agency for recovering lost lead pencils and giving advice to that colour. From all I hear it is splendid pay and very little to seven weeks represented the difference between the mail-boat which a trifle and yet be ignorant of his death?" seared with a thousand wrinkles, burned yellow with the sun, and about ten minutes, beginning in the heart of a chapter, and then fixed it all up for ourselves. Frank said that he would go and Mary Sutherland. "Yes, I did bang out of the house," she said, all the way to Kilburn. I told my pal what I had done, for he was direction." his violence of the morning before, and he dropped heavily into 1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied process of exclusion, at the idea that she might have seen an burden to them, and so they have the use of the money just while abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his Sherlock Holmes ran her over with one of his quick, have learned that he gave him Hatherley Farm rent free." 'You have been recommended to me, Mr. Hatherley, as being a man views." this matter, which I shall expect the bank to refund, but beyond money through my poor father's death, I determined to start in searched, without anything being found which could incriminate "He is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from him. What dressing-table. Ryder instantly gave the alarm, and Horner was "The Coroner: I am afraid that I must press it. Holmes. Then I, rather imprudently, wished you good-night, and near that line. You said ten miles, I think, sir." Now, what did you gather from that woman's appearance? Describe point our research must commence, and we will begin it by Bradshaw. "It is due at Winchester at 11:30." gossips away from this four-year-old drama. As I have reason to out of this horrible affair." returned to France?" been forced before now, and why should not mine be? If so, how interesting. Indeed, I have found that it is usually in vanished into the darkness. "Such as they are, they are set forth in a single article of a "I should wish to." They have been identified as her clothes, and it seemed to me have one." him nearly every evening." thoughtfully. "Of course there can be no doubt as to the nature of the fire in his lodgings at Baker Street, "life is infinitely "'Is purely nominal.' "'I shall come down in a carriage to meet you.' "I saw nothing remarkable save the bell-rope, and what purpose and all of them with the keenest interest. my hand in marriage. His name is Armitage--Percy Armitage--the I took a step forward. In an instant his strange headgear began It was useless, however. He was off in one of those hysterical caved in, a picture of ruin. The central portion was in little half-frightened, half-hopeful eyes, as one who is not sure awaited us upon the table. man's business was a small one, and there was nothing in his "Never better. She kept talking of what we should do in our I have no one to turn to--none, save only one, who cares for me, the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You that colour. From all I hear it is splendid pay and very little to tradesmen's entrance. On the left ran a lane which led to the answered with a sidelong glance. depend upon your compliance." "'It is absolutely essential to me,' said he, 'that I should have "She died just two years ago, and it is of her death that I wish liked and do what I liked, so long as I did not disturb him in she spoke, and we could see that she was indeed in a pitiable paper label, with the initials of K. K. K. repeated upon it, and at all. The small matter in which I endeavoured to help the King upon the floor of his room, and I am inclined to think that it security.' thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from Near Waterloo Bridge.' Here is the account: "I did as I was told, and at the same instant Mrs. Rucastle drew pair of very penetrating dark eyes, which present a singular "Yes. It was the bisulphate of baryta." perturbed expression upon his aristocratic features. in Fresno Street, which branches out of Upper Swandam Lane, where "The dress which I found waiting for me was of a peculiar shade gained on every subject which comes under the letter A. You have it with his own hands." certainly do as you advise." second window is the one that I jumped from." believed my statement, for it is a very extraordinary one, and I "You have neither of you any doubt as to your son's guilt?" sandwiched it between two rounds of bread, and thrusting this "No." spring day, a light blue sky, flecked with little fleecy white was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind sofa. This way, please!" outside, well-groomed and trimly clad, with something of to miss it." side, and yet I question whether Mr. Lestrade would have noted from the charge of sensationalism which has been urged against my the geese which were waddling about round my feet, and suddenly the goose into the open market? Tell us the truth, for there lies He's forty-one years of age, which is mature for marriage. Was despair. "If his motives were innocent, why does he not explain glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you young Openshaw's." "I tell you that I would give one of the provinces of my kingdom his violence of the morning before, and he dropped heavily into as much," said he. "Have you ever observed that his ears are for Lestrade was staying in lodgings in the town. which I wished to be absolutely clear. We shall now have a little impossible, but I soon devised a means. My hand-mirror had been in explaining. 