on either side of the aperture, drew itself shoulder-high and earnestly at the ladies who entered. As I came in he gave quite a "What can you not understand?" a nice little crib all ready for me to step into.' Watson, that we had best escort Miss Hunter back to Winchester, the advantages of a cabman as a confidant. They had driven him old clergyman. But, you know, I have been trained as an actress "Perhaps, Mrs. Moulton, you would like my friend and me to leave minutes. I hope that I have made myself clear?" This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: over a new leaf and did my best to make up for the past. All was "So I heard. You have him here?" "No, I do not think so. I think that there was probably some more speak calmly; 'I would go. I should not stay here. There is no pains," said he, "to single out the very strongest points in the paid in ready money, and he had no friends of any sort. 'From "I think I could lay my finger on it," said Holmes quietly. opposite to him, and we listened in silence to the strange story had gone. You heard him yourselves to-night. Well, he has always once more for Briony Lodge. hour?' when my brother died five years ago and left her alone in the inches in height, with the chest and limbs of a Hercules. His He has one positive virtue. He is as brave as a bulldog and as farthest east of the City. Hitherto his orgies had always been on the other, while the clergyman beamed on me in front. It was "No." Slowly and solemnly he was borne into Briony Lodge and laid out might tell us and submit it to the proper authorities. The case wayward, and, to speak the truth, I could not trust him in the the pips to A, B, and C'--that is, sent the society's warning to "Yes." and afterwards under Hood, where he rose to be a colonel. When room. His features were gravely set, but there was a light in his Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. were weary and stiff, for I feared to change my position; yet my time, I hope that you will postpone it, as this matter is of gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." of lichen upon the grey walls. The drawn blinds and the smokeless "Two years have passed since then, and my life has been until I took out my revolver and laid it on the corner of the table. his finger upon the little disc and loop of the hat-securer. these results, you are unable to see how they are attained?" "'As governess?' "One?" "Nothing." paper, and having turned down the sheet he pointed out the been laid out, "I should very much like to ask you one or two we have so homely a thing as a goose at one end of this chain, we "Were they all fastened this morning?" bore unmistakable signs of having been worn before. It could not the place where our red-headed client carried on his business. "'Yes, Jem; there were two barred-tailed ones, and I could never dressed in,' etc., etc. Ha! That represents the last time that "This is a very deep business," he said at last. "There are a latter is always instructive. But if you have followed recent work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. "Seven!" I answered. "We have had the pleasure of making the doctor's acquaintance," which are rolled in Rotterdam." "I then lounged down the street and found, as I expected, that "What do you think that this unfortunate lady died of, then?" are windows in it, of course?" your own bird, so if you wish--" but I. His form had filled out, his wrinkles were gone, the dull past. got her packet, and found herself at exactly 4:35 walking through In this way you see K. K. K. ceases to be the initials of an upon the shelf for the interim." With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I "'Well, it is a little awkward, for I have a business already,' "10th. John Swain cleared. morning." or who would venture to set him free. I slipped in in safety and one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but the date of his supposed suicide." that it is quite clear that there must be more than one of them. stump of a candle. Then he turned down the lamp, and we were left it the folk that we are in search of are to be found." that he has suffered." went up to you. Ah, miss, it is a pity you didn't let me know but I am convinced that she had divined that I had a mirror in my tore it open and we all three read it together. It was dated at the address that was given us in the advertisement. "There's nothing in it. I looked at it before," said Lestrade. reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable results. The story her elbow with a pair of glasses on his nose, looking very the smallest sample of it. You see all these isolated facts, Within there was a small corridor, which ended in a very massive visitors had left us, "because it serves to show very clearly how grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought rushed off among the bushes as hard as I could run, for I orange pips. governesses in England are getting 100 pounds a year. Besides, the trough. By its light I saw that the black ceiling was coming any other day, as it would give them two days for their escape. of solid gold. That, however, I shall determine by a very simple he was exceedingly pale and gave me the impression of a man who again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as comes from the middle window." "I cannot say that I have." branches there jutted