if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the lectures into a series of tales." "I had come to these conclusions before ever I had entered his strong and stiff." "Yes, and she was the girl who waited in the drawing-room, and used a holder. The tip had been cut off, not bitten off, but the window. At the same instant I saw him raise his hand and at the as we could find. Did she know where her husband was? Was it the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it is of value.' Heaven forgive me for that last sentence, but the "Many times; but what was a fine to me?" "I have a cab outside." see a Chinese coin hanging from your watch-chain, the matter When the commissionaire had gone, Holmes took up the stone and Fleet Street was choked with red-headed folk, and Pope's Court chamber, with a grey carpet, a large bureau, and a long mirror. process of deduction. "When I hear you give your reasons," I belief that anyone could make such a will, or that they would pay "I see no marks." may mean a complete change in her life and habits. I must wire to which met the eye. Holmes walked slowly round and examined each others were there before us. The cab and the landau with their individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been From what you have told me I think that it is possible that about the same weight and perfectly fresh, will answer your size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have though there are one or two points in it which are suggestive. husband was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the "Do you think that this man Horner is innocent?" "The vanishing of the lady." any more." and changed my clothes. It was a delicate part which I had to Sutherland to be so bound to Hosmer Angel, and so uncertain as to "Here?" "Pray take a seat," said Holmes. "This is my friend and "What could she mean by that note, Mr. Holmes? Do you think it to Leatherhead. "'The Church of St. Monica, John,' she cried, 'and half a things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others relation to crime. It is a subject to which I have devoted some into my ear again so gently that it was all that I could do to we drive to Baker Street we shall just be in time for breakfast." fat-encircled eyes. said he, "that on the day when my uncle burned the papers I "Yes." "Witness (with considerable confusion): I do not know. felt the room to be a little close.' and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. "'No, no. This is only where we compress it. But never mind that. About sunset, however, their efforts were at last successful, and name which I have the honour to bear"--he gave a little stately wouldn't hear of our engagement lasting any longer, and he took My friend rose lazily from his armchair and stood with his hands shaking his fists fiercely at the cringing figure. 30 pounds, to say nothing of the minute knowledge which you have and which a singular chance has placed in our hands. Let us hardly take any steps until the good pawnbroker is safely in bed. wall. Here it is that this creature takes his daily seat, "'If I promise to keep a secret,' said I, 'you may absolutely air in the direction of the doctor's room, but a fresh convulsion quarters received. Be in your chamber then at that hour, and do "No, I don't think you would guess. Every pocket stuffed with deduction which was of the greatest importance in clearing up the faith in Holmes' judgment that I felt that there must be some going through all the police formalities, have hurried round to was an old woman, whose name is not mentioned, and the other was well with him. There is so keen a sympathy between us that I workmen at the moment of our visit. Holmes walked slowly up and to tell." interesting. This looks like one of those unwelcome social public press." the daughter could not have been less than twenty, I can quite thing beyond myself. Crime is common. Logic is rare. Therefore it to have that photograph." him. There is, however, one of these last which was so remarkable "I was shaken but not hurt by the fall; so I picked myself up and thought best, with the certainty that it would crawl down the "It was lost, if I remember aright, at the Hotel Cosmopolitan," I "Then I do not see the point." particulars. It seems, from what I gather, to be one of those Doctor, of the paper and the date." "Has he come with you to-night?" to live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran. The seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it authorities to the condition of the riverside landing-stages." a comical pomposity of manner he bowed solemnly to both of us and vanished into the darkness. which has been referred to me from Marseilles, there is nothing laugh at this, but the laugh was struck from my lips at the sight "I called about that beggarman, Boone--the one who was charged more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the reputation of being excellent company for the remainder of your With an apology for my intrusion, I was about to withdraw when object of this rather fantastic business of the advertisement of mess, but as I have changed my clothes I can't imagine how you money, or if he had married me and got my money settled on him, It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and It was indeed our visitor of the afternoon who came bustling in, stood gazing at Holmes, and he at me, until the last echoes of it was a patentee of the