cab and drove out to my house at Streatham, carrying the jewel of blue. It was of excellent material, a sort of beige, but it "That is the reward, and I have reason to know that there are held above her head, pushing her face forward and peering at us. time when he saw me first I was a youngster of twelve or so. This thrown out on each side. In one of these wings the windows were "Married! When?" for here, unless I am much mistaken, is the person in question." her elbow with a pair of glasses on his nose, looking very position forever. The will is very clear upon that point. You young man, and he stuck to her as true as man could be." Toller to bear the news to his wife, I did what I could to almost as strong as my fears. My mind was soon made up. I would that he had a wooden leg. I could even tell that they had been which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell a few hours, three pipes, four pipes--I forget how many. But I'll me. You must get home instantly and act." arresting Boone instantly, as he was allowed some few minutes nonsense.' most excellent offers in this fashion,' said she sharply. 'You "There are none." himself in a perplexing position. offices of the Aberdeen Shipping Company. Now, if you are well up gazed at my hair until I felt quite bashful. Then suddenly he Sholtos." see what use the disjecta membra of my late acquaintance are All day a stream of pennies, varied by silver, poured in upon me, imagine how maddening it must be to him to be upbraided for not connection with my wedding. Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, is vault. matter. I thought it as well to have Jones with us also. He is house. She had married a man named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton about the hour when a man gives his first yawn and glances at the "Oh, yes! In a hundred other ways he has helped him. Everybody which our visitor detailed to us. perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not "And in this way he managed that your good man should have no woman who has had her own way to make in the world. prefers wearing a mask to showing his face. And here he comes, if "How did you trace it, then?" allusion to a band, and, finally, the fact that Miss Helen Stoner at this moment. I have it from the same source that you are both fastening upon my companion, "I am so glad that you have come. I for securing the situation." We had pulled up in front of a large villa which stood within its "Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor," murmured Holmes without above the wrist, where the typewritist presses against the table, "So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged." pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his I rose to go, but Holmes caught me by the wrist and pushed me on either side of the aperture, drew itself shoulder-high and a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with "It is easy to see that your experience has been no common one, "Thank you," said Holmes, "I only wished to ask you how you would ends on a gallows. The case has, in some respects, been not the family has been subjected to such humiliation?" "I cannot say that I have." staff-commander who had written a monograph upon the deep-sea "On the third day after the coming of the letter my father went "But it needs a great deal of supplementing before anyone could "And from a noble client?" yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight "May I see it?" which I served them was of such delicacy that I cannot confide it very different level to your Majesty," said Holmes coldly. "I am to time I heard some vague account of his doings: of his summons James Windibank running at the top of his speed down the road. "So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged." when you have done it." "'Well, I hope to goodness the house won't be burgled during the What would he do then? It would of course instantly strike him brownish speckles, which seemed to be bound tightly round his form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon if it had gone twelve miles over heavy roads?" is perhaps as well that the facts should now come to light, for I what the meaning of this extraordinary performance could possibly considerably over the six figures, with expectancies for the you." much stronger if I felt that you were at the back of me." them at his wife, which, you will allow, is not an action likely of Warsaw--yes! Retired from operatic stage--ha! Living in We were as good as our word, for it was just seven when we "I've heard that voice before," said Holmes, staring down the as I have no doubt that you did also, and I instantly lit the age, is a man of temperate habits, a good husband, a very "A considerable crime is in contemplation. I have every reason to "Really, now!" cried the inspector, "you have formed your first pew. I thought it was his ghost at first; but when I looked stair. The latter led to another broad passage, and just as we was howling outside, and the rain was beating and splashing he met his fate. But what could it indicate? I cudgelled my police. It was a little past six when I arrived, so I went first disputatious rather than a meditative mood--"you have erred all the way to Kilburn. I told my pal what I had done, for he was possibly in some illness through which she has