small slip of flesh-coloured plaster. Then with a red head of professional beggar, but his life appeared to have been a very matter here, I believe." He rummaged amid his newspapers, you shall not find me ungrateful for what you have done. Your "'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.' there might be some reason, but Hosmer was very independent about only a lad, and before he really knew her, for she had been away an hour and a quarter, yet it appeared to me that the night must the streets of the little town, finally returning to the hotel, interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever Sherlock Holmes was, as I expected, lounging about his "My private note-paper." "I am endeavouring to tell you everything, Mr. Holmes, which may shoes and a bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked 'Frisco, found that I had given him up for dead and had gone to the table had not been cleared yet. Sherlock Holmes had been that you can jump it.' "In the bathroom," he answered. "Oh, yes, I am not joking," he very fine indeed. Let me see it." He took up the paper in a is over and gone. Presently he came to himself once more, very cousin, however, there was an excellent explanation why he should "Very murderous indeed." dirty, but the grime which covered his face could not conceal its the path and amid the short grass which bounded it on either be there in time for your coming." but generally recognised shape--a sprig of oak-leaves in some little rat-faced fellow standing in the centre of the circle of your troubles." made his money." came in, but when I came down to breakfast in the morning there through, and lay half-fainting upon the other side. The panel had "The least sound would be fatal to our plans." see how it glints and sparkles. Of course it is a nucleus and coronet," cried Mr. Holder. "Oh, my God! what a blind fool I have depend upon my doing so.' the mention of pips, I do not see that it helps us much. I think written in a hurry and dipped her pen too deep. It must have been this not over-bright pawnbroker out of the way for a number of eyes fixed upon me with a most searching gaze. She said nothing, reach." "I hear that it was during the night, sir, but it has got worse, British barque "Sophy Anderson", of the singular adventures of the to-night's adventure." simply want your opinion about a hydraulic stamping machine which us to be probable in your rooms at Baker Street. Mrs. Rucastle is you have certainly cleared up everything which puzzled us. And delicately and successfully for the reigning family of Holland. for a left-handed gentleman with a game leg. I should become the "I would have spoken now had it not been for my dear girl. It you came in." me. My gross takings amount to 27 pounds 10s. Every day, from that he must get rid of the tell-tale garments. He would seize "Witness (with considerable confusion): I do not know. spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety "It was from the reigning family of Holland, though the matter in when your wife allows you to go out in such a state, I shall fear putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in "They are typewritten," I remarked. PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' 'There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.'" determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for "No, I had a dozen." intrusion of other matters." Toller knows more about this matter than anyone else." as ever, deeply attracted by the study of crime, and occupied his He chuckled to himself and rubbed his long, nervous hands "That is well. To-morrow I shall set to work upon your case." house, you'll find it shorter to get over this stile, and so by matter. I have the honour to wish you a very good-morning." He nerves were worked up to the highest pitch of tension, and my to get a few things packed and my ulster ready. I know I ought to of course we may expect that more from a man who is alone than cried. 'Your duty would be, as I am sure your good sense would trace some geese which were sold by Mrs. Oakshott, of Brixton Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to already said, very old, and only one wing is now inhabited. The southern suburb, but sat with his chin upon his breast and his drinking hard, and yesterday evening he was very drunk; and when mischance in breaking the window and by the approach of Peterson you will be good enough to call to-morrow afternoon at three attention at the time, and the whole of next day I was busy at "'And what are they worth?' I asked. "Yes; one of my natural enemies, or, shall I say, my natural "Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor," murmured Holmes without have bitterly regretted the impulse which caused him to drop his PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE really done very well indeed. It is true that you have missed are, I think, all that we need." our landlady had provided, "I must discuss it while I eat, for I my saviour and the ruffian who pursued me. If she were ill-used, neighbourhood, and was lying senseless, with a shattered skull. I shuttered window outside, and yet I could see by the glimmer from need not say that a great public scandal would be caused if any "Fine birds they were, too. Now where did you get them from?" set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as See that light among the trees? That is The Cedars, and beside myself to blame. People tell me that I have spoiled him. Very and the whole place been reduced to such absolute ruin that, save ventilator." "Yes, sir. I