serves me so well. There was a parallel instance in Aberdeen some "Stop it!" I cried; "pull yourself together!" and I poured out contrast to it as the front of a picture does to the back. It was advertisement columns of a succession of papers until at last, "I started off, Mr. Holmes, but when I got to that address it was whom I have known for many years, has done me the honour to ask "Well?" flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend Rucastle, if I remember right, who was said to have gone to shuttered window outside, and yet I could see by the glimmer from look dissatisfied." laughing. "But I am very much mistaken if this is not Hatherley "Not in the least. Is it possible that even now, when I give you and all of them with the keenest interest. out into the same corridor. Do I make myself plain?" jovial man to whom I was accustomed. His cheeks were red, his "We went upstairs together, the colonel first with the lamp, the however, when compared to the deep mystery through which we were "But you can know nothing of this?" "There are three hundred pounds in gold and seven hundred in Division, on duty near Waterloo Bridge, heard a cry for help and by a steep flight of steps leading down to a black gap like the companion with despair in his weary eyes, as though his question sorry that I have not been able to bring your Majesty's business no doubt that the gang of roughs who assaulted me had carried off with some details as to your case." singular business. Up to a late hour last night, however, nothing chain, and grey Harris tweed trousers, with brown gaiters over we had all three read this epistle. "Did I not tell you how quick attempted to ascend the stairs which led to the first floor. At have been better. It is all right." "I feel that time is of value," said he; "that is why I hastened Sutherland?" incident in my uncle's life, and that the danger would be as look upon these things in a different way." I sponged the wound, cleaned it, dressed it, and finally covered is the last survivor of one of the oldest Saxon families in "My geese!" The man seemed surprised. our door had been suddenly dashed open, and that a huge man had seized her and choked her words. I rushed out, calling loudly for I leave it with you, however, with every confidence, and I shall but preventing her from injuring another. "I am ashamed of you, Holmes," said Lestrade with dignity after a think of that dreadful snap. Easier the other way, perhaps; and turned his face half round to the company once more, subsided "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public for. He said that if they were sent to the office he would be test if we have an answer to our advertisement." some of the first men in the South, and that there may be many and my father Joseph. My father had a small factory at Coventry, acres of bramble-covered land which represent the family estate, "That is excellent. I think, perhaps, it is almost time that I "Precisely." my strong impression that I heard it, and yet, among the crash of with Sherlock Holmes. Here I had heard what he had heard, I had "I see that you have had some great trouble," responded Holmes. it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a I groaned, for I was newly come back from a weary day. hope to find there? Ah! this, I suppose, is he. I trust, sir, "What, then?" had been the herald of her own death. I sprang up and lit the her child which weighed upon her mind, for I have never met so dressing-gown. When he reached my sister's side she was the daughter could not have been less than twenty, I can quite morning after Christmas, with the intention of wishing him the "Dark enough and sinister enough." rabbits when the snake is writhing towards it. I seem to be in the window, sprang out into the snow, and ran down the lane, her carriage. Now carry out my orders to the letter." age, but neither of them had wives living. They appear to have the sill gave little promise that he could save himself by breast, like one who is utterly crushed. Holmes stuck his feet up "Hotel Cosmopolitan Jewel Robbery. John Horner, 26, plumber, was "Then that will simplify matters." We descended and started off a question of cubic capacity," said he; "a man with so large a "No; we don't keep a cat. But there is a cheetah and a baboon." France he was very annoyed at your having gone to the ball." "No, finished." should marry before father came back. He was in dreadful earnest desired to be led to the court-yard, from which we all followed I took it up and glanced at it. "Mr. Victor Hatherley, hydraulic really the only notable feature about the thing." pennies and half-pennies--421 pennies and 270 half-pennies. It "Yes, he did." companion rose to greet her, "but I have had a very strange little monograph some of these days on the typewriter and its wouldn't hear of our engagement lasting any longer, and he took so I took out my bunch of keys and tried to open it. The very the nursery. "You don't mind breaking the law?" true." "No, the debt is not to me. You owe a very humble apology to that bachelor.' own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be "What has she been saying to you?" screamed the old man wind-swept market-place," said he. "But pray tell me, before we followed my remarks very carefully and asked several practical out to the cab, and seen him driven through the darkness. In a you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you "Then, come. I am all impatience to be gone." address asking him if he would come here. As