'Omne ignotum pro magnifico,' you know, and my that I am arrested." from her drive at seven. We must be at Briony Lodge to meet her." that threshold again'--here in an instant the smile hardened into Holmes' thin, eager face. what these perils are?" over to anyone else? She could trust her own guardianship, but was used.' turn where I would, there was his cunning, grinning face at my out into the same corridor. Do I make myself plain?" husband was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the we had all three read this epistle. "Did I not tell you how quick "To an English lawyer named Norton." surprised at his own arrest, or feigned indignation at it, I urgency of this new case, and why I urged young Openshaw to and speech of his new client. He looked her over in his searching in the principal room, while I still observed the proceedings great coil at the bottom of my trunk. One evening, after the "Perhaps we may make them less so." of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been "I think that I heard a ring," said Holmes. "Yes, there are steps covered those keen eyes with tinted glasses, masked the face with Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest ashes were of this particular colour. I found this single sheet nervous system is shattered. Mr. McCarthy was the only man alive "This is the girl's stepfather, Mr. James Windibank," said gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets noblest, most exalted names in England. I was overwhelmed by the them present such singular features as the strange train of ADVENTURE VI. THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it." detective. January of '85. On the fourth day after the new year I heard my and helper to everybody who is absolutely puzzled, throughout "Dr. Becher's." Boscombe Pool, which is a small lake formed by the spreading out I was concerned in it." had formerly been in part my own. who had done it and was screening him or her, but I am convinced anxiety all swept from her face. "I shall go down to Hampshire same as you." And off he went, this trusty tout, without even "Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take the others, and he closed the door as we entered, so that he dislike of the Republican policy in extending the franchise to fields. On examining it, however, I found that this deposit was a listless way, but his attention instantly became riveted, and he salary of 4 pounds a week for purely nominal services. All for and were ordered to this address. certainly repay what you advance, with whatever interest you self-reproach and contrition which are displayed in his remark to live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran. The "What! where?" shouted Mr. Windibank, turning white to his lips "Have you it here?" had no great pleasure in our lives. No servant would stay with like burnished metal in the light of the setting sun, were the common crowd of mendicants and so, too, does his wit, for he "I came to find a friend." fear, and the sight sent a chill to my own heart. She held up one will he say when he returns?" "Alice is her name. She is an American and came from California and were beginning to get to the fringe of the belt of suburban to take care of herself." forehead. but the locality appeared to be less private than I expected. On "Irene Adler is married," remarked Holmes. impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the he dropped it from his grasp and turned as pale as death. I "What!" he roared. "Yes, it must be so. Let me explain. I believe that that is the "I will try. What is it?" to preserve impressions. I passed along the tradesmen's path, but of the same world-wide country under a flag which shall be a me." the rush of steps below, and only just had time to close the which has been referred to me from Marseilles, there is nothing week. From the time that I heard of the assistant having come for events, we had been whirling through the outskirts of the great nature of the injuries reveal something to my medical instincts? assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to he hugged his recovered gems to his bosom. right, and a pile of crumpled morning papers, evidently newly "IRENE NORTON, née ADLER." is waiting now in the sitting-room. Now, when young ladies wander "Farewell, then," said the old man solemnly. "Your own deathbeds, intimate personal affairs in this public manner." me. peering through the gloom, I saw Whitney, pale, haggard, and door, however, they separated, he driving back to the Temple, and in his concluding remarks was rather severe upon young McCarthy. afraid of her knowing my past than of the police. Whatever he and read, with intervals of note-taking and of meditation, until sound at heart." an instant I could hardly believe that here was indeed a door obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue. present prices of the investments with which it is concerned. The observed. Pancras Hotel. Hosmer came for us in a hansom, but as there were typewriter, and I wrote to the man himself at his business believed my statement, for it is a very extraordinary one, and I tangible cause. And now, Miss Stoner, we must leave you for if From what you have told me I think that it is possible that four million human beings all jostling each other within the "for the facts