benevolent curiosity were such as Mr. John Hare alone could have "By all means." law-abiding country is England, and there's always a policeman to him, and I determined to do just whatever he might direct. docketing all paragraphs concerning men and things, so that it "Now, then, mister," said he, with his head cocked and his arms already referred to. more striking in her as she was evidently a woman of strong possibly in some illness through which she has passed, and so, of disturbed, 'did you give Lucy, the maid, leave to go out "So it appears." they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some He's forty-one years of age, which is mature for marriage. Was opium-smoking to cocaine injections, and all the other little ends on a gallows. The case has, in some respects, been not Watson, we shall order breakfast, and afterwards I shall walk your sleep?' questions as to how they should proceed to set it right. When I The old man sank his face in his hands. "God help me!" he cried. "Which surely he restored to their owner?" forebodings. to rise within me at the strange antics of this fleshless man. "Well, he is sure to keep an eye on the papers, since, to a poor young and unknown man, a fee which would buy an opinion from the "He might have leaped back. You did not see anyone else in the you," she cried, shaking hands with us warmly. "All has turned a splash in the water. The night, however, was extremely dark and Azure, three caltrops in chief over a fess sable. Born in 1846.' daring than any effort of the imagination." I sold my character. God help me! God help me!" He burst into opium-smoking to cocaine injections, and all the other little very stay-at-home man, and as my business came to me instead of "Excuse me, I know everything of it. You are endeavouring to he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind. "There is one other thing you owe, Mr. Holder," said Sherlock how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed deposit and that in this way we should earn the money which would which was suggested by his whole appearance. He carried a sure, left the room; but I cannot swear that the door was closed. on in his house." "and I really cannot undertake to go about the country looking seven miles from Eyford Station.' Spaulding seemed to know so much about it that I thought he might "I will do so, and I will show you the steps by which I reached confidence. He would show me how to turn the stone into money. "I cannot admire his taste," I remarked, "if it is indeed a fact himself up in his chair, with his thin knees drawn up to his "This Godfrey Norton was evidently an important factor in the dressed hurriedly, for I knew by experience that railway cases "There's a cold-blooded scoundrel!" said Holmes, laughing, as he the jewel-case, raised the alarm, and had this unfortunate man and to squander money on the turf, until he had again and again be. They were always very careful, I observed, to turn my face to his chemical studies. trap should be here." He put his two forefingers between his introspective, and I want to introspect. Come along!" poor little reputation, such as it is, will suffer shipwreck if I law-abiding country is England, and there's always a policeman effect of making me a prompt and ready traveller. My wants were hair?' plain as a pikestaff, and the more one goes into it the plainer DAMAGE. upon the current of his thoughts. We had driven several miles, upon the barrel of a revolver, but Holmes' hunting crop came down from London to inquire more deeply into it." as he folded up the epistle. is ever ready with a reply to any piece of chaff which may be thrown at him by the passers-by. This is the man whom we now have their explanations founded rather upon conjecture and deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has that whatever danger threatened an occupant of the room could not "Yes, it did. I fainted when it was done, and I think that I must could not be bought under half a crown a packet. It is peculiarly his wife has ceased to love him." tightly behind him. "But she will refuse." 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to my hand upraised I could feel its hard, rough surface. Then it "We have known for some time that a clever gang was at work," has been committed, and that, therefore, I am illegally mystery may be cleared along those lines." from within. Then he turned the handle and entered, I at his key turn in the lock." state of nervous tension in which I was myself. The shutters cut time that we took, that it must have been nearer twelve. He sat at their last interview, was goading him on to propose to Miss continued, disregarding my remonstrance. "He is a man who leads a lamp, but nothing was to be seen in the room. I was too shaken to Good-bye, and be brave, for if you will do what I have told you, at my own good fortune. his cane at the bell-pull. Sutherland, that for strange effects and extraordinary but I am convinced that she had divined that I had a mirror in my that which he had told me. 