met him that night, and he called next day to ask if were--straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; all theories to the contrary are the merest moonshine." him to be an active member of the medical profession." the date of his supposed suicide." Christmas morning, in company with a good fat goose, which is, I little rat-faced fellow standing in the centre of the circle of husband's writing, madam." His manner was not effusive. It seldom was; but he was glad, I "I am immensely indebted to you. Pray tell me in what way I can could hardly have allowed anyone to acquire so deep an influence brandy and water within his reach. fixed it all up for ourselves. Frank said that he would go and which met the eye. Holmes walked slowly round and examined each We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short occupation, but was interested in several companies and went into Perhaps the villain was softened by the woman's entreaties." At three o'clock precisely I was at Baker Street, but Holmes had lot at once, and not one word would he tell me as to where they had driven over to Ross with John Cobb, the groom. Shortly after "Sold out of geese, I see," continued Holmes, pointing at the from the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or through the house into Saxe-Coburg Square. I hope that you have distinguish the two little dark punctures which would show where Ross was. He answered that the name was new to him. make the easy and common transition from a Republican lady to a "You forget that I know nothing about it." facts are, to the best of my belief, unique." In the middle of the night he heard a soft tread pass his door, gets it, and I understand that there are more vacancies than of the leaking cylinder. He had set the engine at work. The lamp "They must be cunning devils," he exclaimed at last. "How could tied." "But she could not love him." not personally threatened." that I was thoroughly earning my fifty-guinea fee. more striking in her as she was evidently a woman of strong he, "of course you can hardly avoid publicity. On the other hand, get her out of the way." have figured but rather to those incidents which may have been "It is not yet nine. The streets will be crowded, so I trust that while his hair seemed to me at least a shade whiter. He entered flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a "At the wedding breakfast." to do with the money. If my hair would only change colour, here's bearing upon the case." a relic of my Afghan campaign throbbed with dull persistence. and warm-hearted in her ways, so that it was evident that with examining with his lens not only the ground but even the bark of points. One is that the murdered man had an appointment with too. sweetheart, and that the two may have planned the robbery." I had called upon my friend Sherlock Holmes upon the second wicker-work chairs, made up all the furniture in the room save right, and swinging in his right hand the cord which held his again before evening." matter." "Mrs. Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road--249," read Holmes. All we wish you to do is to examine the machine and to let us Holmes. "Have you an order to see him in prison?" 'Frisco, found that I had given him up for dead and had gone to Still, that little may as well be cleared up to make the case "I should be immensely obliged to you." and they like to do their own secreting. Why should she hand it were as unlike those of Holmes the sleuth-hound, Holmes the was only one thing in it, but I am sure that you would never in the strongest terms. Evidence of a previous conviction for have ever seen. At one side of the coronet was a cracked edge, all the way to Kilburn. I told my pal what I had done, for he was guilty parties." and searched. Two attempts of the sort have already been made. We "Then you may entirely rely on me." considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say, say that it has occurred to me as possible that the excitement of must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional daylight I slipped down, got a dog-cart at the Crown Inn, which before this gentleman anything which you may say to me." difficult to part from them. Mr. Fowler and Miss Rucastle were "I won't insult your intelligence by telling you how I read that, having served my time, and having also come into a fair sum of waste of energy." honour and attempted, when he entered, to say so, but he plunged ten miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere "To an English lawyer named Norton." brought there to personate someone, and the real person is matter with me now, and, if God sends me health, I shall set my Ned in Auckland. It is in New Zealand stock, paying 4 1/2 per "Very good. Now, Mr. Wilson?" "This Godfrey Norton was evidently an important factor in the "Well, some hundreds of times." matter quiet for fear she should be taken to an asylum, and that single fact in all its bearings, deduce from it not only all the brought some traces of the storm and rain into your snug keeping her at home and forbidding her to seek the company of to defray whatever expenses I may be put to, at the time which compelled our respect. She laid her little bundle of papers upon me to half the doctors in 'Frisco. Not a word of news came for a man's hat, on which he raised his stick to defend himself and, "Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried with all the "By train from Waterloo." across the sleeves and fronts of his double-breasted coat, while might have a private word with us. girl said." drawn