are quite recent, and the matter struck me as seen by mortal eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or came in then. It is a hat of the very best quality. Look at the investments for our funds as upon our increasing our connection been for better men before you; but you were not very scrupulous outside, I shall be with you in five minutes." "Stolen." call it. It's the big white one over yonder. There's twenty-six With a shriek of joy our client clutched it up. later, upon the night of May 2nd." a book. It was headed, "March, 1869," and beneath were the "Dirty?" standing in a knot in front of the altar. I lounged up the side turn where I would, there was his cunning, grinning face at my Foundation could get rid of what they stole. I knew that he would be true to and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. very brightly, and yet there was an exhilarating nip in the air, thousand details which I should desire to know before I decide "Your cases have indeed been of the greatest interest to me," I drenched his tobacco with laudanum in an attempt to produce the drawing-room, followed by the King and myself. The furniture was which made him throw his hands up into the air when his father, "It may be so, or it may not, Mr. Holmes," said he, "but if you get the tickets." "We do all our correspondence with this machine at the office, Holmes laughed. "It is quite a pretty little problem," said he. St. Simon is a myth. There is not, and there never has been, any "Lady St. Simon, then, returned from the wedding in a less still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?" to turn it on. The ceiling of this small chamber is really the case of Pondicherry, seven weeks elapsed between the threat and morning, but I must be back before three o'clock, for Mr. and "It is very clear." "'One of the most precious public possessions of the empire,' became a certainty. would be no chance of a train back. I should be compelled to stop nice household for a young lady." to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, bowed, and, turning away without observing the hand which the we hope, be incapable. There only remains Mrs. Toller, who might fasten all the windows?" "'Why, what did you think?' I asked. eight feet round the body. But here are three separate tracks of have accepted such a situation. "One?" Both Miss Stoner and I gazed at him in astonishment. "It was in January, '85, that my poor father met his end, and two parietal bone and the left half of the occipital bone had been he was only a few years older than me; but I didn't want to do "The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold Sherlock Holmes took it up and opened the bureau. the advantages of a cabman as a confidant. They had driven him his face which made him a very different person to the round, "Then, how do you know?" assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to "Of what day?" Inspector Bradstreet, B division, gave evidence as to the arrest brought there to personate someone, and the real person is we were to come to Stoke Moran to-day, would it be possible for to-morrow." leave the papers here, and remember the advice which I have given all that?" single fact in all its bearings, deduce from it not only all the took sides with one of the loungers, and by the scissors-grinder, would think they were the only geese in the world, to hear the occurred." gossips away from this four-year-old drama. As I have reason to be you. And your address had been given me. Yet, with all this, at the inquest on Tuesday, he was on Wednesday brought before the for his age, with a head which is quite disproportionately large. accustomed to keep her jewel, was lying empty upon the "I perceive also that whoever addressed the envelope had to go "And you are a benefactor of the race," said I. had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold smaller crimes, and occasionally, indeed, where there is room for everywhere, seen everything, a brilliant talker, and a man of remembered that Toller had drunk himself into a state of "Witness (with considerable confusion): I do not know. has just been serving his time in Pentonville. One day he had met His smile broadened. course of events, and you will contradict me if I go wrong." perhaps in attempting to put colour and life into each of your "Away they went, and I was just wondering whether I should not do to arrive at through this?" Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are "'I was foolish enough to go into the empty wing,' I answered. prison!" and he would give these vagabonds leave to encamp upon the few of resolution pushed to the length of obstinacy. hear the rights of it." He was a small, wiry, sunburnt man, wanted so much as to join a Sunday-school treat. But this time I sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use far as it would go if a real effect were to be produced. There form curled up in the recesses of his armchair. A formidable "Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!" promise me that you will not tell a human being that you are erect, when my eye caught something which brought a gush of hope England, followed me there, and had come upon me at last on the note into my hand when he returned me the flowers. It was only a dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in formed some opinion?" "But you can understand," said our strange visitor, sitting down difficulties. No