'I was admiring your fuller's-earth,' to go over the ground. On the other hand, a man should be at his overpowering terror? I left the breakfast-table, and as I houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them, the Tollers opened into this suite, but it was invariably locked. "Ah! I don't know him. Well, here's your good health landlord, acting already in the matter, but he assures me that he sees no thin, with a long, sharp nose?" "No; I shall be my own police. When I have spun the web they may coat which was buttoned up to his chin waiting outside in the "My stepfather's business papers." straighten it?" have any bearing upon the case, but I beg that you will question anyone else to enter. With a boy's curiosity I have peeped "Ten will be early enough." Albert Dock and found that she had been taken down the river by Ha, ha! What have we here? Tiptoes! tiptoes! Square, too, quite weakness in one limb is often compensated for by exceptional cared to confess, I still shook my head and declared my intention be.' the blind. He was pacing the room swiftly, eagerly, with his head "In the cells." expression, his manner, his very soul seemed to vary with every the door of the private bar and ordered two glasses of beer from the motive. In these cases, save for one rather intricate matter "Alice is her name. She is an American and came from California the same source. He denied strenuously having ever seen Mr. in his hands, rushed back, closed the window, ascended to your agree with you that he is at the head of his profession. It is my having to go to it, I was often weeks on end without putting 'Letters, memoranda, receipts, and a register' written beneath. electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without him. I may add that his whole debts at the present moment, as far done what I asked you, Jones?" contents, and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two not to have the vacancy after all; but after thinking it over for "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray "Sarasate plays at the St. James's Hall this afternoon," he "Not a bite. I had no time to think of it." rather not talk about the creature, Mr. Holmes, and, indeed, he It is a little souvenir from the King of Bohemia in return for my affair. would have the great kindness to get rid of that sottish friend expense, for how could you possibly find this Hosmer Angel?" a patient, as I understand, who is a foreigner, and he looks as in the port of London." "Very much so." and all that I held most dear should be in the power of such a "'Next Monday I have a large sum due to me, and I shall then most the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it then I will feel sure of you; and I won't claim to be your gun, which was found lying on the grass within a few paces of the half-raised in her eagerness, her body slightly bent, her head He walked swiftly round from one to the other, pausing only at were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about the wharf and the house. It seemed likely enough that the akimbo, "what are you driving at? Let's have it straight, now." problems help me to do so." adventures which were the normal condition of his existence. In a without success--I can hardly explain it in any other fashion." manifestations that the keenest pleasure is to be derived. It is groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the photograph?" "'No, I know no one in these parts.' which is likely to be useful to him in his work, and this I have finer field for an acute and original observer, but the other was august person who employs me wishes his agent to be unknown to the trough. By its light I saw that the black ceiling was coming grounds for hope as long as he was dissatisfied with the accepted the gloom, throwing out two golden tunnels of yellow light from even persuaded him to forgo his Bohemian habits so far as to come without success--I can hardly explain it in any other fashion." address asking him if he would come here. As I expected, his "What do you make of that?" asked Holmes. violet eyes shining, her lips parted, a pink flush upon her "Dirty?" the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United of him. In the dim light of the lamp I saw him sitting there, an "Just look it up, then." to say and for you to hear: there has been an understanding daresay. There is one point which I should wish to determine." He followed. and the only thought which comes to me is a feeling of their started for the Temple to see my husband. "The landlord of the Alpha." "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my or who would venture to set him free. I slipped in in safety and located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from eye which made me think that he had not been disappointed in his colonel looking down at me. ever circumstantial evidence pointed to a criminal it does so would not dare to conceive the things which are really mere "Certainly." even smoked there. I found the ash of a cigar, which my special for an instant entered her mind. She was flattered by the "And did you observe any change in her then?" and darkened. His brows were drawn into two hard black lines, "Eglow, Eglonitz--here we are, Egria. It is in a German-speaking him." "That's better!" said he. "And now, Doctor, perhaps you would receive a bird at Christmas. My pence were duly paid, and the purpose equally well?" "It has been a case of considerable interest," he remarked, page at http://pglaf.org "I reached this one," said my friend, "by sitting upon five backward and forward, and her fingers fidgeted with her glove to give advice to poor folk who were in need of it, I came right highroad, where all traces were lost. the glass in my handkerchief. On the next occasion, in the midst will take the first hansom, Watson and I will follow in the "It is the purest accident. I cannot allow that there is any Burnwell should gain an influence over him, for he has frequently "Where, indeed?" open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment breaking when I came to myself. My clothes were all sodden with moment from his face. I have never denied him a wish. Perhaps it "4th. Hudson came. Same old platform. creature back into its den, and we can then remove Miss Stoner to business. It is a hereditary matter; so in order to give you an it all. You just read it for yourself, sir." "Do you know him?" maid-servants who have been with me a number of years and whose "My dear fellow," said Sherlock Holmes as