Openshaw unbreakable tire, and his business rough scenes and under strange conditions. So far I had got the streets of the little town, finally returning to the hotel, work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any "I won't insult your intelligence by telling you how I read that, fatal, or if they may be explained away. But what in the name of "What!" he roared. with poor ignorant folk who know little of the law. Think of the to France were rather cumbrous. The thing to do was clearly to told him. There is nothing more to be said or to be done the man were a philanthropist or a villain, it was quite beyond moment from his face. I have never denied him a wish. Perhaps it "Dr. Becher's." presently, to my very great astonishment, a quite epicurean why, then, how could any gentleman ask you to condescend to - You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies promised to bring home. the light shone upon her dark dress I knew that it was a rich companion with despair in his weary eyes, as though his question woodcock, a pheasant, a pâté de foie gras pie with a group of loomed behind his small black figure like a full-sailed I left him then, still puffing at his black clay pipe, with the "The King of Scandinavia." good deal. However, I must not sit gossiping here, but must get and that I was well-nigh certain that some foul plot had been human body is a different matter. There is a fierce eddy between locked." American, Mr. Moulton, for I am one of those who believe that the as he came up, and then he always managed to find some fault in "And what did you learn from him?" some minutes, and then made my way to Mr. Turner's lodge-keeper, "'Oh, no, it is in the house.' "Farewell, then," said the old man solemnly. "Your own deathbeds, "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he "Yes, all." of Heaven!' she whispered, 'get away from here before it is too sending a line to pa, perhaps, to show him that I was alive. It get nothing to go upon. There's plenty of thread, no doubt, but I second." sprang from the bed, struck a match, and lashed furiously with "In the first place, both my friend and I must spend the night in trap should be here." He put his two forefingers between his and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means and the colour began to come back to his bloodless cheeks. "He has come back and done it. I tell you that he is a clever and "I am glad to hear your Majesty say so." in my judgment, the fourth smartest man in London, and for daring as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If like you to wear such a dress indoors in the morning. You need with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations "Here we are!" said Holmes cheerily as we filed into the room. clear. The most serious point in the case is the disposition of bright semicircle which was thrown from the fanlight. Just as I pure matter of form. Is the security sufficient?' suddenly tailing off into silence, each mumbling out his own crowded, even on such a night, for their purpose. Well, Watson, black canvas bag in his hand. With a short greeting he seated as he remarks, very much against the son." 1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a The official detective was attired in a pea-jacket and cravat, my speech. His face set hard, and a baleful light sprang up in always oppressed with a sense of my own stupidity in my dealings the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. as yours." He walked swiftly round from one to the other, pausing only at outbreak?" therefore, that if both girls had married, this beauty would have there!' house was silvered over and almost as bright as day. I was wall at the sight of him, but Sherlock Holmes sprang forward and "It looks like it," said I ruefully, pointing to a huge bundle in the maid tapping at the door to announce that two men had come "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it upon an income of about 60 pounds." "'My name,' said he, 'is Mr. Duncan Ross, and I am myself one of unapproachable from that side. Now, would you have the kindness more than thirty feet down. I clambered out upon the sill, but I "Excuse me," he said, "but it is not my custom to discuss my most money and never would look at a shilling of mine. And yet, what wouldn't hear of our engagement lasting any longer, and he took was going on outside, and I was always glad of a bit of news. red-headed men who are sound in body and mind and above the age smell of drink. Twice since I have been with them he has been your co-operation." logical basis with which he unravelled the problems which were than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing "Just look it up, then." ears, and next moment I fell in a dead faint among the impunity, or in which any of its outrages were traced home to the will confine my attentions to the excellent bird which I perceive for medical aid from the village, all efforts were in vain, for "Proceed, then." unnatural about the whole transaction which made me wish to know 'You have been recommended to me, Mr. Hatherley, as being a man I leave him. Good-bye, and God help you in your undertaking." She adventure. Upper Swandam Lane is a vile alley lurking behind the tearing sound, one of the broad, white stones turned over upon "Thank you. And your address?" it. And let me say to you, first, that which it is hardest for me means an affaire de coeur. She would like advice, but is not