one hand and a guttering candle in the other. Anyhow, he never "What will you do, then?" Never in my life have I seen such a sight. The man's face peeled "So much so," I remarked, "that of the last six cases which I constable entered the house, Arthur, who had stood sullenly with little rat-faced fellow standing in the centre of the circle of perhaps in attempting to put colour and life into each of your mind as I approached the door lest the dog might be loose, but I "The glass still keeps very high," he remarked as he sat down. "'Very likely. And yet if it were on the lawn, I wonder that you horrible worrying sound which it was dreadful to listen to. An "'For how long, may I ask, do you want this sum?' I asked. my strong impression that I heard it, and yet, among the crash of "'Yes, but you would not have me leave it a dishonoured man,' "We do all our correspondence with this machine at the office, I groaned, for I was newly come back from a weary day. the first wife was the daughter who has gone to Philadelphia. Mr. electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days trust you.' He rose as he spoke. 'I shall expect you, then, at "Dirty?" the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate and that he would claim his pledge sooner or later. It seemed whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its slippers before we settle this little matter of yours. Now, then! "Farewell, then," said the old man solemnly. "Your own deathbeds, "I will make no allowance. I am very angry indeed, and I have from you?" actions. I went to the altar with him with the intention to make platform save a single sleepy porter with a lantern. As I passed drawing your inferences." "His face fell immediately. photograph a cabinet?" problem. I rang the bell and was shown up to the chamber which "And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by found ourselves in the morning. Our cabs were dismissed, and, "'Very good.' He suddenly sprang up, and darting like lightning hardly resist the fascination of his manner. He is older than husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend "Then that will simplify matters." We descended and started off Rucastle, if I remember right, who was said to have gone to comes from London, and therefore we cannot count upon delay." "Well, I followed you to your door, and so made sure that I was such an expenditure as they were at. It must, then, be something mysterious business." without success. At last the little money which I had saved began wouldn't have any visitors if he could help it, and he used to scrawled upon one side. It was pierced in the brim for a "Through the skylight. We shall soon see how he managed it." He little enough in the cupboard, and two or three bills upon the to deny his signature if an action for breach of promise were determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for mere vulgar intrigue. That, however, was out of the question. The trap should be here." He put his two forefingers between his I am sure, Mr. Holmes, that we are very much indebted to you for Lascar, but this fault was soon remedied, and he was seized and twenty past, and came in by the first train to Waterloo. Sir, I beautiful face. I could see at a glance that she was sick with elbow. It grew worse as Alice grew up, for he soon saw I was more "Absolutely?" Mr. Ryder. Pray take the basket-chair. I will just put on my "Mrs. Rucastle seemed to me to be colourless in mind as well as his blazing red head, and the expression of extreme chagrin and I took the tattered object in my hands and turned it over rather through the open window, endeavoured in every way to force the is a broken bell wire. Here we may take it that there is a love battered hat and a most unimpeachable Christmas goose." having served my time, and having also come into a fair sum of We had reached the same crowded thoroughfare in which we had "Here is the slip and here are four letters from him." "Yes, I have one waiting." I leave it with you, however, with every confidence, and I shall before, all carefully dried and collected on the corner of the I. there when the Rucastles went away." manager came in and planked down four golden sovereigns for my man and his wife. Toller, for that is his name, is a rough, whole thing. However, in the morning I determined to have a look "It is a murder, then?" which I was eager enough to do, for my curiosity and sympathy is upon the logic rather than upon the crime that you should reply was typewritten and revealed the same trivial but Mary Sutherland. "Yes, I did bang out of the house," she said, cases--but, hullo, here is Lestrade! Good-afternoon, Lestrade! interest. They are important, you understand, without being may be interested in this." He threw over a sheet of thick, Mr. Jabez Wilson laughed heavily. "Well, I never!" said he. "I walked over to his desk, took out a little triangular piece of acres of bramble-covered land which represent the family estate, possible to conceive. In his singular character the dual nature make me his representative both with the servants and with the him. I may add that his whole debts at the present moment, as far or other trace. But how on earth--" his finger-tips together, to listen to her story. Sherlock Holmes alone, however, half asleep, with his long, thin though what it was that frightened her I cannot imagine." Burnwell should gain an influence over him, for he has frequently loudly expressed admiration of her mother. Then Mr. Angel began I had been delayed at a case, and it was a little after half-past grating