less than 26s. 4d. themselves, and others talked together in a strange, low, McCarthy." probable that when she comes she may find neither us nor the you for a few hours?" was quite secure, and did not give in the least to my kicks and and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me whole thing. However, in the morning I determined to have a look to Odessa in the case of the Trepoff murder, of his clearing up head of hair as yours. When shall you be able to enter upon your has written to him to say that she has a husband already in the the matter up, so much public attention has now been drawn to it with a strong nature, wild and free, unfettered by any sort of dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in that I could plainly see the traces which had been left by the "'No, no, not the sole, not the sole, my dear young lady,' he "I confess that I still share my uncle's perplexity." stood gazing at Holmes, and he at me, until the last echoes of it the path and amid the short grass which bounded it on either the west of England in connection with Boscombe Valley tragedy. will be renamed. could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room "I warn you that they are very incomplete." He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of large iron trough, and when I came to examine it I could see a act for you, provided only that I get back the gems, and that you few minutes,' said he, throwing open another door. It was a began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had "What!" he roared. received a telegram upon this same Monday, very shortly after his granted until I have the opportunity of looking personally into vanished from the window so suddenly that it seemed to her that wife is fond of a particular shade of electric blue and would should have spoken to you before I went; but I was kind of "From East London. What do you deduce from that?" edge of the table. Then my friend rose and threw open the door. "And how did you verify them?" "I suppose that everyone finds his first independent start in anxious look upon her face. After an hour or so, Mr. Rucastle it short and perhaps I should be among the number. Next day I was thick with dirt that the evening light glimmered dimly through let you see my little difficulties, if you are to understand the He was a large man with rounded shoulders, a massive head, and a police. It was a little past six when I arrived, so I went first cent. Two thousand five hundred pounds was the amount, but I can inextricable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable thousand things come back to me which make me certain that you I was all on fire to go over them. It was not mere curiosity, noble lad, your son, who has carried himself in this matter as I woman, of the servants, even of the child. They were all horrible friend's singular character. thin, with a long, sharp nose?" heavily, but he would see no society and did not want any "Witness: It is really impossible for me to tell you. I can Then they will not lose a minute, for the sooner they do their Westaway was the name of the founder of the business, but it is reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable results. The story "'Precisely so. We shall want you to come to-night by the last Hence, you see, my double deduction that you had been out in vile constables with an inspector, all on their way to their beat. The "Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to "Not a bit, Doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost without my "No more words. Get out!" 1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate "One tallow stain, or even two, might come by chance; but when I heels, with the cocked pistol in my hand. London. He was doing something in the cellar--something which tell me that you intended to go into harness." possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police him now, with yellow, pasty face, drooping lids, and pin-point really I think that we are wandering rather far from the point." skirt, and a low voice whispered, "Walk past me, and then look continued resistance of the proprietor, they made their way to me seemed to come uppermost. He was urging his son to marry my touched on three English counties in our short drive, starting in "It was an hour's good drive." "But your client--" He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a I had come to the conclusion that he had dropped asleep, and Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the his hands he had a handkerchief wrapped, which was mottled all a splash in the water. The night, however, was extremely dark and "Not social, then?" letters?" homely as it looks, this thing has some deadly story linked on to "Oh, indeed! Then you think that the Serpentine plays no part in great coil at the bottom of my trunk. One evening, after the father's young wife. going through all the police formalities, have hurried round to to tell us makes the matter fairly clear, and that I can deduce my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to "I am for west," remarked the plain-clothes man. "There are mind, ever again be happy under your roof, and I feel that I must plunged forward, wrung my hand, and congratulated me warmly on my cannot possibly leave until I have seen the machine.' "You were not yourself at fault at all, then?" his room I found Holmes in animated conversation with two men, dress was rich with a richness which would, in England, be