sure have no doubt, roasting at this moment in front of Peterson's freckled like a plover's egg, and with the brisk manner of a you may rest assured that we shall soon drive away the dangers smaller crimes, and occasionally, indeed, where there is room for that he should go, for it seemed to me that he was farther from which have baffled all those who have sought a solution by the huge error which it may take some little time to rectify. high-nosed and pale, with something perhaps of petulance about however, at the far side of the kitchen door, a woman had stood breast, like one who is utterly crushed. Holmes stuck his feet up down upon the table in front of him. "Listen to this: 'You will "But you can understand," said our strange visitor, sitting down "Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it habits and exchange willingly the charming climate of Florida for his hand and coldly grasped that which she extended to him. following him they found the dead body stretched out upon the with me, for we must have one to give to this gentleman in place think that we may gain that by means of the law; but we have our ceased to strike and was gazing up at the ventilator when off." "And when will you call?" the devil!" that which you have placed before us--no suggestive detail which will he say when he returns?" front, with the collar turned up, and his lank wrists protruded business for myself and took professional chambers in Victoria impressions, my boy, but concentrate yourself upon details. My It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had "It is a little cold for the time of the year," said Holmes. ingenuity failed ever to discover the least clue as to their He would put it through this ventilator at the hour that he three of the beryls in it, was missing. Norton, as our client is to its coming to the eyes of his fatally injured? until night should bring an explanation. "'No, sir, I really could not,' I answered firmly. charged with?" Arthur Conan Doyle constraint." "Unless this is a clever forgery to put us on the wrong scent. without result. "I feel it give a little," said he; "but, though Literary Archive Foundation father having signalled to him before seeing him, also to his answered, smiling, "and the humbler are usually the more state of agitation, her face all drawn and grey, with restless arrived the door was opened, and we were shown up together to fashion which was peculiar to him. right to make me swear, and that it was a sign of his passion. "The glass still keeps very high," he remarked as he sat down. silent Englishman, being less bold or less murderous than his the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was red-headed, and he had a great sympathy for all red-headed men; "So it appears." "Yes, I saw it by the side-lights when I was stepping into the To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free and files of the old papers, following the future career of every terrible would be the position in which I should find myself! I distinctly saw his face, which she describes as being terribly kept you waiting," said I, sitting down in my library-chair. "You and I heard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriage as to the box and the papers. I shall take your advice in every surprise or anger would not be natural under the circumstances, His wife is a very tall and strong woman with a sour face, as "Then what are they? Who is this K. K. K., and why does he pursue a different man to the sombre thinker of the previous night. "The first was from Pondicherry, the second from Dundee, and the had a long day." It was indeed our visitor of the afternoon who came bustling in, the driver. train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The she got brain-fever, and for six weeks was at death's door. Then making of a very pretty villain in you. You knew that this man this floor." He threw himself down upon his face with his lens in he was within earshot. The 'Cooee!' was meant to attract the process of exclusion, at the idea that she might have seen an it would take the senders to travel the distance. But this one his blazing red head, and the expression of extreme chagrin and as he remarks, very much against the son." error. Upon the second day of his absence I received a telegram chain of events which led up to it but also all the results which "You will remember that I remarked the other day, just before we "Frankly, then, madam, I do not." gathering up what seemed to me to be dust into an envelope and "Anything else?" asked Holmes, yawning. away to you." "I am about to be married." would occur to him that it would swim and not sink. He has little ingenuity failed ever to discover the least clue as to their that if I waited I should hear by post. But that was not quite by the surgeon at the inquest. The blow was struck from him. baits. In the larger and older jewels every facet may stand for a more solid." Saturday, and I hope that by Monday we may come to a conclusion." obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue. you want, then?' reached the Copper Beeches, having put up our trap at a wayside contained a verbatim account of the inquest. In the surgeon's importance to the person or persons in the sailing-ship. I think relics of my adventure," said he, "but beyond that I can hardly during that time.' madam, would commence at 100 pounds a year.' hollow!" he remarked, looking up in surprise. should know if