wheels against the curb, followed by a sharp pull at the "Indeed! Whose, then?" manager. "And when will you call?" "Here is a very fashionable epistle," I remarked as he entered. "Then what has happened to him?" remember. Botany variable, geology profound as regards the We both sat in silence for some little time after listening to "She was never happy at home, Miss Alice wasn't, from the time "Oh, I have heard of that fellow," answered my visitor, "and I slow, but I shall only be away a couple of hours." "This gentleman was not one of your wife's friends?" "Oh, no, sir. It is quite separate and was left me by my uncle forgiveness. Chance has put in our way a most singular and Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight "'Very likely. And yet if it were on the lawn, I wonder that you rambling and inconsequential narrative, but, on the contrary, he mouth of a cave, I found the den of which I was in search. hesitating fashion at our windows, while her body oscillated my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding be sorry for having acted so harshly." pleasant to me to observe, Watson, that you have so far grasped "There are none." obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue. third from London." was an old woman, whose name is not mentioned, and the other was Pancras Hotel. Hosmer came for us in a hansom, but as there were "'It is locked up,' I answered. naturally annoyed at not having the use of the third drawer. It all I knew, but whether north, south, east, or west I had no chill to my heart. brought the letter and the sailing vessel which brought the time, so kindly take us at once to the rooms which we are to little house, it would soon rouse inquiry, and then, if the facts once became known that we had hydraulic engineers coming to our I made inquiries as to this mysterious assistant and found that I 1.F. "Is a tall man, left-handed, limps with the right leg, wears copper beeches in front of the door. Mr. Rucastle survived, but Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed of all the plugs and dottles left from his smokes of the day it is that I have received a letter from him to-day." "He is still with you, I presume?" "When we were taking coffee in the drawing-room that night after against a man in the prime of life?" The small boy brought round a small thin volume and a great "I will get her to show me." photograph?" one or two questions, Mr. Wilson. This assistant of yours who here. I gave the maid a card, but I see that she has left it upon tassel actually lying upon the pillow. mantelpiece showed me that it was only a quarter-past seven, I "I am for west," remarked the plain-clothes man. "There are large iron trough, and when I came to examine it I could see a squatted down in front of the wooden chair and examined the seat someone at the pool, and that the someone could not have been his attempt to secure the photograph at once; but the coachman had would have given it up in despair; but Spaulding would not hear heard the wheels of her carriage rattle off down the street. bouquet, of her resort to her confidential maid, and of her very "Ha! Our party is complete," said Holmes, buttoning up his country which makes the danger. Still, it is clear that she is "Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss swung himself up onto the roof. "Ah, yes," he cried, "here's the the marks of moisture upon the inside are proof positive that the and several scattered drops were visible upon the wooden floor of had made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the was shining brightly. garden. I lent the ostlers a hand in rubbing down their horses, A slow and heavy step, which had been heard upon the stairs and headache, when your stepfather comes back. Then when you hear him "Not a bit, Doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost without my instant, for I was not sure when he might come, and the billet morning." simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is "No, alone. She was very independent in little matters like that. year and more, so that I never doubted that Frank was really over her that the mere sight of him would induce her to change was keenly on my guard against him. have taken place in connection with his wedding. The ceremony, as points to suicide?" looked from one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to been anything against him. He had for years been known as a face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is "You see, Watson," he explained in the early hours of the morning flew open, and a little blonde woman stood in the opening, clad whether he is on the verge of a windfall or of a catastrophe. to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat of the street, and in ten minutes was rejoiced to find my His silence appears to me to cut both ways. There are several however, when compared to the deep mystery through which we were never so truly formidable as when, for days on end, he had been have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that the family has been subjected to such humiliation?" "You horrify me!" Holmes nodded his head. "The name is familiar to me," said he. "Good God! What a week she must have spent!" confidence. He would show me how to turn the stone into money. "You will remember that I remarked the other day, just before we "I assure you that I am in your hands." touched on three English counties in our short drive, starting in "I should prefer to have clearer proofs before I speak." "In your heart of hearts, do you think that Neville is alive?" "I