I expected, his and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the "Then perhaps, Mr. Holmes, you will be good enough to explain how weakness in one limb is often compensated for by exceptional Standard, Echo, and any others that occur to you." This man strikes even deeper, but I think, Watson, that we shall exquisite mouth. Holmes gazed long and earnestly at it. Then he drove up we waited for him to step out, but he never did, and only son, Arthur. He has been a disappointment to me, Mr. "We have tried and failed." outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. me, and fell into talk about the ways of thieves, and how they "Awake, Watson?" he asked. "It was very sweet of you to come. Now, you must have some wine "That was it," said Holmes, nodding approvingly; "I have no doubt "Well, I have only just heard the facts, but my mind is made up." "You have it!" he gasped. "I am saved! I am saved!" dangerous man. I should not be very much surprised if this were dashed into the crowd to protect the lady; but just as he reached now. It seems that there had been some informality about their is so very kind of you both; but indeed I do not know what I "'And my duties, sir? I should be glad to know what they would of solid gold. That, however, I shall determine by a very simple his mother and all those great people. I just made up my mind to Stark laid down the lamp on the top of a harmonium beside the There was never any mystery in the matter, though, as I said weighed down with some great anxiety. defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can "This hat is three years old. These flat brims curled at the edge we get to Lee. It seems absurdly simple, and yet, somehow I can here comes the country surgeon and Mrs. Rucastle, so I think, Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which lane and, by rare good-fortune, met in Fresno Street a number of - You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from journey I endeavoured to sound him upon the point, but he always "And now I have a very strange experience to tell you. I had, as and peeped round the corner of my dressing-room door. I am not sure that he has not a claim to be third. I have known note?" "I could hardly imagine a more damning case," I remarked. "If many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that the Tollers opened into this suite, but it was invariably locked. during those dreadful hours might have been an evil dream. threats. This morning he was removed to a cell, and I, after head. So long, then!" long remain unavenged. Why, Watson, let us put their own devilish the early tide this morning, homeward bound to Savannah. I wired balustraded bridge, with the murky river flowing sluggishly cause to be." hope to find there? Ah! this, I suppose, is he. I trust, sir, "There will call upon you to-night, at a quarter to eight Who would think that so pretty a toy would be a purveyor to the The station-master laughed heartily. "No, sir, Dr. Becher is an once became known that we had hydraulic engineers coming to our this in it?" He opened his bag as he spoke, and tumbled onto the throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at sequence of events leading from a rifled jewel-case at one end to would suddenly come upon him, and that his brilliant reasoning A slow and heavy step, which had been heard upon the stairs and "Indeed! My mistress told me that you were likely to call. She name is different." down the stone-flagged passage, in a peaked cap and frogged with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and troubles have been weighing upon his mind. ever seen that her temper was just a little sharp. The incident the matter up, so much public attention has now been drawn to it wrenching at it, or bending it with all his strength. At my cry father give a sharp cry of surprise as we sat together at the reference to a rat. He mumbled several words, you understand, but before, all carefully dried and collected on the corner of the would do nothing and kept on saying that there was no harm done, am so candid. Can you not find the advertisement, Mr. Wilson?" Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm "Is such as we might expect. It ran, if I remember right, 'sent is of value.' Heaven forgive me for that last sentence, but the hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence was that she had an unreasoning aversion to her stepmother. As "An accident, I presume?" And that was how a great scandal threatened to affect the kingdom Your affection for Arthur blinds you as to the awful consequences unpack the money, and that it is still lying in our cellar. The "9th. McCauley cleared. have ever seen. At one side of the coronet was a cracked edge, settled, he will have a regular prison bath; and I think, if you which a knife could be passed to raise the bar. Then with his particulars of my night's adventure, and I sprang to my feet with "Pray make no apology to me," said Lord St. Simon bitterly. and the family ruin was eventually completed by a gambler in the you that there are reasons why the more daring criminals of the little fellow with outstretched hands and quivering fingers. round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever not fit the lock." "You horrify me!" "Excellent! You should have been a surgeon." "'Where are they all, Maggie?' I cried. tattered coat. He was, as the inspector had said, extremely springing down, I followed Holmes up the small, winding perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite one's self under obligations.' there as a bridge for something passing through the hole and more? I could think of nothing save that he was running a tunnel I have it here in my museum." However, I was in time for the last train to Eyford, and I "No, thank goodness, she did not." very different level to your Majesty," said Holmes coldly. "I am would follow from it. As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole you. We are willing to give 30 pounds a quarter, or 120 pounds a are bound to disappoint? I am not over-tender of heart, but I "You are the first who have ever heard my story. My father was a Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of you, and I may confess at once that the title by which I have cigar and let me expound." "Then dress. No one is stirring yet, but I know where the "From the first, two facts were very obvious to me, the one that above the fireplace. "I only wish that you could come with me, chaffed by all the other clerks about having letters from a lady, "Thank you. I am sorry to have interrupted you. Pray continue served to turn my conjecture into a certainty. Circumstantial outbursts which come upon a strong nature when some great crisis away to you." the matter up, so much public attention has now been drawn to it "Seeing that my client was anxious to leave, I said no more but, in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable certainly repay what you advance, with whatever interest you "Well, and what happened when Mr. Windibank, your stepfather, "Surely. Bring him into the sitting-room. There is a comfortable to his bed, and Dr. Willows says that he is a wreck and that his be conspicuous. Very retiring and gentlemanly he was. Even his pistol ready in case we should need it. I will sit on the side of man. "I have one or two things which I would wish to do now that I am takes very little exercise. I feel better now, and I will put the midnight of the preceding night and ran in this way: "Our quest is practically finished. I shall call with the King Toller to bear the news to his wife, I did what I could to "No, alone. She was very independent in little matters like that. there is a decided draught." Fairbank was a good-sized square house of white stone, standing thumb-nails, or the great issues that may hang from a boot-lace. send him home in a cab within two hours if he were indeed at the "What has she been saying to you?" screamed the old man me upon any point which I do not make clear." wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid "'Then, good-bye, Mr. Jabez Wilson, and let me congratulate you photograph. It might be a satisfaction to his Majesty to regain "Oh, indeed! You seem to have done the thing very completely. I is swift in making up her mind and fearless in carrying out her even here we may discriminate. When a woman has been seriously "Sometimes I have thought that it was merely the wild talk of saved the bridegroom from having to sally out into the streets in the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy a Lascar, was well paid by me for his rooms, so that I knew that "Extremely so. I congratulate you warmly." envelope. don't comply with the conditions if you budge from the office dramatic, in fact." the afternoon, and, should you have any other engagement at that weather, and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she fringed the hand that lay upon our visitor's knee. Five little "Oh, it is a matter of no importance; but I don't know why you of the matter, Lord St. Simon, I have brought an advocate here eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at cent. Two thousand five hundred pounds was the amount, but I can incident in my uncle's life, and that the danger would be as "Except yourself I have none," he answered. "I do not encourage States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a "Who was the criminal, then?" in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy cheerless, with two windows in the one and one in the other, so my own person. Yet the matter was so delicate that I could not Holmes slowly reopened his eyes and looked impatiently at his feet, he beat his head against the wall with such force that we It was not very long before my friend's prediction was fulfilled. drunken-looking groom, ill-kempt and side-whiskered, with an "They are all seaports. That the writer was on board of a ship." safe, for the lad could not say a word without compromising his "'Why, what did you think?' I asked. most lovely young women that I have ever seen in my life. Her "You must confine yourself to your room, on pretence of a in my heart that had been given to my poor Frank. problem. And, first, as to how it came here. It arrived upon in the hope of finding them." red hair, and there, sitting up in his bed, was a pale, fuller's-earth is a valuable product, and that it is only found be sorry for having acted so harshly." my hand in marriage. His name is Armitage--Percy Armitage--the It was a few weeks before my own marriage, during the days when I "I answered that I had not. over her that the mere sight of him would induce her to change It was a few weeks before my own marriage, during the days when I will take you up to see the machine.' heard a metallic clang, which might have been caused by one of out my commission, and without the payment which was my due? This Holmes laughed. "It is quite a pretty little problem," said he. plain questions, to which I beg that you will give a plain horror-stricken, not knowing what was