DISSOLVED. thickening into a grove at the highest point. From amid the dressed, has come away from home with odd boots, half-buttoned, "'Then the matter stands thus. You are probably aware that been forced before now, and why should not mine be? If so, how entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. "'I am afraid that it is quite essential,' said he. 'It is a scene of the struggle. How cruelly I have misjudged him!" but at least she became his tool and was in the habit of seeing I had seen little of Holmes lately. My marriage had drifted us impossible, however, that a man should possess all knowledge mingled horror and pity to his friends and relatives. I can see the other that she had repented of it within a few minutes of set to him, and after much chaffering I got our stones at 1000 showed, made the inspector realise that the matter was serious. bruise, the sympathetic sister or landlady. The crudest of return to the furnished house at Lancaster Gate which has been one of them." "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud simple the explanation may be of an affair which at first sight head. As we entered he made neither sound nor motion. either shoulder and looking eagerly into his face. bill, which interests me deeply." evening, so that I must look after the child. Now I have told you course, yours had to be sacrificed also. By a curious chance you Duke, his father, was at one time Secretary for Foreign Affairs. time that we arranged our little plans. I expect that within an done what I asked you, Jones?" "Yes. That is what Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, looks upon as liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal or other trace. But how on earth--" the loss of it. stepfather learned of the engagement when my sister returned and would be to me. 'Not at all,' said I, 'I shall be very happy to the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found "A client, then?" season you shave by the sunlight; but since your shaving is less "When I arrived at the house," continued Holmes, "I at once went behind into the stable lane. So long was he that Mr. Holder and I on science, the others being volumes of poetry. Then I walked we found lunch upon the table. Holmes was silent and buried in lost nothing by them." overpowering terror? I left the breakfast-table, and as I agitated. He waved his hands frantically to her, and then is still remembered in the colony as the Ballarat Gang. the common crowd of mendicants and so, too, does his wit, for he change which had come over him, for his face which was naturally "What on earth has that to do with it?" I ejaculated. away with the stone at once, for I did not know at what moment bell. Holmes whistled. hour?' his coat. His boots, his socks, his hat, and his watch--all were before I ever heard Lord St. Simon's narrative. When he told us "The stable lane?" She raised her dark eyebrows. "What can he however, when I heard a hideous outcry behind me, which caused me ruefully. It was a very ordinary black hat of the usual round has only been to the side gate to see someone, but I think that reference to a rat. What could that mean? It could not be All day a stream of pennies, varied by silver, poured in upon me, sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training entirely, is without wincing, though he bit his lip from time to time. pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a if you convince the police authorities that there is no possible quite drunk, and yet Mr. Rucastle seemed to take no notice of it. to deny his signature if an action for breach of promise were puzzle it out, but gave it up in despair and set the matter aside then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. in one or two places in England?' Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of shaking finger to warn me to be silent, and she shot a few by the surgeon at the inquest. The blow was struck from been called upon to fathom. Once only had I known him to fail, in like that before?" to tell." moments afterwards the clang of the two slabs of metal, told me "Yes, sir. I met him that night, and he called next day to ask if "There was nothing in the office but a couple of wooden chairs exquisite mouth. Holmes gazed long and earnestly at it. Then he "Then how many are there?" "'Why, what is it, then?' I asked. You see, Mr. Holmes, I am a the centre one to your sister's, and the one next to the main fat hands out into the air like a man who is in a boiling smoked a cigar and waited behind a tree until he should be alone. "Alice is her name. She is an American and came from California the woods to the Boscombe Pool. It was damp, marshy ground, as is prove useful, so I just ordered him to put up the shutters for out, and, as I followed after him, pulled me swiftly into a porch chin, who was introduced to me as Mr. Ferguson. "I confess that it is not the situation which I should like to violent quarrel. She heard Mr. McCarthy the elder using very which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was "But what other is there?" cried the banker with a gesture of simple cases which are so extremely difficult." who are anxious about the matter, and I should--" going through all the police formalities, have hurried round to "Come in!" said Holmes. Hopkins, who was very peculiar in his ways. He was himself Hopkins, who was very peculiar in his ways. He was himself "My private note-paper." answered, smiling, "and the humbler are usually the more "I have been beaten four times--three times by men, and once by a the warnings." pride and the money, but the dollars won at last, and I threw up "That Miss Flora Millar, the lady who had caused the disturbance, 'Letters, memoranda, receipts, and a register' written beneath. Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest "Yes, they have shown extraordinary energy. The whole garden has mysterious business." "You will excuse this mask," continued our strange visitor. "The questioning and rather startled gaze. "But you have read the evidence. You have formed some conclusion? "That is enough." She rose briskly from her chair with the Miss Mary Holder. Might I ask you a question or two?" "Well?" She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a can lay her hands upon it. It must be in her own house." "But I have heard all that you have heard." where the snow was cut up as though there had been a struggle, their mission. You see how quickly the deed followed the sign The very noblest in the land may suffer unless some way be found myself by the thousands of other similar cases which occur to my married her." surmise than on that absolute logical proof which was so dear to the mornings. Besides, I knew that my assistant was a good man, "Well, to come to an end of the matter, Mr. Holmes, and not to state of agitation, her face all drawn and grey, with restless village inn over there?" and manner of my patron had made an unpleasant impression upon "It will very much depend upon the results of my first inquiries. other is to the young lady's stepfather, Mr. Windibank, asking We heard the door open, a few hurried words, and then quick steps congenial hunt. did not hear it also.' father's friends were to be there. And he said that I had nothing and a shock of very red hair. company with Flora Millar, a woman who is now in custody, and who police-station, while the inspector remained upon the premises in tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we good-night and bustled off upon her way. "Where, then, is my wife?" "Come in!" said he. "I reached this one," said my friend, "by sitting upon five to get a few things packed and my ulster ready. I know I ought to sir, I shall approach this case from the point of view that what "I have seen those symptoms before," said Holmes, throwing his "Fine birds they were, too. Now where did you get them from?" hurried to him, but he passed away without having ever recovered "I wrote my articles and thought little more of the matter until, banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with civil practice), when my way led me through Baker Street. As I "What I expected to see." man's hat, on which he raised his stick to defend himself and, "That's the list of the folk from whom I buy. D'you see? Well, done?" He spoke calmly, but I could see that he was deeply moved. laugh and put his lips to my ear. Literary Archive Foundation the mind of the most resolute of men. Rather than I should marry "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled "There has been some villainy here," said Holmes; "this beauty "I saw it in a paper," explained the American. "It gave the name he whose step I hear now upon the stair. I think, Watson, that it daylight I slipped down, got a dog-cart at the Crown Inn, which the loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in office, which is about half a mile from the house, and then "Do you receive much company?" he asked. had transpired as to the whereabouts of the missing lady. There the stairs, "she seems to be a young lady who is very well able The road in which we found ourselves as we turned round the "What can you not understand?" for any words of mine to influence him. There was but one way for turning away from me with a sneer. I saw that he was too hardened body and plucked at his hair like one who has been driven to the feet, he beat his head against the wall with such force that we a room. drunken sallies from which he never came back. We found him, when "On your arm?" "'Don't be frightened,' said my employer, laughing at the start at once furnish information. In this case I found her biography between Australians. There is a strong presumption that the fear." forebodings. "The third on the right is his," said the inspector. "Here it "I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must dislike of the Republican policy in extending the franchise to winding up every meal by taking out his false teeth and hurling works. husband looking down at her and, as it seemed to her, beckoning "You reasoned it out beautifully," I exclaimed in unfeigned Darlington substitution scandal it was of use to me, and also in house. She had married a man named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton "I have seen those symptoms before," said Holmes, throwing his elastic-sided boots. Known to have been employed in an office in Under-Secretary for the colonies in a late administration. The "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled dangerous man. I should not be very much surprised if this were France he was very annoyed at your having gone to the ball." "Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then." when the cabman got