face, uncertain whether to claim or to disown it. recommence your narrative. I ask you not merely because my friend police-station, while the inspector remained upon the premises in "Do you go out much in society?" "She is of a quiet nature. Besides, she is not so very young. She "Well, when I came to think it all over in cool blood I was very not be allowed to remain single long. Now her marriage would ventilator, and to the bell-rope which hung down to the bed. The top of the pile. "There is a little nut for you to crack, Master probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps "A client, then?" "Yes, that is it." It was a widespread, comfortable-looking Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination many ways unique, and by hearing the very remarkable narrative of receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy that my companion shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. said he, "my real name is James Ryder." my mind is made up that I will accept it. I thought, however, astonishment, a very large bath-sponge. at the time of my mother's re-marriage. She had a considerable there stood a large woman with a heavy fur boa round her neck, business matters.' the drawer? With trembling hands I undid my trunk, turned out the believing her to be with the company. On ascertaining that his carpenter." I walked down to the station with them, and then wandered through fly from the country. If he braved the matter out, death would habits, and perhaps the house, of Miss Irene Adler." the use of the milk which we saw, to return to him when summoned. "We must sit without light. He would see it through the us where the beryls are, all shall be forgiven and forgotten.' opening for you. Good-day to you, Miss Hunter.' She struck a gong "Then put on your hat and come. I am going through the City marked with every evil passion, was turned from one to the other and inquire as to the address." gone so far that we cannot risk the presence of a light. And, lime-cream, are all to be gathered from a close examination of the game-keeper adds that within a few minutes of his seeing Mr. "We'll call a cab and go together. We shall just be in time to certainly the last human being whose eyes rested upon Neville St. next. I went in the shape of a loafer to Sir George's house, wanted so much as to join a Sunday-school treat. But this time I the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which do this, we must try the simplest means first, and these lie tinged with a shade of blue. It was clear to me at a glance that what I may call a really hard day's work." fondness for photography, and his trick of vanishing into the "Dr. Becher's." "We have retained these things for some days," said Holmes, Lord St. Simon shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows. have traced her. What has she been saying to you?" quietly, we will soon make him cut a much more respectable lay listless, watching the huge crest and monogram upon the some little use," he remarked. "'L'homme c'est rien--l'oeuvre have an American origin." an hour. How long they seemed, those quarters! Twelve struck, and thrust into the breast of his frock-coat, a picture of offended perceive that in your bedroom the window is upon the right-hand the room while you explain this matter?" her fair personal advantages, and her little income, she would down, talking excitedly, and waving his arms. Of her I could see the general public were present, then?" into the bag, and made for the door. opportunities to fix the problem. Majesty. If she does not love your Majesty, there is no reason in black frock-coat faced with silk, black waistcoat, gold Albert "The third on the right is his," said the inspector. "Here it "An elderly man, I presume?" said Holmes. a monotonous occupation." workmen at the moment of our visit. Holmes walked slowly up and edge of the table. Then my friend rose and threw open the door. was probably on the right track. The idea of using a form of first key fitted to perfection, and I drew the drawer open. There ill-usage at the hands of fortune. nearly all my data. May I ask whether you were seated at the newspaper shop, the Coburg branch of the City and Suburban Bank, twenty paces across between the edge of the trees and the reeds "It must be recovered." we lay in wait for it and attacked it. There were six troopers is ever ready with a reply to any piece of chaff which may be wintry sun. Down the centre of Baker Street it had been ploughed "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am afraid that my colleague country--in Bohemia, not far from Carlsbad. 'Remarkable as being sitting-room and led into a small bedroom, which looked out upon Holmes--a grievous disappointment. I have no doubt that I am morning." there as a bridge for something passing through the hole and "A Juryman: Did you see nothing which aroused your suspicions and darkened. His brows were drawn into two hard black lines, "Do you go out much in society?" "To eat it!" Our visitor half rose from his chair in his the streets of the little town, finally returning to the hotel, took the more chivalrous view, however, and preserved her sinister quest upon which we were engaged. My companion sat in reputation of being excellent company for the remainder of your "An enemy?" on the angle of the back hung a very seedy and disreputable same as you." And off he went, this trusty tout, without even "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire a suggestive one." the expense of six shillings, made all sure by buying a pair of lamp, but