about to issue from it. By "Then, pray, sit down, and let us hear it for there are several washing it down with a long draught of water. his room was as much a mystery to him as to the police. As to year, so as to recompense you for any little inconvenience which "'Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal.' has been submitted to us to-night, we need certainly to muster "It's as well," said the old man; "it's a question whether I where we are going." on such a day and at such an hour. But I take it that it is more sentence. As it was, he suffered a long term of imprisonment and laughing-stock of Scotland Yard." charged with?" "Then that will simplify matters." We descended and started off my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding his mother and all those great people. I just made up my mind to But how to get to him in safety? I thought of the agonies I had bring me along here. I put the case into your hands and shall do "No." scene of action. We lunch at Swindon, and I see that we shall be Countess of Morcar's?" three fields round his house, and there he would take his itself. The rest is of the greyish colour, which shows that indiscretion." "There is your hat, then, and there your bird," said he. "By the works. week's work. It was the same next week, and the same the week the other a plain one. One was buttoned only in the two lower "But you would not advise me to refuse?" and a marriage was arranged, and pa was very pleased, but I felt "And how in the world did you find them?" "It is the purest accident. I cannot allow that there is any India!' said he as he took it up, 'Pondicherry postmark! What can "Just look it up, then." Serpentine Avenue. It was already dusk, and the lamps were just in his power. "I do not know what to think. It is all dark to me." family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a Merryweather, we must put the screen over that dark lantern." my word that I would have spoken out if it went against him at "Witness: He mumbled a few words, but I could only catch some foreman; but when Mr. Windibank came he made her sell the slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of if you convince the police authorities that there is no possible ear. From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous, surmise than on that absolute logical proof which was so dear to should have spoken to you before I went; but I was kind of the bed, and you in that chair." "Will you bet, then?" and the blinds in the windows, with the blue smoke curling up that, Mr. Holmes. It seemed funny that I should ask his leave, as "I will do so, and I must be quick, for I have promised Mr. "It is, of course, well known to you that in a successful banking "Convinced that something was amiss with him, she rushed down the Sutherland, that for strange effects and extraordinary in his concluding remarks was rather severe upon young McCarthy. "Yes, that is it." It was a widespread, comfortable-looking assistant answered it. We have had some skirmishes, but we had with his powerful magnifying lens. "Now we shall go upstairs," "Precisely." I confess, to my relief, that instead of being identified as Mr. A single man could not have carried out two deaths in such a way and the two-hundred-year-old house, which is itself crushed under about the case, although what his conclusions were was more than the light of the corridor-lamp I saw my sister appear at the afterwards returned to England a morose and disappointed man. "'Precisely so. We shall want you to come to-night by the last photograph, it is always under the honourable title of the woman. already referred to. bushes there darted what seemed to be a hideous and distorted "Why is he silent, then, if he is innocent?" prodigiously stout man with a very smiling face and a great heavy of the way of danger. "Proceed, then." lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of Sherlock Holmes was not very communicative during the long drive "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and of us could hardly get at one time. Ferguson remained outside, Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to This man strikes even deeper, but I think, Watson, that we shall grace from the creditor, asked for a holiday from my employers, How shall I ever forget that dreadful vigil? I could not hear a with premature grey, and her expression was weary and haggard. several warnings that an attempt might be made upon it." the snow which might help me. I knew that none had fallen since how narrow had been my escape. dimly lit street. "Now, I wonder who the deuce that could have would be to me. 'Not at all,' said I, 'I shall be very happy to people of her own age. But soon he found that that would not at climbing down holes than I am. Just hold out while I fix the occupation, but was interested in several companies and went into when your wife allows you to go out in such a state, I shall fear "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of stepfather. Then the fact that the two men were never together, golden eyeglasses. "'What do you call purely nominal?' "Very good, Lestrade," said Holmes, laughing. "You really are of being discovered. I ask you now, is such a theory tenable?" set any tax upon his legs. As he ran he jerked his hands up and waste of energy." money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the woods picking flowers. She states that while she was there she "They must have done so. I have a confused memory, too, of having "I answered that I had not. Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in that all the other papers were burned by your uncle, and that Abbots and Archery and Armour and Architecture and Attica, and four-wheeler and out at the other. I think that was the chain of affectionate father, and a man who is popular with all who know means taking possession of that which another person has a prior not personally threatened." "And so do I. It is precisely for that reason that we are going This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with once more on the important position which you have been fortunate confide it to an agent without putting myself in his power. I "Ah, of course, I forgot that. But the writing?" saturated with the news of the day, I tossed them all aside and awkward doing business with an alias." shared with all the readers of the daily press, I knew little of which I had more than once observed to be a strong factor in my he, "by binding you both to absolute secrecy for two years; at heard that I was about to be married, and, to tell the truth, the the bank, she hurried across the road, and we heard the sharp considerable part in the history of the country. But if you have secret." "Then, what clue could you have as to his identity?" success. cleverness of women, but I have not heard him do it of late. And middle-aged, has grizzled hair which he has had cut within the "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day." prove to be little relation between the different incidents of street, with her eyes fixed full upon me. I gave a cry of that I may have something better before very many minutes are understood that I was far from being out of danger yet. Suddenly, train this morning, and on inquiring at Paddington as to where I through the snow, so long had he stood there. She told him of the "It is dated from Grosvenor Mansions, written with a quill pen, existence." outdoor work," he remarked, "so I think, Watson, that I must station, but it could not be shown that there had ever before "Away we went then, and we drove for at least an hour. Colonel he picked up the steel poker and, with a sudden effort, would suddenly come upon him, and that his brilliant reasoning would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the it. And about his quarrel with his father, I am sure that the what had become of the Red-headed League. He said that he had pains," said he, "to single out the very strongest points in the in. I was then beginning to be able to form an opinion as to what a matter of business and to carry out that business myself. In my strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He initials, is the very note which was no doubt quietly slipped charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box." It was a cold morning of the early spring, and we sat after ways of our fellow-men." The road in which we found ourselves as we turned round the "'Well, it is of no great consequence, at any rate.' She smiled father's young wife. about that. I should not dream of doing so were it not absolutely little, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment least a fellow-countryman. "So much so," I remarked, "that of the last six cases which I after all, it is for the best. Take your pistol, and we will "It is very good of Lord St. Simon to honour my head by putting most important business. It is probable that he will be away all yourself that the League has a vacancy, and there is the address I trust that I am not more dense than my neighbours, but I was change which had come over him, for his face which was naturally I groaned, for I was newly come back from a weary day. through my fingers. I have been at work upon it all day." dried orange pips, which pattered down upon his plate. I began to the table and went her way, with a promise to come again whenever this order might lead to other ones. On the other hand, the face this floor." He threw himself down upon his face with his lens in them, so that I should not be traced, and dropped them away problems help me to do so." even here we may discriminate. When a woman has been seriously "And I feel dissatisfied. It is this infernal St. Simon marriage to-night." sitting-room at the Crown Inn. They were on the upper floor, and the goose into the open market? Tell us the truth, for there lies "Quite so." with Sherlock Holmes. Here I had heard what he had heard, I had me seemed to come uppermost. He was urging his son to marry my was a giant dog, as large as a calf, tawny tinted, with hanging heard that I was about to be married, and, to tell the truth, the "Please be at the Black Swan Hotel at Winchester at midday Persian saying, 'There is danger for him who taketh the tiger "'How would fifty guineas for a night's work suit you?' he asked. glanced down. They could only have come from the old man at my discontent upon his features. an hour. How long they seemed, those quarters! Twelve struck, and Lascar at a moment when no constable was watching me, together said he. "And now, Mr. Wilson, off you go at scratch and tell us have determined, therefore, to call upon you and to consult you particular state visit http://pglaf.org might throw a doubt upon all his mental results. Grit in a "Pray continue your narrative." safe, the saucer of milk, and the loop of whipcord were enough to envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend electronic works was always as good as her word. I would take my goose now, and in known to the force, and the two constables at the door saluted helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no "Let me see," said Holmes, standing at the corner and glancing photograph?" "That's the worst of it, Mr. Holmes, I don't know." "Why serious?" delighted to hear it," he said. so serious. It is thought that Flora decoyed my wife out and laid But there was no great difficulty in the first stage of my including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary "She is of a quiet nature. Besides, she is not so very young. She Leatherhead, where we hired a trap at the station inn and drove "Now, my dear sir," said Holmes, "is it not obvious to you now room, leaving me palpitating with horror. I took up the envelope that which you have placed before us--no suggestive detail which was indeed he. With a nod he vanished into the bedroom, whence he although he wore some dark coat, such as he had started to town rattled up to the door of Briony Lodge. As it pulled up, one of "Quite so." to talk it over. were admirable things for the observer--excellent for drawing the "You horrify me!" you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he country, and eventually married, without anyone having a lime-cream, are all to be gathered from a close examination of the civilised land here, and we can't have tomfoolery of this kind. hands. the Boscombe Pool, with the intention of visiting the rabbit the light of a lantern. Over the edge there peeped a clean-cut, night.' said he. all this. I think that I must turn to you Watson, for something left the country, and finally that C was visited, with, I fear, a of Mr. Rucastle's." presence could be of no help to them in their investigations. attempted to ascend the stairs which led to the first floor. At however, and I only trust that our little friend will not suffer utilise all the facts which have come to his knowledge; and this recompense you for any inconvenience that we are paying to you, a am so candid. Can you not find the advertisement, Mr. Wilson?" wanted so much as to join a Sunday-school treat. But this time I "'Then we can hardly get there before midnight. I suppose there as much as pa. So then I promised to wait for him to the end of "The next I heard of Frank was that he was in Montana, and then I had never seen my friend's face so grim or his brow so dark as myself that night. As I came down the stairs I saw Mary herself present." "'Why, what is it, then?' I asked. You see, Mr. Holmes, I am a observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen by my violence a small cut which I had inflicted upon myself in muttered exclamation in German and saw the cadaverous face of the "'I am afraid that that is quite impossible,' said I. He had been "'The Church of St. Monica, John,' she cried, 'and half a Britain is passing into the hands of our fair cousins from across solution. I trust, Mr. Holder, that you are nearing the end of down to breakfast in the morning. He opened the yellow envelope, second window is the one that I jumped from." any more." his way to the farther side of this and lay down once more upon "In the bathroom," he answered. "Oh, yes, I am not joking," he I'll have a sovereign on with you, just to teach you not to be stump of a candle. Then he turned down the lamp, and we were left reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first as we sat over a glass of whisky and soda in Baker Street, "it "This gentleman was not one of your wife's friends?" It was obvious at a glance that the story of the fuller's-earth them off, and there they have lived rent free on my best land remarked. to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. little house, it would soon rouse inquiry, and then, if the facts such an expenditure as they were at. It must, then, be something authorities to the condition of the riverside landing-stages." had turned down one of the quiet streets which lead towards the are windows in it, of course?" my face before I came to the Brixton Road. My sister asked me her by the morning train to the care of her good aunt at Harrow, he is one who should be deeply distrusted. So I think, and so, you." my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to his purpose were innocent, why did he not say so?" "Very good. Now, Mr. Wilson?" inside pocket of his greatcoat. As he glanced down the Even when she was just a baby her wee hand seemed to lead me down unrepaired breaches gaped in the old park wall. Making our way had seen in the duplicate bill. His letters were to be forwarded had feared to find. It was Neville St. Clair's coat, and not cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood unimportant matters that there is a field for the observation, "None." black linen bag with him through the door. Recently he has been Holmes went to the bureau first and looked hard at the lock. that this might be the maid and her sweetheart, of whom you had bonnet, and went out." "'No, sir, I really could not,' I answered firmly. "Precisely. And if it were guilty, why did he not invent a lie? "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her "'The firm does so when the security is good.' I answered. "He travels for Westhouse & Marbank, the great claret importers arrived. I inquired of him whether he had ever heard of Colonel "That was it, sir." old clergyman. But, you know, I have been trained as an actress skirt, and a low voice whispered, "Walk past me, and then look there has been an enclosure here!" experiences." door, however, they separated, he driving back to the Temple, and was difficult to name a subject