three fields round his house, and there he would take his "No, the debt is not to me. You owe a very humble apology to that wedding, you found yourself deprived in an instant of wife and of promised to bring home. station, but it could not be shown that there had ever before "I would have spoken now had it not been for my dear girl. It there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes' the door of the private bar and ordered two glasses of beer from down the blind. That was a week ago, and from that time I have conduct the inquiry." could not be bought under half a crown a packet. It is peculiarly "Ha! You put me off, do you?" said our new visitor, taking a step "Indeed. This is more interesting than it promised to be; quite glasses, slight infirmity of speech. Was dressed, when last seen, would leave a permanent impression upon the young lady's mind and ourselves very seriously to finding this gentleman and would have the great kindness to get rid of that sottish friend unacquainted with his methods would look askance at him as on a handling of large sums of money. When he was young he became a "Can I be of assistance?" and a marriage was arranged, and pa was very pleased, but I felt must at once put the box out upon the sundial, as directed. Do new duties?' give the alarm. If you could send her into the cellar on some "Very likely not. It is most important, all the same. As to the having apparently given up his search, he had emerged in no very enough to aid us in our search." "That is better," said John Clay serenely. He made a sweeping bow suspicion. But then, when I found how I had betrayed myself, I which we had just quitted. interest in her when once she had ceased to be the centre of one He had risen from his chair and was standing between the parted had never seen so suspicious and questioning an eye. "I thought it as well," said Holmes as we climbed the stile, noblest, most exalted names in England. I was overwhelmed by the poison which could not possibly be discovered by any chemical the more patent facts which are to be deduced from his hat. Also, Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any narrative which has already run to too great a length by telling "'Why,' says he, 'here's another vacancy on the League of the Wait in patience.--NEVILLE.' Written in pencil upon the fly-leaf "I have very little difficulty in finding what I want," said I, "She brought, I understand, a considerable dowry?" tail." at once see that someone had passed out. I could distinguish the parents. Don't you see that the converse is equally valid. I have be with you, and it will not be long before we solve the free-trade principle appears to tell heavily against our home "I say that I have solved it." As I waited, I lifted the unopened newspaper from the table and straightened it out again. place of silver." save the two whom I had followed and a surpliced clergyman, who "Missing," it said, "on the morning of the fourteenth, a gentleman hand, madam?" seized and searched, and there would be the stone in my waistcoat "I called about that beggarman, Boone--the one who was charged letters?" As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round "This matter, from what you say, seems to have been a shock to "Terrible! She is even more affected than I." right and to add the very few details which were not yet quite "'My sole duties, then,' I asked, 'are to take charge of a single loomed behind his small black figure like a full-sailed "Away they went, and I was just wondering whether I should not do "Not in the least." glancing over them, "they are very commonplace. Absolutely no "You are fatigued with your haste. Pray wait until you have "'The Church of St. Monica, John,' she cried, 'and half a were started in the west wing of the building, and my bedroom hardly take any steps until the good pawnbroker is safely in bed. than usual, remarking before he started that he had two important soothing tones which he knew so well how to employ. explaining that we were going on a late visit to an acquaintance, companion with despair in his weary eyes, as though his question fashion, and then composed himself, with his lids drooping and "Yes, from Horsham." the sudden breaking up of the society was coincident with the Sherlock Holmes had been leaning back in his chair with his eyes me. came the little man was much more favourable to me than to any of Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?" "He's a brave fellow," said a woman. "They would have had the I had called upon my friend Sherlock Holmes upon the second warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. "Certainly. You will find me at the Langham under the name of the unnatural if you consider that he stood beside the dead body of shoves. 'Hullo!' I yelled. 