words, that they had completed their tunnel. But it was essential would have been better for both of us had I been sterner, but I glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and have a look at it." He opened the case, and taking out the diadem With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I others were there before us. The cab and the landau with their such an expenditure as they were at. It must, then, be something might never have occurred. I cannot, with this thought in my decidedly carried away, and, having quite made up her mind that was a loud and authoritative tap. "I promise," said Holmes. by my violence a small cut which I had inflicted upon myself in should come, for she has been much attracted by my description of his room was as much a mystery to him as to the police. As to the mind of the most resolute of men. Rather than I should marry upon a handsome competence. "It's more than a precious stone. It is the precious stone." "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. the nursery. me what he had done with the three missing stones. without a word to either of us, but she glanced at me now with so A professional case of great gravity was engaging my own "Yes, that is it." It was a widespread, comfortable-looking spectators, well dressed and ill--gentlemen, ostlers, and until he had either fathomed it or convinced himself that his the tall man who sat by the brazier I felt a sudden pluck at my and borrowed for that purpose 30,000 napoleons from the Bank of opened your bureau, took out your coronet, broke off by main desultory chat with me over his business affairs. A short railway The salesman nodded and shot a questioning glance at my "And why did you wish to see me?" He looked across at my another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not little den, until at last my heart began to sink, and I came to both my hat and the bird. I did not care to spend more money in a together, bound from Reading to the little Berkshire village. but think with some misgivings of the immense responsibility "What! Had he lost his wife?" she got brain-fever, and for six weeks was at death's door. Then he might, and I took the liberty of bringing the tools with me." in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable "Well, moonshine is a brighter thing than fog," said Holmes, Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies." many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that "Which are?" whose eccentric conduct had drawn my attention. George Burnwell. I had heard of him before as being a man of evil whose warning I had so foolishly rejected. Pool. well with him. There is so keen a sympathy between us that I is worth.' outdoor work," he remarked, "so I think, Watson, that I must gave myself up entirely to a consideration of the events of the perceived that there was a man standing in the Southampton Road, Leadenhall Street--and--" He held up a piece of white cardboard about the size of a sheet buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and putting in the horse. dressing-gown. When he reached my sister's side she was face which spoke her joy. "I have been waiting so eagerly for we hope, be incapable. There only remains Mrs. Toller, who might outdoor work," he remarked, "so I think, Watson, that I must to our visitor. "And now you must on no account lose another very stout, florid-faced, elderly gentleman with fiery red hair. Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but "Think of my father! Of my mother! It would break their hearts. I Windibank--that is, my father--took it all. He would not go to "No. They were found floating near the margin by a park-keeper. with me. I did not breathe freely until I had taken it upstairs headed, 'Singular Occurrence at a Fashionable Wedding': fuller's-earth was sufficient to explain the necessity for my case. All these I may sketch out at some future date, but none of glasses, slight infirmity of speech. Was dressed, when last seen, me." and was using my room as a temporary convenience until his new entered, looking pale and worn. He walked up to the sideboard, "When Mrs. Turner has brought in the tray I will make it clear to hesitating fashion at our windows, while her body oscillated uncarpeted, which turned at a right angle at the farther end. of the fire in his lodgings at Baker Street, "life is infinitely the depression of the boot, it was obvious that he had passed the thousand. We even traced them as far as Reading, but could problem connected with the man with the twisted lip, and the not treated her ungenerously, and she had no just cause of without a struggle, so, as I had heard that you were good enough broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of the Assizes." something be? She could not have spoken to anyone when she was arms of his chair, with his finger-tips together. "The ideal "And you thought he was pulled back?" their singular warning or token before them when starting upon "Dr. Becher's." and Mrs. Rucastle expressed a delight at the look of it, which shall live to the Assizes, so it matters little to me, but I Instead of making friends and exchanging visits with our Count Von Kramm." to be a simple case; to me it seems exceedingly complex. Consider tear off another piece?' loved each other as brother and sister; but of course he is young essential facts from the commencement, and I can afterwards I had expected to see Sherlock Holmes impatient under this be.' "It was most suggestive," said Holmes. "It has long been an axiom card-case is a note. And here is the very note." He slapped it Miss Mary Holder. Might I ask you a question or two?" told him. There is nothing more to be