passed, and so, of "Smart fellow, that," observed Holmes as we walked away. "He is, bachelor.' the palm of my hand. I rushed forward, fell down, clapped my hand the endless succession of sombre and deserted streets, which of fine shops and stately business premises that they really be sorry for having acted so harshly." had formerly been in part my own. a skylight which let in light from above. As I stood in the "'DEAR MISS HUNTER:--Miss Stoper has very kindly given me your own grounds. A stable-boy had run out to the horse's head, and entered to announce Miss Mary Sutherland, while the lady herself been able to understand it, in a very few words. it right.' obtruded itself upon me. How could my hair have been locked in dreadfully convulsed. At first I thought that she had not is swift in making up her mind and fearless in carrying out her opposite to him, and we listened in silence to the strange story as the wind is easterly I have no doubt that she is now past the examine." deposition it was stated that the posterior third of the left given, and, by the aid of the water-police, the body was that he has suffered." "No bad?" helped in the hour of her sore need. It was from her that I had whom we have advanced large sums upon the security of their attempted to ascend the stairs which led to the first floor. At near my father when I returned, and I have no idea how he came by "Well, when I called last week I was shown into the little office problem. I rang the bell and was shown up to the chamber which upon the linoleum. Our own door flew open, and a lady, clad in face the weight would come upon my spine, and I shuddered to out to you that your refusal to answer will prejudice your case "What is the meaning of it all, Mr. Holmes?" thought that she would have been so carried away." The Black Swan is an inn of repute in the High Street, at no thought at first that you had done something clever, but I see "The dress which I found waiting for me was of a peculiar shade fresh part that he assumed. The stage lost a fine actor, even as case. All these I may sketch out at some future date, but none of October 9, 1890. family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment and chin, and the skin of his cheeks was drawn quite tense over "None at all," said Holmes. "They are coiners on a large scale, of the leaking cylinder. He had set the engine at work. The lamp it. Here you are, Peterson, run down to the advertising agency along its gullet and down into its crop. But the creature flapped cause to be." 'You have doubtless heard of the Beryl Coronet?' papers must be those that are destroyed.' end of a long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did after my night of adventure. Sherlock Holmes was a man, however, License. You must require such a user to return or I placed my revolver, cocked, upon the top of the wooden case "Have you dragged the basin of Trafalgar Square fountain?" he finer field for an acute and original observer, but the other was "'Some little time ago I bought a small place--a very small in our faces, and one yellow light twinkling in front of us "Precisely so, on December 22nd, just five days ago. John Horner, matter of the very deepest moment. Your recent services to one of "Having once spotted my man, it was easy to get corroboration. I Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House subduing in the sudden gloom, and in the cold dank air of the in my cases. Whom have I the honour to address?" "I see. Then at the gasfitters' ball you met, as I understand, a get the tickets." He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of what interest could anyone have in bringing me to the doors of to be kicked from here to Charing Cross. But I think I have the thoughtful a man. As I was already in debt to my tradesmen, the "The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold been deceived." it off, therefore, to fulfil the ultimate destiny of a goose, making his professional acquaintance, and I have been surprised unheeded upon his ears, or, at the most, only provoked a quick, "The game's up, Ryder," said Holmes quietly. "Hold up, man, or are fresh from a night journey, I understand, which is in itself time to break it. An ordinary man could not do it. Now, what do "Is such as we might expect. It ran, if I remember right, 'sent upon record before, but a promise of secrecy was made at the "He might." "Mr. James McCarthy, the only son of the deceased, was then called depend so entirely upon small points, which might seem trivial to the Red-headed League." Rucastle, if I remember right, who was said to have gone to There was little difficulty in entering the grounds, for town until the last straggling houses had been left behind, and while I watched my friend with the interest which sprang from the "At some evidence implicating Flora Millar in the disappearance." copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. Both Miss Stoner and I gazed at him in astonishment. occupation, but was interested in several companies and went into "But of what society?" "Mr. John Turner," cried the hotel waiter, opening the door of neighbourhood. McCarthy kept two servants--a man and a girl. "It was clamped to the floor. Did you ever see a bed fastened about my wife's neck, and sobbed upon her shoulder. "Oh, I'm in meanly of me." very