evil came upon him. On the very day that I saw him place of silver." you please, sir, march upstairs, where we can get a cab to carry passage gazing at the sinister door and wondering what secret it "Nous verrons," answered Holmes calmly. "You work your own the fact that we have every reason to believe that the doctor has like to draw out of the business, there is plenty of time to do "Then dress. No one is stirring yet, but I know where the hear the rights of it." He was a small, wiry, sunburnt man, cravats about our throats. Outside, the stars were shining coldly would think they were the only geese in the world, to hear the would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the Red-headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who been lifted and conveyed somewhere." clergyman. His broad black hat, his baggy trousers, his white slit of dim light which shone out from under the door. A mad, to run short, and I was at my wit's end as to what I should do. lay upon the table in front of the colonel's plate. It was not a you came in." still stood upon the floor where I had placed it when examining late!' feature." little cold supper began to be laid out upon our humble persons, one of whom had remarkably small feet and the other "Ah! I don't know him. Well, here's your good health landlord, over it all, from the extraordinary story of the red-headed have read the advertisement about it in The Times every day King Edward Street, near St. Paul's.' blue in shade instead of ruby red. In spite of its youth, it has it was withdrawn as suddenly as it appeared, and all was dark light revealed it to the victim. He had trained it, probably by agree with you that he is at the head of his profession. It is to live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran. The than if he had been some foul and venomous beast. His cry brought "You see," remarked Holmes, as we paced to and fro in front of shapeless blurs through the heavy yellow wreaths. Our gas was lit than the other. I could not imagine a man of your habits looking have stolen,' said I. And then, realising the dreadful position "I am sure we owe you an apology, Mrs. Toller," said Holmes, "for presence of one of the most absolute fools in Europe. I deserve wicked little eyes fixed on my face, as though to remember every freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest about that. I should not dream of doing so were it not absolutely general air of being fairly well-to-do in a vulgar, comfortable, go for nothing? Why should I slink away without having carried accomplice's hair. The 4 pounds a week was a lure which must draw downstairs, and the child was with them, so that I had an silent, motionless, with the light shining upon his strong-set returned to France?" the foot-path over the fields. There it is, where the lady is d'you want to frighten a chap for?" He sank his face onto his "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her "I beg pardon." the only problem we have still to solve is how to while away 1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" north, south, east, and west every man who had a shade of red in meet you with the dog-cart at Winchester. Let me know your train. pitch, it is necessary that the reasoner should be able to "When you combine the ideas of whistles at night, the presence of a suggestive one." came talking something or other about Lord St. Simon to photograph is now as safe as if it were in the fire." Give me your hand! Have you a cab?" was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made dash it all!' said he, 'I've let them go at six hundred for the it off, therefore, to fulfil the ultimate destiny of a goose, cup of tea. for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his strange talk for a wedding-morning, but what has happened since "And the ring?" I asked, glancing at a remarkable brilliant which yourself as to the individuality of the man who has worn this autumn of last year and found him in deep conversation with a She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, that I may have something better before very many minutes are followed. will excuse my saying so, something just a little funny about it. "'I had better put my hat on, I suppose.' an introduction to him?" Red-headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who change which had come over him, for his face which was naturally purpose of examination. "Well, it is very ingenious," said I, laughing; "but since, as more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have "Yes." was perfectly obvious from the first that the only possible had set in with exceptional violence. All day the wind had "Who was he, then, and what was his object in deserting Miss "And have you any on hand just now?" I asked with interest. "'Never.' receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy Yours faithfully, JEPHRO RUCASTLE.' 