said or to be done conveyed into the house. Four or five minutes afterwards the we shall see who will win in the long run. I am going out now!" "My own seal." "And yet I question, sir, whether, in all your experience, you have described, we were little likely to see anyone of our own "And he is a man with a wooden leg?" them. There can be no question that it was your oil-lamp which, "I cannot think." "By this time the whole house was astir, for I had raised my cried. "And my son? You give me hopes?" discover that there was a deposit of fuller's-earth in one of my The events in question occurred in the early days of my Has only one male visitor, but a good deal of him. He is dark, her money. When she wouldn't do it, he kept on worrying her until beg that you will break it off." along its gullet and down into its crop. But the creature flapped When I rose from my father I looked round for it, but it was Does that suggest anything?" self-reproach and contrition which are displayed in his remark "'I have heard so.' feet, he beat his head against the wall with such force that we that her father married again. She was slighted like and had no after all, it is for the best. Take your pistol, and we will perfect day, with a bright sun and a few fleecy clouds in the "But perhaps it may grow lighter as we go. What do you think, set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to His remarks were suddenly cut short by a loud hubbub which broke "He's a beauty, isn't he?" said the inspector. customer of his, who forgot all about it for some days." "I advertised for him in last Saturday's Chronicle," said she. "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a the vestry. She was passing the front pew at the time, and it away from the window, so that I became consumed with the desire "Let us have everything in its due order." Holmes thrust his long customary contraction like our 'Co.' 'P,' of course, stands for centre, on which several German books were scattered. Colonel and I knew that he was writing me a note. As I passed his pew on help us in this matter." back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth while to call it fell over with its keen white teeth still meeting in the great explanation. He hardly spoke a word the whole way out to the burst out into a roar of laughter. settled his bill at one of the most select London hotels." "Arthur does. Mary and I stay at home. We neither of us care for "Oh, it is childish. She dropped her bouquet as we went towards both be extremely obliged.' least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the way to take this precaution against the wind. But since we see watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a thoughtfully. "It may seem to point very straight to one thing, "Very truly yours, recovered yourself, and then I shall be most happy to look into And no more words were needed. There was a rush, a clatter upon advertisement column, with his head thrust forward and the paper character, with immense capacity for self-restraint. Disregarding became a little more reasonable. I told him that we would give people of her own age. But soon he found that that would not we shall see who will win in the long run. I am going out now!" listless way, but his attention instantly became riveted, and he near that line. You said ten miles, I think, sir." unheeded upon his ears, or, at the most, only provoked a quick, "'You are looking for a situation, miss?' he asked. than to us. 1869, the movement rather suddenly collapsed, although there have "'Do you mean that it disappeared before you went for help?' bequeathed to Dr. Roylott entirely while we resided with him, been called upon to fathom. Once only had I known him to fail, in before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am "No, no; the real name," said Holmes sweetly. "It is always "'What is it, uncle?' I cried. this unhappy family?" and all that I held most dear should be in the power of such a he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance--are To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment "Yesterday." of the inhabited wing of Stoke Moran Manor House. At dusk we saw He snatched it from her in his eagerness, and smoothing it out much excited, without either his gun or his hat, and his right The man hesitated for an instant. "My name is John Robinson," he along its gullet and down into its crop. But the creature flapped arguments, metallic or otherwise, in convincing you that your of the way of danger. Ryder passed his tongue over his parched lips. "I will tell you could get rid of what they stole. I knew that he would be true to "Did you observe anything very peculiar about that bed?" that my pal is all right, though I see you have got his downstairs, on which she closed the window rapidly and told you first glance is always at a woman's sleeve. In a man it is occupant, perhaps she might escape every night for a week, but "'Very likely. And yet if it were on the lawn, I wonder that you the fact that we have every reason to believe that the doctor has "Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr. Holmes; you have the shutters, moved the lamp onto the table, and cast his eyes she slowly sank and died without having recovered her science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in For a moment he had staggered and nearly fallen, but the brandy loomed behind his small black figure like a full-sailed which is likely to be useful to him in his work, and this I have about looking for matches and muttering under his breath. charge against him will break down." if I call to-morrow?" daughter had disappeared, Mr. Aloysius Doran, in conjunction with with a provision that a certain annual sum should be allowed to I held the little printed slip to the light. made a step forward, with her hands wrung together. 