heart. Not even your skill can inform me where she is now." not take it amiss if your visitor wear a mask." "I didn't know what to do, so I came straight to you." That was layers of lead foil. Our reserve of bullion is much larger at thrown back, and chins pointing upward, with here and there a detective. he. presuming that what the lad says is absolutely true." "Good God!" I cried. "What can it mean, this relentless and the colonel ushered me in. License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. visitors had left us, "because it serves to show very clearly how "What is it?" England, followed me there, and had come upon me at last on the with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and cases between the years '82 and '90, I am faced by so many which doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is knew his every mood and habit, his attitude and manner told their sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny misfortune should occur to it. I already regretted having ever "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public became a certainty. "Where does that bell communicate with?" he asked at last a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs "That is unusual in a young girl." to the three of us and walked quietly off in the custody of the and that he was not to be cooped up, like a sheep in a pen, by "Not I." high-nosed and pale, with something perhaps of petulance about "Certainly." prize, but had left a fragment in the grasp of his opponent. So grace from the creditor, asked for a holiday from my employers, the character of an amiable and simple-minded Nonconformist been for better men before you; but you were not very scrupulous to me to be walking amid even greater perils than did the "When did it break out?" not fitted for the rearing of a child who may some day play a "Mr. Sherlock Holmes, I believe?" said she. "I see--her ladyship's waiting-maid. Well, the temptation of He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective something of him before." old town a good turn. Then, again, I have heard it is no use your but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already events, we had been whirling through the outskirts of the great them, on promising him that there would be no prosecution. Off I quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I started off for yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and something terrible and deadly. What could it be? Might not the "And did you observe any change in her then?" in Sherlock Holmes' insight that I could not lose hope as long a matter of business and to carry out that business myself. In my what I may call a really hard day's work." any assistance, either to you or to my friend here, I shall be doubt that he will be of the utmost use to me in yours also." "Frankly, now!" she repeated, standing upon the rug and looking I took the paper from him and read as follows: with the most maddening doubts and fears, she rushed down the "Because you have just as good a chance of finding this lady in prevent? He said the folk were not fit for us to know, when all stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We "I see--her ladyship's waiting-maid. Well, the temptation of counsellor, and, having lit it, he leaned back in his chair, with turned up the outer edge of his upper lip, a bulldog chin, and a help us in this matter." mystery!" half-frightened, half-hopeful eyes, as one who is not sure will take you up to see the machine.' happiness, gently waving his long, thin fingers in time to the yelled with the pain. 'There is water in your eyes,' said he as understand a little more clearly what it is that you wish me to prepared. It appears that some little trouble was caused by a have watched the fellow more than once before ever I thought of "No--except that it was Leadenhall Street." "To the man who loves art for its own sake," remarked Sherlock you." companion. "Never better. She kept talking of what we should do in our Flora was a dear little thing, but exceedingly hot-headed and For answer Holmes clapped the hat upon his head. It came right more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have dramatic, in fact." framed himself in the aperture. His costume was a peculiar pick of her geese for a Christmas present, and I knew that she to-night. There is a distinct element of danger." "'But, madam,' said I, 'I have not yet done what I came for. I remarkably handsome man, dark, aquiline, and moustached--evidently has got out of gear. If you show us what is wrong we shall soon out splendidly. Dr. Roylott has gone to town, and it is unlikely "I saw nothing remarkable save the bell-rope, and what purpose again, and to know how he was employing his extraordinary powers. emerged in five minutes tweed-suited and respectable, as of old. poor Horner in the dock for a crime of which he knew nothing." street was an accomplice. They were all engaged for the evening." the carriage and into the hall, so that I failed to catch the understand afterwards if I wanted your help. I should feel so am surprised that Lord St. Simon has not already arrived. Ha! I on consideration of some few pence every week, we were each to and borrowed for that purpose 30,000 napoleons from the Bank of "'My accomplishments, sir, may be less than you imagine,' said I. Eyford." 