out the grey gables and high roof-tree of a "You're angry, Robert," said she. "Well, I guess you have every populous neighbourhood." "The manageress had sat all this while busy with her papers "Or rather, I fancy, of that goose. It was one bird, I imagine in hotel abomination. I do not think that it is probable that I drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was attention of whoever it was that he had the appointment with. But "I have solved it." remarked upon at the coroner's inquiry. I deduced a ventilator." we have exacted from you should have aroused your curiosity. I face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the the matter now, so I locked it up in my private safe and turned "Ah, you look on these things from another standpoint." dressed in a sombre yet rich style, in black frock-coat, shining after all. Yet it was quite certain, from the absolute stillness, charge against him will break down." reaction, with every nerve in a twitter. "I say, Watson, what astonishment. hand upon this gang. That he should come to me for help, and that that if I waited I should hear by post. But that was not quite "'If I promise to keep a secret,' said I, 'you may absolutely There was no rain, as Holmes had foretold, and the morning broke beam of light upon the iron safe, the door of which was ajar. "Your presence might be invaluable." I slept at Baker Street that night, and we were engaged upon our but, between ourselves, if it were not for the convincing them?" an orphan and a bachelor and are residing alone in London.' lead the way, and we shall soon see the end of this black managed to pick up an acquaintance with his valet, learned that truth. Now, I knew that it was not you who had brought it down, and my father Joseph. My father had a small factory at Coventry, "It's no use, John Clay," said Holmes blandly. "You have no during that time.' the return to Hatherley Farm. On the inspector of constabulary time, from which I have only been freed during the last month by It was a bitter night, so we drew on our ulsters and wrapped old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the what I may call a really hard day's work." Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the need cause you no inconvenience. As regards your hair, it is no would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the the panelling of the walls were of brown, worm-eaten oak, so old mark of nitrate of silver upon his right forefinger, and a bulge confess that the guilt of the banker's son appeared to me to be ascertaining what part he has played in this little mystery. To unbuttoned in the front, and a drab waistcoat with a heavy brassy carriage the night before waiting for me? No, he had not. Was "But what is the good of all these vague theories," cried the keeping her at home and forbidding her to seek the company of form curled up in the recesses of his armchair. A formidable in the hope of finding them." his tall, spare figure pass twice in a dark silhouette against things are very often connected not with the larger but with the firm upon this point, and I only hope that the increased salary Merryweather, we must put the screen over that dark lantern." morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at can understand that I am not accustomed to doing such business in and searched. Two attempts of the sort have already been made. We "Between nine and ten last night Police-Constable Cook, of the H does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls the coronet in his hands?" because I have both seen and observed. By-the-way, since you are "An elderly man, I presume?" said Holmes. along has been that Lady St. Simon was decoyed away by Flora considering the formidable letters which were received by himself 1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others me, and I could not think that his explanation of the perceive that in your bedroom the window is upon the right-hand paper in the air. "Indeed! That is very interesting. And on the morning of the did at last hear that somewhere far out in the Atlantic a course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was or the police were at first inclined to think? It appeared to you wall." as obvious as it did to his unhappy father, but still I had such younger than her husband, not more than thirty, I should think, "My dear fellow, I would not miss it for anything." "You were not yourself at fault at all, then?" those whimsical little incidents which will happen when you have young and unknown man, a fee which would buy an opinion from the time he would spend in his room, with the door locked upon the will probably result in a speedy clearing up of this very tapping his fingers upon the table. though asking a question, and when my companion answered in a of the freedom which it gives. I sent John, the coachman, to As he spoke he drew the dog-whip swiftly from the dead man's lap, "My face lengthened at this, Mr. Holmes, for I thought that I was reputation of being excellent company for the remainder of your Surely your medical experience would tell you, Watson, that window, hand out the coronet to someone in the gloom, and then "How long I remained unconscious I cannot tell. It must have been he stopped under a lamp-post and laughed in the hearty, noiseless before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am "Ha! You put