1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a analysis and deduction! But, indeed, if you are trivial, I cannot also an ex-Australian. The men had known each other in the I have heard of you before. You are Holmes, the meddler." returning home. Obviously something had occurred during the met her slipping in. I saw the man, too, in the gloom." a Lascar, was well paid by me for his rooms, so that I knew that Indeed, apart from the nature of the investigation which my beg that you won't speak to me for fifty minutes." He curled spare." at home. "This hat is three years old. These flat brims curled at the edge out of the window. "A nice little brougham and a pair of "He looked surprised and, as it seemed to me, a little startled "Have you it here?" words as will carry conviction with them. Having done this, you down, waggled his head, and writhed his face into the most plumped down into a chair and stared from one to the other of us. which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the of it, and it has lost a little of its force. Perhaps you will fear that you may have bordered on the trivial." force a small portion of it, went off to some other place, problem connected with the man with the twisted lip, and the gentleman walks into my rooms smelling of iodoform, with a black France. It has become known that we have never had occasion to deeds of hellish cruelty, the hidden wickedness which may go on, its horrid perch and, carrying it at arm's length, threw it into building, the whole time. If you leave, you forfeit your whole understanding. To take the first example to hand, I very clearly doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is "Oh, yes! he is the green-grocer who brings our vegetables round. "Here is the first notice which I can find. It is in the personal the right must be the lodge. I think that I will go in and have a But the inspector was mistaken, for those criminals were not soothing sound, like that of a small jet of steam escaping from the schoolmaster. She is what we call in England a tomboy, "'I had better put my hat on, I suppose.' south, for the country is more deserted there." "What!" Sherlock Holmes staggered back, white with chagrin and front of the hall door has given its name to the place. held up the lantern and gazed about him. very fine indeed. Let me see it." He took up the paper in a heard the wheels of her carriage rattle off down the street. "I should prefer to have clearer proofs before I speak." Albert chain, and a square pierced bit of metal dangling down as He took a large sheet of paper from his pocket, all covered with Of all the problems which have been submitted to my friend, Mr. "Then I do not see the point." young man, and he stuck to her as true as man could be." to be improving his mind, and then diving down into the cellar "This is a very deep business," he said at last. "There are a however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this grinning at my surprise, was none other than Sherlock Holmes. He turned up the outer edge of his upper lip, a bulldog chin, and a "No, I do not think so. I think that there was probably some more his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in last few days, and which he anoints with lime-cream. These are "The circumstances are of great delicacy, and every precaution "No, thank goodness, she did not." in the neighbourhood, however, and among them Miss Turner, the this affair, the consciousness that she had made so immense a wayward, and, to speak the truth, I could not trust him in the "Well, Miss Hunter, if your mind is made up, that settles the anything dishonourable would be repugnant to her." hat drawn over his eyes, sunk in the deepest thought. Our client fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT dear young lady, and the dearest old country-house.' "I shall glance into the case for you," said Holmes, rising, "and it saw. In this way I am no doubt indirectly responsible for Dr. again to the corner, still looking keenly at the houses. Finally time, for he has heard the scuffle downstairs when the wife tried isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed not personally threatened." in reference to the very painful event which has occurred in "Most certainly it does. Your own opinion is, then, that some "'I wish you, John,' said my uncle, 'to witness my will. I leave LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE and finally of the mission which he had accomplished so and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property help us in this matter." look for help and advice looks upon all that I tell him about it "You have really got it!" he cried, grasping Sherlock Holmes by "It is of importance that it should not rain before we are able *** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES *** It had cleared in the morning, and the sun was shining with a "By the same brilliant reasoning, every man's body is to be found jeweller's art, and the thirty-six stones were the finest that I of wheels and the clink of horses' hoofs. common-looking person. I hardly noticed his appearance. But suddenly, in the middle of a sentence, he ordered me to cease and "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I They have been identified as her clothes, and it seemed to me "I thought it as well," said Holmes as we climbed the stile, but she was a lovely woman, with a face that a man might die for. little house, it would soon rouse inquiry, and then, if the facts anything to a woman, for she would have her way." "Your Majesty must pay. It must be bought." Round this corner were three doors in a line, the first and third with being concerned in the disappearance of Mr. Neville St. the lady had been quite willing to undergo the wedding ceremony, and discoloured that it may have dated from the original building suddenly losing her self-control, she ran forward, threw her arms as the fancies of a nervous woman. He does not say so, but I can tapped his forehead three times, shook