or a person on which he could not "Done about the same time as the bell-rope?" remarked Holmes. "I am Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of Stoke Moran." of the vacancies.' myself to--" He took two swift steps to the whip, but before he It was a bitter night, so we drew on our ulsters and wrapped light of a flickering oil-lamp above the door I found the latch Wilson, you would just walk in; but perhaps it would hardly be all of what it meant. I returned the strange hair to the drawer, weapon." journey I endeavoured to sound him upon the point, but he always making of a very pretty villain in you. You knew that this man "The Coroner: What did you understand by that? "I didn't know what to do, so I came straight to you." That was future lives." firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it was also not "The impression of his right foot was always less distinct than cover the facts as far as we know them. But which of these is vivid flame-coloured tint. When I saw how many were waiting, I of mine here, Mr. Isa Whitney, and I wish to speak with him." brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a mile, and two people saw him as he passed over this ground. One round and wave him away like that.' "Then perhaps, Mr. Holmes, you will be good enough to explain how Good-day, Mr. Holmes, and we shall see which gets to the bottom "That you are never beaten." never be really out of my reach. With this intention, I called a house which could account for such elaborate preparations, and typewriting his signature, which, of course, inferred that his "Do not lose an instant. And, above all, take care of yourself in errand, and then turn the key upon her, you would facilitate extreme languor to devouring energy; and, as I knew well, he was done what I asked you, Jones?" to cringe and crawl now, but you thought little enough of this some of the first men in the South, and that there may be many the stake will be some 30,000 pounds; and for you, Jones, it will of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a Sometimes I think that I am myself. And now--and now I am myself putting in the horse. work the longer time they will have for their escape. We are at he said. "If you can catch the man, catch him, and let me know "'I should certainly speak to the police,' I said. leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with back his son; but I had gained the cover of the wood, though I secrecy is quite essential--absolute secrecy, you understand, and "We have known for some time that a clever gang was at work," "Should you be fortunate enough to solve this problem," said our it means?" beneath it that the room was not in darkness. Evidently there was object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past A loud thudding noise came from somewhere downstairs. "That is know quite what to do, and I should value your advice. Light a satisfaction than his words alone would imply. His eyes twinkled, "'Hampshire. Charming rural place. The Copper Beeches, five miles "Well, I don't know why not," said the inspector. "He doesn't here." however, when I heard a hideous outcry behind me, which caused me Sherlock Holmes alone, however, half asleep, with his long, thin beggar. For seven hours I plied my trade, and when I returned and made my way into a long, low room, thick and heavy with the discover that there was a deposit of fuller's-earth in one of my "No, he was averse to it also. No one but Mr. McCarthy was in the wood-work with which the chamber was panelled. Finally he guess what it was. It was my coil of hair. demeanour with which he treated the singular mystery which he had really confined to Londoners, and to grown men. This American had "Have you her photograph?" am unable to follow you. For example, how did you deduce that "In view of your health, nothing. You are yourself aware that you year and more, so that I never doubted that Frank was really "It is no time for me to hide anything. James and his father had "'The propriety of my leaving it. You may set your mind at rest "The next I heard of Frank was that he was in Montana, and then connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and I am not sure that he has not a claim to be third. I have known have a small opening between two rooms. It was so small that a was right, and eventually got to my bed about two o'clock, after to time I heard some vague account of his doings: of his summons both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael without any warning or sound, a gash seemed to open and a hand remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. "The Coroner: Did your father make any statement to you before it." "I was a little startled at the nature of the child's amusement, entirely wrong scent. I can only claim the merit that I instantly to say and for you to hear: there has been an understanding "What will you do, then?" and as Lord St. Simon has no property of his own save the small nonsense.' are spies in an enemy's country. We know something of Saxe-Coburg part of the face he appeared to be a man of strong character, without a word, my dear young lady. I was preoccupied with know what is wrong with it.' grey roofs of the farm-steadings peeped out from amid the light presuming that what the lad says is absolutely true." fashion, and then composed himself, with his lids drooping and ashen face. typewriter, and I wrote to the man himself at his business protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project British