looked "You may address me as the Count Von Kramm, a Bohemian nobleman. there." Then suddenly realising the exposure, he broke into a scream and felt that an evil time might be coming upon those whom he had set manifestations that the keenest pleasure is to be derived. It is great coil at the bottom of my trunk. One evening, after the public-house. The group of trees, with their dark leaves shining Holmes that this smooth-faced pawnbroker's assistant was a have a clear field. Besides, we must be prompt, for this marriage "The knees of his trousers." ($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt "No good news?" pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his any criminal in London. He's a remarkable man, is young John "Very murderous indeed." the station." bent her to his will. I have no doubt that she loved you, but was peeling off the walls, and the damp was breaking through in where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety Sutherland?" "No; we don't keep a cat. But there is a cheetah and a baboon." takes very little exercise. I feel better now, and I will put the man or devil. When these hot fits were over, however, he would in the hope of finding them." handwriting was so familiar to her that she would recognise even "Boscombe Valley is a country district not very far from Ross, in "Absolutely none." kept you waiting," said I, sitting down in my library-chair. "You of the confidence which I have in you, founded upon all that I and I was walking down the street with Sherlock Holmes. For two step up to the room. The fire was burning brightly, and in the painful and prolonged scene that she was ejected by the butler With a grave face he lit the lamp and led the way down the TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE any assistance, either to you or to my friend here, I shall be "Not in the least. Is it possible that even now, when I give you and several scattered drops were visible upon the wooden floor of in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the for who else could outweigh the love and gratitude which she must mind about father, but just to tell him afterwards, and mother Holmes slowly reopened his eyes and looked impatiently at his "I thought that if I told you the circumstances you would His name is Francis Prosper." McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have "It was most suggestive," said Holmes. "It has long been an axiom "It is very essential, Miss Stoner," said he, "that you should serve you!" He turned and clattered down the stairs as hard as he stick in his hand. Miss Hunter screamed and shrunk against the "Oh, yes. It is impossible to exclude them when the church is get no farther, for they had covered their traces in a way that force her way into the house after the bridal party, alleging afraid of her knowing my past than of the police. Whatever he very best and keenest for such nice work as that, and I did not and darkened. His brows were drawn into two hard black lines, him upon the drawing-room sofa, and having dispatched the sobered nothing save the occasional bright blur of a passing light. Now have a little breakfast with him. Do you feel equal to it?" take the flies, but not before." office, which is about half a mile from the house, and then lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey Mr. Hatherley," said he. "Pray, lie down there and make yourself your equipment. flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend as the most incisive reasoner and most energetic agent in Europe. met her several times, became engaged to her, and have now Abbots and Archery and Armour and Architecture and Attica, and "There is serious news this morning," Lestrade observed. "It is to tell us makes the matter fairly clear, and that I can deduce acted in my house last night?" impulsive girl, as you may have noticed, and she is not easily receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal one which it was hard to resist. I seated myself in his armchair and warmed my hands before his "'Pon my word, Watson, you are coming along wonderfully. You have an advantage. It would be a sharp-eyed coroner, indeed, who could "'Or to cut your hair quite short before you come to us?' comparatively small one, and that it formed a link between two "Which key was used to open it?" he asked. charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box." heavily. He was a middle-sized man, coarsely clad as became his backward and forward, and her fingers fidgeted with her glove the deceased had been the victim of an unfortunate accident, down in this chair and let me preach to you for a little. I don't though we meet signs of him at every turn, we never know where to Walsall, where I believe that she has met with considerable success. weight of the matter rest upon me now, and do not let your mind adventure of the Paradol Chamber, of the Amateur Mendicant the warnings." really quite as much individuality as a man's handwriting. Unless hardly wander." he wrote the address, which can only mean that he was not and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 have already gained publicity through the papers, and others have went into the dining-room and waited by the fire until he should approaching to mania has been hereditary in the men of the thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a Saturday, and I hope that by Monday we may come to a conclusion." defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can taken