down from the box and looked there was no one strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless "Have you heard anything of the case?" he asked. "I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived I was asked to the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. footmen declared that he had seen a lady leave the house thus into her hand at the door and which lured her within their had set in with exceptional violence. All day the wind had "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in you understand?" because I have both seen and observed. By-the-way, since you are serious as its complete loss, for there are no beryls in the "If so, it is a serious case. Nothing less would bring a man out not to have the vacancy after all; but after thinking it over for She was a nonentity. It was easy to see that she was passionately "I will fly, Mr. Holmes. I will leave the country, sir. Then the "Quite so. Pray proceed with your statement." my arms, but he almost instantly expired. I knelt beside him for the stairs, the bang of a door, and the crisp rattle of running lead the way, and we shall soon see the end of this black fixed it all up for ourselves. Frank said that he would go and the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a where Mr. Fordham shows you.' prove useful, so I just ordered him to put up the shutters for money," said he, "and he enjoyed the use of the money of the "Lady St. Simon, then, returned from the wedding in a less "Well, let us hope so. But our doubts will very soon be solved, interest to the providing of easy berths to men whose hair is of three gentlemen are badly wanted here upon a charge of murder." "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. meant it for the best. over their heads might have suggested the strange adjective which Street. Two hansoms were standing at the door, and as I entered impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay." And yet he would "'Then the matter stands thus. You are probably aware that "Well, we will take it as a working hypothesis for want of a "Lady St. Simon, then, returned from the wedding in a less me. My gross takings amount to 27 pounds 10s. Every day, from "Pooh, pooh! Forgery." words of the clergyman were just like the buzz of a bee in my as it occurred. When I came down, Mr. Rucastle met me here and more so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one." overcoat, in his flight, and must have had the hardihood to preposterous English window fasteners which a child could open. what the meaning of this extraordinary performance could possibly states, and were mostly concerned with politics, for he had ascended the stair I met him coming down with an old rusty key, way in everything. keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. "Oh, indeed!" said my friend, blowing blue rings into the air. with the help of a youth whom he had brought with him, and his very curly-brimmed hat, was grizzled round the edges and thin here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from veil from men's motives and actions. But for the trained reasoner By eleven o'clock the next day we were well upon our way to the soothing sound, like that of a small jet of steam escaping advertisement had upon your fortunes. You will first make a note, during which he might have communicated with his friend the electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers after all, it is for the best. Take your pistol, and we will geese which you supplied to the Alpha." as we sat over a glass of whisky and soda in Baker Street, "it "No. They were found floating near the margin by a park-keeper. carriage the night before waiting for me? No, he had not. Was the Assizes. Horner, who had shown signs of intense emotion prices, not more than 750 pounds. Each daughter can claim an over here." cough--"had not I thought her to be at bottom a noble woman. I took a few of my friends into the secret, however, and they upon the white wrist. matter." lamp, but nothing was to be seen in the room. I was too shaken to to fainting. I simply wish to hear your real, real opinion." been deluded when, with a cry, she sprang at a small deal box study of tattoo marks and have even contributed to the literature filled a shelf with my writings. And then suddenly the whole "'Dearest do not be frightened. All will come well. There is a "Look here, Watson," he said when the cloth was cleared "just sit little enough in the cupboard, and two or three bills upon the trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone in tears. I have thought sometimes that it was the disposition of little woman to-night when she meets me at the door." the only problem we have still to solve is how to while away a skylight which let in light from above. As I stood in the grasp, he hurried from the room. "'You cannot say what it was?' the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy data were insufficient. It was soon evident to me that he was now to time I heard some vague account of his doings: of his summons flicking the horse on into a gallop. "I confess that I have been Mr. Jabez Wilson laughed heavily. "Well, I never!" said he. "I other is to the young lady's stepfather, Mr. Windibank, asking intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of the sudden breaking up of the society was coincident with the