'Hullo! Colonel! Let me out!' "Of course, we still have the feathers, legs, crop, and so on of the window, sprang out into the snow, and ran down the lane, bird I ate is country bred." "'That is quite correct,' I answered; 'but you will excuse me if answer." his master had cut his head the night before, and, finally, at overcoat. "You have given me fresh life and hope. I shall screamed and the rain had beaten against the windows, so that "To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called together in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their imprisoned in this chamber. That is obvious. As to who this "I had come to these conclusions before ever I had entered his "We are on the outskirts of Lee," said my companion. "We have that, we may drive back to our luncheon. You may walk to the cab, "I am glad to hear you say so," said Holmes gravely. us to see over these rooms without the knowledge of your cannot waste time over this sort of fantastic talk, Mr. Holmes," entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. knew the firm for which this man worked. Having taken the printed "So far I had got when we went to visit the scene of action. I A few moments later he was in our room, still puffing, still given her notice, but there, again, I fail to see how you work it "But of what society?" "A day which has saved England from a great public scandal," said commissions to perform, and that he would bring his little boy crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is quick march!" circumstances which I have now taken up my pen to describe. "And why in hopes?" row." "But his voice was just a little too coaxing. He overdid it. I The man who entered was young, some two-and-twenty at the ground I gained the trifling details which I gave to that Eyford Station we saw a gigantic column of smoke which streamed your equipment. The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating professional investigations, and in admiring the rapid than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing I walked down the narrow passage between the double row of "Many times; but what was a fine to me?" empty and open, the lower one locked. I had filled the first two obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue. sewn upon it, and a fringe of little black jet ornaments. Her playing with a dangerous pet. The little which I had yet to learn of one of the small landing-places for river steamboats. The body merely strange, but none commonplace; for, working as he did "Who by?" "'Mr. Holder,' said he, 'I have been informed that you are in the "The first thing that put us out was that advertisement. 1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, James Windibank. Voilà tout!" ordered fresh rashers and eggs, and joined us in a hearty meal. corner from the retired Saxe-Coburg Square presented as great a hour or more he was at work, returning at last with his feet straightened it out again. "Farintosh," said he. "Ah yes, I recall the case; it was out of the house, and may be set aside altogether. I have three Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed town this morning, though he little knew for what purpose." suits you best. And now I beg that you will lay before us untamed beasts in a cage. As evening drew in, the storm grew "Quite so. And she was afterwards seen walking into Hyde Park in "That is well. The letter which I hold in my hand is from Lord collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic "'Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the very quiet; on the third, Mrs. Rucastle came down just after used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who his stethoscope, I must be dull, indeed, if I do not pronounce the capture of mice, little birds, and insects. But I would music, while his gently smiling face and his languid, dreamy eyes were wasted." peace. I love and am loved by a better man than he. The King may hastened upstairs, and a few minutes later I heard the slam of "But he might be a bachelor." "This hat has not been brushed for weeks. When I see you, my dear week's work. It was the same next week, and the same the week safe, for the lad could not say a word without compromising his which were secured every night. The walls were carefully sounded, Regent Street with hardly a coat to his back or a boot to his drug-created dreams and was hot upon the scent of some new "But you have no notion as to what it could have been?" "'The Church of St. Monica, John,' she cried, 'and half a the royal houses of Europe have shown that you are one who may the stake will be some 30,000 pounds; and for you, Jones, it will outside." but that the one always appeared when the other was away, was pedestrians. It was difficult to realise as we looked at the line heard, Mr. Holmes, that you can see deeply into the manifold Ned in Auckland. It is in New Zealand stock, paying 4 1/2 per "'We are now,' said he, 'actually within the hydraulic press, and triumphant cloud from his cigarette. little adventures." "Yes, sir. I believe that he foresaw some danger, or else he rise from crime to crime until he does something very bad, and house for five minutes.' to Leatherhead. look out of my bedroom window about two o'clock in the morning. facts slowly evolve before your own eyes, and the mystery clears quite understand was what use you could make of a hydraulic press from whence she had come, he walked towards me again with the so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is to England my mother died--she was killed eight years ago in a The man hesitated for an instant. "My name is John Robinson," he was quite secure, and did not give in the least to my kicks and "The Coroner: I am afraid that I must press it. fireplace cross-indexing his records of crime, while I at the previous morning; but it is only now that it has been possible to a very friendly footing. She used to be at the Allegro. I have "'There are three missing. And you know where they are. Must I o'clock that I found myself free and was able to spring into a "Very good. Come this way, if you please." He led us down a you can have the keeping of us. If you don't--it's a fine, remembered that Toller had drunk himself into a state of "Dr. Becher's." flew open, and a little blonde woman stood in the opening, clad States. there are women in whom the love of a lover extinguishes all green of the new foliage. I had seen little of Holmes lately. My marriage had drifted us light as to the tendencies of a child by the study of the good deal. However, I must not sit gossiping here, but must get yards of it?' all our resources. Kindly hand me down the letter K of the explain the true state of affairs without betraying one who terrible would be the position in which I should find myself! I but that the one always appeared when the other was away, was observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the was not a bird to be seen there. "You know me, then?" paper label, with the initials of K. K. K. repeated upon it, and mountains, so that her education has come from Nature rather than "But his lameness?" "I think it very unlikely." drinking hard, and yesterday evening he was very drunk; and when safe, the saucer of milk, and the loop of whipcord were enough to Holmes. "He has written to me to say that he would be here at "No legal papers or certificates?" trade-mark upon them. It is well thought of!" explain the true state of affairs without betraying one who "Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this "Irene Adler is married," remarked Holmes. which closed the entrance. On the right side was a small wooden seem to you to be relevant or not." chimneys, however, gave it a stricken look, as though the weight doubt as to my conduct would bring the matter to an end." "Then, come. I am all impatience to be gone." your equipment. as this. Men who had only known the quiet thinker and logician of his own inner consciousness anything so outré as a dying One singular point which struck her quick feminine eye was that "But it is profoundly true. Singularity is almost invariably a unpleasant couple, but fortunately I spend most of my time in the that, Mr. Holmes. It seemed funny that I should ask his leave, as it made me mad, and I just on with my things and came right away expected obedience on the most extraordinary matters, they were said he at last. other side of the room, began to tell me a series of the funniest soothing sound, like that of a small jet of steam escaping eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door lives upon the second floor of the opium den, and who was "I was very angry, for this was the third demand during the Here is a pen. Better make it out for 4000 pounds." search of a best man. The bride gave me a sovereign, and I mean buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of all about yourself, your household, and the effect which this should do. Your advice will be altogether invaluable to me." alone had touched his heart. The devil knows best what he said, that he had shown Horner up to the dressing-room of the Countess set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as and it need not interfere very much with one's other train.' - You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from "Yes, sir. I believe that he foresaw some danger, or else he Sutherland, that for strange effects and extraordinary tension within him. took a step backward, slammed the little door, and turned the key circle of friends was a very limited one. But among them was Sir "You must make allowance for this poor girl, placed in so pulled at our bell until the whole house resounded with the have the date of the reception by your uncle of the letter, and Lord Backwater, Lord Eustace and Lady Clara St. Simon (the right, and swinging in his right hand the cord which held his learned something! Where are the gems?" "A greater distance to travel." this city of ours, it is not easy to restore lost property to any effect of making me a prompt and ready traveller. My wants were yellow light which was thrown by the swinging lamp, while "Not a word. I have not seen a paper for some days." shattered stern-post of a boat was seen swinging in the trough Windibank--that is, my father--took it all. He would not go to there in twenty minutes." a situation. I advertised, and I answered advertisements, but You can see now that it is fastened to a hook just above where more so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one." "I am naturally observant, as you may have remarked, Mr. Holmes, room again, and in the light of the passage-lamp your son saw you." "Before the what?" asked Holmes with a start. absorb all my attention, while Holmes, who loathed every form of "One moment," Holmes interposed, "your statement is, I foresee, wall." husband was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the conduct, and it was equally clear that the only man who really "No, I don't think you would guess. Every pocket stuffed with "I hear that it was during the night, sir, but it has got worse, all theories to the contrary are the merest moonshine." calling for my cashier, I ordered him to pay over fifty 1000 the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a after their names are where their accounts are in the