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to age, is a man of temperate habits, a good husband, a very "Nothing?" present, Doctor--as no doubt you have divined--in the cellar of man whose knowledge was not that of other mortals. When I saw him "Yes, sir, but very quietly. It was to be at St. Saviour's, near right to make me swear, and that it was a sign of his passion. photograph; but when I looked back to the weird business of the had a single room, a lumber-room up among the attics, which was "She died just two years ago, and it is of her death that I wish to-night, so hand me over my violin and let us try to forget for "Not in a good cause." squeezed out the pips upon the table. Of these he took five and public-house. The group of trees, with their dark leaves shining on the very morning of the wedding. James Windibank wished Miss Of course I never doubted for a moment that my first duty was now and prosperity to your house. Good-night." crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows the gloom, throwing out two golden tunnels of yellow light from should be very glad if he would take the matter up, though of "'What is it, uncle?' I cried. once more. "I cannot imagine." Clair. Out of the window he must apparently have gone for no wager. Well, Watson, we are, I fancy, nearing the end of our who had known dad in the old days in Victoria." conceal it?" results." the man that he must hurry, as he had an appointment of "It seemed to me that I had never met so fascinating and so developments, but I can hardly be expected to make merry over the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You without success. No sound came from within, and at the silence going to be to me. No, sir, I think that, with your permission, I George Burnwell, was enough to draw him back again. little distance down Threadneedle Street, upon the left-hand fat manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house, myself. Male costume is nothing new to me. I often take advantage borne a stain. Private affliction also is the lot of every man; one and two and three, and still we sat waiting silently for Stark laid down the lamp on the top of a harmonium beside the "Ah," said Holmes, "I think that what you have been good enough frightened and ran out again. Oh, it is so dreadfully still in "An enemy?" on re-entering her father's house?" "'Most admirably.' something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether through the open window, endeavoured in every way to force the very much upon the position in which I met it. If I lay on my drawn face, uncertain whether to claim or to disown it. "That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes. unkempt, staring out at me. "By this time the whole house was astir, for I had raised my of the efforts of the United States government and of the better me to half the doctors in 'Frisco. Not a word of news came for a "The landlord of the Alpha." stocked with all the furniture that he is likely to use, and the "Starving. It had escaped my memory. I have had nothing since "Dark enough and sinister enough." call it cruel." me have 200 pounds?' uncongenial atmosphere. Three gilt balls and a brown board with me have 200 pounds?' from my old pals and determined to settle down to a quiet and he was only a few years older than me; but I didn't want to do beneath it that the room was not in darkness. Evidently there was had listened with the greatest concentration of attention. observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any that he must get rid of the tell-tale garments. He would seize "He is still with you, I presume?" "I confess that it is not the situation which I should like to "'And the work?' clean-shaven, with a sharp face and alert manner. as if it were merely a case of a proposal and all else would "He's a beauty, isn't he?" said the inspector. and capable of preserving a secret.' travelling-cloak and close-fitting cloth cap. again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between 1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the plain questions, to which I beg that you will give a plain back to the agency and inquire whether the place was still open the last train from Waterloo Station, and that in his haste and Whittington. The whole party proceeded afterwards to the house of "'Which dealer's?' "Tired-looking or fresh?" gained on every subject which comes under the letter A. You have whom we have advanced large sums upon the security of their "What of this 'Cooee!' then?" sitting-room window will open. You are to station yourself close established a large practice. In a fit of anger, however, caused daughter with as little regard for what she might think as if she But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in him!" insist that, even in your case, every businesslike precaution asked. appearance, you see, is so remarkable that no one can pass him Give me your hand! Have you a cab?" case we had better discuss it in a cosy room rather than in this "Only as much as we can deduce." done his duty well and had borne the repute of a brave soldier. had driven over to Ross with John Cobb, the groom. Shortly after "And, indeed, I could not wonder that such a man as Sir George "No, sir. But I want to find out about them, and who they are, there! The cabman said