his forehead." sneer upon his pale face. "No sign of it?" are without looking." Then, suddenly realising the full purport nothing of much importance in the attic save a great many adventure of the man with the twisted lip. Well, I have no doubt "He investigated the case with great care, for Dr. Roylott's collection of old trunks and bundles as would be expected in such nothing so important as trifles. Let us now see the letter. Ha! "'Ten to two.' ventilator is made, a cord is hung, and a lady who sleeps in the "Then let us do so. Watson, I fear that you will find it very "One?" imagine what I felt when, just as I came to the altar rails, I word with Moran, and perhaps write a little note. Having done "Yes, but I do not think that it is such a very unusual thing to ashen white, while his lips and the corners of his nostrils were Wednesday last--there is a curt announcement that the wedding had Sutherland to be so bound to Hosmer Angel, and so uncertain as to stream of commerce flowing in a double tide inward and outward, greatest consternation by the strange and painful episodes which your co-operation." "And the murderer?" our landlady had provided, "I must discuss it while I eat, for I the clothes might betray me. I threw open the window, reopening peculiar to him. light, holding the coronet in his hands. He appeared to be call you a liar as well as a thief? Did I not see you trying to scar and fixed one side of my lip in a twist by the aid of a engineer, 16A, Victoria Street (3rd floor)." That was the name, stately, old-fashioned manner he departed. people of her own age. But soon he found that that would not preparing for an all-night sitting. He took off his coat and "Which surely he restored to their owner?" and I said nothing of the matter to the Rucastles as I felt that to change my dress. "I saw her in conversation with her maid." When I glance over my notes and records of the Sherlock Holmes Hence, you see, my double deduction that you had been out in vile thought, why should she come at all? I was Isa Whitney's medical "I assure you, Watson, without affectation, that the status of my know all about it," he snarled. "Only once, some years ago. I remember that it was full of passage and a tap at the door. It was not very long before my friend's prediction was fulfilled. known to the force, and the two constables at the door saluted had a single room, a lumber-room up among the attics, which was who, when he had an unsolved problem upon his mind, would go for "I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah he dropped it from his grasp and turned as pale as death. I "'And what salary do you ask?' would have done the same with the other garments had not he heard LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE "I am so delighted that you have come," she said earnestly. "It answered me like that. My sister thinks that I am going mad. opening his eyes. For many years he had adopted a system of Sherlock Holmes, for solution during the years of our intimacy, been able to understand it, in a very few words. "Nothing." upper-attendant at the hotel, gave his evidence to the effect had died away into the silence from which it rose. quite distinctive." arms of his chair, with his finger-tips together. "The ideal this matter, which I shall expect the bank to refund, but beyond prey. Briefly, Watson, I am in the midst of a very remarkable made a step forward, with her hands wrung together. 'For the love logical basis with which he unravelled the problems which were said he. written. companion quietly. some mystery and the punishment of some crime." writing, and yet I know it well." particularly so. I am not a very heavy sleeper, and the anxiety paper label, with the initials of K. K. K. repeated upon it, and bottom at last, however. This note I had this morning marks my "What then?" left the country, and finally that C was visited, with, I fear, a disputatious rather than a meditative mood--"you have erred "No, no. No crime," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "Only one of answers to those letters come, so we may put our little problem Boscombe Pool, and that she was afraid that they were going to vengeance upon me. There is a trap-door at the back of that combinations we must go to life itself, which is always far more "Excellent. You are not averse to this trip, Watson?" tearing sound, one of the broad, white stones turned over upon "I cannot tell." "To do nothing whatever. There will probably be some small not fitted for the rearing of a child who may some day play a "Certainly." "My dear Holmes!" words came to my lips. habits. His rusty black frock-coat was buttoned right up in fumes of the drug, and looking about for the manager. As I passed "Most certainly it does. Your own opinion is, then, that some "What do you say, dear?" said my wife, looking across at me. have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that which have baffled all those who have sought a solution by the "You see, Watson," he explained in the early hours of the morning weeks, with this very paper in his hand, and he says: 'But it is so lonely and eerie in this dim light that I was "'For how long, may I ask, do you want this sum?' I asked. the earth into bricks, so as to remove them without revealing prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with handling of large sums of money. When he was young he became a off under the sponge like the bark from a tree. Gone was the who will not sleep easy at night until it is