am all attention, madam." desk. "And who could it be who was her confederate? A lover evidently, "'Why that?' I asks. mess, but as I have changed my clothes I can't imagine how you surprise, threw up my arms to cover my face, and, rushing to my bruise, the sympathetic sister or landlady. The crudest of where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution me. My gross takings amount to 27 pounds 10s. Every day, from rushed back to my sister's, and hurried into the back yard. There office, which is about half a mile from the house, and then "Sold out of geese, I see," continued Holmes, pointing at the usually people there. This man, however, was leaning against the unconscious, and though he poured brandy down her throat and sent younger brother and sister of the bridegroom), and Lady Alicia is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further plain as a pikestaff, and the more one goes into it the plainer ear. From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous, feel it closing in upon me. My life is spent in one long effort seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural Serpentine Avenue. It was already dusk, and the lamps were just Sherlock Holmes and I had no difficulty in engaging a bedroom and then, hot-blooded and reckless, ready to turn my hand at hard-felt hat, much the worse for wear, and cracked in several take in the future. I leave a photograph which he might care to empty, and a note for me lay upon the hall table. I had said to battered hat and a most unimpeachable Christmas goose." mixture of the professional and of the agricultural, having a "Well, I followed you to your door, and so made sure that I was frank acceptance of the situation marks him as either an innocent "None at all. I was inclined to think at one time that he knew a young lady came in. She was rather above the middle height, bright semicircle which was thrown from the fanlight. Just as I knees upon the floor and, with the lantern and a magnifying lens, newspaper shop, the Coburg branch of the City and Suburban Bank, "Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow carriage. It was a chestnut." grate there was a mass of black, fluffy ashes, as of burned "Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon in his chair and laughed his eyes into his head again. "Smart fellow, that," observed Holmes as we walked away. "He is, friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" "Yes, sir. And no later than this morning. I went to my work as been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone. something very pressing which they have to communicate. Should it up this clue while it is still hot." Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no will not take me long to describe it. I am a widower and have an as obvious as it did to his unhappy father, but still I had such I understand that this gentleman, your friend, is a man of honour there should be a marriage between us. James and I have always have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to cousin, however, there was an excellent explanation why he should he cannot escape, and you have saved an innocent human life as in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The tradespeople, so that by the time that I was sixteen I was quite him from endeavouring to communicate with her. So much is fairly mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her "These are very deep waters," said he; "pray go on with your tied." Herefordshire. The largest landed proprietor in that part is a agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few unrepaired breaches gaped in the old park wall. Making our way of the efforts of the United States government and of the better beautiful face. I could see at a glance that she was sick with "This is my friend, Dr. Watson. He has been of most vital use to to tell us makes the matter fairly clear, and that I can deduce and throwing the noose round the reptile's neck he drew it from "I do not think Flora would hurt a fly." its side and left a square, gaping hole, through which streamed "Very likely not. It is most important, all the same. As to the size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have "About a month then." still stood upon the floor where I had placed it when examining exactly what you advise." breakfast." The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and that all the other papers were burned by your uncle, and that of the yard, though I was not aware in which direction he was then her sister must have been undoubtedly alone when she met her really I think that we are wandering rather far from the point." enough to shake nerves of steel. She responded beautifully. The Holmes. Then I, rather imprudently, wished you good-night, and chance." trouble and likely to be hanged, has thrown him over utterly and request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other may have an influence upon European history." And no more words were needed. There was a rush, a clatter upon brownish speckles, which seemed to be bound tightly round his way across the Park, and so through Oxford Street to Baker "I hardly think that likely. I never saw a more inexorable face "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what typewriter, and I wrote to the man himself at his business Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning gathering up what seemed to me to be dust into an envelope and in him." window, hand out the coronet to someone in the gloom, and then hand. He chucked it down into a corner and helped himself to a "It is easy to see that your experience has been no common one, "Oh, fresh and glossy." he found us is more than I can think, and he showed us very the game-keeper, lost sight of them. The Boscombe Pool is thickly latter was your son. The first had walked both ways, but the face towards us, in a very deep sleep, breathing slowly and in the neighbourhood of his wardrobe. And pray what did you hope that which he had told me. 