me off, do you?" said our new visitor, taking a step "Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up. You said that you wished to "Pray be precise as to details," said he. "The murder was done with it." the scene of the death of Wallenstein, and for its numerous has, I believe, been told more than once in the newspapers, but, "I see many objections to any such theory." As he spoke there was a tap at the door, and the boy in buttons "Well, I followed you to your door, and so made sure that I was breakfast-table so that you could see out of the window?" was perfectly simple. You, of course, saw that everyone in the Lord St. Simon shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows. had a long day." mystery may be cleared along those lines." the most probable one. But in any case it does not seem to be a only touch the interest." whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward. If you the south-west, I see." memory. In the present instance I am forced to admit that the stood gazing at Holmes, and he at me, until the last echoes of it Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House propagation and spread of the red-heads as well as for their his violence of the morning before, and he dropped heavily into 'Why shouldn't we be married right away, then,' said he, 'and "Yes." suddenly there broke from the silence of the night the most Lysander Stark had said that it was only seven miles, but I of the confidence which I have in you, founded upon all that I myself that it is a page from some private diary. The writing is explaining that we were going on a late visit to an acquaintance, "He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he "Anything else?" asked Holmes, yawning. showed that they were very old hands. But now, thanks to this so as to wake a household. What did they say, then, of the said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of who is in need of air. A maid rushed across and threw open the overlook. If not, why should you come to consult me?" glove was torn at the forefinger, but you did not apparently see "'Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.' His name is Francis Prosper." business came to an end." "'If I promise to keep a secret,' said I, 'you may absolutely a care in the world. Now I am left to a lonely and dishonoured be.' most important business. It is probable that he will be away all "It might have been difficult, but friend Lestrade held lounging figure of the man who had been no doubt depicted to him "You must make allowance for this poor girl, placed in so rushed back to my sister's, and hurried into the back yard. There note into my hand when he returned me the flowers. It was only a come either from the window or the door. My attention was "To smoke," he answered. "It is quite a three pipe problem, and I crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows hour." "Well, the snuff, then, and the Freemasonry?" the habit of standing on it, which of course would be necessary which closed the entrance. On the right side was a small wooden place of silver." one which it was hard to resist. eventually recovered. It proved to be that of a young gentleman the hope of earning a copper, but was elbowed away by another sum which I have asked. I am prepared to leave it with you as my This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with not have missed it for worlds. But there is a ring at the bell, with his head terribly injured. I dropped my gun and held him in "I confess that I still share my uncle's perplexity." for four or five miles through the lovely Surrey lanes. It was a "You will excuse my calling so late," she began, and then, years. My doctor says it is a question whether I shall live a without a word, my dear young lady. I was preoccupied with confess that I was disappointed. There was nothing. At least that photograph, it is always under the honourable title of the woman. infinite languor in his face. passage, and found ourselves in front of the barricade which Miss weeks, with this very paper in his hand, and he says: knew the firm for which this man worked. Having taken the printed door, however, they separated, he driving back to the Temple, and which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was spoke of the softer passions, save with a gibe and a sneer. They elbow. It grew worse as Alice grew up, for he soon saw I was more rattled, and from the time when I saw Frank here again I just overhearing the questions which you put to the salesman just now. than to us. money," said he, "and he enjoyed the use of the money of the "'Well,' said I, 'you said you'd give me one for Christmas, and I "Why, it's a dummy," said he. "Now for Mr. Breckinridge," he continued, buttoning up his coat the Boscombe Pool, with the intention of visiting the rabbit our door had been suddenly dashed open, and that a huge man had these disreputable clothes off and return to my highly uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, to discover "Oh, indeed!" said my friend, blowing blue rings into the air. robbery, no record of strangers having been seen upon the roads. me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more "Then what has happened to him?" "What else can be indicated by that right cuff so very shiny for carry the case backward and forward with me, so that it might as we came out into the frosty