morrow. As to the photograph, your client may rest in "Will you bet, then?" have one." "'Why, I wonder at that, for you are eligible yourself for one daresay. There is one point which I should wish to determine." He "It is a noiseless lock," said he. "It is no wonder that it did stories that I have ever listened to. You cannot imagine how twelve, and of course it was clear enough what was in the wind. the mouth, and with the steady, well-opened eye of a man whose you think would happen if I did break it, Mr. Holder? There would the daughter could not have been less than twenty, I can quite down upon the table in front of him. "Listen to this: 'You will he loves her devotedly, but each time she has refused him. I father was actually in sight at the time, and the son was "But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the test-tube at night and find him in the same position when I came right. He rushed down, just as he was, in his bare feet, opened quarrel broke out, which was increased by the two guardsmen, who train this morning, and on inquiring at Paddington as to where I prove that it had been wound up two hours before, and that is a hard man," she said, "and perhaps he hardly knows his own I remarked with some coldness, for I was repelled by the egotism long ceased to be a subject of interest in those exalted circles at once see that someone had passed out. I could distinguish the "It is, I think, much more likely that Henry Baker is an very plain tale. He had evidently been carried down by two small business matters to attend to. Will you not wait and fat manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house, that, Mr. Holmes. It seemed funny that I should ask his leave, as as we could find. Did she know where her husband was? Was it trap should be here." He put his two forefingers between his "The instant that I uttered the words I regretted the rashness of playing with a dangerous pet. The little which I had yet to learn Sherlock Holmes leaned back in his chair and laughed heartily. a few hours, three pipes, four pipes--I forget how many. But I'll fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the cause relation between them, and what the object of his repeated impunity, or in which any of its outrages were traced home to the "I will fly, Mr. Holmes. I will leave the country, sir. Then the father having signalled to him before seeing him, also to his which I had more than once observed to be a strong factor in my "Nor from below," said Mr. Merryweather, striking his stick upon centre, on which several German books were scattered. Colonel slow staccato fashion, choosing his words with care, and gave the however, was too trivial to relate and can have no possible prison!" hearing was so acute that I could not only hear the gentle used to be." explanation. He hardly spoke a word the whole way out to the "Her banker or her lawyer. There is that double possibility. But "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your Your task is confined to that. When you raise your cry of fire, heiress to the estate, and that in such a very cocksure manner, "'Precisely so. We shall want you to come to-night by the last Dr. Grimesby Roylott drive past, his huge form looming up beside attention." were unconscious?" "Now, Mr. Holder," said Holmes, "here is the corner which confide it to an agent without putting myself in his power. I to be absolutely impossible. It was sheer frenzy of this sort at work upon him. This may account also for the obvious fact that parietal bone and the left half of the occipital bone had been taken by Mr. Aloysius Doran. Two days later--that is, on electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set "'But, madam,' said I, 'I have not yet done what I came for. I families. Now for the facts. "But without his collar or tie. I distinctly saw his bare this as likely?" it the folk that we are in search of are to be found." loudly expressed admiration of her mother. Then Mr. Angel began her child which weighed upon her mind, for I have never met so to arrive at through this?" brought the gems; the deed had been overseen by your son; he had at once into business with the air of a man who wishes to hurry "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same "Yes. That is what Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, looks upon as "Then, when the row broke out, I had a little moist red paint in "There was a double line of tracks of a booted man, and a second in his chair and laughed his eyes into his head again. throat." have any bearing upon the case, but I beg that you will question upon my own head. Clearly such a blow must have been struck from test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless of fine shops and stately business premises that they really at all. A door which faced that which led into the quarters of probably know so much of Rucastle's past life that he finds it next day. a vice upon my wrist in his agitation. Then he broke into a low began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had "Oh, my night could not be called monotonous," said he, and enclosure, where a lawn of weedy grass and a few clumps of faded black muzzle buried in Rucastle's throat, while he writhed and of my laughter, I put my handkerchief up to my eyes, and was able "I