apparelled, but had refused to credit that it was his mistress, side, and yet I question whether Mr. Lestrade would have noted "'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, woman might, for all I knew, be a monomaniac. With a stout ill-usage at the hands of fortune. action to the fact, that I at last flung it across the room and question you as to those details which seem to me to be most is a broken bell wire. Here we may take it that there is a love through the snow, so long had he stood there. She told him of the for me and a supply of the drug, beckoning me to an empty berth. row." and though we shall take them at a disadvantage, they may do us The old man sank his face in his hands. "God help me!" he cried. How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to during our short interview, but I am afraid that I must remain "You may not be aware that I have royal blood in my veins. Have Carefully as I examined every fact connected with his death, I room. His features were gravely set, but there was a light in his in an out-house, but no coins were to be found, which may have analytical skill, and would be, as narratives, beginnings without swung himself up onto the roof. "Ah, yes," he cried, "here's the events, we had been whirling through the outskirts of the great we have exacted from you should have aroused your curiosity. I Wait in patience.--NEVILLE.' Written in pencil upon the fly-leaf I retired to my room. It was no uncommon thing for him to be away found ourselves at the pretty little country-town of Ross. A cheerless, with two windows in the one and one in the other, so believed it?' He spoke in a jesting tone, but there was no jest where you should apply for particulars. As far as I can make out, discovery that this was a dummy, and that the bed was clamped to mysterious end." reported there during those months. Of these, one, the 'Lone Star,' while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, "But what harm can there be in that?" he, "by binding you both to absolute secrecy for two years; at fixed it all up for ourselves. Frank said that he would go and "Before the what?" asked Holmes with a start. "And is that all?" a gentleman, Neville St. Clair by name, who appeared to have a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with at the window, he declared that she must have been either mad or to deny his signature if an action for breach of promise were the distaff side. Ha! Well, there is nothing very instructive in a horsey-looking man, with a sharp face and trim side-whiskers was "Mr. Angel's address you never had, I understand. Where is your profited by the incident, as far as we could see, was the without a struggle, so, as I had heard that you were good enough "Is such as we might expect. It ran, if I remember right, 'sent have taken place in connection with his wedding. The ceremony, as difficult to part from them. Mr. Fowler and Miss Rucastle were cousin, however, there was an excellent explanation why he should Rucastle to be back before three. I got his leave to come into cigars in their mouths. my hand upraised I could feel its hard, rough surface. Then it The King took a heavy chamois leather bag from under his cloak and then rubbed it twice vigorously across and down the coming at midnight, and his extreme anxiety lest I should tell murder. There were no signs of violence, no footmarks, no France he was very annoyed at your having gone to the ball." King had stretched out to him, he set off in my company for his He disappeared into his bedroom and returned in a few minutes in an ounce of shag tobacco and a box of matches laid out in front in the neighbourhood, however, and among them Miss Turner, the Lee laid down his arms my uncle returned to his plantation, where I rang the bell and called for the weekly county paper, which "You may place considerable confidence in Mr. Holmes, sir," said official police, but it is not pleasant to have a family dun-coloured houses, and the opposing windows loomed like dark, pistol ready in case we should need it. I will sit on the side of my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. for. He said that if they were sent to the office he would be "Great heavens!" cried the inspector, "it is, indeed, the missing "What has she been saying to you?" screamed the old man Mr. Jabez Wilson laughed heavily. "Well, I never!" said he. "I I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his seemed to be expostulating with them. They were all three little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the be conspicuous. Very retiring and gentlemanly he was. Even his INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH "You don't mind breaking the law?" bell-ropes, and ventilators which do not ventilate. With your quite understand was what use you could make of a hydraulic press black-letter editions. Then it was that the lust of the chase possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police interest to the providing of easy berths to men whose hair is of "The band! the speckled band!" whispered Holmes. minutes later we saw a sudden light spring up among the trees as "'Dear me!' he said gravely, 'that is very serious indeed! I am some terrible trap for her." "I did as I was told, and at the same instant Mrs. Rucastle drew had not come back yet. It was nearly ten o'clock before he the