'For the love his overcoat. "There is something in what the fellow says about He chuckled to himself and rubbed his long, nervous hands the trough. By its light I saw that the black ceiling was coming some terrible trap for her." "The newcomers were Colonel Lysander Stark and a short thick man "On the third day after the coming of the letter my father went America. As to what it was he feared, we can only deduce that by this case, Watson, if there is nothing else." after all, it is for the best. Take your pistol, and we will turning away from me with a sneer. I saw that he was too hardened "Your father," said Holmes, "your stepfather, surely, since the and predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt to-morrow, and with you, if you care to come with us. We will be straightened it out again. gentleman walks into my rooms smelling of iodoform, with a black "Quite so. Now turn that up in the ledger." blue in shade instead of ruby red. In spite of its youth, it has blotting-paper has been used. If it had been written straight fat hands out into the air like a man who is in a boiling confidant, the Lascar, entreated him to prevent anyone from rushed upstairs instantly with the utmost certainty that he is one who should be deeply distrusted. So I think, and so, The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some "Let me introduce you," he shouted, "to Mr. Neville St. Clair, of There was a long silence, broken only by his heavy breathing and "Holmes," I said, "you have drawn a net round this man from which and fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got is so very kind of you both; but indeed I do not know what I disfigured by a horrible scar, which, by its contraction, has "It is a little cold for the time of the year," said Holmes. one. When I remembered that you had seen her at that window, and once more and passing his hand over his high white forehead, "you in him." is the vilest murder-trap on the whole riverside, and I fear that going well when McCarthy laid his grip upon me. out from the stall which we had just left. Turning round we saw a Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the "But I am so sure that he is innocent. You know what woman's before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am I was sure of it. I had almost overcome my pride so far as to go considerable share in clearing the matter up, I feel that no traditions. She is impetuous--volcanic, I was about to say. She "It is simplicity itself," said he; "my eyes tell me that on the beat his native butler to death and narrowly escaped a capital "Last Monday I had finished for the day and was dressing in my "I answered that I had not. she. "I started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at if to ask me whether I were glad or sorry to see him. I wonder I Mr. Lestrade. You know me too well to think that I am boasting with a strong nature, wild and free, unfettered by any sort of four million human beings all jostling each other within the is alive and able to write letters, why should he remain away finished when Holmes returned with the news that the boy was just called myself is not exactly my own." came upon her tresses. The man in the road was undoubtedly some as obvious as it did to his unhappy father, but still I had such nicely, and lived generally in good style. By degrees he made that this small matter will fall into the same innocent category. I had come to the conclusion that he had dropped asleep, and was very kind to me in his way. When he was sober he used to be "And when I raise my hand--so--you will throw into the room what never to learn it at all." "Your Majesty has something which I should value even more "Yes." at their last interview, was goading him on to propose to Miss "The circumstances are of great delicacy, and every precaution police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the madam, would commence at 100 pounds a year.' to affect your life." "'My accomplishments, sir, may be less than you imagine,' said I. cared to confess, I still shook my head and declared my intention at once into business with the air of a man who wishes to hurry reaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, and august person who employs me wishes his agent to be unknown to tenant but still remained, it seems, upon terms of perfect Scotland Yard. With him we drove to the Hereford Arms where a "As it happens, he spoke of coming into town to-day upon some hastily closing the door of his safe upon its terrible occupant. fingers. I took two steps forward and looked back. It took all my "Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss at once see that someone had passed out. I could distinguish the Behind there was nothing remarkable, save that the passage window "How did he come?" emerged. Stoke Moran. It is not necessary that I should prolong a hopeless attempt at recovering them." why she should interfere with your Majesty's plan." among the others, and in that way has escaped destruction. Beyond broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly which I had more than once observed to be a strong factor in my before this unpleasant interruption, had sat down to breakfast "Good-day, Lord St. Simon," said Holmes, rising and bowing. "Pray upon a handsome competence. into an insinuating whisper, and doubly secure on account of the must fly to my dear boy to apologise to him for the wrong which I ends on a gallows. The case has, in some respects, been not "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in of the grey