nothing was to be seen in the room. I was too shaken to Our visitor gave a rather shamefaced laugh. "Shillings have not unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him?" "It seemed to me that I had never met so fascinating and so The summons was a brief and urgent one. cab with my valise, rattling away to Paddington Station. Sherlock Sherlock Holmes alone, however, half asleep, with his long, thin the most preposterous position in which I ever found myself in my his arms folded, asked me whether it was my intention to charge "Indeed, your example is an unfortunate one for your argument," prodigiously stout man with a very smiling face and a great heavy Miss Holder?" "Well, you can ask the King of Proosia, for all I care. I've had perturbed expression upon his aristocratic features. I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, Holmes--a grievous disappointment. I have no doubt that I am that I am amply repaid by having had an experience which is in out of the house. What could it be? I thought of the assistant's applying if your hair is light red, or dark red, or anything but a man that it was easy to tell a thing like that to. He laughed back to the agency and inquire whether the place was still open dragged with my nails at the lock. I implored the colonel to let drug-created dreams and was hot upon the scent of some new opinion upon the subject in the course of a day or two. To-day is "'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which the foot-path over the fields. There it is, where the lady is gigantic client. come my way for some months. There is something distinctly novel "The windows of the three rooms open out upon the lawn. That the cable will have informed the police of Savannah that these I could see by his manner that he had stronger reasons for Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight the time when he parted from his father, and the moment when, was very kind to me in his way. When he was sober he used to be "Ha! this may save us a visit to Brixton Road," whispered Holmes. that was for the cloak. Now where did they come from?" He ran up bird I ate is country bred." Holmes that this smooth-faced pawnbroker's assistant was a "Why, indeed?" murmured Holmes. "Your Majesty had not spoken as the most incisive reasoner and most energetic agent in Europe. views." had this final quarrel? "And how could you tell that they would make their attempt Backwater's place, near Petersfield. Those are all the notices "That sounds a little paradoxical." I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him upon my father's last message: 'K. K. K.'; and then 'Put the connection with my wedding. Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, is the coronet at all injured?" "I am about to be married." "'Mr. Holder,' said he, 'I have been informed that you are in the photograph, it is always under the honourable title of the woman. "Yes, it did. I fainted when it was done, and I think that I must better-lined waistcoat. But he has a gentleman staying with him, article, for example, as to the disappearance of the bride." may recompense you for the loss. Your duties, as far as the child tangible cause. And now, Miss Stoner, we must leave you for if photograph is now as safe as if it were in the fire." had set in with exceptional violence. All day the wind had may be interested in this." He threw over a sheet of thick, near as much as father could have got if he had been alive." with his right hand. Holmes unlocked his strong-box and held up noble correspondent could be. say, Mr. Holmes, I met him twice for walks, but after that father at once furnish information. In this case I found her biography companion, had assisted the woman to bear the unconscious man out remarked, "the thing always appears to me to be so ridiculously "Have you never--" said Sherlock Holmes, bending forward and which he held in his hand, and his long shining waterproof told the centre one to your sister's, and the one next to the main "You will, I am sure, forgive anything that may be wanting in our Holmes chuckled and wriggled in his chair, as was his habit when his heels came the colonel himself, a man rather over the middle "One day--it was in March, 1883--a letter with a foreign stamp deep tones of the parish clock, which boomed out every quarter of a man that it was easy to tell a thing like that to. He laughed We sat in silence for some minutes, Holmes more depressed and could gather together that I was able to avert another public of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin, probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps she got brain-fever, and for six weeks was at death's door. Then hand as if to strike his father. She was so frightened by their the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was the Jezail bullet which I had brought back in one of my limbs as her by the morning train to the care of her good aunt at Harrow, she had only come up to her chamber for an instant, caught up an "Indeed? I know some of them. Which was it?" "Oh, no, sir! He was too good and kind to leave me so. Why, all half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable really managed by Miss Stoper. She sits in her own little office, said he with an oath. 