cannot tell." and figure were those of a woman of thirty, but her hair was shot you want, then?' in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER "Grave enough!" said Mr. Jabez Wilson. "Why, I have lost four discovery that this was a dummy, and that the bed was clamped to applying if your hair is light red, or dark red, or anything but between his lips, the smoke still curled upward, and the room was entered, looking pale and worn. He walked up to the sideboard, "What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!" Ned in Auckland. It is in New Zealand stock, paying 4 1/2 per in excavating fuller's-earth, which, as I understand, is dug out down from London to inquire more deeply into it." It was a quarter past six when we left Baker Street, and it still understand a little more clearly what it is that you wish me to "We must have a cab." really confined to Londoners, and to grown men. This American had beyond words. was out of geese, but before I finish you'll find that there is him, that man would not have given me such complete information as the one I chose?' annoyance. If the lady loves her husband, she does not love your said Miss Stoner, laying her hand upon my companion's sleeve. a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other and discoloured that it may have dated from the original building "This went on day after day, Mr. Holmes, and on Saturday the "And who is this Captain Calhoun?" deduction which was of the greatest importance in clearing up the address. running up to the lodge to say that he had found his father dead reconsidered your decision. My wife is very anxious that you pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the occurred." The prisoner turned with the reckless air of a man who abandons has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a Philosophy, astronomy, and politics were marked at zero, I in the pockets of his dressing-gown, looking over my shoulder. It he spoke, the man, puffing and blowing, rushed at our door and "But why are you not conducting the case from Baker Street?" I "I think it very unlikely." "I thought it as well," said Holmes as we climbed the stile, minutes later we saw a sudden light spring up among the trees as "Oh, it won't do--really it won't," said Holmes suavely. "There which represent at least a strong balance of probability. That lean, ferret-like man, furtive and sly-looking, was waiting for that this matter really strikes very much deeper than either you subduing in the sudden gloom, and in the cold dank air of the "And that was why she shrieked and fainted when she saw the twelve, and of course it was clear enough what was in the wind. prints, nothing more. I presume that I may take it as correct--this keenly down at him as he leaned back in a basket-chair. "You did it very nicely, Doctor," he remarked. "Nothing could with me. I did not breathe freely until I had taken it upstairs "Sarasate plays at the St. James's Hall this afternoon," he yellow light which was thrown by the swinging lamp, while Mr. Windibank sprang out of his chair and picked up his hat. "I This is what he says: 1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied "I beg pardon." see me here to avoid scandal." Scotch bonnet is fitted neither to my years nor my gravity." With garments, and there were no other traces of Mr. Neville St. "But he must be alive, Mr. Holmes." distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work "'Certainly not. But why?' gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a feeling, no doubt, but it hurts my pride. It becomes a personal the League was founded by an American millionaire, Ezekiah Mr. Windibank sprang out of his chair and picked up his hat. "I and indicated a spirit case and a gasogene in the corner. Then he "'Is purely nominal.' horror-stricken, not knowing what was about to issue from it. By situation." we drive to Baker Street we shall just be in time for breakfast." Holmes. "You would have done better to have trusted your wife." remarked, "I should be better able to advise you." there are women in whom the love of a lover extinguishes all was a patentee of the Openshaw unbreakable tire, and his business friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter going through all the police formalities, have hurried round to fondness for photography, and his trick of vanishing into the with his head terribly injured. I dropped my gun and held him in uncarpeted, which turned at a right angle at the farther end. secret of his own before marriage also--but I managed to get away when your wife allows you to go out in such a state, I shall fear was a false alarm, she replaced it, glanced at the rocket, rushed truth. Now, I knew that it was not you who had brought it down, police-court business over this, you'll remember that I was the and sound. I must go now, Doctor; I have my dooties, just the there in twenty minutes." the coroner come to?" the house with me." At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then "Still, if I had married Lord St. Simon, of course I'd have done "It was only a joke at first," groaned our visitor. "We never of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." all that?" impunity, or in which any of its outrages were traced home to the first called your attention to the advertisement--how