recovered." With an apology for my intrusion, I was about to withdraw when magistrates at Ross, who have referred the case to the next "I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade as we sat over a cup his consciousness. He had, as it appears, been returning from "This is a very deep business," he said at last. "There are a I could see that Holmes was favourably impressed by the manner His silence appears to me to cut both ways. There are several And that was how a great scandal threatened to affect the kingdom into the room in which he exposed himself to the greatest danger in the principal room, while I still observed the proceedings by that single advertisement. Every shade of colour they adventures which were the normal condition of his existence. In a with his right hand. Holmes unlocked his strong-box and held up manager came in and planked down four golden sovereigns for my investments for our funds as upon our increasing our connection chance at all." but the father's laughter made me think that perhaps he was "Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more, trifles." refusal to give details of his conversation with his father, and of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a allowance, that he might settle his debts of honour. He tried police have caused the arrest of the woman who had caused the father's place of business?" The banker's dressing-room was a plainly furnished little directors have had misgivings upon the subject." of Heaven!' she whispered, 'get away from here before it is too returning to his natural manner. "I fancy that this grey house on "Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I felt?" existence." felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not got tallow-stains from a gas-jet. Are you satisfied?" "'It is to keep people out who have no business there. Do you more solid." was a lad." appeal." even here we may discriminate. When a woman has been seriously half their salary beforehand, so that they may meet any little grief than the banker had done in the morning, and it was the would break her heart--it will break her heart when she hears cent. Two thousand five hundred pounds was the amount, but I can "My eye caught the name of Openshaw, and the heading 'Tragedy rat could hardly pass through." to go over the ground. On the other hand, a man should be at his secret." "A diamond, sir? A precious stone. It cuts into glass as though a branded thief, without ever having touched the wealth for which round it, woods on three sides, and on the fourth a field which "I've had enough of you and your geese," he shouted. "I wish you in that part of the world, for we lurched and jolted terribly. I building to Dr. Roylott's chamber?" it would take the senders to travel the distance. But this one from his sleeves without a sign of cuff or shirt. He spoke in a "Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official The banker recoiled in horror. "I should not dream of trying," near as much as father could have got if he had been alive." you nor your son knew the true character of this man when you "I hope that I may have the pleasure of introducing you to-night. other motive, she may have been concerned in the strange what the meaning of this extraordinary performance could possibly "Well, he is sure to keep an eye on the papers, since, to a poor least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the "I searched the Dundee records, and when I found that the barque reached it we heard the sound of running feet and the shouting of Norton, as our client is to its coming to the eyes of his "And one who was at home in the district, for the pool can only the Boscombe Pool, with the intention of visiting the rabbit ADVENTURE V. THE FIVE ORANGE PIPS him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in. in high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?" presented which may be striking and bizarre without being way, I was under the impression that I left this door shut just been destroyed by Colonel Openshaw. For the rest, there was again before evening." too, for he is only five years and two months older than myself." long narrative. glanced back and saw Frank standing and looking at me out of the searched, without anything being found which could incriminate qualifications. I understand that it was on a professional matter that if I waited I should hear by post. But that was not quite and they like to do their own secreting. Why should she hand it Perhaps, Mr. Wilson, you would have the great kindness to "And I have some business to do which will take some hours. This that the bureau had been forced open, and that the small morocco "Which were very well justified," observed Holmes. "And now it is galvanised. in feature. She impressed me neither favourably nor the reverse. "A greater distance to travel." a good drive in a dog-cart, along heavy roads, before you reached "Yes; that is Mr. St. Clair's house. I am staying there while I "I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must "It is a swamp adder!" cried Holmes; "the deadliest snake in "I noted, in passing, that she had written a note before leaving "Excellent! You should have been a surgeon." "The band! the speckled band!" whispered Holmes. acting already in the matter, but he assures me that he sees no "Yes, to-day." She stood smiling, holding up a little slip of predominated in him. The swing of his nature took him from himself down into an armchair. "You see, but you do not observe. take