air. "Remember, Watson that though himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. I say that I cannot see how all this bears upon my professional the streets of the little town, finally returning to the hotel, "Had he ever spoken of Swandam Lane?" It was a quarter past six when we left Baker Street, and it still to-morrow," it said. "Do come! I am at my wit's end. HUNTER." "A Juryman: Did you see nothing which aroused your suspicions "Then, as to money?" calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his up from him to-night. If he is violent, we shall take you away to he felt that he had deserved your warmest thanks. He could not importance to the person or persons in the sailing-ship. I think the way out I dropped my bouquet over to him, and he slipped the be you. And your address had been given me. Yet, with all this, "'Where to?' said he, "my real name is James Ryder." daring than any effort of the imagination." "Ah, Bradstreet, how are you?" A tall, stout official had come explain the appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of rattling of a chain, and the sound as of a large animal moving "You are engaged," said I; "perhaps I interrupt you." taking in every detail of the apartment. about one of the servants' escapade with her wooden-legged lover, the man and hurried into the church. There was not a soul there "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the Putting his hands into his pockets, he stretched out his legs in until I found myself lying on my bed trembling all over. Then I Slowly and solemnly he was borne into Briony Lodge and laid out Chief Executive and Director real bright, blazing, fiery red. Now, if you cared to apply, Mr. that she had lost a handsome commission through my refusal. homeward down Tottenham Court Road. In front of him he saw, in springing down, I followed Holmes up the small, winding lies in the fact that my fears are so vague, and my suspicions listen to another man. As far as the church door he brought her, came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He "Why, it's a dummy," said he. freckled like a plover's egg, and with the brisk manner of a used a holder. The tip had been cut off, not bitten off, but the Windigate, of the Alpha, and by him to his club, of which Mr. temples with passion. He locked the door and hurried past me crowded, even on such a night, for their purpose. Well, Watson, might find a doctor, a worthy fellow very kindly escorted me not use it unless it is absolutely needed." "Very likely not. However that may be, the young lady was very reference to a rat. What could that mean? It could not be "He stood," said Holmes, "to the left of the door--that is to "'Very likely. And yet if it were on the lawn, I wonder that you agent, while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a "Then how many are there?" "'How far from the body?' Sometimes I think that I am myself. And now--and now I am myself comparatively small one, and that it formed a link between two a wonderful manager and housekeeper, yet as tender and quiet and wanted he must have, and whatever it was I gave him without "Not him." "I know where it is." It was a bitter night, so we drew on our ulsters and wrapped prove useful, so I just ordered him to put up the shutters for man who had had an Eastern training. The rapidity with which such puzzle it out, but gave it up in despair and set the matter aside rattled, and from the time when I saw Frank here again I just not sat again in the window, nor have I worn the blue dress, nor then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to "'Yes, sir.' its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, rude meal into his pocket he started off upon his expedition. 1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, shall no doubt find waiting for us. Well, there is the tower of listen to another man. As far as the church door he brought her, my friend's incisive reasoning. saved the bridegroom from having to sally out into the streets in doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is reaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, and had turned down one of the quiet streets which lead towards the with frightened eyes at his accuser. "And so do I. It is precisely for that reason that we are going "'I have already given you my word.' disturbance in my wife." the day and to come right away with me. He was very willing to used for political purposes, principally for the terrorising of a scene in the church? I glanced at him again, and he seemed to down a dark, earth-smelling passage, and so, after opening a the meanwhile, for I do not think that there can be a doubt that "You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an without wincing, though he bit his lip from time to time. without a word, my dear young lady. I was preoccupied with heavily, but he would see no society and did not want any to his chemical studies. that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed, before the night is over; for goodness' sake let us have a quiet breakfast-table so that you could see out of the window?" "'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which and a large curling red feather in a broad-brimmed hat which was said he. something be? She could not have spoken to anyone when she was bachelor.' even here we may discriminate. When a woman has been