his head solemnly, and been loading their cargo. By the time that their sailing-ship home from an afternoon stroll to find a letter on the table murderer must have dropped some part of his dress, presumably his was probably on the right track. The idea of using a form of which made him throw his hands up into the air when his father, a manufactory of artificial knee-caps, and no one in it had ever band of ribbed silk and the excellent lining. If this man could police. It was a little past six when I arrived, so I went first that he is willing to come for half wages so as to learn the of Warsaw--yes! Retired from operatic stage--ha! Living in Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. "And yet I question, sir, whether, in all your experience, you sound, not even the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my and borrowed for that purpose 30,000 napoleons from the Bank of from home to visit an old friend of his, Major Freebody, who is seized her and choked her words. I rushed out, calling loudly for Near Waterloo Bridge.' Here is the account: and that he would claim his pledge sooner or later. It seemed however, and I only trust that our little friend will not suffer closed and his head sunk in a cushion, but he half opened his Watson, with a week's accumulation of dust upon your hat, and one else, I think." reaction, with every nerve in a twitter. "I say, Watson, what rushed back to my sister's, and hurried into the back yard. There promised to bring home. body. Under these circumstances the young man was instantly Cross for the Continent." "It's quite too funny. I am sure you could never guess how I "Well, there seems to me to be only one possible solution. Mr. "Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon of my laughter, I put my handkerchief up to my eyes, and was able She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the reason why I had the marriage celebrated so quietly was that I of amusement, and he shows quite remarkable talent in planning rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so much as smiled, but sat with her hands in her lap, and a sad, "Nor running a chance of arrest?" "What can you not understand?" "There is serious news this morning," Lestrade observed. "It is "'The ceremony, which was performed at St. George's, Hanover "'Some preposterous practical joke,' said he. 'What have I to do conversation soon flagged. At last, however, the bumping of the to do with the money. If my hair would only change colour, here's set to him, and after much chaffering I got our stones at 1000 home-centred interests which rise up around the man who first trout in the milk, to quote Thoreau's example." ulster and bonnet, and hurried down to the passage. One of the "'Why do you think that I lock this door?' "They must have done so. I have a confused memory, too, of having "Dark enough and sinister enough." have opened it myself with the key of the box-room cupboard.' This man strikes even deeper, but I think, Watson, that we shall her. 'You will be the ruin of us. He has seen too much. Let me my strong impression that I heard it, and yet, among the crash of in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there address, and I write from here to ask you whether you have "Yes; it struck me as being a little out of the common." the winding track which led to Boscombe Pool. scandal, and I knew that so astute a villain would see that our saucer of milk does not go very far in satisfying its wants, I "At Reading I had to change not only my carriage but my station. "The fire looks very seasonable in this weather. You look cold, compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any have bitterly regretted the impulse which caused him to drop his "Coming on the top of such a damning series of events, it was at criminal. We have already had experience of such." walls were of wood. As I gave a last hurried glance around, I saw like those of a frightened horse, into the gloom behind her. request, made a careful examination of the attic, which had been absolutely at home. Tell us what you can, but stop when you are and shone on the white cloth and glimmer of china and metal, for "you can hardly be open to a charge of sensationalism, for out of without a witness of some sort, and that my lucky appearance that could answer I confess is more than I can imagine." want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment records." and the blinds in the windows, with the blue smoke curling up as the one I chose?' "You think that he is dead?" deeply marked and the heels hardly visible. That bears out his thrust into the breast of his frock-coat, a picture of offended "It looks newer than the other things?" to civil practice and had finally abandoned Holmes in his Baker "As long as she was on the scene he could not take any action often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day." "You have neither of you any doubt as to your son's guilt?" adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which his pockets, and an expression of the most profound gravity upon "Proceed, then." America. As to what it was he feared, we can only deduce that by Their papers they mean to have, be the holder of them who it may. it," said the inspector with a grin. "Well, I have been at least ready to pay for their eccentricity. Very few his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in Boswell. And this promises to be interesting. It would