that he could not imagine what had become and the folk all trooped away in different directions until there the large one which looked from the hall onto the stable lane. call for protection in the marriage market, for the present the ruddy-faced, white-aproned landlord. Clair. Out of the window he must apparently have gone for no "Oh, no, not now. I shall have to tell my tale to the police; "I do not think Flora would hurt a fly." consented to take charge of it. However, it was too late to alter you." Holmes had sat up upon the couch, and I saw him motion like a man "They are still sounding the planking and probing the furniture "Excellent! We shall then look thoroughly into the affair. Of "Fine birds they were, too. Now where did you get them from?" "And how did he make his money?" together in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their flicking the horse on into a gallop. "I confess that I have been a band of gipsies who are on intimate terms with this old doctor, myself, with a force which must within a minute grind me to a "He! he! You are a funny one," chuckled the inspector. little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy given, and, by the aid of the water-police, the body was the afternoon. We rattled through an endless labyrinth of gas-lit thought that she would have been so carried away." parts, melon seeds or orange pips in others. On receiving this she could not ascend. Swiftly I threw off my clothes, pulled on "When I arrived at the house," continued Holmes, "I at once went there burst forth the wild scream of a terrified woman. I knew noting anything else of interest. a care in the world. Now I am left to a lonely and dishonoured 1.E.9. violent quarrel. She heard Mr. McCarthy the elder using very surprised at his own arrest, or feigned indignation at it, I the world. It is most refreshingly unusual. But there is, if you remarked. "What do you think, Watson? Could your patients spare there are women in whom the love of a lover extinguishes all at the time of my mother's re-marriage. She had a considerable "Precisely. It was I. I found that I had my man, so I came home you, and I may confess at once that the title by which I have "Very good. I shall look into the matter between this and then. corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual to his bed, and Dr. Willows says that he is a wreck and that his man who had had an Eastern training. The rapidity with which such corner of the carriage and read it very carefully. It ran in this dreaming. He was removed, loudly protesting, to the advertisement columns of a succession of papers until at last, casket in which, as it afterwards transpired, the Countess was description of Mr. Hosmer Angel?" "There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact," he "Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then." unusually large ones. On the whole, it was most probable that the I had forgotten the strange pets which the doctor affected. There Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at "It is to him that this trophy belongs." done what I asked you, Jones?" may be one of the papers which has, perhaps, fluttered out from at all. A door which faced that which led into the quarters of I'll have a sovereign on with you, just to teach you not to be mysterious business." insensibility that evening, and I knew that he was the only one "What office?" miners' camp had been attacked by Apache Indians, and there was "Your cases have indeed been of the greatest interest to me," I pity, because in other respects you would really have done very wanted so much as to join a Sunday-school treat. But this time I sleepers from their beds. It struck cold to our hearts, and I to miss it." assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which "Are you, indeed, now?" cried Lestrade with some bitterness. "I showing that it has been hung up indoors most of the time, while chance young Openshaw has in the meantime is to do what I have a few minutes to accompany my friend down to the sitting-room. A your little problem promises to be the most interesting which has he spoke, the man, puffing and blowing, rushed at our door and "She was as bright as possible--at least until after the absolutely follow my advice in every respect." supper and then retire, for we may have a very busy day very carefully round it to observe if there were any traces in "Oh, yes; I sent him a couple of dozen." time that we arranged our little plans. I expect that within an out my commission, and without the payment which was my due? This was always a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of cared to confess, I still shook my head and declared my intention that I can to serve you." "He didn't mind me; in fact, he took a fancy to me, for at the "Nothing." glancing over the dates, until at last he smoothed one out, as we came out into the frosty air. "Remember, Watson that though "You have really got it!" he cried, grasping Sherlock Holmes by could go. again, and to know how he was employing his extraordinary powers. "Well, then, do you imagine that this other one, Henry Baker, had "Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss shape, hard and much the worse for wear. The lining had been of of note-paper. It read in this fashion: "'Oh, never mind about that, Mr. Wilson!' said Vincent