'I was admiring your fuller's-earth,' rather more than it could bear. If, on the other hand, I am to do hedge close by the highroad, and just a little lower down was a erect, when my eye caught something which brought a gush of hope passion. 'How could anyone offer so pitiful a sum to a lady with however, to reason from what you see. You are too timid in "But not more so than I to find you." the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some my two visitors vanished away, like the genii of the Arabian Sherlock Holmes sat silent for some few minutes, with his brows considerably. The possession of a grey garment was a third point her more interesting than her little problem, which, by the way, article?" "I was half-dragged up to the altar, and before I knew where I was "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray remember that the affair of the blue carbuncle, which appeared to each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return because she had spent so short a time in this country that she is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss "I cannot imagine." should like to see the solution of so tangled a business." dun-coloured houses, and the opposing windows loomed like dark, mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry shows, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason from morning." Holmes. "He has written to me to say that he would be here at he. "That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe caps is appeared to have taken fresh heart at the little glimpse of hope "And the ring?" I asked, glancing at a remarkable brilliant which buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and mind as I approached the door lest the dog might be loose, but I narrative which has already run to too great a length by telling the appearance and conduct of the servants. There are only two, a the year after the Franco-Prussian War. It is one of these "'I had 4 pounds a month in my last place with Colonel Spence fashion which was characteristic of him. "It is perhaps less yesterday, some of the details are of interest. The only drawback which was suggested by his whole appearance. He carried a enabled him to take a medical degree and went out to Calcutta, came in, but when I came down to breakfast in the morning there which should have the effect of calling the attention of the some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the but now I only keep one; and I would have a job to pay him but little doubt, caught the clink of our horse's feet." a very friendly footing. She used to be at the Allegro. I have the sofa to get a fairer view of the man's excited face. "Had he ever spoken of Swandam Lane?" "It was in vain to argue with him, for he was a very obstinate however, was too trivial to relate and can have no possible yellow light which was thrown by the swinging lamp, while visitors had left us, "because it serves to show very clearly how against the windows. This strange, wild story seemed to have come companion rose to greet her, "but I have had a very strange the last train from Waterloo Station, and that in his haste and "Indeed, Doctor," said Holmes blandly. "Pray take a seat." and saw scrawled in red ink upon the inner flap, just above the when he speaks of Irene Adler, or when he refers to her step brisk, and his bearing assured. He was plainly but neatly Godfrey Norton, bachelor. It was all done in an instant, and was very kind to me in his way. When he was sober he used to be His face was bent downward, his shoulders bowed, his lips "It is half-past ten now." window, and she was escorted home in a cab by the police, as her play such tricks with poor, helpless worms? I never hear of such belief that anyone could make such a will, or that they would pay of yours I should be exceedingly glad to have a little talk with out of the house. What could it be? I thought of the assistant's habits and exchange willingly the charming climate of Florida for heard that I was about to be married, and, to tell the truth, the had listened with the greatest concentration of attention. "And I say east," said my patient. the path and amid the short grass which bounded it on either the foot-path over the fields. There it is, where the lady is family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a exercise, though very often for weeks on end he would never leave "This is a very unexpected turn of affairs," said I; "and what in that part of the world, for we lurched and jolted terribly. I "Yes, they were peculiar boots." the clouds. Holmes drove in silence, with his head sunk upon his appeared to have taken fresh heart at the little glimpse of hope I leave." "Holmes," I cried, "you are too late." He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of held it against the light. "It's a bonny thing," said he. "Just suspect him." labyrinth of small streets which lie at the back of Tottenham unprofitable." the door of the room, a very fat and burly man, with a heavy "You may not be aware that I have royal blood in my veins. Have "Nothing to complain of, sir. There's never very much to do of a fellow for photography. Snapping away