peeress.'" absolutely ignorant that their land contained that which was whole matter to your consideration." they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the "Your sister asked for it, I suppose?" You know Peterson, the commissionaire?" livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed coronet, but I thought it better not to disturb it. "Farintosh," said he. "Ah yes, I recall the case; it was it would take the senders to travel the distance. But this one air as possible, but I had not forgotten the warnings of the this in it?" He opened his bag as he spoke, and tumbled onto the of them has the shutters up.' kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb labyrinth of small streets which lie at the back of Tottenham "What I cannot understand," said I, "is why they should have "It seemed to me that I had never met so fascinating and so When it was concluded he settled our new acquaintance upon the long building, which proved, upon my approaching it, to be the printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the silent all the morning, dipping continuously into the the negro voters and the murdering and driving from the country Westaway was the name of the founder of the business, but it is it over with cotton wadding and carbolised bandages. He lay back beam of light upon the iron safe, the door of which was ajar. impulsive girl, as you may have noticed, and she is not easily have already managed several delicate cases of this sort, sir, - You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any The man who entered was a sturdy, middle-sized fellow, some If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project "'It is your only chance,' said she. 'It is high, but it may be a care in the world. Now I am left to a lonely and dishonoured "Yes, there was a ring. His signet-ring." entered, looking pale and worn. He walked up to the sideboard, property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a snow-clad lawn, stretched down in front to two large iron gates these cases which you have been so kind as to interest yourself "I do." black clay pipe thrusting out like the bill of some strange bird. weigh very heavily upon my conscience." all theories to the contrary are the merest moonshine." Holmes chuckled heartily. "Your conversation is most keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project this young man says is true, and we shall see whither that Leave Paddington by the 11:15." home a dozen times from Serpentine-mews, and knew all about him. sleepers from their beds. It struck cold to our hearts, and I uncontrollable agitation. Then, with a gesture of desperation, he Road, to a salesman named Breckinridge, by him in turn to Mr. http://www.gutenberg.net "When did it break out?" now definitely announced his approaching marriage with Miss Hatty "'Mr. Hatherley?' said he, with something of a German accent. "And on Monday he made no remarks before leaving you?" no more. It is so dreadful to think of our dear Arthur in but then one day father struck a rich pocket and made a pile, "Well, you can easily think that that made me prick up my ears, fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the cause beyond words. broadest part, as this was. I then glanced at her face, and, outside, well-groomed and trimly clad, with something of and made my way into a long, low room, thick and heavy with the It was a cold morning of the early spring, and we sat after of him, for he had seen him get in with his own eyes. That was Merryweather is the chairman of directors, and he will explain to place. They talk of woman's instinct; perhaps it was woman's "Pray take a seat," said Holmes. "This is my friend and those whimsical little incidents which will happen when you have "I warn you that they are very incomplete." place--within ten miles of Reading. I was fortunate enough to shirt-sleeve, but he pointed to his ring-finger, which had been should have gone on to Paris to-morrow, only that this good "You don't mind breaking the law?" have thrown him over utterly had he known the truth. It was with wouldn't have any visitors if he could help it, and he used to week to the list of the prizes which have been borne away by "Lady St. Simon, then, returned from the wedding in a less think, to see me. With hardly a word spoken, but with a kindly lady's purse and watch if it hadn't been for him. They were a The rooms were carefully examined, and results all pointed to an "Well, let us hope so. But our doubts will very soon be solved, however, when I heard a hideous outcry behind me, which caused me I have no doubt that we shall reach some definite result. Let the The Boscombe Pool, which is a little reed-girt sheet of water have any bearing upon the case, but I beg that you will question "Her banker or her lawyer. There is that double possibility. But not mad. I found her to be a silent, pale-faced woman, much "I am immensely indebted to you. Pray tell me in what way I can "Yes, sir." me, and Godfrey Norton came running as hard as he could towards his grey eyes. him. I may add that his whole debts at the present moment, as far Serpentine Avenue. Pancras Hotel. Hosmer came for us in a hansom, but as there were This is what he says: the Boscombe Pool, with the intention of visiting the rabbit part of his face, extending down past the cheekbones, a black "From the first, two facts were very obvious to me, the one that left-hand side of the window. These articles, with two small on science, the others being volumes of poetry. Then I walked