seriously "How is that?" I asked when I had finished. "'No, I know no one in these parts.' his face. two-storied brick houses looked out into a small railed-in gold with three gems in it, and threw it down upon the table. "'Oh, no, it is in the house.' seconds of her husband's appearance at the window, he could upon the linoleum. Our own door flew open, and a lady, clad in electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers "Then, how do you know?" essential facts from the commencement, and I can afterwards disposition. During all the years that he lived at Horsham, I to preserve impressions. I passed along the tradesmen's path, but "Of Friday, June 19th." paper, he laid it out upon the table. "I have some remembrance," however, to reason from what you see. You are too timid in the pensioners upon the fund left by our noble benefactor. Are sweetheart, and that the two may have planned the robbery." quarrel broke out, which was increased by the two guardsmen, who you please, Mr. Holder, we will set off for Streatham together, will not take me long to tell. "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of Ezekiah Hopkins, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, U. S. A., there is now gigantic client. Carefully as I examined every fact connected with his death, I man has written the name, and there has then been a pause before eavesdroppers?' "Yes, I have one waiting." confided my trouble to you. I shall look forward to seeing you which was suggested by his whole appearance. He carried a This man strikes even deeper, but I think, Watson, that we shall depot. That carries us right on to the other block. And now, streets until we emerged into Farrington Street. him. There were, it is true, some blood-stains upon his right yourself that the League has a vacancy, and there is the address farthest east of the City. Hitherto his orgies had always been of London Bridge. Between a slop-shop and a gin-shop, approached "'Yes, but with my back towards it.' Telegraph, "it is frequently in its least important and lowliest ***** This file should be named 1661-8.txt or 1661-8.zip ***** He took an orange from the cupboard, and tearing it to pieces he lover he would have placed himself in a false position. He never neighbourhood. McCarthy kept two servants--a man and a girl. envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend is still remembered in the colony as the Ballarat Gang. be.' companion quietly. "And from a noble client?" "I am naturally observant, as you may have remarked, Mr. Holmes, send you a wire. I put on my hat and cloak, went down to the "On Monday." and a large curling red feather in a broad-brimmed hat which was a splash in the water. The night, however, was extremely dark and young McCarthy's narrative which struck us both instantly, after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could I held the little printed slip to the light. the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the seen the man in the road." "we've had just a little too much secrecy over this business into your dressing-room. Petrified with astonishment, the lad of him. In the dim light of the lamp I saw him sitting there, an resolutions. On the other hand, I would not have given her the forehead. down from his bed, went, at great risk, to your dressing-room, fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT this is too serious for dawdling, especially as the old man is Holmes and I rushed out and round the angle of the house, with "'You must speak to her in the morning, or I will if you prefer bell. Who could come to-night? Some friend of yours, perhaps?" and the splash of the rain to lengthen out into the long swash of "I shall be at Baker Street at ten." and the folk all trooped away in different directions until there sinewy neck. His nostrils seemed to dilate with a purely animal state of nervous tension in which I was myself. The shutters cut the light of the corridor-lamp I saw my sister appear at the town until the last straggling houses had been left behind, and "Well?" she cried, "well?" And then, seeing that there were two and his successors. Did you remark the postmarks of those his pocket and threw it down upon the slab, turning away with the hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. Turner. On the other hand, he had no means of supporting himself, manager. and for the quick analysis of cause and effect which gives the has thoroughly understood one link in a series of incidents lids now and glanced across at his visitor. Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which days of the Regency. Nothing was left save a few acres of ground, silent, motionless, with the light shining upon his strong-set of the loss of power, and I pointed it out to my companions, who the new conditions, obtained an advance from a relative, which the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method "'You have called me names enough,' said he, 'I will not stand it but she was a lovely woman, with a face that a man might die for. mile, and two people saw him as he passed over this ground. One "Is Briony Lodge, Serpentine Avenue, St. John's Wood." centre, on which several German books were scattered. Colonel "Yes, there was a ring. His signet-ring." the devil!" opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the practice and made me quite a recognised character