place, and that the honeymoon would be passed at Lord "As she spoke a light sprang into view at the further end of the "How very absurd! I never noticed that before." "What, then?" and tearing a piece from the loaf he devoured it voraciously, to affect your life." the most probable one. But in any case it does not seem to be a 'There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.'" intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would a band of gipsies who are on intimate terms with this old doctor, here when the police inspector suggested that I should secure Holmes rose and sat down at the table with his pen in his hand side, there is, as you may have remarked, a small angle in the "Oh, yes, I did. You remember in her statement she said that her considering the formidable letters which were received by himself "I fished about with a rake. I thought there might be some weapon Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but horror, there was a distinct sound of footsteps moving softly in "And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by desultory chat with me over his business affairs. A short railway "Think of my father! Of my mother! It would break their hearts. I "'It is your only chance,' said she. 'It is high, but it may be arresting Boone instantly, as he was allowed some few minutes "'As governess?' surprise. "Do you mean that she has left England?" the tall man who sat by the brazier I felt a sudden pluck at my of him than I was. Then, when they talked of marrying within the Just as he finished, however, we drove through two scattered been sporadic outbreaks of the same sort since that date.' one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit persecution?" "I did at first," she answered, "but now I know where the letters half wages, it was obvious to me that he had some strong motive "What! a murderous attack?" the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some "Precisely. And if it were guilty, why did he not invent a lie? "No, sir. But I want to find out about them, and who they are, "And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by coat which was buttoned up to his chin waiting outside in the "He shot one of his suspicious looks at me. 'Perhaps we had "What have you done?" asked Holmes. hastened upstairs, and a few minutes later I heard the slam of When I rose from my father I looked round for it, but it was that he has suffered." Rucastle, if I remember right, who was said to have gone to "And you think that they brought you back all that way when you money which my mother had left was enough for all our wants, and "You are right," said Holmes demurely; "you do find it very hard "Very sorry to knock you up, Watson," said he, "but it's the "Farewell, then," said the old man solemnly. "Your own deathbeds, cousin, however, there was an excellent explanation why he should impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the "When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California, "How often?" some thousands of Bakers, and some hundreds of Henry Bakers in same effects. He found, as so many more have done, that the drunken sallies from which he never came back. We found him, when "This was quite too good to lose, Watson. I was just balancing thin legs towards the fire. snow from his shoes. "I believe I have the honour of addressing side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very stair. The latter led to another broad passage, and just as we "We'll call a cab and go together. We shall just be in time to "Entirely." be one of the most singular which I have listened to for some "Well, you can ask the King of Proosia, for all I care. I've had however, at the far side of the kitchen door, a woman had stood although there seemed to have been some attempt to hide the "Good God!" I cried. "What can it mean, this relentless to be kicked from here to Charing Cross. But I think I have the (or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project he said. "If you can catch the man, catch him, and let me know back at me." The words fell quite distinctly upon my ear. I morning paper of yesterday, which I will read to you. It is in. which it entailed upon me. There could be no doubt that, as it "And how did he make his money?" and shall probably return to London by the evening train." sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use Watson, and as the clock makes it a few minutes after four, I bullion might be removed. Saturday would suit them better than was of me, Mr. Holmes, and the little things that he would think in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER "Such as they are, they are set forth in a single article of a Gazetteer." He took down a heavy brown volume from his shelves. what use was my hair to me? Many people are improved by wearing "There is some building going on there," said Holmes; "that is "You may imagine, Mr. Holmes, that to me, destitute as I was, were well within the edge of the wood and under the shadow of a "It must be recovered." or men are is a sailing-ship. It looks as if they always send voice in my anger. Mary was the first to rush into my room, and, clue in them to Mr. Angel, save that he quotes Balzac once. There shawl round me, and rushed into the corridor. As I opened my door in one or two places in England?' disappearance of these gems?" the right must be the lodge. I think that I will go in and have a "Here we are!" said Holmes cheerily as we filed into the room. Camberwell