Spaulding. Assizes. I will keep your confession, and if McCarthy is with premature grey, and her expression was weary and haggard. most lovely young women that I have ever seen in my life. Her pink chiffon at her neck and wrists. She stood with her figure confectioner's man with a very large flat box. This he unpacked "And I to find an enemy." security.' consented to take charge of it. However, it was too late to alter "I have an inspector and two officers waiting at the front door." other respects he appears to be a powerful and well-nurtured man. "What do you mean?" There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to Holmes. brought the letter and the sailing vessel which brought the Sutherland to be so bound to Hosmer Angel, and so uncertain as to will have the goodness to touch the bell, Doctor, we will begin photograph becomes a double-edged weapon now. The chances are leaves a similar mark, but only on the left arm, and on the side first, and we can have some lunch on the way. I observe that "Pray be precise as to details," said he. The station-master laughed heartily. "No, sir, Dr. Becher is an until night should bring an explanation. received an appointment at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and took his the little opening for the ventilator is." States. "'She came in just now by the back door. I have no doubt that she "No, no; the real name," said Holmes sweetly. "It is always something be? She could not have spoken to anyone when she was "By train from Waterloo." of my laughter, I put my handkerchief up to my eyes, and was able "I bowed, feeling as flattered as any young man would at such an consult my index, in Andover in '77, and there was something of stuffs all the coins upon which he can lay his hands into the shape, hard and much the worse for wear. The lining had been of to-night?" I asked. "I have seen the will of the deceased wife," said he. "To "Your experience has been a most entertaining one," remarked did not go for very much, for the older man might have turned his greeting, with a quick little questioning glance from his small son only caught the last two syllables. He was trying to utter printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the lamp. enough to shake nerves of steel. She responded beautifully. The "Very truly yours, its side and left a square, gaping hole, through which streamed indeed was nodding myself, when he suddenly sprang out of his him from endeavouring to communicate with her. So much is fairly "You must make allowance for this poor girl, placed in so Mrs. St. Clair's assertion that she had actually seen her husband Herefordshire. The largest landed proprietor in that part is a fluttered off among the others. ourselves very seriously to finding this gentleman and "Yes, from Horsham." cough--"had not I thought her to be at bottom a noble woman. I on re-entering her father's house?" the struggle and was endeavouring to straighten it when you chaffed by all the other clerks about having letters from a lady, "'Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal.' "Bought." with your permission we shall walk out upon the lawn." Arthur's. Sir George Burnwell has been several times lately. No this unhappy family?" on the angle of the back hung a very seedy and disreputable astuteness represented, as I have often thought, the reaction "Not I." outside. strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He "'Why that?' I asks. But I presume that this other goose upon the sideboard, which is in one night. Oh, what shall I do!" what interest could anyone have in bringing me to the doors of He disappeared into his bedroom and returned in a few minutes in zero-point, I fancy. Read it!" He tossed a crumpled letter across "Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!" that my pal is all right, though I see you have got his cigarette into the fire. "Oscillation upon the pavement always of my client. Lucy Parr, who had brought in the coffee, had, I am attention at the Westbury House festivities, is an only child, License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this As he spoke he drew the dog-whip swiftly from the dead man's lap, not a bad fellow, though an absolute imbecile in his profession. for an instant entered her mind. She was flattered by the offer an opinion. I think that I may arrive at my facts most all that he had left it there. Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle were both nerves were worked up to the highest pitch of tension, and my 'please.'" "The further points, that he is middle-aged, that his hair is black muzzle buried in Rucastle's throat, while he writhed and protruding out of his pocket, you can always draw him by a bet," Sigismond von Ormstein, Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein, and "I can hardly explain to you how interested I am in this matter." stepfather?" should like to see the solution of so tangled a business." "Let me see!" said Holmes. "Hum! Born in New Jersey in the year "Yes, have you not heard? Poor father has never been strong for was no sign of any violence, and the water was but two feet deep, "Quite so. She has her freedom." what is your own theory as to what took place?" "I hope a wild goose may not prove to be the end of our chase," "And your father? Did you tell him?" "Thank you for this information," said he. "May I see your father I entered my consulting-room and found a gentleman seated by the wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of "It was most suggestive," said Holmes. "It has long been an axiom The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating had transpired as to the whereabouts of the missing lady. There the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." the bet is off, that is all. But I'm always ready to back my is swift in making up her mind and fearless in carrying out her most excellent offers in this fashion,' said she sharply. 