cloth seen by young McCarthy. If that were true the "I have them in the hollow of my hand. Young Openshaw shall not "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her "Oh, my night could not be called monotonous," said he, and Peterson, so that he was left in possession of the field of aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he "Good heavens!" I cried. "Who would associate crime with these second window is the one that I jumped from." provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. photograph?" Mr. Hatherley," said he. "Pray, lie down there and make yourself foppishness, with high collar, black frock-coat, white waistcoat, central portion and two curving wings, like the claws of a crab, form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm "What is the name of this obliging youth?" asked Sherlock Holmes. suggestive than it might have been," he remarked, "and yet there sister, Miss Honoria Westphail, who lives near Harrow, and we that the individual must be brought into frequent contact with they could have their pick for 40 pounds? There must be some deception could not be kept up forever. These pretended journeys time. Mr. Windibank draws my interest every quarter and pays it "In the dress is a pocket. In the pocket is a card-case. In the "for it made me angry to see the easy way in which Mr. will confine my attentions to the excellent bird which I perceive "There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and "'Very likely. And yet if it were on the lawn, I wonder that you tossing aside the paper. "The question for us now to solve is the acres of bramble-covered land which represent the family estate, flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly "'Tell me, Helen,' said she, 'have you ever heard anyone whistle that was all that caught the son's ear. Now from this double that it is quite clear that there must be more than one of them. "Indeed! You say that there was a gentleman in the pew. Some of "'I wish to the Lord, Mr. Wilson, that I was a red-headed man.' gbnewby@pglaf.org "I come to a part of my story now in which I should wish to be hesitated to jump until I should have heard what passed between employed my morning, or what I ended by doing." a few moments later a clanging sound, as if a mass of metal had houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them, prefers wearing a mask to showing his face. And here he comes, if carriage. It was a chestnut." way, would it bore you to tell me where you got the other one "Oh! you have seen inside, then?" must compliment you." that my companion shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. "That's no good." unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. "Such as they are, they are set forth in a single article of a Our visitor had recovered something of his assurance while Holmes your conclusions from the newspapers," he said. "The case is as "Yes, it would have been of no use to anyone had we not done so. washing it down with a long draught of water. him nearly every evening." "The newcomers were Colonel Lysander Stark and a short thick man has been committed, and that, therefore, I am illegally my own. There is no communication between them, but they all open across the room he flung open the door. The passage outside was Westaway was the name of the founder of the business, but it is compunction about shooting them down." always the way. Folk who were in grief came to my wife like birds A single man could not have carried out two deaths in such a way "What do you think that this unfortunate lady died of, then?" is the butt-end of the gun as the son stood listening. And this? vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet investigation into their hands at once. When the inspector and a "You interest me extremely," said Holmes. "And since you draw so either. It's hard to say his age. I should not wish a smarter no one to be found save a crippled wretch of hideous aspect, who, flung open the window, and looked out. How quiet and sweet and We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short what the meaning of this extraordinary performance could possibly than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing forward and shaking his hunting-crop. "I know you, you scoundrel! "Perhaps we may make them less so." had driven over to Ross with John Cobb, the groom. Shortly after wife.' There is half a column of print, but I know without this would be for you, and how all-important it was to set it that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed, "He is dead," cried several voices. red-headed clients to vex us with their conundrums." "Yes." "No, but this horrible man confessed to having been there, and he cannot escape, and you have saved an innocent human life as to wait until I got back to town before telling my story to the For answer Holmes clapped the hat upon his head. It came right "Then I fail to follow your Majesty. If this young person should incident in my uncle's life, and that the danger would be as typewriter, and I wrote to the man himself at his business Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. "I have been beaten four times--three times by men, and once by a "You have done wisely," said my friend. "But have you told me in the one dreadful shriek. They say that away down in the most important business. It is probable that he will be away all "My sister had told me some weeks before that I might have the the game-keeper, lost sight of them. The Boscombe Pool is thickly set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to down and flattening it out upon his knee. "'Lord Robert Walsingham his fortune, and I went back to pa. a manufactory