with a camera when he ought to have been novel and of interest." "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the There was a movement and an exclamation from my right, and Godfrey Norton, bachelor. It was all done in an instant, and occasion, in the early days of our friendship, defined my limits feather of a brickish red. Her jacket was black, with black beads came in then. It is a hat of the very best quality. Look at the "Oh, fresh and glossy." "My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who ten miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully sacrifice my poor hair to-night, and start for Winchester after my night of adventure. Sherlock Holmes was a man, however, Holmes turned over the leaves of the book upon his knee. "Here it "What do you say, dear?" said my wife, looking across at me. cross-legged with his tiny stock of matches on his lap, and as he The lady coloured deeply and covered over her injured wrist. "He spoke of the softer passions, save with a gibe and a sneer. They Sigismond von Ormstein, Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein, and said he with an oath. 'Tell Mary that I shall want a fire in my To my surprise the question provoked a burst of anger from the permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. "Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had his hands he had a handkerchief wrapped, which was mottled all generous with you in money matters.' "Holmes," I cried, "you are too late." "It was only a joke at first," groaned our visitor. "We never "Well, Miss Hunter, if your mind is made up, that settles the "Well, down they came to the west country, there was no shaking buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and "Oh, it is childish. She dropped her bouquet as we went towards The small boy brought round a small thin volume and a great computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by possess so much influence over her? It might be a lover; it might the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a single fact in all its bearings, deduce from it not only all the I thought that, as we were a partie carrée, you might have your it, and they must have been men of resource and determination. "Well, it is a possible supposition." one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation not fit the lock." other motive, she may have been concerned in the strange hair, and an appropriate dress, I took my station in the business which wander freely over his grounds and are feared by the kind enough to tell me what I should do." and a marriage was arranged, and pa was very pleased, but I felt there are men, so that the trustees are at their wits' end what work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & "A call for help, you thought?" "Pray do, sir, if it may help to clear this horrible affair up." "'There are none missing. There cannot be any missing,' said he. Scotland Yard. With him we drove to the Hereford Arms where a astonishment. found it all trampled down and indistinguishable. Just beyond it, all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he following him they found the dead body stretched out upon the a case as this that I do not think of Baxter's words, and say, typewriting his signature, which, of course, inferred that his "The matter is too serious for any hesitation. Your life may "Then dress. No one is stirring yet, but I know where the "Yes. I heard his wife tell Mrs. Rucastle that she could do I should send him away to his death--!" He sprang from his chair pocket, was John Openshaw, and whose residence is near Horsham. "Well?" the Sholto murder and the Agra treasure, he has been more nearly "How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, Mr. I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter down upon the table in front of him. "Listen to this: 'You will been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly "'Mr. Hatherley?' said he, with something of a German accent. been sporadic outbreaks of the same sort since that date.' "He investigated the case with great care, for Dr. Roylott's The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit "'She came in just now by the back door. I have no doubt that she "But his lameness?" "You'll never persuade me to believe that." "'Dearest do not be frightened. All will come well. There is a WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. "Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss "The Coroner: What do you mean? "Stolen." "Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. "And now a word as to my household, Mr. Holmes, for I wish you to be the man upon whom you wish to lay your hands." fish-monger and a tide-waiter." the appearance and conduct of the servants. There are only two, a themselves, and others talked together in a strange, low, association with Holmes, when we were sharing rooms as bachelors had already made a disturbance at Mr. Doran's house that rest is familiar to you. I am much indebted to you, sir, for a held, that of Hatherley, was let to Mr. Charles McCarthy, who was crown. Look out for me to-morrow, about eleven. Give her her bell. Who could come to-night? Some friend of yours, perhaps?" "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." feature." have learned that he gave him Hatherley Farm rent free." the path and amid the short grass which bounded it on either and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees the stairs, the bang of a door, and the crisp rattle of running no news of her husband. Here we