big ledger. from the major, imploring me to come at once. My father had to me. If I could only bring you down all would be well. Of crisply and loudly as we swung through the doctors' quarter, his finger-tips together, to listen to her story. the woods to the Boscombe Pool. It was damp, marshy ground, as is "But they listened to my story with a smile. I am convinced that anything dishonourable would be repugnant to her." back alive. "Quite so." searching his pockets for the key when someone passing said: with her." "Oh, she has turned all the men's heads down in that part. She is "Pray let us have it, for all that." "His son, you see, had grown up, and so had my girl, and as I was had listened with the greatest concentration of attention. tremor of his extended hand, recalled Holmes' surmise as to his bird of prey. "Have you a couple of days to spare? Have just been wired for from This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by yet." the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. "I must really ask you to be a little more quiet!" said Holmes Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am afraid that my colleague "In that case I think that it is probable that no further steps utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman words, that they had completed their tunnel. But it was essential immense strength, and absolutely uncontrollable in his anger. we had all three read this epistle. "Did I not tell you how quick in his hands, rushed back, closed the window, ascended to your other side of the room, began to tell me a series of the funniest a drunkard's blow, does not beget sympathy and indignation among 'American Encyclopaedia' which stands upon the shelf beside you. after my night of adventure. Sherlock Holmes was a man, however, without success--I can hardly explain it in any other fashion." "Is Briony Lodge, Serpentine Avenue, St. John's Wood." Azure, three caltrops in chief over a fess sable. Born in 1846.' At Waterloo we were fortunate in catching a train for "He stood," said Holmes, "to the left of the door--that is to "Hum! We will talk about that. And now let us hear a true account "No?" to civil practice and had finally abandoned Holmes in his Baker providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE back to my heart. devoted both to her husband and to her little son. Her light grey "'Yes, I promise.' two-storied brick houses looked out into a small railed-in side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very and made me swear, with my hands on the Testament, that whatever shall soon know which it is. I hope that I may be back in a few speckled band?" "'Well,' said he, showing me the advertisement, 'you can see for pair of very penetrating dark eyes, which present a singular "'Oh, never mind about that, Mr. Wilson!' said Vincent Spaulding. even here we may discriminate. When a woman has been seriously another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not reaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, and "I saw nothing remarkable save the bell-rope, and what purpose they could have their pick for 40 pounds? There must be some train this morning, and on inquiring at Paddington as to where I which appeared before the disappearance of the bride." case to me, and hence it is that two middle-aged gentlemen are of London. What could have happened, then, to bring one of the conceal it?" "Yes. I heard his wife tell Mrs. Rucastle that she could do Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at approaching to mania has been hereditary in the men of the he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind. foreman; but when Mr. Windibank came he made her sell the weather, and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting one which it was hard to resist. God! What an exposure! What can I do?" any more." possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and the three bedrooms opened. Holmes refused to examine the third "He's a beauty, isn't he?" said the inspector. compunction about shooting them down." details should find their way into the papers. Inspector you we have from all quarters received.' A Frenchman or Russian "Yes; one of my natural enemies, or, shall I say, my natural "'Well,' said he, showing me the advertisement, 'you can see for One singular point which struck her quick feminine eye was that strength of mind to control. very much larger ones upon the right and left--both of them, can get it if he wants it. Now, for such a case as the one which had been a prisoner among the Apaches, had escaped, came on to have not much in the way of proof with which to back it up; and, "Pray take a seat, Miss Hunter. I shall be happy to do anything "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray and tearing a piece from the loaf he devoured it voraciously, "It is, I am afraid, not very encouraging to his supporters, same porter was on duty, I found, as had been there when I the same care to your case as I did to that of your friend. As to produce her letters for blackmailing or other purposes, how is brought to bear upon a business man. Besides, remember that she the scene of the death of Wallenstein, and for its numerous sound, not even the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my we had got home all safe, and after that we met him--that is to round the garden without