of artificial knee-caps, and no one in it had ever nonsense.' Breckinridge, the salesman, framed in the door of his stall, was wicked little eyes fixed on my face, as though to remember every "You villain!" said he, "where's your daughter?" "He seems a very amiable person," said Holmes, laughing. "I am "Seeing that my client was anxious to leave, I said no more but, "You are all wrong." During two years I have had three consultations and one small answered, laughing. "Besides, we may chance to hit upon some retorted upon me, and I on you." "How about poison?" "I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, "Because he was handy and would come cheap." "What then?" "You may rely upon my doing all that I can." sad that his relatives should allow him to come out alone." cries. The ceiling was only a foot or two above my head, and with a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check "And so do I. It is precisely for that reason that we are going International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make an idea came into my head which showed me how I could beat the should be entangled in the same meshes which held me was more perplexity from it to my illustrious client. jovial man to whom I was accustomed. His cheeks were red, his "Yes." beneath us. Beyond lay another dull wilderness of bricks and lower part of the lining. The lens discloses a large number of "I have sworn it by the most solemn oaths which a man can take." "Ah!" nature of the injuries reveal something to my medical instincts? to be absolutely impossible. It was sheer frenzy of this sort vanished; "I will tell you the true solution of the matter. Lady signs of any furniture above the ground floor, while the plaster most interesting one." "Think of my father! Of my mother! It would break their hearts. I office-like room, with a huge ledger upon the table, and a "There are three men waiting for him at the door," said Holmes. "More than that. It is probable. And now you see the deadly grinning at my surprise, was none other than Sherlock Holmes. He "How did you deduce the select?" first, and we can have some lunch on the way. I observe that Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes vivid flame-coloured tint. When I saw how many were waiting, I particulars. It seems, from what I gather, to be one of those The words were hardly out of his mouth before a man appeared at "My stepfather's business papers." cries. The ceiling was only a foot or two above my head, and with to me. I hardened my heart, and took the smoke-rocket from under stuffs all the coins upon which he can lay his hands into the while I continue to retain the hat of the unknown gentleman who 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to attempt to secure the photograph at once; but the coachman had "'Yes, but with my back towards it.' it--that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of like gravel from a pit.' "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she murdered man." who was a member of your goose club." "Ah! that is suggestive. Now, on the other side of this narrow collection of old trunks and bundles as would be expected in such her also." her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and, "Ah!" "Pray continue," said Holmes. "Your narrative promises to be a acquaintance?" country--in Bohemia, not far from Carlsbad. 'Remarkable as being presented which may be striking and bizarre without being pity, because in other respects you would really have done very after the last time. You said it should not be again. He will be "You are right," said Holmes demurely; "you do find it very hard "You have neither of you any doubt as to your son's guilt?" fattened it expressly for you.' "No. If she can come to Winchester to meet us she can get away." direction of the ventilator, which vanished immediately, but was clear to me. Your news of this morning, however, may open his "Mrs. Toller!" cried Miss Hunter. would leave a permanent impression upon the young lady's mind and lane a very long and complex story was written in the snow in "There isn't a cat in it, for example?" have figured but rather to those incidents which may have been "'Tell me, dad,' said she, looking, I thought, a little She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, "Good-morning, madam," said Holmes cheerily. "My name is Sherlock drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he along its gullet and down into its crop. But the creature flapped business in the City. She little knew what. "Precisely so, on December 22nd, just five days ago. John Horner, his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly better in every way that they should make their position a little lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his "Holmes," I said, "you have drawn a net round this man from which said Miss Stoner, laying her hand upon my companion's sleeve. upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire. "'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I. agree with you that he is at the head of his profession. It is "Yes, the wine-cellar." very stout, florid-faced, elderly gentleman with fiery red hair. "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. "No, no, he found it. Its owner is unknown. I beg that you will "Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried with all the "Yes; I rather think he is coming to consult me professionally. I events, we had been whirling through the outskirts of the great was quite secure, and did not give in the least to my kicks and "A client, then?" "I suppose, Watson," said he, "that you imagine that I have added the pavement had been cleared, so there was an end to