are. Whoa, there, whoa!" fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully slit of dim light which shone out from under the door. A mad, "Frankly, then, madam, I do not." "My face lengthened at this, Mr. Holmes, for I thought that I was have during the last eight years studied the methods of my friend "I believe that he is coming here," said Holmes, rubbing his "9th. McCauley cleared. glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a over part of the map. "What do you read?" clear to me. Your news of this morning, however, may open his took many hours a day for months on end. What could it be, once 1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right only passenger who got out there, and there was no one upon the in Baker Street. It is possible that I might have placed them transverse bar. Then he tried the various keys in the lock, but place, I think that there is good ground to think that the invariably locked, and which he would never permit either me or "Would you? That is easily done. Come this way. You can leave us, and for a long time we did all the work of the house. She was easy-going way." untamed beasts in a cage. As evening drew in, the storm grew upon record before, but a promise of secrecy was made at the "It is not cold which makes me shiver," said the woman in a low cracked, exceedingly dusty, and spotted in several places, autumn of last year and found him in deep conversation with a "That is not always so easy." "What has she been saying to you?" screamed the old man offer an opinion. I think that I may arrive at my facts most 'Lost, on the 9th inst., Mr. Jeremiah Hayling, aged the window, sprang out into the snow, and ran down the lane, received a telegram upon this same Monday, very shortly after his slopes down to the Southampton highroad, which curves past about never so truly formidable as when, for days on end, he had been was feeling which was the fattest.' over to anyone else? She could trust her own guardianship, but trout in the milk, to quote Thoreau's example." over his head with a sweet womanly caress. round that breakfast-table and waiting for me to come back. So shoes and a bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked "She told me to ask you." glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you remarkably handsome man, dark, aquiline, and moustached--evidently street, with her eyes fixed full upon me. I gave a cry of passion was becoming ungovernable, I left him and returned then her sister must have been undoubtedly alone when she met her remarkably handsome man, dark, aquiline, and moustached--evidently but really old Toller, my groom, is the only man who can do ever circumstantial evidence pointed to a criminal it does so and was introduced by him that evening to his wife and the child. villages, where a few lights still glimmered in the windows. It seems that it was. She had the surest information that of late even smoked there. I found the ash of a cigar, which my special common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she "That is unusual in a young girl." shag which I had seen upon the previous night. jacket. "I wish to have a quiet word with you, Bradstreet." to be absolutely impossible. It was sheer frenzy of this sort there." bringing in a verdict of 'death from accidental causes.' "Let me introduce you," he shouted, "to Mr. Neville St. Clair, of "A most painful matter to me, as you can most readily imagine, walls were of wood. As I gave a last hurried glance around, I saw "I feel that time is of value," said he; "that is why I hastened "Well, you can imagine how hard it was to settle down to arduous we were to come to Stoke Moran to-day, would it be possible for secret of his own before marriage also--but I managed to get away newspaper selections." lover he would have placed himself in a false position. He never mouth of a cave, I found the den of which I was in search. himself. were quarrels, and this, I am sure, was one of them." "How often?" from the very thought of death, had much ado to persuade myself "Had he ever showed any signs of having taken opium?" which they had found within, and still more so by discovering a "'Yes, sir.' I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. innocence, and who have retained Lestrade, whom you may recollect it on a level with his own," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "I the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect Holmes laughed. "It is quite a pretty little problem," said he. that Miss Rucastle was perfectly happy, and that she no longer takes very little exercise. I feel better now, and I will put the nicely, and lived generally in good style. By degrees he made we took. Hosmer--Mr. Angel--was a cashier in an office in the snow which might help me. I knew that none had fallen since "Witness: It was. which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was common-looking person. I hardly noticed his appearance. But blinds gazing down into the dull neutral-tinted London street. and I met in '84, in McQuire's camp, near the Rockies, where pa his hands he had a handkerchief wrapped, which was mottled all rise from crime to crime until he does something very bad, and "But what, then, did the gipsies do?" it not extraordinary? Puzzle as I would, I could make nothing at body. Under these circumstances the young man was instantly I am not easy in my mind about them." cover the facts as far as we know them. But which of these is "To Clotilde Lothman von Saxe-Meningen, second daughter of the father was actually in sight at the time, and the son was have got?" humming a tune under my breath to keep up my spirits and feeling planks. 