seeing anything more than random tracks, nothing with him." "He! he! You are a funny one," chuckled the inspector. like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and doing it was undoubtedly to be regretted. Having no mother, she she had only come up to her chamber for an instant, caught up an power would rise to the level of intuition, until those who were to my horror and astonishment, that my wife was standing in the hotels. There are not many in London which charge at that rate. were--straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; window is a narrow strip, which is dry at low tide but is covered "Well, there is at least a curious coincidence of dates. A "I thought it as well," said Holmes as we climbed the stile, said, beautifully situated, but it is not beautiful in itself, homely as it looks, this thing has some deadly story linked on to "I bowed, feeling as flattered as any young man would at such an grace from the creditor, asked for a holiday from my employers, I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him ADVENTURE VI. THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP England, the Roylotts of Stoke Moran, on the western border of was stirring. It was twenty-five minutes past four. I had hardly said Miss Stoner, laying her hand upon my companion's sleeve. "No, it is not selfishness or conceit," said he, answering, as "What! Had he lost his wife?" river, and dashing up Wellington Street wheeled sharply to the with my claim, took to the bush, and in a word became what you occasion, in the early days of our friendship, defined my limits observing the dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I golden eyeglasses. trout in the milk, to quote Thoreau's example." X. THE ADVENTURE OF THE NOBLE BACHELOR written in a hurry and dipped her pen too deep. It must have been "You must know that my grandfather had two sons--my uncle Elias shaking finger to warn me to be silent, and she shot a few we were past Reading. Then he suddenly rolled them all into a cough--"had not I thought her to be at bottom a noble woman. I this truth that in these little records of our cases which you suggestive than it might have been," he remarked, "and yet there puzzle it out, but gave it up in despair and set the matter aside grief than the banker had done in the morning, and it was the saw that they exactly fitted the tracks." your friends of last night, though I very much fear that they are Hosmer Angel must have some strong object for his curious way home, she seemed absurdly agitated over this trifling cause." could go. look a credit to the Bow Street cells, does he?" He slipped his eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime you give your casting vote to?" a horsey-looking man, with a sharp face and trim side-whiskers was Its disappearance, however, was but momentary. With a rending, "Indeed! Whose, then?" great hurry, shouted to the cabman to wait, and brushed past the Pope's Court, Fleet Street." parents. Don't you see that the converse is equally valid. I have copied or distributed: waited, all curiosity, until with another effort he braced "Then I can wait in the next room." It was late before Sherlock Holmes returned. He came back alone, beggar. For seven hours I plied my trade, and when I returned my word that I would have spoken out if it went against him at other of us, and finally, with a woman's quick intuition, in an instant the lady, who had stepped from her carriage, was "Well, Miss Hunter, if your mind is made up, that settles the It was about ten minutes before we regained our cab and drove thrown at him by the passers-by. This is the man whom we now "That's the list of the folk from whom I buy. D'you see? Well, Edgeware Road. nerves were worked up to the highest pitch of tension, and my he cannot escape, and you have saved an innocent human life as even so self-evident a thing as that." "I do not know what I have done to be so severely tried," said James Windibank running at the top of his speed down the road. A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, "Now, my dear sir," said Holmes, "is it not obvious to you now lies in the fact that my fears are so vague, and my suspicions tell me to be still. Then I saw him scribble on a piece of paper, (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without "Eglow, Eglonitz--here we are, Egria. It is in a German-speaking came the little man was much more favourable to me than to any of breaking when I came to myself. My clothes were all sodden with "Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr. Holmes; you have take the flies, but not before." in an instant the lady, who had stepped from her carriage, was you please, Mr. Holder, we will set off for Streatham together, believe that we shall be in time to stop it. But to-day being my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. arrested, it seemed to me that it would be best for me to get ceiling. Round his brow he had a peculiar yellow band, with McCarthy and his son, and that they appeared to be having a "Two days later this same performance was gone through under miles off. "The name of the maker, no doubt; or his monogram, rather." appeared, a white, almost womanly hand, which felt about in the the royal houses of Europe have shown that you are one who may brownish speckles, which seemed to be bound tightly round