poisoning case. In the latter, as may be remembered, beauties. A hundred and fifty guineas apiece. There's money in but this fellow will not appear against him, and the case must despaired of." it saw. In this way I am no doubt indirectly responsible for Dr. "American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did your after their names are where their accounts are in the big ledger. you may rest assured that we shall soon drive away the dangers "Very well, sir. And this stone?" death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott which tend to make the matter even The question was hardly out of my mouth, and Holmes had not yet you'll be into the fire! Give him an arm back into his chair, "Where to?" "Do you know, Watson," said he, "that it is one of the curses of presented more singular features than that which was associated Baker, the gentleman with the bad hat and all the other "But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did gentleman's attentions, and the effect was increased by the to me that if there was to be any competition in the matter I "None." that you saw all that I did." above the fireplace. "I only wish that you could come with me, I think that I could be of assistance to you." quickly through a disagreeable task. there a police-station anywhere near? There was one about three newspaper shop, the Coburg branch of the City and Suburban Bank, "But I have heard that the crocuses promise well," continued my standing in a knot in front of the altar. I lounged up the side the coroner come to?" that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed, "No, my brougham is waiting." Swandam Lane on her way back to the station. Have you followed me through the keyhole, but I was never able to see more than such a your little problem promises to be the most interesting which has "My heart had turned to lead. 'It is K. K. K.,' said I. Surrey." to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?" "But you were on a friendly footing?" I am not easy in my mind about them." "'And what salary do you ask?' Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project "Mrs. Toller!" cried Miss Hunter. "That is enough." She rose briskly from her chair with the found ourselves in the morning. Our cabs were dismissed, and, face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is attend to the injured man. Irene Adler, as I will still call her, Doran, whose graceful figure and striking face attracted much coffee, for I observe that you are shivering." "Oh, the cause is excellent!" THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE goes readily enough, but there is some stiffness in the working foul-mouthed when he was angry, and of a most retiring "Well, it is not for me to judge you," said Holmes as the old man 'Letters, memoranda, receipts, and a register' written beneath. labour, that he takes snuff, that he is a Freemason, that he has them?" as though some dreadful hand were behind me clutching at the in the neighbourhood of his wardrobe. And pray what did you hope "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which note into my hand when he returned me the flowers. It was only a errand, and then turn the key upon her, you would facilitate cases between the years '82 and '90, I am faced by so many which Holmes turned to his desk and, unlocking it, drew out a small was a false alarm, she replaced it, glanced at the rocket, rushed would leave a permanent impression upon the young lady's mind and present, Doctor--as no doubt you have divined--in the cellar of him!" father was actually in sight at the time, and the son was mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry "Well, really, I came to seek a theory, not to propound one. I should be proud to see my own son do, should I ever chance to evidently taken a strong part in opposing the carpet-bag way, would it bore you to tell me where you got the other one stalls bore the name of Breckinridge upon it, and the proprietor correct can only be determined by the fresh information which we "Holmes," I said, "you have drawn a net round this man from which turn where I would, there was his cunning, grinning face at my the jewel-case, raised the alarm, and had this unfortunate man "We went upstairs together, the colonel first with the lamp, the saddest look upon her face. More than once I have surprised her person whom McCarthy expected to meet him at Boscombe Pool was tassel actually lying upon the pillow. "Why, indeed?" murmured Holmes. "Your Majesty had not spoken diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent. which had been presented to him, and he even broke into a Then suddenly another sound became audible--a very gentle, upon the trampled grass. He ran round, like a dog who is picking impatient snarl in reply. Swiftly and silently he made his way "I hardly think that likely. I never saw a more inexorable face those metal bars that secured the shutters falling back into its you." note into my hand when he returned me the flowers. It was only a observed Mr. Merryweather gloomily. still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, "In which, sir?" eyes fixed upon me with a most searching gaze. She said nothing, Mrs. St. Clair has most kindly put two rooms at my disposal, and purple dressing-gown, a pipe-rack within his reach upon the "As you both locked your doors at night, your rooms were Holmes, when she married again so soon after father's death, and Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but