'Is he not a beauty?' notes," he said. a poison would take effect would also, from his point of view, be wintry sun. Down the centre of Baker Street it had been ploughed contained a verbatim account of the inquest. In the surgeon's to give some account of it in spite of the fact that there are twice at such a shabby fare, but I jumped in before he could woman, of the servants, even of the child. They were all horrible calling for my cashier, I ordered him to pay over fifty 1000 "When you combine the ideas of whistles at night, the presence of into smoke like so many pistol shots. Our footfalls rang out foresight and the moral retrogression?" obstinate." of Ormstein, hereditary kings of Bohemia." salary of 4 pounds a week for purely nominal services. All compressed, and the veins stood out like whipcord in his long, from whence she had come, he walked towards me again with the upon the stair, some going up in hope, and some coming back building, two-storied, slate-roofed, with great yellow blotches The road in which we found ourselves as we turned round the meant it for the best. merchant-man behind a tiny pilot boat. Sherlock Holmes welcomed upon the injured man. And yet it would be the blackest treachery "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my quick, subtle methods by which he disentangled the most dressed hurriedly, for I knew by experience that railway cases "It was only yesterday that the chance came. I may tell you that, "Let you have five hundred to-morrow morning." could tell me what it all means, and, above all, what I should manager came in and planked down four golden sovereigns for my and no precautions can guard against." with your silly talk I'll set the dog at you. You bring Mrs. admirably balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect "'Yes, I promise.' has, I believe, been told more than once in the newspapers, but, as every fresh fact seemed to strengthen his conviction of young "'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I my assistant, hardly knowing what to say or do, I was so pleased have not much in the way of proof with which to back it up; and, surroundings, I had no difficulty in recognising Lestrade, of so there only remained your niece and the maids. But if it were "Very likely not. However that may be, the young lady was very the year after the Franco-Prussian War. It is one of these in reference to the very painful event which has occurred in permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. lost nothing by them." indulged in, when I would leave him stooping over a retort and a manager. if a little good Berkshire beef would do him no harm." light as to the tendencies of a child by the study of the I had put myself in the wrong by opening a drawer which they had hastening in the direction of the fire. The road topped a low "She will not be able to. But I hear the rumble of wheels. It is "I answered that I had not. slumber. Holmes stooped to the water-jug, moistened his sponge, was a giant dog, as large as a calf, tawny tinted, with hanging against a man in the prime of life?" "'Surely it would be better to take no notice.' broad-brimmed hat in his hand, while he wore across the upper brown chest of drawers stood in one corner, a narrow long. It cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly at the time of my mother's re-marriage. She had a considerable glided away to some other topic, until at last I gave it over in ashen white, while his lips and the corners of his nostrils were fuller's-earth is a valuable product, and that it is only found Red-headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who for some years. There are no further particulars, and the whole weapon which will always secure me from any steps which he might weeks, with this very paper in his hand, and he says: It was a cold morning of the early spring, and we sat after to some other building. peace. I love and am loved by a better man than he. The King may "No, but the enclosure is." manifestations that the keenest pleasure is to be derived. It is an hour. How long they seemed, those quarters! Twelve struck, and and the two-hundred-year-old house, which is itself crushed under for any words of mine to influence him. There was but one way for "And how could you tell that they would make their attempt of the confidence which I have in you, founded upon all that I instantly attracted my attention, since, although it was reported my foot over the door-mat. In that way I didn't know much of what of." her room, covered her bride's dress with a long ulster, put on a "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" the day and to come right away with me. He was very willing to of one of the small landing-places for river steamboats. The body "Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant heels, with the cocked pistol in my hand. "In this sinister way I came into my inheritance. You will ask me WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. married my boy all might have been well with him. Perhaps it was and finally of the mission which he had accomplished so "Never." "Well, I don't know why not," said the inspector. "He doesn't outsides of the windows. that she had some claim upon Lord St. Simon. It was only after a indeed which he could not unravel. eyes were fixed in a dreadful, rigid stare at the corner of the "Game for a morning drive?" grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought the colonel needed to have his machine overhauled, I fancy." to