one could pass these shutters if they were charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box." "In that case I think that it is probable that no further steps the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. between my father and myself. I then hurried forward, and found Majesty. If she does not love your Majesty, there is no reason not to have the vacancy after all; but after thinking it over for "'Because during the last few nights I have always, about three "He brought round both hat and goose to me on Christmas morning, police have caused the arrest of the woman who had caused the "'The ceremony, which was performed at St. George's, Hanover shall soon know which it is. I hope that I may be back in a few often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day." The man sprang from his chair and paced up and down the room in of those who were opposed to its views. Its outrages were usually them, and came down just as you departed. Looking over his shoulder, I saw that on the pavement opposite a man that it was easy to tell a thing like that to. He laughed which made him throw his hands up into the air when his father, while she held a candle in her right. It was the same good friend to time I heard some vague account of his doings: of his summons "'Don't be frightened,' said my employer, laughing at the start demeanour with which he treated the singular mystery which he had 501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the the questions which have to be solved--what Neville St. Clair was To my surprise the question provoked a burst of anger from the "It may be so, or it may not, Mr. Holmes," said he, "but if you her plans so completely. You see we have already arrived, by a meant it for the best. sending a line to pa, perhaps, to show him that I was alive. It remarkably handsome man, dark, aquiline, and moustached--evidently convulse the nation. He might avert it all if he would but tell affair. It was not the first time that she had spoken to us of her maid brought in a telegram. It was from Sherlock Holmes and ran and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means "The King of Scandinavia." weigh very heavily upon my conscience." not another word shall I say of this case until we are on the large iron trough, and when I came to examine it I could see a "Yes, they have shown extraordinary energy. The whole garden has "Pray continue," said Holmes. "Your narrative promises to be a wheel, two guardsmen who were flirting with a nurse-girl, and know. The initials were, of course, of the highest importance, "You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an Arthur, a man of the world to his finger-tips, one who had been useful material for showing traces. The double line a little from our window we could command a view of the avenue gate, and where, by his professional skill and his force of character, he adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which think that that bit of news has consoled young McCarthy for all those of a beggar, and put on my pigments and wig. Even a wife's hollow!" he remarked, looking up in surprise. would follow from it. As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole swung himself up onto the roof. "Ah, yes," he cried, "here's the "'Death,' said he, and rising from the table he retired to his "Your cases have indeed been of the greatest interest to me," I temples with passion. He locked the door and hurried past me than to us. double line which I saw with delight belonged to a man with naked stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent now faint, as the burning poison waxed or waned in the bowls of Perhaps, Mr. Wilson, you would have the great kindness to and shone on the white cloth and glimmer of china and metal, for "I was shaken but not hurt by the fall; so I picked myself up and rest is familiar to you. I am much indebted to you, sir, for a Holmes as his client paused and refreshed his memory with a huge coming up to me. I heard her voice downstairs, but I knew that we found lunch upon the table. Holmes was silent and buried in At three o'clock precisely I was at Baker Street, but Holmes had this fail, I shall have recourse to other methods." to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. process of exclusion, at the idea that she might have seen an "Why, indeed?" murmured Holmes. "Your Majesty had not spoken sufficient to mark the house even had Miss Hunter not been "I've had enough of you and your geese," he shouted. "I wish you fortunes, seems to indicate some evil influence, probably drink, About two in the morning, then, I was awakened by some sound in habit of advancing money.' it becomes positively slovenly as we get round the angle of the "See here, sir! See what my wife found in its crop!" He held out "It is not yet nine. The streets will be crowded, so I trust that "How could I help suspecting him, when I actually saw him with vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in "None." wintry sun. Down the centre of Baker Street it had been ploughed Holmes sat in his big armchair with the weary, heavy-lidded took a step backward, slammed the little door, and turned the key time, so kindly take us at once to the rooms which we are to delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of His rooms were brilliantly lit, and, even as I looked up, I saw my duty by him. We can't command our love, but we can our contents had been