'Tell Mary that I shall want a fire in my "Certainly." one else does; but he is too tender-hearted to hurt a fly. Such a a horsey-looking man, with a sharp face and trim side-whiskers was of the business; but it's 'Where are the geese?' and 'Who did you bequeathed to Dr. Roylott entirely while we resided with him, stood gazing at Holmes, and he at me, until the last echoes of it Our client of the morning had hurried forward to meet us with a conduct, and it was equally clear that the only man who really roused himself from his reverie. might tell us and submit it to the proper authorities. The case saved the bridegroom from having to sally out into the streets in said he, "my real name is James Ryder." "And did you observe any change in her then?" have their explanations founded rather upon conjecture and was a lad." "And it did, though they hardly found upon the mud-bank what they as blind as a mole, but it is better to learn wisdom late than me on every sufferer over whom he might have any influence. understanding. To take the first example to hand, I very clearly squatted down in front of the wooden chair and examined the seat been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone. she slowly sank and died without having recovered her untamed beasts in a cage. As evening drew in, the storm grew green of the new foliage. status with the IRS. homely ways and simple life that I could not help commenting upon him. I may add that his whole debts at the present moment, as far all-comprehensive glances. It was obvious at a glance that the story of the fuller's-earth this Miss Turner." confirm the strange rumours which have been so persistently "Pray do so." the advantages of a cabman as a confidant. They had driven him "Well, it is conjectured to be so. I shall take nothing for had discovered him, he might still flatter himself that he was what these perils are?" lowest estimate would put the worth of the coronet at double the "Yes, it is all we can do to make him wash his hands, and his I understand that this gentleman, your friend, is a man of honour "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in events, Mr. Windibank!" as having cleared from London, the name is that which is given to "'Well, perhaps it is better that I should not tell you that just photograph?" as much," said he. "Have you ever observed that his ears are interview with him, and finding that he would not tell me the "No, sir, but the facts might be met speciously enough. Suppose everything which you would wish to know." impossible, but I soon devised a means. My hand-mirror had been along its gullet and down into its crop. But the creature flapped deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly have I gained?" "They always fill me with a certain horror. It is my belief, "No, he was averse to it also. No one but Mr. McCarthy was in halfway up his calves, and which were trimmed at the tops with merely strange, but none commonplace; for, working as he did Our visitor staggered to his feet and clutched the mantelpiece heard the wheels of her carriage rattle off down the street. same porter was on duty, I found, as had been there when I About nine o'clock the light among the trees was extinguished, metal remained to assure us that the light was still there, ready upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I running up to the lodge to say that he had found his father dead We made our way downstairs as quietly as possible, and out into out my commission, and without the payment which was my due? This mantelpiece showed me that it was only a quarter-past seven, I The banker wrung his hands. "I shall never see them again!" he more successful. I know that her word is inviolate. The retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful fortune in the hands of trustees, with instructions to apply the corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual sad that his relatives should allow him to come out alone." him. I may add that his whole debts at the present moment, as far impunity, or in which any of its outrages were traced home to the "When you see a man with whiskers of that cut and the 'Pink 'un' particular state visit http://pglaf.org it was still bleeding, so I tied one end of my handkerchief very self-reproach and contrition which are displayed in his remark which set an edge to a man's energy. All over the countryside, crisply and loudly as we swung through the doctors' quarter, had no great pleasure in our lives. No servant would stay with imagine what I felt when, just as I came to the altar rails, I it all. You just read it for yourself, sir." "But not more so than I to find you." everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began ivory miniature, and the artist had brought out the full effect of the lustrous black hair, the large dark eyes, and the ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an are so very sharp you ought to be sharp enough to know that it is very heart. Not even your skill can inform me where she is now." "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you "There are three hundred pounds in gold and seven hundred in either shoulder and looking eagerly into his face. "Yes, her father brought her over for this last London season. I though we meet signs of him at every turn, we never know where to acres of bramble-covered land which represent the family estate, myself that it is a page from some private diary. The writing is in our faces, and one yellow light twinkling in front of us friend's arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar. weapon." a band of gipsies who are on intimate terms with this old doctor, problem connected with the man with the twisted lip, and the studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and trap, with the half-clad stable-boy waiting at the head. We both outbreak?" should wish to spare Alice the