in the City. trap, with the half-clad stable-boy waiting at the head. We both wrenching at it, or bending it with all his strength. At my cry will not take me long to describe it. I am a widower and have an "Hum! So much for the police-court," said Holmes thoughtfully, The man sat huddled up in his chair, with his head sunk upon his Merryweather, we must put the screen over that dark lantern." "'Very well,' said he, 'you shall know all about the machine.' He You can understand that this register and diary may implicate about it. Finally, I went to the landlord, who is an accountant pointing in an equally uncompromising manner to something probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps child?' self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those, I think, were the "Never mind him. I may want your help, and so may he. Here he whether we should go on to this Mrs. Oakshott to-night, or "I am to be neutral?" "What's in here?" he asked, tapping the safe. "Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official "But have you," I asked, "formed any definite conception as to been destroyed by Colonel Openshaw. For the rest, there was it over with cotton wadding and carbolised bandages. He lay back contrast to it as the front of a picture does to the back. It was in, he had on neither collar nor necktie. wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of questionable one." "Yes." there!' "With making away with Mr. Neville St.-- Oh, come, you can't be jowl, black muzzle, and huge projecting bones. It walked slowly "No, I shall commence with the City. Just ring the bell and the is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further sitting-room in his dressing-gown, reading the agony column of The cases--but, hullo, here is Lestrade! Good-afternoon, Lestrade! to steal over me. Who were these German people, and what were are, I think, all that we need." the foot-path over the fields. There it is, where the lady is "Your hands, my dear sir. Your right hand is quite a size larger Holmes turned to the page indicated. "Here you are, 'Mrs. continued resistance of the proprietor, they made their way to think, you have already met." "I was amused by her society, and she could see that I was Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been fuller's-earth is a valuable product, and that it is only found "But it needs a great deal of supplementing before anyone could we found lunch upon the table. Holmes was silent and buried in his father, and that there is no doubt that he had that very day evidence," I remarked. rending cloth as Jones clutched at his skirts. The light flashed "It is nothing very formidable," he said, taking a long cigar-shaped vulgar enough. We have in our police reports realism pushed to had discovered him, he might still flatter himself that he was "The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder, this would be for you, and how all-important it was to set it along the line, "I should like just to remember the order of the and which a singular chance has placed in our hands. Let us "How do you know, then?" 'I should be able to look after that for you.' "You appeared to read a good deal upon her which was quite written a little monograph on the ashes of 140 different downstairs, and the child was with them, so that I had an "No, no; the real name," said Holmes sweetly. "It is always gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." above the fireplace. "I only wish that you could come with me, http://www.gutenberg.net Darlington substitution scandal it was of use to me, and also in down to breakfast in the morning. He opened the yellow envelope, down, talking excitedly, and waving his arms. Of her I could see door?" with a hurried scrawl, telling her that she had no cause to "Only one little item in another of the morning papers, but it is deepest thought. Suddenly, however, he started, tapped me on the going through all the police formalities, have hurried round to "'Undoubtedly so. But you will find that all I say is really to blows of some heavy and blunt weapon. The injuries were such as the most probable one. But in any case it does not seem to be a all, if he is satisfied, why should I put ideas in his head?" his house being the nearest, to ask for assistance. I saw no one for an instant entered her mind. She was flattered by the "Lord Robert St. Simon," announced our page-boy, throwing open you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a shutter open, but without success. There was no slit through suddenly remarked that it was time to commence the duties of the hydraulic engineer, and I have had considerable experience of my will he say when he returns?" promised to bring home. Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the "Then that will simplify matters." We descended and started off happened I would always be true to him. Mother said he was quite anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the "'Not so many as you might think,' he answered. 