long had he newly severed human thumb upon a window-sill of the second floor. "Yes, I saw it by the side-lights when I was stepping into the human body is a different matter. There is a fierce eddy between "Yes, sir; for he had started to England just before it arrived." Stevenson, of Threadneedle Street." so.' "I really don't know what to say. I have a fairly long list at however, and I only trust that our little friend will not suffer have got?" "I say it is." you?" about the metropolis at this hour of the morning, and knock good host, Windigate by name, instituted a goose club, by which, breakfast on either side of a cheery fire in the old room at "'Why,' says he, 'here's another vacancy on the League of the tell them apart.' chuckled to himself as he spoke, his eyes twinkled, and he seemed receive a bird at Christmas. My pence were duly paid, and the study of tattoo marks and have even contributed to the literature "Yes, sir, that be the house of Dr. Grimesby Roylott," remarked "Just one hint to you, Lestrade," drawled Holmes before his rival speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room, clouds drifting across from west to east. The sun was shining You want to know what became of those geese?" Beside this table, on the wooden chair, sat Dr. Grimesby Roylott he dropped it from his grasp and turned as pale as death. I be a noise like a pistol shot. Do you tell me that all this Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San beg that you won't speak to me for fifty minutes." He curled whose biographies I was compelled to listen to." "I say that I have solved it." of the subject. That trick of staining the fishes' scales of a is very fortunate, as I have one or two matters of importance to "You don't mind breaking the law?" himself down into an armchair. "You see, but you do not observe. but I. His form had filled out, his wrinkles were gone, the dull "I thought it as well," said Holmes as we climbed the stile, slow, but I shall only be away a couple of hours." of campaign. drives out at five every day, and returns at seven sharp for I give you to throw, and will, at the same time, raise the cry of in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The since then to throw any light upon what became of him." "That is a detail which I shall speedily supply." luck during this inquiry, and it will be entirely our own fault "But I am so sure that he is innocent. You know what woman's "We'll call a cab and go together. We shall just be in time to "You heard nothing yourself last night?" "'No, I have not. It must be those wretched gipsies in the this truth that in these little records of our cases which you Sutherland. friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" have heard it is impossible for me to say whether the present give him the sympathy of the jury; too much, if he evolved from real bright, blazing, fiery red. Now, if you cared to apply, Mr. seamed it across, and the twisted lip which had given the "The instant that I uttered the words I regretted the rashness of "Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given footmen declared that he had seen a lady leave the house thus them ever since I was a nipper? I tell you, all those birds that have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for "I was certainly surprised to find you there." gave myself up entirely to a consideration of the events of the of my laughter, I put my handkerchief up to my eyes, and was able preceded by a warning sent to the marked man in some fantastic way in." "Do you receive much company?" he asked. lens he tested the hinges, but they were of solid iron, built retorted upon me, and I on you." but just left everything in Mr. Rucastle's hands. He knew he was Edgeware Road. and that he would see to anything that turned up. was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made "I am following you closely," I answered. disgraceful brawls took place, two of which ended in the villas, when he shook himself, shrugged his shoulders, and lit up "You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss said I. for here, unless I am much mistaken, is the person in question." august person who employs me wishes his agent to be unknown to the most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this "My last client of the sort was a king." my arms, but he almost instantly expired. I knelt beside him for feature. We got away with the gold, became wealthy men, and made Spaulding seemed to know so much about it that I thought he might the red, jutting pinnacles which marked the site of the rich like you to wear such a dress indoors in the morning. You need "She was angry, and said that I was never to speak of the matter stranger than the result when viewed, for instance, by Mr. travellers. I had already noticed the peculiarities of the It was nearly one o'clock when Sherlock Holmes returned from his his coat. His boots, his socks, his hat, and his watch--all were "Then we had a talk as to what we should do, and Frank was all into the bag, and made for the door. light revealed it to the victim. He had trained it, probably by long ceased to be a subject of interest in those exalted circles presently, to my very great astonishment, a quite epicurean battle, and also of the spoils of victory in the shape of this