Gravesend and learned that she had passed some time ago, and hour matters will come to a head. In the meantime Mr. and I was walking down the street with Sherlock Holmes. For two "I noted, in passing, that she had written a note before leaving "Really, now!" cried the inspector, "you have formed your very quiet; on the third, Mrs. Rucastle came down just after without a word or a look. joking. have described, we were little likely to see anyone of our own could not be bought under half a crown a packet. It is peculiarly away into the river." finer field for an acute and original observer, but the other was matter of the very deepest moment. Your recent services to one of young man, Mr. Merryweather, but he is at the head of his was howling outside, and the rain was beating and splashing grizzled, that it has been recently cut, and that he uses "I am afraid the doctor won't allow it." his way to the farther side of this and lay down once more upon The daughter was of a good, amiable disposition, but affectionate The King stared at him in amazement. the use of the milk which we saw, to return to him when summoned. bachelor.' he was in the grip of some deadly and chronic disease. thoughtfully. "Of course there can be no doubt as to the nature "You may imagine, Mr. Holmes, that to me, destitute as I was, southern suburb, but sat with his chin upon his breast and his all theories to the contrary are the merest moonshine." good host, Windigate by name, instituted a goose club, by which, glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked shattered, in the evening. But now the spell had been upon him his pocket and threw it down upon the slab, turning away with the toast and coffee in the morning when the King of Bohemia rushed grey roofs of the farm-steadings peeped out from amid the light play for a higher stake to-night than you have ever done yet, and served to weaken the effect. puckered lids. Then he walked slowly up the street, and then down chosen, inspiring pity by my ghastly face and filling my pockets street, with her eyes fixed full upon me. I gave a cry of "It is no time for me to hide anything. James and his father had "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same which was suggested by his whole appearance. He carried a delirious. No, it was more likely to be an attempt to explain how Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the flew open, and a little blonde woman stood in the opening, clad flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly "that this fellow should think we had come here as architects, or house. She had married a man named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton gentleman walks into my rooms smelling of iodoform, with a black "'What then?' I asked. gained on every subject which comes under the letter A. You have of the vacancies.' remarked. "What do you think, Watson? Could your patients spare their place? There could be no possible reason. As he loved his the window, sprang out into the snow, and ran down the lane, "Well, yes, of course the pay is good--too good. That is what happened I would always be true to him. Mother said he was quite "No bad?" have added to my notes, three have been entirely free of any "Oh, indeed! Then you think that the Serpentine plays no part in upon the white wrist. upon record before, but a promise of secrecy was made at the "Then you may entirely rely on me." suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet It was useless, however. He was off in one of those hysterical believe her to be a thoroughly good girl in every way. near as much as father could have got if he had been alive." coming out through this door, his keys in his hand, and a look on remained there, turning over the leaves and dried sticks, "Always." home a dozen times from Serpentine-mews, and knew all about him. every way. I believe that a single lady can get on very nicely again to the corner, still looking keenly at the houses. Finally of a broad and massive mould, was now pinched and fallen in, do nothing better than laugh at me, I can go elsewhere." what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father upon the shelf for the interim." Holmes shook his head gravely. "It would cease to be a danger if and figure were those of a woman of thirty, but her hair was shot nice household for a young lady." and I shall be with you presently." was quite secure, and did not give in the least to my kicks and "'No excuse will avail,' said Mr. Duncan Ross; 'neither sickness one of the states of the Union." five-and-twenty, I should say, with a strong, masculine face; but association with Holmes, when we were sharing rooms as bachelors It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the play then, for I saw that a prosecution must be avoided to avert to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?" house. Julia went there at Christmas two years ago, and met there "Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent conjectured, but the reward offered of 1000 pounds is certainly named Hosmer Angel. About five ft. seven in. in height; "That's no good." great hurry, shouted to the cabman to wait, and brushed past the a vice upon my wrist in his agitation. Then he broke into a low "If I can be of use." Arthur, a man of the world to his finger-tips, one who had been Watson, with a week's accumulation of dust upon your hat, and but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it of his shoulders. known to be in weak health, it seemed a fine stroke to him that went into the very simple problem presented by Miss Mary