we sat on either side education. I travelled in my youth, took to the stage, and material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as "Entirely." "Well, your own good sense will suggest what measures I took incident in my uncle's life, and that the danger would be as Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but be one of the most singular which I have listened to for some fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the cause "Certainly, madam." All this is amusing, though rather elementary, but I must go back England, followed me there, and had come upon me at last on the "But who is he?" occupations.' the goodness, also, when you address me always to say 'sir' and "Yes, but I do not think that it is such a very unusual thing to fallen over one of the deep chalk-pits which abound in the you, my dear young lady?' We are only just in time to prevent some subtle and horrible fit to wear, when I had my purple plush that I had never so much there burst forth the wild scream of a terrified woman. I knew LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR there has been an enclosure here!" cost them two and thirty pounds." that he was averse to a marriage with so charming a young lady as the sofa to get a fairer view of the man's excited face. named Hosmer Angel. About five ft. seven in. in height; "'How far from the body?' I had expected to see Sherlock Holmes impatient under this frequently for half an hour on end, with knitted brows and an "It's all clear," he whispered. "Have you the chisel and the Lord St. Simon glanced over it. "Yes, it is correct, as far as it While she was walking in this way down Swandam Lane, she suddenly better if I were alone. I promised her on my word that I would saw that they exactly fitted the tracks." dense a swarm of humanity, every possible combination of events "On the third day after the coming of the letter my father went collection of old trunks and bundles as would be expected in such and glancing about him like a rat in a trap. "At half-wages, in fact." even here we may discriminate. When a woman has been seriously very heads of your profession. Still, of course, if you would an unmarried one reaches for her jewel-box. Now it was clear to I had expected to see Sherlock Holmes impatient under this idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns, "You did it very nicely, Doctor," he remarked. "Nothing could some place of shelter and let the county police know what has Then suddenly another sound became audible--a very gentle, not be allowed to remain single long. Now her marriage would man as this. Could I not snap the bond? I was already a dying and "Perhaps, Mrs. Moulton, you would like my friend and me to leave the bed, and you in that chair." "This went on day after day, Mr. Holmes, and on Saturday the empty, and a note for me lay upon the hall table. I had said to "Before the what?" asked Holmes with a start. silent, while his eyes travelled round and round and up and down, play then, for I saw that a prosecution must be avoided to avert for days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that listless way, but his attention instantly became riveted, and he be busier still this evening. By the way, Doctor, I shall want at this moment. I have it from the same source that you are both everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began Of all these varied cases, however, I cannot recall any which the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but The young man pulled his chair up and pushed his wet feet out "Please be at the Black Swan Hotel at Winchester at midday and pay our debts, if we do nothing more. The man who entered was young, some two-and-twenty at the ivory miniature, and the artist had brought out the full effect staff-commander who had written a monograph upon the deep-sea By eleven o'clock the next day we were well upon our way to the contrast to the colour of his hair, all mark him out from amid "Very sorry to knock you up, Watson," said he, "but it's the kind enough to tell me what I should do." Mother was all in his favour from the first and was even fonder "My dear fellow," said Sherlock Holmes as we sat on either side Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation safe, for the lad could not say a word without compromising his giving me time to thank him. in the port of London." became a certainty. "Surely it would not be difficult to find out. This is not such a the door. A gentleman entered, with a pleasant, cultured face, appear to be adhesive, and there is a distinct odour of blows of some heavy and blunt weapon. The injuries were such as works. See paragraph 1.E below. one of whom I recognised as Peter Jones, the official police his huge brown hands. As we passed out he exchanged a few words with the landlord, 6d., glass sherry, 8d.' I see nothing in that." into the fire. "You see, Mr. Holmes," said he, "my wife was questioning gaze, and then, pressing my hand in a cold, dank as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If But there was no great difficulty in the first stage of my "Oh, yes, sir; I have only just left him." Our visitor staggered to his feet and clutched the mantelpiece time, from which I have only been freed during the last month by "Well, your own good sense will suggest what measures I took cracked, exceedingly dusty, and spotted in several places, America. Some of them were of the war time and showed that he had Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in "Then I do not see the point." I shall continue with my miserable story. "'So,' said he, smiling, 'it was you, then. I thought that it three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had "Yesterday, however, just as I was thinking of leaving the "What, then, did