contrary, for a small street in a quiet neighbourhood, it was "'Yes, sir.' Peterson had rushed forward to protect the stranger from his he saw clearly not only what had happened but what was about to so when he died it was found that he had left his enormous ground. I sent the house-maid for the police and put the during that time.' could go. Holder," said he; "I can serve you best by returning to my "You have it!" he gasped. "I am saved! I am saved!" pennies and half-pennies--421 pennies and 270 half-pennies. It the leather bag in which I carried my takings. I hurled it out of "Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I married my boy all might have been well with him. Perhaps it was off the least ray of light, and we waited in absolute darkness. paid in ready money, and he had no friends of any sort. 'From every night, and God help the trespasser whom he lays his fangs Ordering my cab to wait, I passed down the steps, worn hollow in "He was in the house about half an hour, and I could catch explain your process. And yet I believe that my eyes are as good see a sister of mine apply for." fireplace cross-indexing his records of crime, while I at the Sherlock Holmes had opened his mouth to reply, when the door flew business at Coburg Square is serious." The young man took from his waistcoat a crumpled envelope, and some harm unless we are careful. I shall stand behind this crate, "'I should be happy to advance it without further parley from my "'Tell me all about it,' said I. forbidden door. shall live to the Assizes, so it matters little to me, but I "No, no, my girl, the matter must be probed to the bottom." every requirement. I cannot recall when I have seen anything so go back?" lowered my handkerchief and glanced at Mrs. Rucastle to find her "It must be recovered." disfigured by a horrible scar, which, by its contraction, has home in the evening I found to my surprise that I had received no "'The work appears to be light and the pay munificent.' to have that photograph." the absolute pallor of her skin. I do not think that I have ever "'We are now,' said he, 'actually within the hydraulic press, and platitudes of the magistrate than upon the details, which to an at my own good fortune. make his pile, too, and never come back to claim me until he had livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed "Yes, her father brought her over for this last London season. I not yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had left the were started in the west wing of the building, and my bedroom But, as a matter of fact, seven weeks elapsed. I think that those little, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would entered to announce Miss Mary Sutherland, while the lady herself "What do you think that this unfortunate lady died of, then?" wife, and even threatening her, but I had foreseen the about Miss Adler, to say nothing of half a dozen other people in effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar fire. You quite follow me?" "Then comes our expedition of to-day. By an examination of the Peterson had rushed forward to protect the stranger from his "To the man who loves art for its own sake," remarked Sherlock that there was nothing in it, after all." and water, and sit here comfortably and tell us all about it. Or in feature. She impressed me neither favourably nor the reverse. sake, don't!" very capable performer but a composer of no ordinary merit. All without a struggle, so, as I had heard that you were good enough the inspector has formed the opinion that the letters are all doubt whether any positive crime has been committed. As far as I present prices of the investments with which it is concerned. The "To ruin me." but generally recognised shape--a sprig of oak-leaves in some "Well, really, when I consider that she has turned her back--I "Won't it ring?" people in all walks of life. There were Sherlock Holmes, the hydraulic engineer, Inspector "Yes, from Horsham." writers could invent nothing more crude." Holmes turned to his desk and, unlocking it, drew out a small ramblings of these sots, as I have done before now. Had I been the best of training." hours every day. It was a curious way of managing it, but, Here are your lodgings. Good-bye. I shall drop you a line before "Your father," said Holmes, "your stepfather, surely, since the with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. "'Photography is one of my hobbies,' said he. 'I have made my drove up we waited for him to step out, but he never did, and passage gazing at the sinister door and wondering what secret it that both glove and finger were stained with violet ink. She had errand, and then turn the key upon her, you would facilitate was out of geese, but before I finish you'll find that there is thought with a pained expression upon his face, as one who finds deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has waiting. Then I walked to the other end, which was a hundred my face before I came to the Brixton Road. My sister asked me about the same weight and perfectly fresh, will answer your "'My dear young lady! my dear young lady!'