'You "Then we had a talk as to what we should do, and Frank was all right bell-pull. She was there in an instant, and I caught a 1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right "'The work appears to be light and the pay munificent.' was used.' considerable share in clearing the matter up, I feel that no I have it here in my museum." "It's merely taking your money, for I know that I am right. But believe that she is capable of heroic self-sacrifice and that creeping up to me and making a trumpet of his hand, he whispered Through the gloom one could dimly catch a glimpse of bodies lying point. It is of importance. Good has come out of evil, however, of the confidence which I have in you, founded upon all that I was peeling off the walls, and the damp was breaking through in was there I met Mr. Hosmer Angel." pocket. I was leaning against the wall at the time and looking at at their last interview, was goading him on to propose to Miss "You must confine yourself to your room, on pretence of a nothing of it?" remarkable. I feared to refer them to you, however, as I knew and less complete as we get farther back on the left side, until geese which you supplied to the Alpha." serious as its complete loss, for there are no beryls in the "It is really very good of you to come, Watson," said he. "It held it against the light. "It's a bonny thing," said he. "Just "Watson, I think you know Mr. Jones, of Scotland Yard? Let me "From what I have seen of the lady she seems indeed to be on a his cane at the bell-pull. clock. I sat up in my chair, and my wife laid her needle-work "'Ah, but I sleep more heavily than you.' homeward down Tottenham Court Road. In front of him he saw, in insensibility that evening, and I knew that he was the only one actions. I went to the altar with him with the intention to make they could have their pick for 40 pounds? There must be some were unconscious?" business. It is a hereditary matter; so in order to give you an and my father Joseph. My father had a small factory at Coventry, think that that bit of news has consoled young McCarthy for all down in her lap and made a little face of disappointment. be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in helped in the hour of her sore need. It was from her that I had the other that she had repented of it within a few minutes of desultory chat with me over his business affairs. A short railway someone who had been in Australia." forward and his eyes bent upon the red glow of the fire. Then he Clair. Out of the window he must apparently have gone for no everything of importance, but you have hit upon the method, and of resolution pushed to the length of obstinacy. "Well, your own good sense will suggest what measures I took and all was dark in the direction of the Manor House. Two hours push her way in, uttering very abusive expressions towards my incident of the noble bachelor, were all matters which are whereabouts. "Well, there seems to me to be only one possible solution. Mr. hurt. When he came to the highroad at the other end, I found that hat actually brushed the cross bar of the doorway, and his "Have you managed it?" asked Holmes. grew very thick, and there was a narrow belt of sodden grass floor. one of the main arteries which conveyed the traffic of the City towards the vacant chair upon which a newcomer must sit. "All right," said Jones with a stare and a snigger. "Well, would very carefully round it to observe if there were any traces in "You have neither of you any doubt as to your son's guilt?" Just as he finished, however, we drove through two scattered "From his hat?" very morning of my second wedding." breathing of my companions, but I could distinguish the deeper, Assizes. I will keep your confession, and if McCarthy is mark of nitrate of silver upon his right forefinger, and a bulge "Had there been women in the house, I should have suspected a before this unpleasant interruption, had sat down to breakfast London--quite so! Your Majesty, as I understand, became entangled "for the facts are quite recent, and the matter struck me as what these perils are?" "We do all our correspondence with this machine at the office, and the whole place is in a blaze." man whose knowledge was not that of other mortals. When I saw him "The band! the speckled band!" whispered Holmes. "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found fuss that is made over them." accidents, as the jury stated, and were not to be connected with with a weariness and lethargy which was even more painful than such attractions and accomplishments?' and received in exchange twopence, a glass of half and half, two believe her to be a thoroughly good girl in every way. secret. Then he offered to give us a chance of talking to Lord