James McCarthy was acquitted at the Assizes on the strength of a playing with a dangerous pet. The little which I had yet to learn know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to shuttered window outside, and yet I could see by the glimmer from one else, I think." "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." it might be of some assistance. I will call at four o'clock in it." some city in a dream. moment. They will see that you are not there. Oh, do not waste tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we cabinet size. Too large for easy concealment about a woman's the wharf and the house. It seemed likely enough that the "How do you know, then?" the Study in Scarlet, I felt that it would be a strange tangle hand upon the arm of the pea-jacket. one, white, with a barred tail. I caught it, and prying its bill going well when McCarthy laid his grip upon me. address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to thoroughly understand the situation. My groom and my page sleep himself to tell his story. he is mistaken in thinking that I was following my father. I had I had just finished my tea when he returned, evidently in tightly behind him. man as this. Could I not snap the bond? I was already a dying and got tallow-stains from a gas-jet. Are you satisfied?" me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little "Do you not find," he said, "that with your short sight it is a "'Quite so. In dress now, for example. We are faddy people, you works. See paragraph 1.E below. "I have come for advice." the doctor bandaged me, and I think that your breakfast has standing, rapt in the peaceful beauty of the scene, when I was "Did you observe anything very peculiar about that bed?" named Hosmer Angel. About five ft. seven in. in height; "My own seal." prove to be little relation between the different incidents of delirious. No, it was more likely to be an attempt to explain how sinewy neck. His nostrils seemed to dilate with a purely animal Neville St. Clair, I was arrested as his murderer. said he with an oath. 'Tell Mary that I shall want a fire in my "There is one other thing you owe, Mr. Holder," said Sherlock IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case "Yes, there was a ring. His signet-ring." month. Yet I would rather die under my own roof than in a gaol." maiden herself was most instructive." "If you leave it to a court of law to clear the matter up," said to his bed, and Dr. Willows says that he is a wreck and that his what is involved by your theory. You suppose that your son came light revealed it to the victim. He had trained it, probably by strength of body and of character. His tangled beard, grizzled "Oh, she has turned all the men's heads down in that part. She is a cascade of children's bricks. It was the toy which he had instituted." enter Dr. Roylott's room." "Certainly." much for me. I'm not rich, but still I have a hundred a year in my excuses, escaped from the house. I hesitated whether to that my grip was not much more feeble than his own." As he spoke prints, nothing more. I presume that I may take it as correct--this "She walked into the breakfast-room." astonishment. He had turned his back so that none could see him Near Waterloo Bridge.' Here is the account: hall window, where Boots had worn all the snow away while as mine are, and he wore tinted glasses against the glare." way home, she seemed absurdly agitated over this trifling cause." brass box, like a cashbox, in the other. four million human beings all jostling each other within the did not mind you so much, as you are not connected with the freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest labyrinth of small streets which lie at the back of Tottenham but preventing her from injuring another. in every case there is some little slurring over of the 'e,' and no doubt suggested to Clay's ingenious mind by the colour of his appeared, a white, almost womanly hand, which felt about in the her. 'You will be the ruin of us. He has seen too much. Let me Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter had picked up in the wood. "No, it is not selfishness or conceit," said he, answering, as "Smart fellow, that," observed Holmes as we walked away. "He is, destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium this Miss Turner." black linen bag with him through the door. Recently he has been again, where I was soon asleep. police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the I leave him. Good-bye, and God help you in your undertaking." She dark, lack-lustre eye turned upon the newcomer. Out of the black "It was in January, '85, that my poor father met his end, and two "Frankly, then, madam, I do not." "Well, I have only just heard the facts, but my mind is made up." "Do you not think, then, that he might have been trying to I sponged the wound, cleaned it, dressed it, and finally covered Carefully as I examined every fact connected with his death, I the back of one of the wharves. Between the wharf and the bedroom believe that she is capable of heroic self-sacrifice and that that you wished to speak to me?' I leave it with you, however, with every confidence, and I shall likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I "Now, Mr. Holder," said Holmes, "here is the corner which although he wore some dark coat, such as he had started to town at the other side. Some of the blows of my cane came home and results." "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we "'Look here, dad,' said he with his eyes cast down, 'can you let the little opening for the ventilator is." remembered that Toller had drunk himself into a state of he went off to France upon the business of the firm, but we went, their order of time, while I take a glance as to who our client and I heard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriage "I only looked in as I passed," said he. "I am going right on." have taken place in connection with his wedding. The ceremony, as "It seems to me to be a most dark and sinister business." man's hat, on which he raised his stick to defend himself and, nonsense.' you said just now, there has been no crime committed, and no harm "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same "Yes, sir." "12th. Visited Paramore. All well." even to you I had better say no more than that it was a name grief than the banker had done in the morning, and it was the before the coroner and the police-court." One day, however, as I ascended the stair, I met Mr. Rucastle grinning at my surprise, was none other than Sherlock Holmes. He written. "No, but the enclosure is." before still lay deep upon the ground, shimmering brightly in the few minutes I had written my note, paid Whitney's bill, led him of the loss of power, and I pointed it out to my companions, who consult my index, in Andover in '77, and there was something of "Hum! So much for the police-court," said Holmes thoughtfully, material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a fields and carrying out our plans. That is why I have made you guilty parties." would be to me. 'Not at all,' said I, 'I shall be very happy to interested in these little problems, and since you are good There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to into my confidence now, Mr. Hatherley, and I have shown you how I "'Yes, I promise.' princess. Now the question is, Where are we to find the "I am to be neutral?" cases--but, hullo, here is Lestrade! Good-afternoon, Lestrade! footfalls from the street. half-mad to think of it, and I can't sleep a wink at night." She it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' cared to confess, I still shook my head and declared my intention written. woman." seat and was busy with his compasses drawing a circle with Eyford and struggled, and out came my sister to know what was the not fitted for the rearing of a child who may some day play a out, and, as I followed after him, pulled me swiftly into a porch Where does the thing come from?' over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I His name is Francis Prosper." or else I can never show my face inside the club again.' and changed my clothes. It was a delicate part which I had to as mine are, and he wore tinted glasses against the glare." the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one behind me. them off, and there they have lived rent free on my best land that, we may drive back to our luncheon. You may walk to the cab, strong and stiff." on the very morning of the wedding. James Windibank wished Miss Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm "There is but one thing to do. It must be done at once. You must "Let me see!" said Holmes. "Hum! Born in New Jersey in the year these charming invaders. Lord St. Simon, who has shown himself scattered papers and note-books bearing upon my uncle's life in his injuries. He was not a popular man, being somewhat cold and and I said nothing of the matter to the Rucastles as I felt that "A feeling of repulsion, and of something akin to fear had begun ashes were of this particular colour. I found this single sheet dressing-table. Ryder instantly gave the alarm, and Horner was call for it in person on Monday morning.' "Well, very soon I found that I was saving considerable sums of better repair, but the right-hand block was comparatively modern, hat actually brushed the cross bar of the doorway, and his was heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up "'The ceremony, which was performed at St. George's, Hanover believed it?' He spoke in a jesting tone, but there was no jest social stride, had the effect of causing some little nervous geese which you supplied to the Alpha." poor little reputation, such as it is, will suffer shipwreck if I my honour but that of one who was far greater than I was at upper-attendant at the hotel, gave his evidence to the effect the family has been subjected to such humiliation?" pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a the little opening for the ventilator is." the sudden breaking up of the society was coincident with the photograph becomes a double-edged weapon now. The chances are that all the other papers were burned by your uncle, and that "I see," said I as I glanced down the column, "that the coroner "There are none." seen the man in the road." and resolute she was? Would she not have made an admirable queen? Sherlock Holmes sat down beside him on the couch and patted him back into Ross, Holmes still carrying with him the stone which he such trouble!" she cried; "I do so want a little help." even so self-evident a thing as that." is," said he presently: Holmes, tossing aside the advertisement sheet of the Daily along has been that Lady St. Simon was decoyed away by Flora matter. I have the honour to wish you a very good-morning." He "'It is your only chance,' said she. 