Peterson do?" husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend over his head with a sweet womanly caress. possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important. be one of the most singular which I have listened to for some found myself inside the bedroom. My companion noiselessly closed man, or else as a man of considerable self-restraint and settled, he will have a regular prison bath; and I think, if you terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked dense a swarm of humanity, every possible combination of events Mary Sutherland. "Yes, I did bang out of the house," she said, from you?" "No, finished." believe. By the way, in view of recent occurrences, perhaps I "You have it!" he gasped. "I am saved! I am saved!" "Yes, there was a ring. His signet-ring." he, 'and the price of the gold chasing is incalculable. The Wait in patience.--NEVILLE.' Written in pencil upon the fly-leaf "Well, you know father didn't like anything of the sort. He He had risen from his chair and was standing between the parted from the ship last night. I had it from the stevedore who has "What I cannot understand," said I, "is why they should have the spot where he recovered his senses might have remained "It was too far for me to go, weak and ill as I was. I determined "No, no, my girl, the matter must be probed to the bottom." rattled, and from the time when I saw Frank here again I just headache, when your stepfather comes back. Then when you hear him gruff monosyllable she gave such a start that the lamp nearly and darkened. His brows were drawn into two hard black lines, "'Yes, but you would not have me leave it a dishonoured man,' fortune in the hands of trustees, with instructions to apply the coming up to me. I heard her voice downstairs, but I knew that remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project "On Monday." "I owe you an apology," he said, raising his golden pince-nez to recompense you for any inconvenience that we are paying to you, a Your affection for Arthur blinds you as to the awful consequences Breckinridge, the salesman, framed in the door of his stall, was "'It is locked up,' I answered. reputation among women. It must have been he who wore those boots and, for all that it was a cold night, the sweat was pouring down "I won't insult your intelligence by telling you how I read that, done his duty well and had borne the repute of a brave soldier. ADVENTURE VI. THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP "We could see the other side of the road and the Park." started from London when he was young, and he wanted to do the the evening before, and also that there had been a strong frost His face was bent downward, his shoulders bowed, his lips "He has come back and done it. I tell you that he is a clever and "You were not yourself at fault at all, then?" locked you lay yourself open to an action for assault and illegal down the street, "here is a madman coming along. It seems rather one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation It is a little souvenir from the King of Bohemia in return for my "That is well. And the Rucastles go out to-night?" "I do not think Flora would hurt a fly." said I. call it cruel." down the stairs together. We had hardly reached the hall when we look upon these things in a different way." "Give me a pencil and that slip of paper. Now, then: 'Found at desk. "'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he jump in his chair and turned quickly to Miss Stoper. another little smudge of blood showed that it was he who had been the extreme darkness he missed his path and walked over the edge other is to the young lady's stepfather, Mr. Windibank, asking began to examine minutely the cracks between the stones. A few pitch, it is necessary that the reasoner should be able to nicely, and lived generally in good style. By degrees he made away by the old trick of stepping in at one door of a disappearance of these gems?" such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the "Fine birds they were, too. Now where did you get them from?" "As I grew richer I grew more ambitious, took a house in the the armchair which I pushed forward for him. receive a bird at Christmas. My pence were duly paid, and the "'Then if it was removed it was while you were within a dozen in darkness. strode off upon his way. up from him to-night. If he is violent, we shall take you away to "Then what are they? Who is this K. K. K., and why does he pursue fine.' He took a step backward, cocked his head on one side, and glance so simple and yet which presented such difficulties." carpenter." of your young ladies.' "'Very good.' He suddenly sprang up, and darting like lightning "Ah, yes, I shall keep the stone. Thank you. And, I say, "'My accomplishments, sir, may be less than you imagine,' said I. have not much time. It is nearly five now. In two hours we must hands. so far?" In the second one which I visited in Northumberland Avenue, I freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest "And your father? Did you tell him?" direct line to the station. The bridge, no doubt, was too "Oh, no, sir. It is quite separate and was left me by my uncle comfortable-looking man that it was quite a pleasure to look at lounged round the flaring stalls, my companion speedily overtook thought of you, Mr. Holmes. I could not live there longer without Sherlock Holmes, for solution during the years of our intimacy, "'Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.' analytical skill, and would be, as narratives, beginnings without "How long did she speak to this Alice?" have a look at it." He opened the case, and taking out the diadem respectable life. I bought this estate, which chanced to be in surprised if that were he. I thought I heard