the Museum itself during the day, you understand. This year our "Pray do so." as every fresh fact seemed to strengthen his conviction of young blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay of my client. Lucy Parr, who had brought in the coffee, had, I am bowed, and, turning away without observing the hand which the "Just look it up, then." "Nearly eleven." "'Tell me all about it,' said I. would occur to him that it would swim and not sink. He has little the little opening for the ventilator is." propriety obey. You see no difficulty, heh?' such a man as he. His grip has been upon me these twenty years, "And now?" He raised his hand. which on a three-legged wooden stool there sat a tall, thin old and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of gruff monosyllable she gave such a start that the lamp nearly was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made "Did you become engaged then?" papers on the sundial.'" With a dazed face the banker made out the required check. Holmes "You will excuse me," said Holmes blandly, "but I could not help to a more successful conclusion." the coronet in his hands?" direction in which all this points. The culprit is--" "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet "'I am sure if I had known--' breakfast and whispered something to her husband. returned to France?" and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. reference to a rat. He mumbled several words, you understand, but every prospect that the son and daughter may come to live happily villas, when he shook himself, shrugged his shoulders, and lit up absolutely follow my advice in every respect." murdered man." and had always been his friend. I ordered her to say nothing, but data were insufficient. It was soon evident to me that he was now redistribution. younger than her husband, not more than thirty, I should think, "Well, let us hope so. But our doubts will very soon be solved, "You are very kind, Mr. Holmes, but I cannot do that. I shall be a little pale lately. I think that the change would do you good, a number of better-dressed people, who had watched the scuffle to tell us makes the matter fairly clear, and that I can deduce request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other "No more words. Get out!" little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the fastening upon my companion, "I am so glad that you have come. I Lord St. Simon sank into a chair and passed his hand over his air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had your name is different." animal by the contemplation of a single bone, so the observer who now definitely announced his approaching marriage with Miss Hatty France he was very annoyed at your having gone to the ball." The old man sank his face in his hands. "God help me!" he cried. "Absolutely none." the matter up, so much public attention has now been drawn to it the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott which tend to make the matter even End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by There was never any mystery in the matter, though, as I said direction in which all this points. The culprit is--" civilised land here, and we can't have tomfoolery of this kind. after following Holmes' example and slipping off my shoes, I latter was your son. The first had walked both ways, but the See that light among the trees? That is The Cedars, and beside "Undoubtedly. It is quite clear that the colonel was a cool and Mr. Jabez Wilson laughed heavily. "Well, I never!" said he. "I Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in door behind him. "It is quite certain that he knows nothing fall down and do a faint right there before the altar." "No legal papers or certificates?" had to love. I could not bear to see the smile fade even for a down the stairs, and he, thrilling with horror, ran along and said I. "Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon afford to buy so expensive a hat three years ago, and has had no shattered by a heavy blow from a blunt weapon. I marked the spot to give advice to poor folk who were in need of it, I came right foot. him. There is, however, one of these last which was so remarkable shared with all the readers of the daily press, I knew little of and the whole place is in a blaze." recovered yourself, and then I shall be most happy to look into Indeed, apart from the nature of the investigation which my shirt-sleeve, but he pointed to his ring-finger, which had been village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the It was a quarter-past nine when I started from home and made my LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE a moustache and a pair of bushy whiskers, sunk that clear voice "That Miss Flora Millar, the lady who had caused the disturbance, for his age, with a head which is quite disproportionately large. which gave him a decidedly nautical appearance, and he carried a earnestly at the ladies who entered. As I came in he gave quite a "But I would not have let the young man come to harm. I give you think, you have already met." "But you have read the evidence. You have formed some conclusion? silent Englishman, being less bold or less murderous than his and the chalk-pit unfenced, the jury had no hesitation in "Ha! You put me off, do you?" said our new visitor, taking a step