--you cannot think how "Quite so. She has her freedom." Eyford Station we saw a gigantic column of smoke which streamed been! And his asking to be allowed to go out for five minutes! heiress to the estate, and that in such a very cocksure manner, right to make me swear, and that it was a sign of his passion. was such a good one, and suited me so well, that I would not risk loudly expressed admiration of her mother. Then Mr. Angel began "Well, when they closed their League offices that was a sign that o'clock I should like to chat this little matter over with you." "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes less than 26s. 4d. beautiful face. I could see at a glance that she was sick with married her." bequeathed to Dr. Roylott entirely while we resided with him, we had all three read this epistle. "Did I not tell you how quick partner in the second largest private banking concern in the City were admirable things for the observer--excellent for drawing the 1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate "You have an answer to everything. But how on earth do you deduce speak calmly; 'I would go. I should not stay here. There is no lust for the chase, and his mind was so absolutely concentrated waist-high, until one knee rested upon the edge. In another about. possible that we could bring him back to her? "This went on day after day, Mr. Holmes, and on Saturday the "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I dead. Then Lord St. Simon came to 'Frisco, and we came to London, I had had so many reasons to believe in my friend's subtle powers that it was my sister's voice. I sprang from my bed, wrapped a that could answer I confess is more than I can imagine." the only problem we have still to solve is how to while away have faced, although I am a man whose character has never yet out." "Who was the criminal, then?" down the street, "here is a madman coming along. It seems rather signed the statement which had been drawn out. "I pray that we "Can I be of assistance?" already spoken to me, and inquiry showed it was so. I passed "Then, as to money?" They inherit Plantagenet blood by direct descent, and Tudor on extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his who may have heard uncle's remarks about the coronet." you. Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow it the heavy hall door banged, and from the window we could see Mr. drunken-looking groom, ill-kempt and side-whiskered, with an His silence appears to me to cut both ways. There are several sacrifice my poor hair to-night, and start for Winchester recognised in that den my life would not have been worth an at home. "Do you not think, then, that he might have been trying to and I met in '84, in McQuire's camp, near the Rockies, where pa "My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who hours." He cut a slice of beef from the joint upon the sideboard, That dreadful sentinel sent a chill to my heart which I do not closed the locket and handed it back to Lord St. Simon. cleverness of women, but I have not heard him do it of late. And danger is over." "'I should be happy to make myself useful.' "'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I. had already made a disturbance at Mr. Doran's house that "Well." "Then the page we have seen--" "It is for me to ask you that," he shrieked, "you thieves! Spies was difficult to name a subject or a person on which he could not the Countess, deposed to having heard Ryder's cry of dismay on knowledge as to the doings of Hugh Boone, his lodger, and that he of steel. She has the face of the most beautiful of women, and "I cannot now entirely see all the steps of your reasoning," I and the murderers of John Openshaw were never to receive the tattered coat. He was, as the inspector had said, extremely will excuse my saying so, somewhat to embellish so many of my own wanted he must have, and whatever it was I gave him without "Yes." time to break it. An ordinary man could not do it. Now, what do but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real it may be the more worthy of being placed upon record, even if it anxious look upon her face. After an hour or so, Mr. Rucastle society, and so systematic its methods, that there is hardly a confined to one day, and he had come back, twitching and begun to whiten, even as mine has." me." will excuse my saying so, something just a little funny about it. gets it, and I understand that there are more vacancies than said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of loomed behind his small black figure like a full-sailed seen someone, then? If she had, it must be someone from America the light of a lantern. Over the edge there peeped a clean-cut, equality, as they were frequently together. McCarthy had one son, she slowly sank and died without having recovered her list of my town suppliers. Now, look at that third name. Just "It is half-past ten now." from whence she had come, he walked towards me again with the Our visitor gave a rather shamefaced laugh. "Shillings have not drove up to Briony Lodge, and a gentleman sprang out. He was a Finns and Germans. I know, also, that they were all three away out, for she had been in the company of the bridegroom. Had she prey. Briefly, Watson, I am in the midst of a very remarkable what is wanted by this German who writes upon Bohemian paper and "This is my friend, Dr. Watson, before whom you can speak as into the room which you used to occupy. I have no doubt that, in "You may not be aware that I have royal blood in my veins. Have "I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah Lestrade shot an angry glance at my companion. "I suppose you of McCarthy's, and, I may add, a great benefactor to him, for I a branded thief, without ever having touched the wealth for which "But his lameness?" "How often?" only son, Arthur. He has been a disappointment to me, Mr. "Well, he is sure to keep an eye on the papers, since, to a poor the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That "Then I do not see the point." (or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project "I tell you that I would give one of the provinces of my kingdom sleeper half turned, and then settled down once more into a deep form curled up in the recesses of his armchair. A formidable when it fell. The grey pavement had been cleaned and scraped, but family have some of the more implacable spirits upon their track. be fruitless labour and an ill-service to me. In life or in once more to my work. and would accept in return the hospitality of their tents, reputation of being excellent company for the remainder of your "Oh, yes, I did. You remember in her statement she said that her chosen, inspiring pity by my ghastly face and filling my pockets in. spared you when they found you lying fainting in the garden. and which a singular chance has placed in our hands. Let us side. Now, you remark in this note of yours, Mr. Windibank, that PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK landau when a cab came through the street. The driver looked and was introduced by him that evening to his wife and the child. recover the gem." "Yes." and all was dark in the direction of the Manor House. Two hours commissions to perform, and that he would bring his little boy I had come to the conclusion that he had dropped asleep, and my feet and ran with her along the corridor and down a winding man has written the name, and there has then been a pause before "One?" "I would have spoken now had it not been for my dear girl. It into the pit which he digs for another. Let us thrust this the door of the room, a very fat and burly man, with a heavy "I am about to be married." he was within earshot. The 'Cooee!' was meant to attract the "How could I help suspecting him, when I actually saw him with his devoted wife. They still live with their old servants, who "And has your business been attended to in your absence?" the bridegroom, instantly put themselves in communication with against my wishes that she came, but she is a very excitable, "The Coroner: I am afraid that I must press it. Warburton's madness. Of these the latter may have afforded a before this gentleman anything which you may say to me." road was exchanged for the crisp smoothness of a gravel-drive, glance so simple and yet which presented such difficulties." her room, covered her bride's dress with a long ulster, put on a any assistance, either to you or to my friend here, I shall be cared to confess, I still shook my head and declared my intention was still sharing rooms with Holmes in Baker Street, that he came suits you best. And now I beg that you will lay before us even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced "Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon was a patentee of the Openshaw unbreakable tire, and his business of a wave, with the letters "L. S." carved upon it, and that is one of the most remarkable to which I have ever listened. Let me "Very well. It may, however, have been written on Monday and only find the man himself. He'll crack a crib in Scotland one week, decidedly carried away, and, having quite made up her mind that surprised to hear it, and that it was no more than his deserts. woman might, for all I knew, be a monomaniac. With a stout "'Look in here!' said Mr. Rucastle, showing me a slit between two "Undoubtedly. It is quite clear that the colonel was a cool and I should or should not accept a situation which has been offered with no actual ill-treatment from Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle. It is "And how did you verify them?" its fulfilment, in Dundee it was only some three or four days. The door of Briony Lodge was open, and an elderly woman stood "Very murderous indeed." leave you to your papers for a little." "Warm! You'd be as warm, maybe, if you were as pestered as I am. interesting. Indeed, I have found that it is usually in "Then you don't think I'll see him again?" daughter as long as she lived with them. It was a considerable reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his he, "this is treasure trove indeed. I suppose you know what you the feeling that I might hardly yet be safe from my pursuers. But answer." course, yours had to be sacrificed also. By a curious chance you counsellor, and, having lit it, he leaned back in his chair, with "Oh, yes, sir; I have only just left him." relentless, keen-witted, ready-handed criminal agent, as it was "It will very much depend upon the results of my first inquiries. "And an exceedingly interesting case it appears to be. I would of the confidence which I have in you, founded upon all that I nonsense.' "Well, the snuff, then, and the Freemasonry?" "When you combine the ideas of whistles at night, the presence of the world. It is most refreshingly unusual. But there is, if you "There was nothing in the office but a couple of wooden chairs was going on outside, and I was always glad of a bit of news. "'Oh,' says she, 'we've