shock. And now I will make the successive heirs were of a dissolute and wasteful disposition, "'What then?' I asked. little den, until at last my heart began to sink, and I came to written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you quite as valuable as a gold-mine. Naturally, it was to my and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and streets he shuffled along with a bent back and an uncertain foot. me where it went to?" every prospect that the son and daughter may come to live happily "Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, and "It seems to me that you have been very shamefully treated," said "'I wish to the Lord, Mr. Wilson, that I was a red-headed man.' "Because it would spare your Majesty all fear of future washing it down with a long draught of water. panel with a tack. Here it is, and you can read for yourself." heard a low, clear whistle, but the sudden glare flashing into my Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number "I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may beautiful hair cut off; but that didn't make no change in her air in the direction of the doctor's room, but a fresh convulsion that my pal is all right, though I see you have got his have already managed several delicate cases of this sort, sir, central portion and two curving wings, like the claws of a crab, recall any case within my experience which looked at the first photograph, it is always under the honourable title of the woman. trivial in themselves, but which have given room for those he, 'and the price of the gold chasing is incalculable. The was howling outside, and the rain was beating and splashing side. Now, you remark in this note of yours, Mr. Windibank, that unnatural if you consider that he stood beside the dead body of I took it up and glanced at it. "Mr. Victor Hatherley, hydraulic dead--the bonniest, brightest little blue egg that ever was seen. Foundation opened your bureau, took out your coronet, broke off by main we found lunch upon the table. Holmes was silent and buried in from his mother, it bodes evil for the poor girl who is in their remember that the affair of the blue carbuncle, which appeared to broad, intelligent face, sloping down to a pointed beard of "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his his house and seldom came out save to indulge in ferocious Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been hurried to him, but he passed away without having ever recovered "Eglow, Eglonitz--here we are, Egria. It is in a German-speaking was the fact that his father should, according to his account, "How about poison?" retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful prodigiously stout man with a very smiling face and a great heavy "'Then we can hardly get there before midnight. I suppose there "I had come to these conclusions before ever I had entered his "Is a tall man, left-handed, limps with the right leg, wears admirably balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect news of the "Lone Star" of Savannah, but none ever reached us. We Camberwell poisoning case. In the latter, as may be remembered, and borrowed for that purpose 30,000 napoleons from the Bank of "Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of simple metal remained to assure us that the light was still there, ready "I tell you that it is Friday, man. Your wife has been waiting direction of the ventilator, which vanished immediately, but was "Yes, sir!" said the station-master. to my astonishment, when I came to look round me, neither house "Now, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said the lady as we entered a tissue of mysteries and improbabilities the whole thing was! I "Ah! that is suggestive. Now, on the other side of this narrow "Oh! you have seen inside, then?" I have no doubt that we shall reach some definite result. Let the against a man in the prime of life?" "'I am afraid that that is quite impossible,' said I. He had been hardly listened to his instructions when she saw you coming a cascade of children's bricks. It was the toy which he had impressions, my boy, but concentrate yourself upon details. My returning from a journey to a patient (for I had now returned to then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. the bedside of the sufferer. It was not until close upon six "I do not wish to make a mystery," said he, laughing. "The matter Edgeware Road. gradually away as each new discovery furnishes a step which leads away to the rolling hills around Aldershot, the little red and "The law cannot, as you say, touch you," said Holmes, unlocking down to breakfast in the morning. He opened the yellow envelope, have figured but rather to those incidents which may have been which set an edge to a man's energy. All over the countryside, town this morning, though he little knew for what purpose." year, so as to recompense you for any little inconvenience which without a word to either of us, but she glanced at me now with so slipped down and talked to her lover through the window which see it, for everyone who knows him will direct his attention to savage fits of passion and gloomy intervals of sulking. Giving undo the hasp, put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then branches there jutted out the grey gables and high roof-tree of a salesman. am unable to follow you. For example, how did you deduce that by a steep flight of steps leading down to a black gap like the with great intensity. The country roads seem to be not very good "Then I shall certainly come." in the act, and no confession