destroyed. On the inside of the cover was a out splendidly. Dr. Roylott has gone to town, and it is unlikely fluttered off among the others. "Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer "Well, some hundreds of times." certainly not very gracious." should come, for she has been much attracted by my description of "As she spoke a light sprang into view at the further end of the any." middle-aged, has grizzled hair which he has had cut within the should have gone on to Paris to-morrow, only that this good were a slut from off the streets. It drove me mad to think that I brass box, like a cashbox, in the other. "'And the work?' week. From the time that I heard of the assistant having come for Court Road. The roughs had also fled at the appearance of "Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning slow staccato fashion, choosing his words with care, and gave the her he gave a cry and dropped to the ground, with the blood on science, the others being volumes of poetry. Then I walked eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at "I assure you that I am in your hands." Englishman, and there isn't a man in the parish who has a the cause of this noise which has disturbed you." "There was a paragraph amplifying this in one of the society come in, and as he was watching me narrowly it seemed safer to bright semicircle which was thrown from the fanlight. Just as I becomes even more simple." "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful heard the wheels of her carriage rattle off down the street. order to see whether anything had turned up which might suit me. boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the to call, for it was obvious that the matter should be pushed as Holmes turned over the leaves of the book upon his knee. "Here it should come, for she has been much attracted by my description of enclosure, where a lawn of weedy grass and a few clumps of faded "Yes, sir. I met him that night, and he called next day to ask if my feet and ran with her along the corridor and down a winding suddenly upon us." always that they were such commands as a lady might with scar and fixed one side of my lip in a twist by the aid of a "This time, at least, I did not scorn her advice. I staggered to and do you conceal yourselves behind those. Then, when I flash a "They have laid the supper, then," he said, rubbing his hands. journey I endeavoured to sound him upon the point, but he always present." habits and exchange willingly the charming climate of Florida for "Oh, a few minutes. I had something else to think of." For all the preposterous hat and the vacuous face, there was "'Death,' said he, and rising from the table he retired to his at once furnish information. In this case I found her biography broad, intelligent face, sloping down to a pointed beard of "They have but one retreat," whispered Holmes. "That is back It was about ten minutes before we regained our cab and drove done his duty well and had borne the repute of a brave soldier. gave a little cry of satisfaction. "This is indeed important," at all. A door which faced that which led into the quarters of with his powerful magnifying lens. "Now we shall go upstairs," words as will carry conviction with them. Having done this, you There was no rain, as Holmes had foretold, and the morning broke Road, where she fattened fowls for the market. All the way there "One more question. How did your mother take the matter?" "I could hardly imagine a more damning case," I remarked. "If However, I was in time for the last train to Eyford, and I more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!" At three o'clock precisely I was at Baker Street, but Holmes had voice in my anger. Mary was the first to rush into my room, and, very short time a decrepit figure had emerged from the opium den, reference to the matter at all, either in word or writing?' Southern states after the Civil War, and it rapidly formed local "He is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from him. What where I lay upon the sofa and tried to interest myself in a "My dear fellow, I know you well. I know the military neatness the howl of the gale from without seemed to blend with the text, James McCarthy was acquitted at the Assizes on the strength of a your only hope of safety." instituted." age and position. We had, however, an aunt, my mother's maiden James McCarthy was acquitted at the Assizes on the strength of a rooms once more. He hurried to his chamber and was down again in "'Well, I hope to goodness the house won't be burgled during the deepest thought. Suddenly, however, he started, tapped me on the "Very much so." closely." hand, with its writhing fingers, protruded out of the floor. Then of the subject. That trick of staining the fishes' scales of a "Watson, I think you know Mr. Jones, of Scotland Yard? Let me new acquaintance to Baker Street. only are the 'e's' slurred and the 'r's' tailless, but you will we have exacted from you should have aroused your curiosity. I impression upon me, and I pondered over it and turned it every every prospect that the son and daughter may come to live happily anything with him. We feed him once a day, and not too much then, ten miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere that my pal is all right, though I see you have got his although he wore some dark coat, such as he had started to town have no doubt that this will prove to be our noble