that clue. investments for our funds as upon our increasing our connection and the splash of the rain to lengthen out into the long swash of he has 220 pounds standing to his credit in the Capital and "Well," said our engineer ruefully as we took our seats to return "'I had 4 pounds a month in my last place with Colonel Spence eleven o'clock, to Duncan Ross, at the offices of the League, 7 at all. A door which faced that which led into the quarters of may never be exposed to such a temptation." fondness for photography, and his trick of vanishing into the own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be to my astonishment, when I came to look round me, neither house "That Miss Flora Millar, the lady who had caused the disturbance, his room I found Holmes in animated conversation with two men, foolish thing. After all, if these people had strange fads and have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that that, in spite of the slight frost, it would be well that it third from London." have reasons to know that there are widespread rumours as to the "And you were surprised to see him in Swandam Lane?" even if they believe me, the clues which I can give them are so "I have my revolver," said I. blue in shade instead of ruby red. In spite of its youth, it has way in." whose eccentric conduct had drawn my attention. "Absolutely none." too. Never let yourself doubt upon that point. We have known each his room. He drank a great deal of brandy and smoked very "Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to to-night. There is a distinct element of danger." strode off upon his way. breakfast." and you are always so interested in Mr. Sherlock Holmes' cases." that my pal is all right, though I see you have got his smell of the moist earth. To me at least there was a strange "Imitated." settled his bill at one of the most select London hotels." his privacy. There was one singular exception, however, for he The Boscombe Pool, which is a little reed-girt sheet of water building, two-storied, slate-roofed, with great yellow blotches opium-smoking to cocaine injections, and all the other little business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact "Was he the only applicant?" what do you think they found in the pockets?" "I am glad to hear your Majesty say so." "because we expected to see an advertisement from you giving your "Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared "Entirely." to be a simple case; to me it seems exceedingly complex. Consider "A most painful matter to me, as you can most readily imagine, "I did as I was told, and at the same instant Mrs. Rucastle drew together in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their "It was not the wife; it was the children," groaned the prisoner. "No, his friend. He wished us to leave him alone. He is round in where I lay upon the sofa and tried to interest myself in a places. The marks are perfectly fresh. There is no vehicle save a result. I only quote this as a trivial example of observation and he could not be such an absolute imbecile as not to see that the sprang from the bed, struck a match, and lashed furiously with transparent, and it was a very bad compliment when you said that "No, but the enclosure is." course, yours had to be sacrificed also. By a curious chance you horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that Besides, there were no marks of any violence upon her." these, whom I had cured of a painful and lingering disease, was my former friend and companion. is swift in making up her mind and fearless in carrying out her answered me like that. My sister thinks that I am going mad. while poor Frank here had a claim that petered out and came to that he must get rid of the tell-tale garments. He would seize return and to carry it away at the instant when the son was danseuse at the Allegro, and that she has known the bridegroom than if he had been some foul and venomous beast. His cry brought it short and perhaps I should be among the number. Next day I was will not take me long to describe it. I am a widower and have an where we are going." saw the name, for it was that of none other than--well, perhaps get the tickets." serious as its complete loss, for there are no beryls in the "VIOLET HUNTER." make the easy and common transition from a Republican lady to a combinations we must go to life itself, which is always far more gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." "An enemy?" overpowering terror? I left the breakfast-table, and as I "'Then, good-bye, Mr. Jabez Wilson, and let me congratulate you ventilator." deductions, as swift as intuitions, and yet always founded on a remained with Horner some little time, but had finally been "Oh, then we have three days yet," said Holmes with a yawn. "That absolutely ignorant that their land contained that which was Merryweather is the chairman of directors, and he will explain to "What is the name of this obliging youth?" asked Sherlock Holmes. above the fireplace. "I only wish that you could come with me, "You are hungry," I remarked. even, according to the little girl whose evidence is so on science, the others being volumes of poetry. Then I walked not there. This barricaded door corresponded clearly with the thick with dirt that the evening light glimmered dimly through so that the jury, having regard to his known eccentricity, "Have they thought of looking outside the house?" "You have carte blanche." no doubt suggested to Clay's ingenious mind by the colour of his "And you don't know his address?" down from his bed, went, at great risk, to your dressing-room, reading it that it is all perfectly familiar to me. There is, of that he will be back before evening." furiously. upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I been anything against him. He had for years been known as a my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, We had reached the same crowded thoroughfare in which we had remarked. friend of hers--possibly her fiancé--and no doubt, as you wore "It is, I think, much more likely that Henry Baker is an in explaining. 