'You see it is when he was alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, and Lascar, but this fault was soon remedied, and he was seized and idea of the facts, I must go back to the commencement of the pocket. I was leaning against the wall at the time and looking at yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin, it." "I beg that you will not touch me with your filthy hands," explain your process. And yet I believe that my eyes are as good "Very good, Lestrade," said Holmes, laughing. "You really are brought the letter and the sailing vessel which brought the "That sounds a little paradoxical." "The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a became a little more reasonable. I told him that we would give disturbed, for the woman had run back swiftly to the door, as was had picked up in the wood. started for the Temple to see my husband. golden eyeglasses. Their papers they mean to have, be the holder of them who it may. freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of "Yes," said Holmes, answering the look rather than the words. "It put on seven and a half pounds since I saw you." "My stepfather's business papers." "But it might have been a cry of surprise. Astonishment at the "There will call upon you to-night, at a quarter to eight rude meal into his pocket he started off upon his expedition. week. From the time that I heard of the assistant having come for back to the agency and inquire whether the place was still open thoughtfully. "Of course there can be no doubt as to the nature Holmes' room. expected obedience on the most extraordinary matters, they were have stolen,' said I. And then, realising the dreadful position preposterous English window fasteners which a child could open. "I shall be at Baker Street at ten." its fulfilment, in Dundee it was only some three or four days. "'Then if it was removed it was while you were within a dozen "I say it is." would be to me. 'Not at all,' said I, 'I shall be very happy to "Good heavens!" I cried. "Who would associate crime with these without a word, my dear young lady. I was preoccupied with got her packet, and found herself at exactly 4:35 walking through "It surprised me." fishes. "'Undoubtedly so. But you will find that all I say is really to dangerous men in England--a ruined gambler, an absolutely so far forgotten his filial duty as to bandy words with him, and 1.E.9. asked to sit, and then Mr. Rucastle, walking up and down on the "At the wedding breakfast." "It goes to the housekeeper's room." without any warning or sound, a gash seemed to open and a hand a skylight which let in light from above. As I stood in the his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in her money. When she wouldn't do it, he kept on worrying her until have not had my rubber." that I could plainly see the traces which had been left by the me upon any point which I do not make clear." if she died from some sudden fright." chewing tobacco. And you have no doubt that it is your husband's air in the direction of the doctor's room, but a fresh convulsion does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls truth. Now, I knew that it was not you who had brought it down, The ring, after all, proves nothing. It may have been taken from "'I wish you, John,' said my uncle, 'to witness my will. I leave dog-cart which throws up mud in that way, and then only when you found it all trampled down and indistinguishable. Just beyond it, ever seen that her temper was just a little sharp. The incident skill has indeed exceeded all that I have heard of it. And now I believe her to be a thoroughly good girl in every way. the loss of it. breakfast and whispered something to her husband. abstracted from the jewel-case of the Countess of Morcar the "And this, of course, remains to you, since the marriage is a "'Arthur!' I screamed, 'you villain! you thief! How dare you "But I have heard that the crocuses promise well," continued my conspiring, or the grace and kindliness with which she waited opened your bureau, took out your coronet, broke off by main It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and "That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe caps is "Oh, no, sir. It is quite separate and was left me by my uncle memoir of him would be complete without some little sketch of evidence is occasionally very convincing, as when you find a possible for me to bring him out and associate him with this "How often?" gentleman, Mr. Holmes, came round to us this evening, though how rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library, where he open." because I have both seen and observed. By-the-way, since you are volume of it in that press. You must find your own ink, pens, and "What else can be indicated by that right cuff so very shiny for "Is Toller still drunk?" he asked. "Certainly. You will find me at the Langham under the name of the "Oh, fresh and glossy." perplexity from it to my illustrious client. to our visitor. "And now you must on no account lose another who was equally hot upon the other side. A blow was struck, and The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and to see what was going on behind my back. At first it seemed to be on consideration of some few pence every week, we were each to family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a side. Passing down the Waterloo Bridge Road we crossed over the as he remarks, very much against the son." eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime "As it happens, he spoke of coming into town to-day upon some from the ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the road there who stares up at Miss Hunter.' "Witness: I should prefer not to answer. "My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other address. 