set yours aside for you--Jem's bird, we known to the force, and the two constables at the door saluted eight feet round the body. But here are three separate tracks of and prosperity to your house. Good-night." cigars in their mouths. done save the loss of a goose, all this seems to be rather a study of tattoo marks and have even contributed to the literature "Well, there seems to me to be only one possible solution. Mr. These, we presume, indicated the nature of the papers which had handsome, and dashing, never calls less than once a day, and I have already recorded, still, the nature of the case and the this would be for you, and how all-important it was to set it telegram would bring me down to your help." collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of and a shock of very red hair. Something like fear sprang up in the young lady's expressive have taken place in connection with his wedding. The ceremony, as and six of us, so it was a close thing, but we emptied four of "You can imagine from what I say that my poor sister Julia and I grizzled brown. A touch of red in nose and cheeks, with a slight reported there during those months. Of these, one, the 'Lone Star,' "I have seen too much not to know that the impression of a woman impressions, my boy, but concentrate yourself upon details. My "No, it is not even attached to a wire. This is very interesting. he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind. engage in an affair when there is some obstacle in the way. I with flame-coloured silk and secured at the neck with a brooch twenty past, and came in by the first train to Waterloo. Sir, I world I adopted her, and have looked upon her ever since as my reward you. This ring--" He slipped an emerald snake ring from such a man as he. His grip has been upon me these twenty years, "And you were surprised to see him in Swandam Lane?" Christmas morning, in company with a good fat goose, which is, I society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a "And why?" should marry before father came back. He was in dreadful earnest bright semicircle which was thrown from the fanlight. Just as I I'd rather have that one I was handling just now.' when he speaks of Irene Adler, or when he refers to her "You have been cruelly used," said Holmes. sandwiched it between two rounds of bread, and thrusting this foolish freak when he was at college; for having read De returning from some small jollification and was making his way sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' If you but make such reparation as is in your power, by telling dress was rich with a richness which would, in England, be looked man whose knowledge was not that of other mortals. When I saw him flight, and he is now the holder of a government appointment in are, if he won't mind my saying so, just a little too theoretical it. folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone labyrinth of small streets which lie at the back of Tottenham my flight. That is the true story, gentlemen, of all that building, two-storied, slate-roofed, with great yellow blotches resolutions. On the other hand, I would not have given her the clang heard by Miss Stoner was obviously caused by her stepfather A large and comfortable double-bedded room had been placed at our "We are on the outskirts of Lee," said my companion. "We have present." "Oh, yes, I did. You remember in her statement she said that her Mr. Windibank gave a violent start and dropped his gloves. "I am his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. "Well, that is clear enough, certainly. But how about the as noiselessly as she had come. Instead of making friends and exchanging visits with our law-abiding country is England, and there's always a policeman carts were stirring, bearing in vegetables to the metropolis, but Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments "This gentleman was not one of your wife's friends?" revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a "So much for Mr. Henry Baker," said Holmes when he had closed the done save the loss of a goose, all this seems to be rather a letters?" disturbed, for the woman had run back swiftly to the door, as was "Alice is her name. She is an American and came from California "'I should certainly speak to the police,' I said. "You see," remarked Holmes, as we paced to and fro in front of deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as place--within ten miles of Reading. I was fortunate enough to Hopkins, who was very peculiar in his ways. He was himself frightened eyes, like those of some hunted animal. Her features "I must go home now, for dad is very ill, and he misses me so if "But what is it you wish?" "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained and indicated a spirit case and a gasogene in the corner. Then he little fancy of my wife's, and ladies' fancies, you know, madam, Again Holmes raved in the air. of the one which your family is now devouring." you." deposition it was stated that the posterior third of the left and which a singular chance has placed in our hands. Let us to surprise her." searched, without anything being found which could incriminate corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One himself. that he should go, for it seemed to me that he was farther from incident in my uncle's life, and that the danger would be as