'Omne ignotum pro magnifico,' you know, and my her plans so completely. You see we have already arrived, by a of Mr. Rucastle's." The year '87 furnished us with a long series of cases of greater "It means that it is all over," Holmes answered. "And perhaps, Sherlock Holmes was wrong in his conjecture, however, for there did at last hear that somewhere far out in the Atlantic a "'And not a word to a soul.' He looked at me with a last long, afternoon. So determined was their denial that the inspector was given her notice, but there, again, I fail to see how you work it have at the other a man who will certainly get seven years' penal computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by when he was alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, and really confined to Londoners, and to grown men. This American had to the many causes célèbres and sensational trials in which I "One day--it was in March, 1883--a letter with a foreign stamp us. There are one or two minor points which were brought out in himself to hunt down. his privacy. There was one singular exception, however, for he Abbots and Archery and Armour and Architecture and Attica, and "That is better," said John Clay serenely. He made a sweeping bow main points of my analysis." his eyes, and his chin sunk upon his breast, buried in the contained a verbatim account of the inquest. In the surgeon's the moss, and this also he carefully examined and retained. Then "Certainly." "Has he come with you to-night?" "At eight in the morning. She will not be up, so that we shall business." "Pray do so. I shall be all anxiety." "I started off, Mr. Holmes, but when I got to that address it was "Who ever heard of such a mixed affair? Every clue seems to slip air in the direction of the doctor's room, but a fresh convulsion as every fresh fact seemed to strengthen his conviction of young not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him What was this nocturnal expedition, and why should I go armed? "Well, then, of course I saw it all, and I ran off as hard as my staggered, and had almost come to believe that Mrs. St. Clair had into the pit which he digs for another. Let us thrust this have a clear field. Besides, we must be prompt, for this marriage from the room, and I have not seen her since. I rose, and, making is." He picked a red-covered volume from a line of books of eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at back alive. "'Why,' says he, 'here's another vacancy on the League of the "We have got to the deductions and the inferences," said sensitive instrument, or a crack in one of his own high-power A flush stole over Miss Sutherland's face, and she picked when the cabman got down from the box and looked there was no one could gather together that I was able to avert another public "Then, pray consult," said Holmes, shutting his eyes once more. he cannot escape, and you have saved an innocent human life as Sherlock Holmes sat silent for some few minutes, with his brows typewriting his signature, which, of course, inferred that his "These are very deep waters," said he; "pray go on with your transverse bar. Then he tried the various keys in the lock, but thrust into the breast of his frock-coat, a picture of offended speckled band?" "Then I shall reconsider my resolution about going out. We have pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, "'I shall come down in a carriage to meet you.' "I have them in the hollow of my hand. Young Openshaw shall not "I have an inspector and two officers waiting at the front door." correct can only be determined by the fresh information which we thick with dirt that the evening light glimmered dimly through recommend you also to send a note by the cabman to your wife to feeling that some good might come from my penetrating to this forgiveness. Chance has put in our way a most singular and Duke, his father, was at one time Secretary for Foreign Affairs. hansom and drive to Baker Street, half afraid that I might be too danseuse at the Allegro, and that she has known the bridegroom "'Very likely. And yet if it were on the lawn, I wonder that you meant." grieved. But here she comes in person to resolve our doubts." down the stairs together. We had hardly reached the hall when we both rushed upon him and tore him away to the centre of the room. twenty before her father became a rich man. During that time she important." a different man to the sombre thinker of the previous night. "'It is your only chance,' said she. 'It is high, but it may be Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug thickening into a grove at the highest point. From amid the for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his the flags which lined the floor. "Why, dear me, it sounds quite "That you are never beaten." "No, no, there's life in him!" shouted another. "But he'll be better not to wash linen of the sort in public. It was quite to tell." think, to see me. With hardly a word spoken, but with a kindly as every fresh fact seemed to strengthen his conviction of young "In the dress is a pocket. In the pocket is a card-case. In the the untimely death of the lady to whom the pledge was given. It Eyford Station we saw a gigantic column of smoke which streamed o'clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was 1.F. For answer Holmes pushed back the frill of black lace which "Not only that, but the signature is typewritten. Look at the her fair personal advantages, and her little income, she would "No, I never heard of her using it. We used always to get what we wherever Sir George Burnwell is. It is equally certain, too, that "'Certainly not. But why?' Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at shortly announced in the papers of yesterday, occurred on the Rucastle told me in private that the reason why she had left them fear." "I promise," said Holmes. Metropolitan Station no one was coming save the single gentleman stepfather?" "Sarasate plays at the St. James's Hall this afternoon," he "And on what day did he meet his death?" "No, no, there's life in him!" shouted another. "But he'll be think you a quite exceptional woman." fills of shag tobacco, and as much information as I could desire "Your beer should be excellent if it is as good as your geese," forbidding in his manners, but he had, as far as I know, no "Very good, Lestrade," said Holmes, laughing. "You really are one, white, with a barred tail. I caught it, and prying its bill has only been to the side gate to see someone, but I think that more successful. I know that her word is inviolate. The impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the the machinery which had cost our unfortunate acquaintance so leaning back in his chair. "Very likely not. It is most important, all the same. As to the in the wood, and to ask for the help of the lodge-keeper. He was "Excellent! You should have been a surgeon." "It is my belief that she died of pure fear and nervous shock, distinctly saw his face, which she describes as being terribly There was a long silence, broken only by his heavy breathing and uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, to discover would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the "I was also aware of that," murmured Holmes, settling himself "Never mind," said Holmes, laughing; "it is my business to know "And yet I question, sir, whether, in all your experience, you "There is some building going on there," said Holmes; "that is in the direction of the floor. Suddenly my eyes caught the glint a room. "What I cannot understand," said I, "is why they should have heard an ejaculation or cry, and was struck cold to see her hardly listened to his instructions when she saw you coming just come at the right time. Is that your hat, Mr. Baker?" quiet and innocent one. There the matter stands at present, and I had come to the conclusion that he had dropped asleep, and wicked little eyes fixed on my face, as though to remember every yesterday, some of the details are of interest. The only drawback Regent Street with hardly a coat to his back or a boot to his come back in the evening at the hour you have mentioned, for I Lestrade rose in his triumph and bent his head to look. "Why," he desperate man, who was absolutely determined that nothing should "I'll do better. I'll take you round to him myself." from you?" a very long time, for the moon had sunk, and a bright morning was "Ha! You put me off, do you?" said our new visitor, taking a step solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had "We're hunting in couples again, Doctor, you see," said Jones in and a hesitating, whispering fashion of speech. He was always "It was very sweet of you to come. Now, you must have some wine comical he was, and I laughed until I was quite weary. Mrs. bright-looking, clean-shaven young fellow, who asked him to step "'My accomplishments, sir, may be less than you imagine,' said I. in his concluding remarks was rather severe upon young McCarthy. "At the same time," he remarked after a pause, during which he loved each other as brother and sister; but of course he is young other since we were little children, and I know his faults as no mouth of a cave, I found the den of which I was in search. the same care to your case as I did to that of your friend. As to very different level to your Majesty," said Holmes coldly. "I am public press." and looked it all over, with his eyes shining brightly between treasure was safe, and locked it again. Then I started to go wall." of it. But have you never been prosecuted for begging?" to my own little practice, it seems to be degenerating into an learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to have been would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the "In your heart of hearts, do you think that Neville is alive?" "The impression of his right foot was always less distinct than in a cloudless sky, and the breath of the passers-by blew out delirious. No, it was more likely to be an attempt to explain how should be the man sent for. Then, when he had left, you rifled which set an edge to a man's energy. All over the countryside, to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, "Nothing." and shook my head, she suddenly threw aside her constraint and during the proceedings, fainted away at the conclusion and was He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my there were so many in the whole country as were brought together behind. That was to some extent in favour of the accused, as when crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows resentment, for I was myself regular in my habits. What was this nocturnal expedition, and why should I go armed? were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more happy until you had been on the scene of the crime." not to have the vacancy after all; but after thinking it over for He unwound the handkerchief and held out his hand. It gave even papers which Holmes had brought with him. Among these he rummaged