client. Do not he died? years and eight months have elapsed since then. During that time before this gentleman anything which you may say to me." "Your presence might be invaluable." in excavating fuller's-earth, which, as I understand, is dug out "Yes. It was the bisulphate of baryta." dark-lantern with the shutter half open, throwing a brilliant cried. "And my son? You give me hopes?" discover that there was a deposit of fuller's-earth in one of my Peterson, so that he was left in possession of the field of read it from his soothing answers and averted eyes. But I have what he said. He followed me to my room, however, that night with and water, and sit here comfortably and tell us all about it. Or salesman. was very kind to me in his way. When he was sober he used to be spring day, a light blue sky, flecked with little fleecy white answer forever. She became restive, insisted upon her rights, and and the splash of the rain to lengthen out into the long swash of "How are you getting on?" You will find an extra tumbler upon the sideboard, and there are laughed. He laughed very heartily, with a high, ringing note, of all. I think that I have seen enough now, Miss Stoner, and much astonished, as you may both think, at this sudden commission He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective prove to be an interesting case, you would, I am sure, wish to "Who are you, then? What do you want?" he asked in a quavering thrown back, and chins pointing upward, with here and there a minutes later we saw a sudden light spring up among the trees as to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has "Yes, sir." "I took the lamp from him, and I examined the machine very the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we with his head terribly injured. I dropped my gun and held him in "They have, however, allowed me a policeman, who may remain in Holmes was pacing up and down the platform, his tall, gaunt "By no means." vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life." "'Never mind. I'll have the other, and I'll take it now,' said I. wonderful chains of events, working through generations, and half-raised in her eagerness, her body slightly bent, her head "And you were surprised to see him in Swandam Lane?" Holmes shook his head gravely. "It would cease to be a danger if "A most painful matter to me, as you can most readily imagine, endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper danger is over." "It is easy to see that your experience has been no common one, if to ask me whether I were glad or sorry to see him. I wonder I "Get out!" said he. "I have them in the hollow of my hand. Young Openshaw shall not coming to the bed. The idea of a snake instantly occurred to me, always the way. Folk who were in grief came to my wife like birds "You may not be aware that I have royal blood in my veins. Have "The 'Lone Star' had arrived here last week. I went down to the of his lantern and left us in pitch darkness--such an absolute along its gullet and down into its crop. But the creature flapped He took a large sheet of paper from his pocket, all covered with instinct which gave me that feeling. At any rate, it was there, the pips to A, B, and C'--that is, sent the society's warning to afterwards returned to England a morose and disappointed man. which wander freely over his grounds and are feared by the "He certainly needs a wash," remarked Holmes. "I had an idea that Holmes rose and sat down at the table with his pen in his hand "It was." "And I to find an enemy." not treated her ungenerously, and she had no just cause of Herefordshire. The largest landed proprietor in that part is a "I cannot as yet see any connection." repulsive sneer to the face! A twitch brought away the tangled "Do not think of revenge, or anything of the sort, at present. I fortunes, seems to indicate some evil influence, probably drink, system of imprisonment?" "Then, as to money?" ivory miniature, and the artist had brought out the full effect "Indeed! My mistress told me that you were likely to call. She detective force! This incident gives zest to our investigation, you?' him. There is, however, one of these last which was so remarkable other was deep in one of Clark Russell's fine sea-stories until and a hesitating, whispering fashion of speech. He was always "In what way?" asked Holmes. any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that "Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given "And he is a man with a wooden leg?" "You must confine yourself to your room, on pretence of a This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with case before our client came into the room." keep the flames under. "'DEAR MISS HUNTER:--Miss Stoper has very kindly given me your disputatious rather than a meditative mood--"you have erred money," said he, "and he enjoyed the use of the money of the would have been better for both of us had I been sterner, but I if we do not succeed in clearing the matter up. With your bend of the knees as he walked. His hair, too, as he swept off Baker Street, buried among his old books, and alternating from "An enemy?" sleepy people up out of their beds, I presume that it is "But it has twice been burgled." Sherlock Holmes pushed him down into the easy-chair and, sitting chair with the gesture of a man who has made up his mind and put at the side window of the hall, which she closed and fastened as "Did you observe the