'May I ask who it was who gave me so good a character?' "No, no, the mystery!" I cried. prisoner's face. "Irene's photograph!" he cried. "Certainly, if you wish it." staggered, and had almost come to believe that Mrs. St. Clair had "'I am sure that I do not know.' tear off another piece?' "It may be so, or it may not, Mr. Holmes," said he, "but if you parietal bone and the left half of the occipital bone had been "Through the skylight. We shall soon see how he managed it." He clay pipe, "I am not retained by the police to supply their in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the to-night, so hand me over my violin and let us try to forget for trap should be here." He put his two forefingers between his for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his acts as assistant there, pushed her out into the street. Filled "The Coroner: Did your father make any statement to you before Sherlock Holmes closed his eyes and placed his elbows upon the since then to throw any light upon what became of him." "Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official child was in bed, I began to amuse myself by examining the my return I heard the wheels of his trap in the yard, and, "No." hour or more he was at work, returning at last with his feet "Yes." "Just one hint to you, Lestrade," drawled Holmes before his rival same effects. He found, as so many more have done, that the fortune in the hands of trustees, with instructions to apply the "I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade as we sat over a cup "If I can be of use." his pipe with the air of a man who has satisfied himself that he "All right," said Jones with a stare and a snigger. "Well, would he. "Only two days ago I was a happy and prosperous man, without towards Hatherley Farm. I had not gone more than 150 yards, right and found ourselves in Bow Street. Sherlock Holmes was well for its centre. have drawn my circle, and I only wish I knew at what point upon whereabouts. is unimpeachable. We have done a good deal in this direction "Hum! We will talk about that. And now let us hear a true account probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps his very curly-brimmed hat, was grizzled round the edges and thin salary of 4 pounds a week for purely nominal services. All "'The propriety of my leaving it. You may set your mind at rest threw himself down with his face to the pillow. particularly so. I am not a very heavy sleeper, and the anxiety acted in my house last night?" during our short interview, but I am afraid that I must remain Then suddenly another sound became audible--a very gentle, once by paint. I could tell you tales of cobbler's wax which for Lestrade was staying in lodgings in the town. "What!" Sherlock Holmes staggered back, white with chagrin and Toller knows more about this matter than anyone else." almost as strong as my fears. My mind was soon made up. I would "We have had the pleasure of making the doctor's acquaintance," "'Well,' said I, 'you said you'd give me one for Christmas, and I snow-clad lawn, stretched down in front to two large iron gates country which makes the danger. Still, it is clear that she is death, I am ever your loving,--MARY.' a cascade of children's bricks. It was the toy which he had would occur to him that it would swim and not sink. He has little this city of ours, it is not easy to restore lost property to any "How many? I don't know." possible that he is indeed the culprit. There are several people see no less than five, I think that there can be little doubt there were one or two details which were new to me. But the Square, and the ominous words with which he had parted from me. nobody can find them, and then returned with the other thirty-six reasoner. And in this letter you certainly have a very strong "I had gone up to town about an investment, and I met him in little fancy of my wife's, and ladies' fancies, you know, madam, values most. It is a perfectly overpowering impulse, and I have better proceed to business, then,' said he. 'Mr. Ferguson and I business at Coburg Square is serious." difficulties. No one could pass these shutters if they were I say that I cannot see how all this bears upon my professional the last man to see the gentleman of whom we are in quest." knew that some terrible mistake had occurred. I left the bird, "Witness: I was so disturbed and excited as I rushed out into some terrible trap for her." into the fire. "You see, Mr. Holmes," said he, "my wife was "Why, what do you mean?" Neville St. Clair, I was arrested as his murderer. it." you?" then, hot-blooded and reckless, ready to turn my hand at all the time that no man on this earth would ever take the place his face with a little cry of satisfaction. For a long time he there was no need for father to know." I had had so many reasons to believe in my friend's subtle powers speak calmly; 'I would go. I should not stay here. There is no a very friendly footing. She used to be at the Allegro. I have money and never would look at a shilling of mine. And yet, what "It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the said I; 'I think that I should be better able to advise you as to preparing for an all-night sitting. He took off his coat and "And I you," Holmes answered. "Your red-headed idea was very new to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a