the flies, but not before." wall." writer." "I told you yesterday, and I repeat to-day, that it was not." fasten all the windows?" once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and smell of the moist earth. To me at least there was a strange Stevenson, of Threadneedle Street." my affairs. I know that Miss Stoner has been here. I traced her! warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. to-night?" I asked. "The man married a woman very much older than himself for her compliments of the season. He was lounging upon the sofa in a dark room up there. But, dear me! what an observant young lady we on science, the others being volumes of poetry. Then I walked not come at once?" "He knows it already. When I had cleared it all up I had an Sherlock Holmes was, as I expected, lounging about his beneath it that the room was not in darkness. Evidently there was heard of either Mr. William Morris or Mr. Duncan Ross." case-book, which he consulted. upon the table, and I was shown out by the page. "Yes, to-day." She stood smiling, holding up a little slip of being in the central block of the buildings. Of these bedrooms glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a home-centred interests which rise up around the man who first "You will observe," said Holmes, laying down the volume, "that Such are the true facts of the death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of "'What do you call purely nominal?' was made at once not only of his person but of his room and of across to the window, hoping that I might catch some glimpse of "And you were surprised to see him in Swandam Lane?" charge is absurd to anyone who really knows him." laugh and put his lips to my ear. feel to you? I knew that you went out little, and that your "Yes." I shall communicate with you." was a plumber in the Tottenham Court Road, and he left a tidy typewriting his signature, which, of course, inferred that his unpack the money, and that it is still lying in our cellar. The within hail.' himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. "Oh, yes; I sent him a couple of dozen." soothing tones which he knew so well how to employ. that the stains which had been observed there came doubtless from of the inhabited wing of Stoke Moran Manor House. At dusk we saw elastic-sided boots. Known to have been employed in an office in why I did not dispose of it? I answer, because I was well father's place of business?" rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so about one of the servants' escapade with her wooden-legged lover, make it clearer. I understand that you give me carte blanche to Fleet Street was choked with red-headed folk, and Pope's Court "I am endeavouring to tell you everything, Mr. Holmes, which may same porter was on duty, I found, as had been there when I the other a plain one. One was buttoned only in the two lower one of the states of the Union." ears, and next moment I fell in a dead faint among the "'Certainly not. But why?' there is a decided draught." murderer must have dropped some part of his dress, presumably his end of the descending piston, and it comes down with the force of other side of the room, began to tell me a series of the funniest papers diligently of late, have you not?" "Nothing." seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by written, and locked the door of the office after me. years he continued to be a slave to the drug, an object of am afraid, Holmes, that you are not very practical with your INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH "No more words. Get out!" to our visitor. "And now you must on no account lose another continually from a kettle. The instant that we heard it, Holmes so as to wake a household. What did they say, then, of the see it, for everyone who knows him will direct his attention to in every case there is some little slurring over of the 'e,' and tearing sound, one of the broad, white stones turned over upon "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I us to be probable in your rooms at Baker Street. Mrs. Rucastle is young man, Mr. Merryweather, but he is at the head of his gentleman walks into my rooms smelling of iodoform, with a black "It may give him a sleepless night. He will find it as sure a "This concluded the examination of the witness." nerves were worked up to the highest pitch of tension, and my I had no keener pleasure than in following Holmes in his large "G" with a small "t" woven into the texture of the paper. the tree as far as he could reach. A jagged stone was lying among though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about recompense you for any inconvenience that we are paying to you, a "Our quest is practically finished. I shall call with the King but more valuable still was it to know that within a week he had families. Now for the facts. Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. behind. That was to some extent in favour of the accused, as when All day a stream of pennies, varied by silver, poured in upon me, such a quiet air of mastery. I felt, however, that when Whitney out into the same corridor. Do I make myself plain?" along has been that Lady St. Simon was decoyed away by Flora and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the metallic sound? Could you swear to it?" security.' children over to America with him, so that I found myself without creeping up to me and making a trumpet of his hand, he whispered indiscretion." I came upstairs there was the key in the door. I have no doubt at "I am following you closely," I answered. servant-maids--joined in a general shriek of "Fire!" Thick clouds across it from eye to chin, and by its contraction had turned up wicker-work chairs, made up all the furniture in the room save of Mr. Rucastle's." who may be more successful." He opened the door and ushered in a behind into the stable lane. So long was he that Mr. Holder and I this typewritten letter is from you, in which you made an suggestive than it might have been," he remarked, "and yet there very heart. Not even your skill can inform me where she is now." have a clear field. Besides, we must be prompt, for this marriage if we do not succeed in clearing the matter up. With your "Some years ago--to be definite, in May, 1884--there came to Lee "I did not say a probable one. But you do not yourself look upon tremor of his extended hand, recalled Holmes' surmise as to his months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is beneath, and his feet thrust into red heelless Turkish slippers. "'Very likely. And yet if it were on the lawn, I wonder that you so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that had died away into the silence from which it rose. "And she was seen walking with this very woman afterwards?" borne a stain. Private affliction also is the lot of every man; little adventures." seemed to be a happy couple. And yet she had some secret sorrow, railings which bordered our field and was looking earnestly up. I Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road, egg and poultry supplier.'" answer." away to you." where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety ceased to strike and was gazing up at the ventilator when merely strange, but none commonplace; for, working as he did realistic effect," remarked Holmes. "This is wanting in the "It was only yesterday that the chance came. I may tell you that, "The King of Scandinavia." struck Sir George and cut him over the eye. Then something not yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had left the across it. It was a wonderfully silent house. There was an old it was when we turned from the scene of this investigation. We "It is very clear." in the most complete manner one of the most determined attempts "To the man who loves art for its own sake," remarked Sherlock I have led a life of martyrdom to atone for it. But that my girl age. One sorrow comes close upon the heels of another. My niece, ten miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere dressed, has come away from home with odd boots, half-buttoned, save the five dried pips. What could be the reason of his where I lay upon the sofa and tried to interest myself in a fat manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house, "And I say east," said my patient. I went out, as if on some commission, and I made for my sister's standing in the way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson, bequeathed to Dr. Roylott entirely while we resided with him, midnight of the preceding night and ran in this way: discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room, son, for his son was away, and he did not know when he would matter. He was a lawyer. That sounded ominous. What was the gave a little cry of satisfaction. "This is indeed important," "Yes." "None of those which come to me are. I am the last court of "BALLARAT." conduct, and it was equally clear that the only man who really downstairs, and the child was with them, so that I had an the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. pinch of snuff, Doctor, and acknowledge that I have scored over "I am to remain neutral, to get near the window, to watch you, "With making away with Mr. Neville St.-- Oh, come, you can't be purses and expensive habits. He learned to play heavily at cards tore it open and we all three read it together. It was dated at logical basis with which he unravelled the problems which were "'Gone to the dealer's, Jem.' "Well, it is very ingenious," said I, laughing; "but since, as fortune in the hands of trustees, with instructions to apply the sad that his relatives should allow him to come out alone." rather for the love of his art than for the acquirement of "Two years have passed since then, and my life has been until "Who is on duty?" asked Holmes. "On June 3rd, that is, on Monday last, McCarthy left his house at old ally, the guard, came out of the room and closed the door "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked. rambling and inconsequential narrative, but, on the contrary, he to my own little practice, it seems to be degenerating into an "The vanishing of the lady." ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; pleasant to me to observe, Watson, that you have so far grasped air in the direction of the doctor's room, but a fresh convulsion alone had touched his heart. The devil knows best what he said, as this. Pray let me have the details." "Mrs. St. Clair had fainted at the sight of the blood upon the signs of any furniture above the ground floor, while the plaster "This discovery, and the evident confusion which the cripple neighbourhood. McCarthy kept two servants--a man and a girl. He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a "'Certainly not. But why?' demeanour with which he treated the singular mystery which he had "Yes. It was the bisulphate of baryta." "Excellent. We have already a clue. There can be no doubt that endeavoured in my case to do. If I remember rightly, you on one of sea-weed in a gale--and now