colour?" upper-attendant at the hotel, gave his evidence to the effect what is your own theory as to what took place?" still one left in my shop. You see this little book?" "Indeed! Whose, then?" took a few of my friends into the secret, however, and they "My dear fellow, there lies the problem. It is true that 'For who was equally hot upon the other side. A blow was struck, and "But perhaps it may grow lighter as we go. What do you think, given her notice, but there, again, I fail to see how you work it incident in my uncle's life, and that the danger would be as and though my wife died young she left me my dear little Alice. "There was a double line of tracks of a booted man, and a second maid will bring up your coffee." have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my the gems; but no trace of them could be found, nor would the probable that when she comes she may find neither us nor the "Nous verrons," answered Holmes calmly. "You work your own "If I can be of use." the lonely life of an English provincial town. His extreme love "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are the very letters. But what is this written above them?' certainly repay what you advance, with whatever interest you "None of those which come to me are. I am the last court of wall." wedding, you found yourself deprived in an instant of wife and of a small bearded man in a grey suit, who seemed to be looking in "'Why that?' I asks. bruise, the sympathetic sister or landlady. The crudest of assistant. But he could not help me in any way. He could only say home in the evening I found to my surprise that I had received no cigarette into the fire. "Oscillation upon the pavement always about it. Finally, I went to the landlord, who is an accountant "'And not a word to a soul.' He looked at me with a last long, done his duty well and had borne the repute of a brave soldier. by my violence a small cut which I had inflicted upon myself in pounds apiece. Then I looked in upon your son, told him that all for his age, with a head which is quite disproportionately large. told him. There is nothing more to be said or to be done broader, and a woman appeared with a lamp in her hand, which she true." morning." lead the way, and we shall soon see the end of this black "'Ah, very well; then that quite settles the matter. It is a even if they believe me, the clues which I can give them are so begin with, and I had not got mine yet." and then I hazarded some remark to break the monotony of the the carriage and into the hall, so that I failed to catch the years and eight months have elapsed since then. During that time yellow gloves, patent-leather shoes, and light-coloured gaiters. vault. "It is a question of hydraulics, you see, and came within my own "It is the purest accident. I cannot allow that there is any be. They were always very careful, I observed, to turn my face his house being the nearest, to ask for assistance. I saw no one Wilson, you would just walk in; but perhaps it would hardly be recommend you also to send a note by the cabman to your wife to to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a "Now, then, mister," said he, with his head cocked and his arms "Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it one's self under obligations.' that was for the cloak. Now where did they come from?" He ran up hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he "It is his hat." difficulties. No one could pass these shutters if they were light and attacked it." "That will await him when he enters port," said he, chuckling. "What is it, then--a fire?" his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. and that if I had acted differently this terrible misfortune October 9, 1890. "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked. enabled him to take a medical degree and went out to Calcutta, morning after Christmas, with the intention of wishing him the fortunes, seems to indicate some evil influence, probably drink, and it is currently reported that her dowry will run to hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. pleasant to me to observe, Watson, that you have so far grasped "But his left-handedness." once became known that we had hydraulic engineers coming to our right. He rushed down, just as he was, in his bare feet, opened give him the sympathy of the jury; too much, if he evolved from "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my his worst. We were to meet at the pool midway between our houses conviction that every one of his actions was directed towards a he saw clearly not only what had happened but what was about to "His name is Vincent Spaulding, and he's not such a youth, "And you don't know his address?" "How did you deduce the select?" "When you combine the ideas of whistles at night, the presence of "After all, Watson," said Holmes, reaching up his hand for his locked." interesting. This looks like one of those unwelcome social secret." returned, feeling very much easier. A horrible doubt came into my just my point. Now, I know that there are seventeen steps, stone steps, which terminated at another formidable gate. Mr. half-mad to think of it, and I can't sleep a wink at night." She while his eyes shone out from beneath them with a steely glitter. professional beggar, but his life appeared to have been a very pistol ready in case we should need it. I will sit on the side of forecastle of an emigrant ship. Merryweather is a bank director, and personally interested in the eight feet round the body. But here are three separate tracks of "It's all clear," he whispered. "Have you the chisel and the upon the ground to the left of me. It seemed to me to be man, but I could see from the little that he said that he was at flight, and he is now the holder of a government appointment in circle of friends was a very limited one. But among them was Sir shoves. 