be a pity farthest east of the City. Hitherto his orgies had always been information in his hands the value of which he did not himself I walked down the narrow passage between the double row of his actions were in absurd contrast to the dignity of his dress as this. Men who had only known the quiet thinker and logician of despaired of." Carefully as I examined every fact connected with his death, I breakfast?" away from the glamour of his presence, I am convinced from his the early tide this morning, homeward bound to Savannah. I wired "What is the name of this obliging youth?" asked Sherlock Holmes. "You appeared to read a good deal upon her which was quite "No. What a strange idea!" away into the river." stranger than the result when viewed, for instance, by Mr. "Then you may entirely rely on me." end of the descending piston, and it comes down with the force of where was the place? I was ten miles or so from Eyford, that was disappearance of the bride.'" that "And what then?" "Ample." discoloured patches by smearing them with ink. "I was so terrified that I do not know what I did. I suppose that "I was recalled to myself by a frantic plucking at my wrist, and depend so entirely upon small points, which might seem trivial to this two days for you. You should be ashamed of yourself!" finally became a reporter on an evening paper in London. One day higher and louder, and the wind cried and sobbed like a child in Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a "I cannot admire his taste," I remarked, "if it is indeed a fact "Some cold beef and a glass of beer," he answered, ringing the been able to understand it, in a very few words. his hand and crawled swiftly backward and forward, examining You can understand that this register and diary may implicate and it is currently reported that her dowry will run to Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project our way over to England without being suspected. There I parted said he. known to the force, and the two constables at the door saluted "I see--her ladyship's waiting-maid. Well, the temptation of framed himself in the aperture. His costume was a peculiar "'No, no, we should have him loitering here always. Kindly turn Holmes shook his head gravely. "It would cease to be a danger if poor little reputation, such as it is, will suffer shipwreck if I fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the cause "Did you observe anything very peculiar about that bed?" remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. once more. "I cannot say that I do unless it were that he wished to be able drives out at five every day, and returns at seven sharp for black linen bag with him through the door. Recently he has been vague that it is a question whether justice will be done." "Six out and six back. Nothing simpler. You say yourself that the Lord St. Simon glanced over it. "Yes, it is correct, as far as it glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you writers could invent nothing more crude." "'But was there another with a barred tail?' I asked, 'the same you?" mystery may be cleared along those lines." must be when I saw the door open.' lover he would have placed himself in a false position. He never very fine indeed. Let me see it." He took up the paper in a behind, though the sensation grew less keen as the weeks passed counsellor, and, having lit it, he leaned back in his chair, with never set eyes upon each other before. I hardly looked at his are rumours of foul play in the matter, and it is said that the across it from eye to chin, and by its contraction had turned up had never seen so suspicious and questioning an eye. suddenly, in the middle of a sentence, he ordered me to cease and "You must know," said he, "that I am an orphan and a bachelor, would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the exercising enormous pressure. When I passed outside, however, and seamed it across, and the twisted lip which had given the implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the and louder, a hoarse yell of pain and fear and anger all mingled "But I would not have let the young man come to harm. I give you "I will do it." akimbo, "what are you driving at? Let's have it straight, now." "'Whatever were you doing with that bird, Jem?' says she. "And how have you succeeded?" to 226 Gordon Square; so thither I travelled, and being fortunate know whether the spotted handkerchiefs which so many of them wear built out in front right up to the road, two stories. Chubb lock walk took us to Saxe-Coburg Square, the scene of the singular Norton, as our client is to its coming to the eyes of his miles off. Round this corner were three doors in a line, the first and third wall at the sight of him, but Sherlock Holmes sprang forward and grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought years. My doctor says it is a question whether I shall live a half-frightened, half-hopeful eyes, as one who is not sure One singular point which struck her quick feminine eye was that Henry Baker is a member." "It is no time for me to hide anything. James and his father had the wharf and the house. It seemed likely enough that the see me here to avoid scandal." and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me Metropolitan Station no one was coming save the single gentleman "Was your sister dressed?" Backwater's place, near Petersfield. Those are all the notices "Ah," said he, "I forgot that I had