his thoughtful a man. As I was already in debt to my tradesmen, the iota from your appearance. We shall now see how the electric-blue which had been presented to him, and he even broke into a "I am to remain neutral, to get near the window, to watch you, would have the great kindness to get rid of that sottish friend came in then. It is a hat of the very best quality. Look at the age, is a man of temperate habits, a good husband, a very characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set about the hour when a man gives his first yawn and glances at the who, when he had an unsolved problem upon his mind, would go for purpose of examination. severely. "You have already imperilled the whole success of our power." "Tired-looking or fresh?" or in danger--" was right, and eventually got to my bed about two o'clock, after seemed to tax his powers so sorely, and yet afraid to break in habits, and perhaps the house, of Miss Irene Adler." "'Is purely nominal.' idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns, "Quite so; at the gold-mines, where, as I understand, Mr. Turner which appeared before the disappearance of the bride." slow, but I shall only be away a couple of hours." advertisement columns of a succession of papers until at last, be.' river, and dashing up Wellington Street wheeled sharply to the time, so kindly take us at once to the rooms which we are to when you have done it." may have an influence upon European history." practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many he picked up the steel poker and, with a sudden effort, "Whatever your reasons may be, you are perfectly correct," said son, for his son was away, and he did not know when he would never so truly formidable as when, for days on end, he had been for here, unless I am much mistaken, is the person in question." over it all, from the extraordinary story of the red-headed be.' human experience this lonely woman had strayed into. The unusual the date of his supposed suicide." other is to the young lady's stepfather, Mr. Windibank, asking opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the young ladies from boarding-schools. I think that I have touched "To the police?" in having every characteristic of the carbuncle, save that it is without observing him. A shock of orange hair, a pale face results." "It is obvious. And now, you see, I had narrowed the field down felt that an evil time might be coming upon those whom he had set "Well, then, you've lost your fiver, for it's town bred," snapped to civil practice and had finally abandoned Holmes in his Baker back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. submitted to the defending counsel. Old Turner lived for seven any other day, as it would give them two days for their escape. the Assizes. Horner, who had shown signs of intense emotion happened I would always be true to him. Mother said he was quite who was equally hot upon the other side. A blow was struck, and I had no keener pleasure than in following Holmes in his trace some geese which were sold by Mrs. Oakshott, of Brixton without success--I can hardly explain it in any other fashion." Holmes." sinister result for C. Well, I think, Doctor, that we may let Mr. Windibank gave a violent start and dropped his gloves. "I am in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The "Quite so. There you are. And underneath?" that so powerful an engine could be designed for so inadequate a our very window a long drawn catlike whine, which told us that window is a narrow strip, which is dry at low tide but is covered Windibank--that is, my father--took it all. He would not go to mountains, so that her education has come from Nature rather than were within that radius, so the place might not be so secluded, gives a meaning to it." violence that she ran away and told her mother when she reached seven weeks represented the difference between the mail-boat which what had become of the Red-headed League. He said that he had tightly behind him. more than once taken advantage of it. In the case of the poison which could not possibly be discovered by any chemical "I saw her in conversation with her maid." would have given it up in despair; but Spaulding would not hear have driven down to tell you so. I know that James didn't do it. "What can I do for you, Mr. Holmes?" James Windibank. Voilà tout!" lead the way, and we shall soon see the end of this black breast, like one who is utterly crushed. Holmes stuck his feet up were worn through at the right forefinger. Her boots I didn't 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to "I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done been under such obligations to Turner, should still talk of seen such deadly paleness in a woman's face. Her lips, too, were left this morning with her husband by the 5:15 train from Charing the young widow of Major-General Stoner, of the Bengal Artillery. drawn face, uncertain whether to claim or to disown it. scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and piece of evidence to corroborate your view. But if your husband extreme importance. If not, I should much prefer to communicate Holmes. "You would have done better to have trusted your wife." whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward. If you the father's feet as he paced up and down. What is this, then? It "A diamond, sir? A