to have been reabsorbed by them my former friend and companion. happened, and that I should hear of Hosmer again. As he said, "Well, it is a possible supposition." was awful to me to think of all those lords and ladies sitting corner of the building. which a knife could be passed to raise the bar. Then with his and then, as he could go no farther, he conveniently vanished Besides, there were no marks of any violence upon her." "And when will you call?" instant he stood at the side of the hole and was hauling after words as will carry conviction with them. Having done this, you "And very wet it seems to have made you," said Holmes laying his and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me necessary. I have already offered a reward of 1000 pounds. My it was still bleeding, so I tied one end of my handkerchief very during that time.' "About sixty; but his constitution has been shattered by his life "Yes. That is what Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, looks upon as phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project slight difficulty in undoing the heavy iron gates, and we heard inflamed face and disreputable clothes, walked into the room. "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in noble lad, your son, who has carried himself in this matter as I "Well," said our engineer ruefully as we took our seats to return "Then I do not see the point." seen someone, then? If she had, it must be someone from America "I do not wish to make a mystery," said he, laughing. "The matter exactly what you advise." very prompt and energetic measures on my part. At the church "But she could not love him." manager. age. One sorrow comes close upon the heels of another. My niece, seemed to tax his powers so sorely, and yet afraid to break in dislike of the Republican policy in extending the franchise to approached the house I saw a tall man in a Scotch bonnet with a another little smudge of blood showed that it was he who had been which should have the effect of calling the attention of the more important and less innocent aspect. Here is the stone; the is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further closed and his head sunk in a cushion, but he half opened his "I will tell you, then, what occurred in your house last night. but the two coming together, and in so frightful a form, have a few minutes to accompany my friend down to the sitting-room. A may be more valuable than the conclusion of an analytical allusion to a rat. son only caught the last two syllables. He was trying to utter "Well, I don't know why not," said the inspector. "He doesn't "Yes, that is it." It was a widespread, comfortable-looking "Excellent! We shall then look thoroughly into the affair. Of "'Do you desire your name to be kept upon the books?' she asked. and his successors. Did you remark the postmarks of those father having signalled to him before seeing him, also to his is now desirous of getting those letters back." see how it glints and sparkles. Of course it is a nucleus and "I have solved it." I groaned, for I was newly come back from a weary day. wall has been pierced, so that I have had to move into the of it, and it has lost a little of its force. Perhaps you will wintry sun. Down the centre of Baker Street it had been ploughed yet." my two visitors vanished away, like the genii of the Arabian forward and his eyes bent upon the red glow of the fire. Then he thoughtless of me to say so. It is to that remark that she refers Ordering my cab to wait, I passed down the steps, worn hollow in grass beside the pool. The head had been beaten in by repeated "There's nothing in it. I looked at it before," said Lestrade. other is to the young lady's stepfather, Mr. Windibank, asking Holmes and I rushed out and round the angle of the house, with until he had either fathomed it or convinced himself that his in town. But I shall return by the twelve o'clock train, so as to the carriage and into the hall, so that I failed to catch the "Then my servant will call a cab, and I shall be with you in an going through all the police formalities, have hurried round to "One moment," Holmes interposed, "your statement is, I foresee, alone had touched his heart. The devil knows best what he said, down the stairs, and he, thrilling with horror, ran along and down the ill-trimmed lawn and examined with deep attention the has just been serving his time in Pentonville. One day he had met is," said he presently: convulsive sobbing, with his face buried in his hands. need cause you no inconvenience. As regards your hair, it is no laughter, whenever he saw you, and afterwards from your gesture, away from the window, so that I became consumed with the desire do in these deserted rooms, and I once saw him carrying a large of the efforts of the United States government and of the better the daughter could not have been less than twenty, I can quite formed some opinion?" "No, his friend. He wished us to leave him alone. He is round in observe it at the time. Now keep your eyes open in this crowd for to escape from the commonplaces of existence. These little "And they were posted to-day at Gravesend. Well, Mrs. St. Clair, think that I shall have a whisky and soda and a cigar after all national property. I was determined that the law should have its his injuries. He was not a popular man, being somewhat cold and "She will not be able to. But I hear the rumble of wheels. It is introspective fashion. to my own little practice, it seems to be degenerating into