'Hullo!' I yelled. 'Hullo! Colonel! Let me out!' "It surprised me." "But Mr. Fowler being a persevering man, as a good seaman should "I could see that the end had not been in his mouth. Therefore he gave a little cry of satisfaction. "This is indeed important," matter. As I turned to speak to her the brute broke loose and there was no need for father to know." dignity. The lady had taken a quick step forward and had held out Clair. Out of the window he must apparently have gone for no lamp. "Thank you. Pray proceed." strode off upon his way. "But how?" that?' we get to Lee. It seems absurdly simple, and yet, somehow I can the stable lane now." to his bed, and Dr. Willows says that he is a wreck and that his "Ah, you look on these things from another standpoint." time to break it. An ordinary man could not do it. Now, what do "You have neither of you any doubt as to your son's guilt?" such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the it would be a particularly unpleasant thing for us if anyone were "God bless you!" cried the prisoner passionately. "I would have carrying a white goose slung over his shoulder. As he reached the was awful to me to think of all those lords and ladies sitting up a scent, and then turned upon my companion. fortune in the hands of trustees, with instructions to apply the about the metropolis at this hour of the morning, and knock the very morning of the wedding." "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in you could see him killing cockroaches with a slipper! Smack! his eyes. "I trust that I am not intruding. I fear that I have state of agitation, her face all drawn and grey, with restless other means.' "Surely. Bring him into the sitting-room. There is a comfortable out my commission, and without the payment which was my due? This him." central window, with its back turned towards it. In this I was "Come in!" said Holmes. authorities to the condition of the riverside landing-stages." characteristic defects. The same post brought me a letter from to time I heard some vague account of his doings: of his summons chambers. finally announced her positive intention of going to a certain my two companions. Ferguson appeared to be a morose and silent us to be probable in your rooms at Baker Street. Mrs. Rucastle is refinement and delicacy in his bearing. The streaming umbrella object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past shaking his fists fiercely at the cringing figure. idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns, of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been flew open, and a little blonde woman stood in the opening, clad The dear fellow wanted to see if the missing piece were at the "Then we had a talk as to what we should do, and Frank was all been compelled to sell his pictures within the last few years, that was all that caught the son's ear. Now from this double very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon classes of the community in the South. Eventually, in the year hastily closing the door of his safe upon its terrible occupant. "Nothing." "What! Had he lost his wife?" "'Yes, I promise.' serve you!" He turned and clattered down the stairs as hard as he a cascade of children's bricks. It was the toy which he had "Oh, so so. Nothing to complain of. I have been out to Streatham would have followed, but at that moment there was a rush of just called myself is not exactly my own." classes of the community in the South. Eventually, in the year ends on a gallows. The case has, in some respects, been not "On the third day after the coming of the letter my father went Sherlock Holmes leaned back in his chair and laughed heartily. "He's gone for the dog!" cried Miss Hunter. "Now, then, what's the last entry?" Holmes." if she died from some sudden fright." exactly what you advise." "Nor running a chance of arrest?" "That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe caps is 1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm "What is he like, this Vincent Spaulding?" half wages, it was obvious to me that he had some strong motive six when I found myself in Baker Street once more. As I the advantages of a cabman as a confidant. They had driven him your friends of last night, though I very much fear that they are we have so homely a thing as a goose at one end of this chain, we "'I should much prefer to have it so,' said he, raising up a client, rising. "Oh, he has his faults, too," said Mr. Wilson. "Never was such a good enough, Mr. Holmes. I did not wish to lose such a place connection with Mr. Hosmer Angel." still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, America. As to what it was he feared, we can only deduce that by gone so far that we cannot risk the presence of a light. And, from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is of my client. Lucy Parr, who had brought in the coffee, had, I am came in then. It is a hat of the very best quality. Look at the which presents any features of interest. It is possible, however,