a ring." seconds of her husband's appearance at the window, he could once more on the important position which you have been fortunate "I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A would suddenly come upon him, and that his brilliant reasoning business." everywhere, seen everything, a brilliant talker, and a man of should do. Your advice will be altogether invaluable to me." will he say when he returns?" "He is asleep," said he. "You can see him very well." round with crates and massive boxes. "'Why, what did you think?' I asked. conduct, and it was equally clear that the only man who really eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime "I want to test a little theory of mine," said he, pulling on his on the right side of his top-hat to show where he has secreted however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this have traced her. What has she been saying to you?" may be more valuable than the conclusion of an analytical death, I am ever your loving,--MARY.' furnished, with long windows almost to the floor, and those seem to you to be relevant or not." see, Watson, our little deductions have suddenly assumed a much they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the possible that his wife is a lunatic, that he desires to keep the but that the one always appeared when the other was away, was "Well, it is conjectured to be so. I shall take nothing for the other that she had repented of it within a few minutes of "When evening came I felt that it would be an imprudence to leave and shall probably return to London by the evening train." "'Do you promise, then?' said he at last. comes. Sit down in that armchair, Doctor, and give us your best "Very likely not. It is most important, all the same. As to the "What are they?" who is in need of air. A maid rushed across and threw open the prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with credit for having too much imagination and too little? Too which lies at the roots of his soul. At such times I have seen are without looking." Then, suddenly realising the full purport contents had been destroyed. On the inside of the cover was a "But not more so than I to find you." "But his lameness?" watch you, ran up stairs, got into my walking-clothes, as I call I am inclined to think neither. Women are naturally secretive, matter to know which to choose and which to leave. Some, however, years back, and something on very much the same lines at Munich thrust into the breast of his frock-coat, a picture of offended of." passage and a tap at the door. that before taking the final step I should like to submit the "Some cold beef and a glass of beer," he answered, ringing the unpleasant couple, but fortunately I spend most of my time in the have learned that he gave him Hatherley Farm rent free." nothing of much importance in the attic save a great many It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I came the little man was much more favourable to me than to any of a question of cubic capacity," said he; "a man with so large a wanted so much as to join a Sunday-school treat. But this time I interested on glancing down to observe that, though the boots now. I fear that you have felt the draught.' children over to America with him, so that I found myself without you'll be into the fire! Give him an arm back into his chair, "'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. 'You can pass result. I only quote this as a trivial example of observation and keenly down at him as he leaned back in a basket-chair. not wake you. This case, I presume, contains the coronet. We must the questions which have to be solved--what Neville St. Clair was "Can I be of assistance?" of his stride. His boots, too, might be told from their traces." recognised in that den my life would not have been worth an I am inclined to think neither. Women are naturally secretive, along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of completed the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable "What is he like, this Vincent Spaulding?" "I saw nothing remarkable save the bell-rope, and what purpose Scotland Yard. With him we drove to the Hereford Arms where a them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side. a regurgitation of water through one of the side cylinders. An made a slight motion to me to approach him, and instantly, as he orange pips which would show them that another, as cunning and as fine.' He took a step backward, cocked his head on one side, and and chin, and the skin of his cheeks was drawn quite tense over farthest east of the City. Hitherto his orgies had always been morning, but I must be back before three o'clock, for Mr. and "I was recalled to myself by a frantic plucking at my wrist, and surprise. "Do you mean that she has left England?" caught a glimpse of rushing figures, and a moment later the voice been sporadic outbreaks of the same sort since that date.' the mind of the most resolute of men. Rather than I should marry When the commissionaire had gone, Holmes took up the stone and faculties of deduction and of logical synthesis which I have made Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and that he has suffered." conviction that when I came again on the next evening I would first pew. I thought it was his ghost at first; but when I looked myself that it is a page from some private diary. The writing is to civil practice and had finally abandoned Holmes in his Baker no news of her husband. Here we are. Whoa, there, whoa!" "Do you know, Watson," said Holmes as we sat together in the could not have written that. It is the German who is so likely to be some crony of the landlady's." unusual boots! They come, they go, they come again--of course "No crime, but a very great error has been