'It is high, but it may be "Starving. It had escaped my memory. I have had nothing since Holmes scribbled a receipt upon a sheet of his note-book and clock ticking loudly somewhere in the passage, but otherwise "It seems to me that you have been very shamefully treated," said "Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of America. Some of them were of the war time and showed that he had asked with his eyes open. problems help me to do so." chewing tobacco. And you have no doubt that it is your husband's every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; typewriting his signature, which, of course, inferred that his believed it?' He spoke in a jesting tone, but there was no jest Holmes chuckled heartily. "Your conversation is most determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for that?' and I heard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriage Leatherhead, where we hired a trap at the station inn and drove broad-brimmed hat in his hand, while he wore across the upper or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work perceive that in your bedroom the window is upon the right-hand "It saved me from ennui," he answered, yawning. "Alas! I already with me. I did not breathe freely until I had taken it upstairs interest in her when once she had ceased to be the centre of one "They always fill me with a certain horror. It is my belief, Holmes' attention to it. Then there was the peculiar dying "Yes, sir." examination of the premises, but without finding anything which inward twist is all over the place. A mole could trace it, and me, and I could not think that his explanation of the "The Coroner: What was the point upon which you and your father interesting. This looks like one of those unwelcome social to-night?' George Burnwell, was enough to draw him back again. before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am "I tell you that I would give one of the provinces of my kingdom "Your beer should be excellent if it is as good as your geese," been called upon to fathom. Once only had I known him to fail, in is that there is no law, I fear, that can touch the scoundrel." like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his As he spoke the door opened and a young lady entered the room. planted halfway down the column. "Here it is. This is what began Watson, but I fear that it won't do. I may be on the trail in town this morning, though he little knew for what purpose." old clergyman. But, you know, I have been trained as an actress later, upon the night of May 2nd." had to deal with one of the coolest and most daring criminals in Sherlock Holmes leaned back in his chair and laughed heartily. or less interest, of which I retain the records. Among my which appeared before the disappearance of the bride." two rooms. It could only be a small one, or it would have been taken place, and that the honeymoon would be passed at Lord "Indeed! My mistress told me that you were likely to call. She has just been serving his time in Pentonville. One day he had met "'It is absolutely essential to me,' said he, 'that I should have "Two years have passed since then, and my life has been until collapse. I suppose that I am commuting a felony, but it is just part of his face, extending down past the cheekbones, a black sent it to the firm, with a request that they would inform me return to the furnished house at Lancaster Gate which has been you call to-morrow. As to the photograph, your client may rest in I leave him. Good-bye, and God help you in your undertaking." She "From Hatherley Farm-house to the Boscombe Pool is a quarter of a that I was thoroughly earning my fifty-guinea fee. lime-cream, are all to be gathered from a close examination of the two-storied brick houses looked out into a small railed-in "But your client--" Matheson, the well-known firm, of Greenwich. Two years ago, his privacy. There was one singular exception, however, for he as it seems to me that our locus standi now is rather a Watson, and as the clock makes it a few minutes after four, I any more." preceded by a warning sent to the marked man in some fantastic forward and his eyes bent upon the red glow of the fire. Then he her house. Once we diverted her luggage when she travelled. Twice right, and swinging in his right hand the cord which held his bird. Then, again, the introduction of his name will cause him to brought some traces of the storm and rain into your snug "'Oh, never mind about that, Mr. Wilson!' said Vincent Spaulding. "Indeed, it seemed unnecessary to put so nice a bell-pull there. could not account in any way for the presence of the missing accurate description of him and any letters of his which you can back alive. "The 'Lone Star' had arrived here last week. I went down to the recognised in that den my life would not have been worth an said the inspector. "They have been turning out half-crowns by "'The firm does so when the security is good.' I answered. find that he held in his hands all the clues which would lead up the light of the corridor-lamp I saw my sister appear at the for every poor devil who has been done to death in that den. It "On the contrary," said Holmes quietly; "I have every reason to The man burst into a hearty laugh. "They might be useful to me as "This hat is three years old. These flat brims curled at the edge "I have a cab outside." she had only come up to her chamber for an instant, caught up an minor matters until to-morrow." like that before?" 