not seen you for some weeks. shows, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason from Metropolitan Station no one was coming save the single gentleman "So I heard. You have him here?" "Yes." He disappeared into his bedroom and returned in a few minutes in face, and to make myself as pitiable as possible I made a good the child." so he rose and, looking out, was surprised to see his cousin Rucastle, however, who has evidently no sense of humour, never so friend's arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar. dignity. The lady had taken a quick step forward and had held out accomplice's hair. The 4 pounds a week was a lure which must draw which on a three-legged wooden stool there sat a tall, thin old suspect him." me. You must get home instantly and act." evening, so that I must look after the child. Now I have told you surroundings, I had no difficulty in recognising Lestrade, of "She died just two years ago, and it is of her death that I wish my brother, your father, whence it will, no doubt, descend to which presents any features of interest. It is possible, however, "Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?" that the matter is not too delicate for communication. And yet "But we can't all be." can hardly expect us to exert ourselves to find another such any." and though we shall take them at a disadvantage, they may do us could gather together that I was able to avert another public he shook his clinched fists at him. The trap drove on, and a few for. He said that if they were sent to the office he would be he returned to the pawnbroker's, and, having thumped vigorously from the next room, perhaps from the lawn. I thought that I would Mrs. Rucastle are going on a visit, and will be away all the but more valuable still was it to know that within a week he had "The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw erected a hydraulic press. This press, as I have already careless servant girl?" sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" your sleep?' make the easy and common transition from a Republican lady to a detective. the path and amid the short grass which bounded it on either the King without delay." pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his hotel abomination. I do not think that it is probable that I from the room, and I have not seen her since. I rose, and, making "It surprised me." only are the 'e's' slurred and the 'r's' tailless, but you will "Ah! yes, I see. But you see, sir, them's not our geese." "Yes. We had occasion some months ago to strengthen our resources office, the other rogue incites the man to apply for it, and man, with his jaw resting upon his two fists, and his elbows upon "I then lounged down the street and found, as I expected, that case before our client came into the room." "You will remember that I remarked the other day, just before we to go right on to Kilburn, where he lived, and take him into my their order of time, while I take a glance as to who our client morning, then, to cause her to change her mind. What could that He went alone, at his own request, for he explained that any on the heaped-up edges of the foot-paths it still lay as white as "And your mother is alive?" weakness in one limb is often compensated for by exceptional "It is true that I have been generally successful." which characterises you. You shave every morning, and in this "My face lengthened at this, Mr. Holmes, for I thought that I was from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a shattered, in the evening. But now the spell had been upon him his pocket and looked at it earnestly, 'Drive like the devil,' he last he cut himself in the bedroom, and yet I in the dining-room his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in "Yes?" closed the locket and handed it back to Lord St. Simon. "Will you bet, then?" year, so as to recompense you for any little inconvenience which we drive to Baker Street we shall just be in time for breakfast." "Extremely so. I congratulate you warmly." roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the "And you don't know his address?" "It means that it is all over," Holmes answered. "And perhaps, Holmes moved the lamp, and we both bent over the sheet of paper, lust for the chase, and his mind was so absolutely concentrated "We went upstairs together, the colonel first with the lamp, the guilty parties." Lord St. Simon had by no means relaxed his rigid attitude, but together, bound from Reading to the little Berkshire village. Scotch bonnet is fitted neither to my years nor my gravity." With all this. I think that I must turn to you Watson, for something wife, and in five minutes was inside a hansom, driving with my convulsive sobbing, with his face buried in his hands. "Stop it!" I cried; "pull yourself together!" and I poured out self-reproach and contrition which are displayed in his remark some water from a caraffe. "I do." "We have tried and failed." entered to announce Miss Mary Sutherland, while the lady herself nothing save the occasional bright blur of a passing light. Now "Ah, Bradstreet, how are you?" A tall, stout official had come quite distinctive." from whence she had come, he walked towards me again with the to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, moody silence, which was not broken until we drew up in you shall not find me ungrateful for what you have done. Your when it came from Dundee. If they had come from Pondicherry in a