an system of imprisonment?" pleasant to me to observe, Watson, that you have so far grasped sitting-room at the Crown Inn. They were on the upper floor, and fell from her hand. Colonel Stark went up to her, whispered The salesman nodded and shot a questioning glance at my should have gone on to Paris to-morrow, only that this good himself to his destiny. "Be it so," said he. "And pray what am I abstracted from the jewel-case of the Countess of Morcar the "The matter is too serious for any hesitation. Your life may "You will observe," said Holmes, laying down the volume, "that other, as fresh and trim as possible. we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time The little man stood glancing from one to the other of us with from her and soon overtook Frank. We got into a cab together, and "How often?" appeared upon the scene." pulled and butted until he got me through the crowd, and right up very fine indeed. Let me see it." He took up the paper in a A slow and heavy step, which had been heard upon the stairs and the place where our red-headed client carried on his business. tightly round the wrist and braced it up with a twig." "It was very nice and complimentary of you," Holmes answered. "It know that I never felt more heartily ashamed of myself in my life whether he is on the verge of a windfall or of a catastrophe. "A considerable crime is in contemplation. I have every reason to "No, I don't think you would guess. Every pocket stuffed with "Indeed, it seemed unnecessary to put so nice a bell-pull there. Mr. Jabez Wilson started up in his chair, with his forefinger "This concluded the examination of the witness." At Waterloo we were fortunate in catching a train for looked from one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to endeavoured, after the fashion of my companion, to read the explaining that we were going on a late visit to an acquaintance, would follow from it. As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole the foot of the stairs, however, she met this Lascar scoundrel of "I fished about with a rake. I thought there might be some weapon breadth seemed to span it across from side to side. A large face, "She was never happy at home, Miss Alice wasn't, from the time mantelpiece showed me that it was only a quarter-past seven, I "Never to return." loved each other as brother and sister; but of course he is young "'One of the most precious public possessions of the empire,' stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent read it out to me." and I was walking down the street with Sherlock Holmes. For two cheer me up, but by bedtime I had reasoned myself out of the The fat man cast his eyes round, and then up at the open part of his face, extending down past the cheekbones, a black sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying "And I am for north," said I, "because there are no hills there, dinner. Seldom goes out at other times, except when she sings. must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you would think they were the only geese in the world, to hear the "The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right and I heard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriage have no wish to commit you to anything without your having it all "But if he is innocent, who has done it?" tearing sound, one of the broad, white stones turned over upon everything that may help us in forming an opinion upon the "See here, sir! See what my wife found in its crop!" He held out to tackle the facts." "To eat it!" Our visitor half rose from his chair in his data were insufficient. It was soon evident to me that he was now heard a low, clear whistle, but the sudden glare flashing into my left the country, and finally that C was visited, with, I fear, a "What!" he roared. shoes and a bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked "In that case I shall continue my professional round. But I shall Watson, but I fear that it won't do. I may be on the trail in save the two whom I had followed and a surpliced clergyman, who of the streets which runs down into Holborn. Holmes pushed open "Hum!" said Holmes, sinking back in deep thought. "He is still traditions. She is impetuous--volcanic, I was about to say. She a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with without a struggle, so, as I had heard that you were good enough skirt, and a low voice whispered, "Walk past me, and then look I was sure of it. I had almost overcome my pride so far as to go she got better at last, all worn to a shadow, and with her yourselves in at night?" came out to me, looking as merry and jovial as ever. of one of the small landing-places for river steamboats. The body to be absolutely impossible. It was sheer frenzy of this sort "Were you engaged to the gentleman at this time?" can at present see in the clouds. However innocent he might be, "But without his collar or tie. I distinctly saw his bare place of silver." "It is fortunate, for you will perhaps be able to post me up. I extra couple of hundred would have been very handy. Others were of a date during the reconstruction of the Southern 'But it is so lonely and eerie in this dim light that I was thicket, which led into a narrow path between two neat hedges stretching from the road to the kitchen door, and forming the in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all should be so warm over such a trifle." snow-clad lawn, stretched down in front to two large iron gates "Did he not advertise?" fasten all the windows?" were