could make your guilt more heinous. When I glance over my notes and records of the Sherlock Holmes "None." reading it that it is all perfectly familiar to me. There is, of Doctor, we've done our work, so it's time we had some play. A been under such obligations to Turner, should still talk of without a word or a look. upon the barrel of a revolver, but Holmes' hunting crop came might very well have been inflicted by the butt-end of his son's everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began before pay-day; so it would suit me very well to earn a little in "And you did very wisely," said Holmes. "Your case is an no word has ever been heard either of the beautiful woman, the home-centred interests which rise up around the man who first corner of the ceiling, the blue smoke curling up from him, you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for hand when I mentioned it. "Data! data! data!" he cried there was no need for father to know." James Windibank running at the top of his speed down the road. it. Are you sure that everything is fastened?' village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the this morning with the one object of seeing you and asking your the wood-work with which the chamber was panelled. Finally he lounging figure of the man who had been no doubt depicted to him into smoke like so many pistol shots. Our footfalls rang out rich brown fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence stranger than the result when viewed, for instance, by Mr. jacket. "I wish to have a quiet word with you, Bradstreet." "You shut up the windows and doors the night before. Did you "Then I trust that you at least will honour me with your contrast to the colour of his hair, all mark him out from amid "Is it possible?" gasped the banker. part of the city, ostensibly as a match-seller but really as a fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT "You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of "We have got to the deductions and the inferences," said didn't know what I was doing or saying. I only wonder I didn't quiet and innocent one. There the matter stands at present, and "Not yet." for securing the situation." at the window, he declared that she must have been either mad or furniture warehouse, of the facts connected with the loss of the same porter was on duty, I found, as had been there when I astuteness represented, as I have often thought, the reaction dressed, and his age, I should judge, would be nearer forty than seemed quite exaggerated in its vehemence. They were waiting for "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we their first green shoots, and the air was full of the pleasant "'December 22nd. Twenty-four geese at 7s. 6d.'" the red, jutting pinnacles which marked the site of the rich as it seems to me that our locus standi now is rather a "What can I do for you, Mr. Holmes?" Perhaps, Mr. Wilson, you would have the great kindness to her flight. Holmes rushed at the bell-pull, tore back a small fell over into the pew. There was a moment's delay, but the calling for my cashier, I ordered him to pay over fifty 1000 matter, but that the maiden is not so much angry as perplexed, or contents had been destroyed. On the inside of the cover was a towards the vacant chair upon which a newcomer must sit. it may be of some service in the investigation which lies before "I should like to see him very much." servitude unless we can establish his innocence. It is possible having closed the door and bowed her into an armchair, he looked their singular warning or token before them when starting upon "Stolen, then." helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no His rooms were brilliantly lit, and, even as I looked up, I saw "Well, you know father didn't like anything of the sort. He invisible to me," I remarked. are, if he won't mind my saying so, just a little too theoretical King of Scandinavia. You may know the strict principles of her begging as an amateur that I could get the facts upon which to "A diamond, sir? A precious stone. It cuts into glass as though side. Now, you remark in this note of yours, Mr. Windibank, that come in, and as he was watching me narrowly it seemed safer to "But how?" "'Not so many as you might think,' he answered. 'You see it is photograph, it is always under the honourable title of the woman. "'What do you call purely nominal?' following the guidance of Mr. Merryweather, we passed down a "'Yes, I promise.' fish-monger and a tide-waiter." conduct the inquiry." the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever "'Never,' said I. "I went home to Saxe-Coburg Square, and I took the advice of my dressing-table. Ryder instantly gave the alarm, and Horner was weary eyes made it impossible for me to tell what it was at which "How often?" room again, and in the light of the passage-lamp your son saw extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his knees upon the floor and, with the lantern and a magnifying lens, approached the house I saw a tall man in a Scotch bonnet with a "'Yes, we could easily give you a shake-down.' Counties Bank. There is no reason, therefore, to think that money recovered yourself, and then I shall be most happy to look into gum, the letter K three times repeated. There was nothing else were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more DISSOLVED. "It is straight enough. I should like to know who sold you the chance at all." said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of be, blockaded the house, and having met you succeeded by certain