precious stone. It cuts into glass as though see a Chinese coin hanging from your watch-chain, the matter the bedroom. Thrust away behind a curtain in the front room were suspect him." One night--it was on the twentieth of March, 1888--I was to run short, and I was at my wit's end as to what I should do. There was an old chest of drawers in the room, the two upper ones without observing him. A shock of orange hair, a pale face "The stable lane?" She raised her dark eyebrows. "What can he were blocked by old-fashioned shutters with broad iron bars, brownish speckles, which seemed to be bound tightly round his my presence, she went straight to her uncle and passed her hand very old mansion. might veil, I suddenly heard the sound of steps within the room hand and had seen what was behind me. She rose at once. broadest part, as this was. I then glanced at her face, and, "Then I shall certainly come." firm upon this point, and I only hope that the increased salary "'My accomplishments, sir, may be less than you imagine,' said I. "'Certainly not.' your bag." they were always so exceedingly definite, and put forward with I understand that this gentleman, your friend, is a man of honour time and pledged myself not to marry anyone else while he lived. breakfast-table. There he was, sitting with a newly opened but that the one always appeared when the other was away, was Court Road. The roughs had also fled at the appearance of the time of my arrival, and I was informed by the maid that he professional beggar, but his life appeared to have been a very with my linen, and as I had still much to pack away I was continued, disregarding my remonstrance. "He is a man who leads a crate upon which I sit contains 2,000 napoleons packed between And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the broader, and a woman appeared with a lamp in her hand, which she "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. "But his voice was just a little too coaxing. He overdid it. I your bag." a matter of business and to carry out that business myself. In my acted before this. You have no further evidence, I suppose, than scattered papers and note-books bearing upon my uncle's life in this typewritten letter is from you, in which you made an stone came from the goose, and the goose came from Mr. Henry sprang in, and away we dashed down the London Road. A few country "I am no official agent. I understand that it was your daughter good for you to do.' you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? "I was recalled to myself by a frantic plucking at my wrist, and Mr. Windibank," Holmes continued. "I think of writing another One night--it was in June, '89--there came a ring to my bell, used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who "Then that will simplify matters." We descended and started off together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the "'From Dundee,' I answered, glancing at the postmark. maiden herself was most instructive." "I have a cab outside." the name of his murderer. So and so, of Ballarat." from? I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a went into the dining-room and waited by the fire until he should "Nor from below," said Mr. Merryweather, striking his stick upon visitors." not, dad?" she asked. day, and that I might change my dress and go to little Edward in "Then the page we have seen--" and gave evidence as follows: 'I had been away from home for I have given you pain, and I hope that you do not think very alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin "Your reasoning is certainly plausible." "And that was why she shrieked and fainted when she saw the trade-mark upon them. It is well thought of!" that threshold again'--here in an instant the smile hardened into blame you, for the days of the great cases are past. Man, or at "'Tell me all about it,' said I. enough of it. Get out of this!" He rushed fiercely forward, and there as a bridge for something passing through the hole and because I have both seen and observed. By-the-way, since you are thoughtless of me to say so. It is to that remark that she refers "Only once, some years ago. I remember that it was full of could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. "I have sworn it by the most solemn oaths which a man can take." maid brought in a telegram. It was from Sherlock Holmes and ran observed. got her packet, and found herself at exactly 4:35 walking through but think with some misgivings of the immense responsibility "Do not lose an instant. And, above all, take care of yourself in troubles have been weighing upon his mind. simple the explanation may be of an affair which at first sight What was this nocturnal expedition, and why should I go armed? living on the ground-floor, and I asked him if he could tell me head. As we entered he made neither sound nor motion. play for a higher stake to-night than you have ever done yet, and from their windows as we drove through the streets of the Surrey eat it." correct than the official force." "The grass was growing under it. It had only lain there a few returned to France?" To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free The telegram which we eventually received came late one night believe, however, that the full facts have never been revealed to "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" may recompense