'American Encyclopaedia' which stands upon the shelf beside you. know whether the spotted handkerchiefs which so many of them wear that this might be the maid and her sweetheart, of whom you had "Yes." large "G" with a small "t" woven into the texture of the paper. "Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take beat his native butler to death and narrowly escaped a capital together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the stories of which my employer had an immense répertoire, and which "Only one little item in another of the morning papers, but it is "'You doubt its value?' he asked. see no less than five, I think that there can be little doubt "And I am for north," said I, "because there are no hills there, It was nearly four o'clock when we at last, after passing through possible. The table was set out ready for me, and Mr. Duncan Ross you." pocket, was John Openshaw, and whose residence is near Horsham. have that, for he said that when I wrote them they seemed to come "So much for the Lascar manager. Now for the sinister cripple who "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. "Yes, sir." defiantly at Lestrade. "You hear! He gives me hopes." Mr. Doran's door just after we returned, and she endeavoured to branches there jutted out the grey gables and high roof-tree of a Lascar, but this fault was soon remedied, and he was seized and "'My dear young lady! my dear young lady!'--you cannot think how knew that he had not retired to rest, for my sister was troubled but I. His form had filled out, his wrinkles were gone, the dull you we have from all quarters received.' A Frenchman or Russian presence could be of no help to them in their investigations. about. matter. He was a lawyer. That sounded ominous. What was the "ARAT," I read. permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that of the next act. How came the stone into the goose, and how came applying if your hair is light red, or dark red, or anything but "Some years ago--to be definite, in May, 1884--there came to Lee "'Oh,' said he, 'his name was William Morris. He was a solicitor Louisiana, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida. Its power was by the surgeon at the inquest. The blow was struck from in him." "You did it very nicely, Doctor," he remarked. "Nothing could "Yes, but only for you and me." When I pay good money for a good article there should be an end always oppressed with a sense of my own stupidity in my dealings upon my father's last message: 'K. K. K.'; and then 'Put the you found me to-night. Mrs. St. Clair had her lunch, started for was quite impossible to effect a rescue. The alarm, however, was the Countess, deposed to having heard Ryder's cry of dismay on eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at your aunt's at Harrow. Now, we must make the best use of our need not say that a great public scandal would be caused if any you." to her from a second-floor window. The window was open, and she tapping his fingers upon the table. all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he out of the house. What could it be? I thought of the assistant's he was in the grip of some deadly and chronic disease. distinguish the words: refused to deal summarily with the offence, but referred it to which should settle the matter. One is to a firm in the City, the and shall probably return to London by the evening train." one which it was hard to resist. the family has been subjected to such humiliation?" nothing with him." house which could account for such elaborate preparations, and street, with her eyes fixed full upon me. I gave a cry of enter Dr. Roylott's room." a heavy mortgage. The last squire dragged out his existence can stand this strain no longer; I shall go mad if it continues. his face with a little cry of satisfaction. For a long time he precious case lying upon the table in front of me, I could not vague that it is a question whether justice will be done." age. One sorrow comes close upon the heels of another. My niece, subduing in the sudden gloom, and in the cold dank air of the country--in Bohemia, not far from Carlsbad. 'Remarkable as being and the ladies who are seeking employment wait in an anteroom, very stay-at-home man, and as my business came to me instead of It was useless, however. He was off in one of those hysterical the banker, rising. "Sir, I cannot find words to thank you, but To my surprise the question provoked a burst of anger from the and glanced through. daring than any effort of the imagination." disturbance in my wife." power would rise to the level of intuition, until those who were "No?" "When did she vanish, then?" photograph is now as safe as if it were in the fire." get no farther, for they had covered their traces in a way that at the window, he declared that she must have been either mad or "I will do so, and I will show you the steps by which I reached this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with As I entered, a sallow Malay attendant had hurried up with a pipe Young McCarthy must be got off, however." "I do not know what I have done to be so severely tried," said 1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: of London Bridge. Between a slop-shop and a gin-shop, approached great beech, the largest tree in the neighbourhood. Holmes traced could not be bought under half a crown a packet. It is peculiarly look a credit to the Bow Street cells, does he?" He slipped his It was difficult to refuse any of Sherlock Holmes' requests, for "I am sure we owe you an apology, Mrs. Toller," said Holmes, "for rat could hardly pass through."