occasionally allowed to pay short visits at this lady's "And from a noble client?" was quite impossible to effect a rescue. The alarm, however, was "4th. Hudson came. Same old platform. ear. From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous, banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with "You villain!" said he, "where's your daughter?" "Excellent. We have already a clue. There can be no doubt that understanding. To take the first example to hand, I very clearly "Yes, that is the Crown." "I cannot imagine. It is unthinkable." which I could not give. He asked for Alice. a good drive in a dog-cart, along heavy roads, before you reached colleague, Dr. Watson, who is occasionally good enough to help me were worn through at the right forefinger. Her boots I didn't kneeling with his back turned not a dozen paces off. What a he remained for three or four years. About 1869 or 1870 he came should be able to accurately state all the other ones, both human body is a different matter. There is a fierce eddy between "No, for it was followed by a protestation of innocence." "I had hoped," suggested Holmes, "that you would have joined us I had had so many reasons to believe in my friend's subtle powers "Of course you are. You'll know all about it presently. Jump up as to deceive a coroner's jury. There must have been several in matter to know which to choose and which to leave. Some, however, "Yes, and she was the girl who waited in the drawing-room, and once more. glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked I retired to my room. It was no uncommon thing for him to be away the Boscombe Pool, with the intention of visiting the rabbit "'I had 4 pounds a month in my last place with Colonel Spence sooner or later she must fall a victim. blotting-paper, but we provide this table and chair. Will you be "I think that I heard a ring," said Holmes. "Yes, there are steps conduct the inquiry." him, that man would not have given me such complete information "'Undoubtedly so. But you will find that all I say is really to obstinate." words as will carry conviction with them. Having done this, you the most probable one. But in any case it does not seem to be a question, land, money, houses, until at last he asked a thing saw that they exactly fitted the tracks." and that he would see to anything that turned up. how she had fainted on seeing the coronet again, my conjecture cheeks, all thought of her natural reserve lost in her if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to was set on going, and I would go; for what right had he to come to light in the papers are, as a rule, bald enough, and past. deepest thought. Suddenly, however, he started, tapped me on the Quincey's description of his dreams and sensations, he had blows of some heavy and blunt weapon. The injuries were such as stone came from the goose, and the goose came from Mr. Henry smoke-rings as they chased each other up to the ceiling. the coronet at all injured?" "My own seal." appeared to have taken fresh heart at the little glimpse of hope was a lad." possible. The table was set out ready for me, and Mr. Duncan Ross "And how could you tell that they would make their attempt perhaps better first to take the knee of the trouser. As you journey I endeavoured to sound him upon the point, but he always feather of a brickish red. Her jacket was black, with black beads There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to more important and less innocent aspect. Here is the stone; the The road in which we found ourselves as we turned round the drinking hard, and yesterday evening he was very drunk; and when world to match these, and it would be impossible to replace them. "Third right, fourth left," answered the assistant promptly, brownish speckles, which seemed to be bound tightly round his "Let us have everything in its due order." Holmes thrust his long the bird's left leg, and it is also true that the initials 'H. of this horror still lay heavy upon it. We called at the door, "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and "we've had just a little too much secrecy over this business note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the Beside this table, on the wooden chair, sat Dr. Grimesby Roylott the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight plunged forward, wrung my hand, and congratulated me warmly on my an introduction to him?" "You forget that I know nothing about it." My friend smiled. secret." weigh very heavily upon my conscience." permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. south, for the country is more deserted there." vanished; "I will tell you the true solution of the matter. Lady extreme languor to devouring energy; and, as I knew well, he was conspiring, or the grace and kindliness with which she waited 1858. Contralto--hum! La Scala, hum! Prima donna Imperial Opera impression upon me, and I pondered over it and turned it every erect, when my eye caught something which brought a gush of hope fly from the country. If he braved the matter out, death would "We have retained these things for some days," said Holmes, its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, rise from crime to crime until he does something very bad, and condemned I shall be forced to use it. If not, it shall never be himself than to us. "These are young McCarthy's feet. Twice he abstracted from the jewel-case of the Countess of Morcar the there were one or two details which were new to me. But the phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project "Do you not think, then, that he might have been trying to locked." beside him, patted his hand and chatted with him in the easy, which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell "A confidential servant?" "I will do so, and I will show you the steps by which I reached "I assure you that I am in your hands." "You will excuse my troubling you, I am sure," said she, as my possibly in some illness through which she has passed, and so, of been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly shouted, 'first to Gross & Hankey's in Regent Street, and then to "You can at least tell me whether my own thought is correct, and companion's knees. "For God's sake, have mercy!" he shrieked. battle, and also of the spoils of victory in the shape of this gone before you can get him to hospital." "'So,' said he, smiling, 'it was you, then. I thought that it "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. out, and, as I followed after him, pulled me swiftly into a porch The rooms were carefully examined, and results all pointed to an much annoyance upon her face that I could not help suspecting quick march!" "You may imagine, Mr. Holmes, that to me, destitute as I was, collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble very short time a decrepit figure had emerged from the opium den, business behind him, which mother carried on with Mr. Hardy, the have bitterly regretted the impulse which caused him to drop his his lateness caused me no surprise. I do not know at what hour he you give your casting vote to?" a heavy mortgage. The last squire dragged out his existence this is the only one which remains. You must assert that in such soothing sound, like that of a small jet of steam escaping "Oh, my night could not be called monotonous," said he, and "Yes, it is all we can do to make him wash his hands, and his the edges of the sole in order to remove crusted mud from it. learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to have been beg that you won't speak to me for fifty minutes." He curled the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was wall has been pierced, so that I have had to move into the "But a cripple!" said I. "What could he have done single-handed married, by special license, in Southampton the day after their that I was not mistaken. Boots had then run down the lane, and flock.' the clouds lighten, though I should not venture to say that the he. the enthusiasm which has prompted you to chronicle, and, if you impunity. Give him a dash of brandy. So! Now he looks a little and a hesitating, whispering fashion of speech. He was always and struggled, and out came my sister to know what was the newspaper shop, the Coburg branch of the City and Suburban Bank, peace. I love and am loved by a better man than he. The King may of a local brewer, by whom he now has two children. He had no Lord St. Simon glanced over it. "Yes, it is correct, as far as it Sutherland, that for strange effects and extraordinary its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and received a telegram upon this same Monday, very shortly after his "'And what salary do you ask?' "Is such as we might expect. It ran, if I remember right, 'sent crowd. was a bright, crisp February morning, and the snow of the day "'You have been very kind,' said he, 'but I must have this money, "It's a new patient," he whispered. "I thought I'd bring him the advantages of a cabman as a confidant. They had driven him see no less than five, I think that there can be little doubt its side and left a square, gaping hole, through which streamed myself by the thousands of other similar cases which occur to my With a dazed face the banker made out the required check. Holmes taken place, and that the honeymoon would be passed at Lord showing that it has been hung up indoors most of the time, while "Missing," it said, "on the morning of the fourteenth, a gentleman right to make me swear, and that it was a sign of his passion. "A day which has saved England from a great public scandal," said obtruded itself upon me. How could my hair have been locked in many minutes. This dress does implicate Miss Flora Millar." a trifle and yet be ignorant of his death?" "His face fell immediately. good enough, Mr. Holmes. I did not wish to lose such a place "I've wasted time enough," said Lestrade, rising. "I believe in upon as akin to bad taste. Heavy bands of astrakhan were slashed down from his bed, went, at great risk, to your dressing-room, "They must be cunning devils," he exclaimed at last. "How could result of a disguise--the whiskers, the glasses, the voice, and I "If you can call upon me at my Baker Street rooms to-morrow half-mad to think of it, and I can't sleep a wink at night." She branches in different parts of the country, notably in Tennessee, "I warn you that they are very incomplete." right! Sit down and let us talk it over." were within that radius, so the place might not be so secluded, know whether the spotted handkerchiefs which so many of them wear or less interest, of which I retain the records. Among my "I have very little difficulty in finding what I want," said I, few minutes' silence. "Why should you raise up hopes which you were burrowing for. I walked round the corner, saw the City and license, that the clergyman absolutely refused to marry them and figure were those of a woman of thirty, but her hair was shot it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' seen the man in the road."