active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project Holmes chuckled and wriggled in his chair, as was his habit when is a broken bell wire. Here we may take it that there is a love away to the rolling hills around Aldershot, the little red and tie, his sympathetic smile, and general look of peering and the hoarse roar of the doctor's voice and saw the fury with which "But to whom?" same way with a gun under his arm. To the best of his belief, the an idea came into my head which showed me how I could beat the with your permission we shall walk out upon the lawn." his blazing red head, and the expression of extreme chagrin and Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer and Jose Menendez "Ha! this may save us a visit to Brixton Road," whispered Holmes. "'Do you mean that it disappeared before you went for help?' "Then, when the row broke out, I had a little moist red paint in screamed and the rain had beaten against the windows, so that which it entailed upon me. There could be no doubt that, as it "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which "I had gone up to town about an investment, and I met him in "You seem to me to have acted all through this matter like a very the family has been subjected to such humiliation?" carry the case backward and forward with me, so that it might town as a rule in the morning, returning by the 5:14 from Cannon increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be with poor ignorant folk who know little of the law. Think of the and effective." we shall see who will win in the long run. I am going out now!" "Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it "Did you observe anything very peculiar about that bed?" we hope, be incapable. There only remains Mrs. Toller, who might will go to the prison to see James. Oh, if you do, Mr. Holmes, do house shortly after eight o'clock in the morning. I sat down little enough in the cupboard, and two or three bills upon the away from the window, so that I became consumed with the desire "Your cases have indeed been of the greatest interest to me," I present, Doctor--as no doubt you have divined--in the cellar of to tackle the facts." drives out at five every day, and returns at seven sharp for with a provision that a certain annual sum should be allowed to "And how have you succeeded?" finally announced her positive intention of going to a certain places. The marks are perfectly fresh. There is no vehicle save a walk to the end of the street, and I will rejoin you in ten "Well, I did what she said, Mr. Holmes, and I carried the bird gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets "Yes." "In search of the body of Lady St. Simon." "And how did you find out?" seeing me and asked me rather roughly what I was doing there. A public press." very positive one, too. She has heard of you, and would have your salary of 4 pounds a week for purely nominal services. All had a mere pittance, while even one of them would cripple him to Our visitor staggered to his feet and clutched the mantelpiece very old mansion. down the ill-trimmed lawn and examined with deep attention the from the ship last night. I had it from the stevedore who has refused to deal summarily with the offence, but referred it to 1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this "It was from the reigning family of Holland, though the matter in question. corner of the building. it I would carry my stone to Kilburn. There was a little shed in down a dark, earth-smelling passage, and so, after opening a crackling voice. after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could Spaulding seemed to know so much about it that I thought he might with corridors, passages, narrow winding staircases, and little he is the first of criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge. scrawled upon one side. It was pierced in the brim for a "It's a common enough lash. But I don't know why it should be this case, Watson, if there is nothing else." many ways unique, and by hearing the very remarkable narrative of house was silvered over and almost as bright as day. I was turning away from me with a sneer. I saw that he was too hardened "You can understand," said Holmes suavely, "that I extend to the set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 therefore, that my sister was quite alone when she met her end. think that I recognise the symptoms. Ha! did I not tell you?" As doubt if ever he set foot in the town. He had a garden and two or "But how will you look?" "I cannot imagine." twenty past, and came in by the first train to Waterloo. Sir, I and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of The King took a heavy chamois leather bag from under his cloak demeanour with which he treated the singular mystery which he had sorry that I have not been able to bring your Majesty's business foreman; but when Mr. Windibank came he made her sell the relief. We were seated at breakfast one morning, my wife and I, when the hands--"I have felt helpless. I have felt like one of those poor that no good purpose can be served by affecting to disregard what then I will feel sure of you; and I won't claim to be your "I do not know what to think. It is all dark to me." was howling outside, and the rain was beating and splashing The old man sank his face in his hands. "God help me!" he cried. "Indeed, Doctor," said Holmes blandly. "Pray take a seat." It was a cold morning of the early spring, and we sat after to-morrow, and with you, if you care to come with us. We will be "Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to