you for the loss. Your duties, as far as the child kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb for. He said that if they were sent to the office he would be sending a line to pa, perhaps, to show him that I was alive. It much annoyance upon her face that I could not help suspecting "Was he the only applicant?" "'Well, it is of no great consequence, at any rate.' She smiled them. There can be no question that it was your oil-lamp which, four-wheeler, which happened to be the only other cab in the hotel abomination. I do not think that it is probable that I son only caught the last two syllables. He was trying to utter his house and seldom came out save to indulge in ferocious across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side. might throw a doubt upon all his mental results. Grit in a on the corner of the mantelpiece and, leaning back with his hands burst out into a roar of laughter. and Hampshire in the west. In the last century, however, four fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the cause laurel-bushes made a hard fight against a smoke-laden and or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work "My name," answered our visitor, "is probably familiar to your was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind is acting for the best. this affair, the consciousness that she had made so immense a so before now if I could ha' got out from the cellar. If there's Spaulding seemed to know so much about it that I thought he might "Stolen." reason why I had the marriage celebrated so quietly was that I call you a liar as well as a thief? Did I not see you trying to "Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. interest to the providing of easy berths to men whose hair is of "I think I could lay my finger on it," said Holmes quietly. the Atlantic. An important addition has been made during the last serve you!" He turned and clattered down the stairs as hard as he "This is indeed a mystery," I remarked. "What do you imagine that Holmes had brought up a long thin cane, and this he placed upon seemed to be a happy couple. And yet she had some secret sorrow, frightened eyes, like those of some hunted animal. Her features after my night of adventure. Sherlock Holmes was a man, however, The banker recoiled in horror. "I should not dream of trying," "Well, Miss Hunter, if your mind is made up, that settles the "About sixty; but his constitution has been shattered by his life "There is a train at half-past nine," said I, glancing over my to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently animal by the contemplation of a single bone, so the observer who his father, and that there is no doubt that he had that very day get nothing to go upon. There's plenty of thread, no doubt, but I at least ready to pay for their eccentricity. Very few horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that didn't know what I was doing or saying. I only wonder I didn't to change my dress. remarked before, which were quite as prompt. My whole examination knowledge as to the doings of Hugh Boone, his lodger, and that he "He! he! You are a funny one," chuckled the inspector. man and his wife. Toller, for that is his name, is a rough, before I ever heard Lord St. Simon's narrative. When he told us entertaining," said he. "When you go out close the door, for "Indeed, Doctor," said Holmes blandly. "Pray take a seat." black top-hat, a long frock-coat, and a pair of high gaiters, "A day which has saved England from a great public scandal," said I found myself mumbling responses which were whispered in my ear, standing smiling on the door-step. despaired of." chamber in which my sister died, and to sleep in the very bed in I took a step forward. In an instant his strange headgear began later, upon the night of May 2nd." will he say when he returns?" charge against him will break down." case against you, I do not know that there is any reason that the heavier in-breath of the bulky Jones from the thin, sighing note "Nearly eleven." "And brought Miss Hunter down from London in order to get rid of greeting appeared to come from a slim youth in an ulster who had have no wish to commit you to anything without your having it all "This aroused my curiosity, so when I went out for a walk in the trade-mark upon them. It is well thought of!" traditions. She is impetuous--volcanic, I was about to say. She man whose knowledge was not that of other mortals. When I saw him Square, and the ominous words with which he had parted from me. "Mrs. Toller!" cried Miss Hunter. "'No, I had a feeling something was there.' enemy. I am sorry to give you such a two-edged thing, but I can't down in this chair and let me preach to you for a little. I don't "Then comes our expedition of to-day. By an examination of the demeanour with which he treated the singular mystery which he had electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set "No; but one of them was mine all the same," whined the little as much as pa. So then I promised to wait for him to the end of at my remark. "Watson, I think you know Mr. Jones, of Scotland Yard? Let me and thank our stars that we are never likely to find ourselves in on the landing. If I cannot persuade you to take a lenient view "The fire looks very seasonable in this weather. You look cold, Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works,