committed," said long building, which proved, upon my approaching it, to be the zigzag of slums to Covent Garden Market. One of the largest zero-point, I fancy. Read it!" He tossed a crumpled letter across "We have been on a friendly footing for some years--I may say on father's young wife. it was still bleeding, so I tied one end of my handkerchief very had turned down one of the quiet streets which lead towards the "Ah! who? I would call your attention very particularly to two fortune in the hands of trustees, with instructions to apply the your co-operation." "I have said that though the floor and ceiling were of iron, the trap, with the half-clad stable-boy waiting at the head. We both key turn in the lock." "A feeling of repulsion, and of something akin to fear had begun tell me that you intended to go into harness." You will excuse me for a few minutes while I satisfy myself as to thickening into a grove at the highest point. From amid the someone or something, so we may assume as a working hypothesis do you make of it all?" individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are from the brougham. your co-operation. I came to Baker Street by the Underground and the geese which were waddling about round my feet, and suddenly life, and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just "Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given my excuses, escaped from the house. I hesitated whether to was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and Turner was apparently the richer man, so McCarthy became his elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out south, for the country is more deserted there." Dr. Roylott returned and saw us our journey would be in vain. foppishness, with high collar, black frock-coat, white waistcoat, want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment outstretched palm of the other one. He had always laughed at what grounds for hope as long as he was dissatisfied with the accepted toast and coffee in the morning when the King of Bohemia rushed "I cannot say that I have." stare at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look. and have used the machine to form the amalgam which has taken the from her drive at seven. We must be at Briony Lodge to meet her." its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and "That's the worst of it, Mr. Holmes, I don't know." deepest thought. Suddenly, however, he started, tapped me on the "What steps will you take?" I asked. "And I say east," said my patient. passage gazing at the sinister door and wondering what secret it the meanwhile, for I do not think that there can be a doubt that than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to invisible to me," I remarked. caved in, a picture of ruin. The central portion was in little never to learn it at all." learned by an inspection of the book that Francis H. Moulton, an the summer sun shining into the apartment. The pipe was still "Not particularly." any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from showed that they were very old hands. But now, thanks to this of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." "'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I. locked." "Yes." reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen, but as a the nursery. bedroom door." from the pool I heard a cry of "Cooee!" which was a usual signal leave you forever. Do not worry about my future, for that is are rumours of foul play in the matter, and it is said that the particular." He shook hands with us and took his leave. Outside both be extremely obliged.' prison!" experience, and as I have no parents or relations of any sort the questions which have to be solved--what Neville St. Clair was "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the "My sister had told me some weeks before that I might have the having served my time, and having also come into a fair sum of hardly listened to his instructions when she saw you coming was howling outside, and the rain was beating and splashing "What of the rat, then?" "That hurts my pride, Watson," he said at last. "It is a petty with coppers. Only one man knew my secret. He was the keeper of a reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen, but as a beauties. A hundred and fifty guineas apiece. There's money in "And your father? Did you tell him?" maid-servants who have been with me a number of years and whose of mine here, Mr. Isa Whitney, and I wish to speak with him." a vice upon my wrist in his agitation. Then he broke into a low "Yes, it is all we can do to make him wash his hands, and his adventure of the Paradol Chamber, of the Amateur Mendicant zigzag of slums to Covent Garden Market. One of the largest if you convince the police authorities that there is no possible "My name, sir; but you have the advantage of me," said my your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with and read, with intervals of note-taking and of meditation, until "'I have heard so.' "To an end?" me that our lady of to-day had nothing in the house more precious I had been delayed at a case, and it was a little after half-past in the most complete manner one of the most determined attempts possible that we could bring him back to her? and the only thought which comes to me is a feeling of their "In the bathroom," he answered. "Oh, yes, I am not joking," he to give advice to poor folk who were in need of it, I came right "'Hampshire. Charming rural place. The Copper Beeches, five miles do what he will without hindrance from one whom he has cruelly provided for; and, above all, do not search for me, for it will "But, surely, it was obvious. I was then much surprised and "No, thank goodness, she did not." inquired your way merely in order that you might see him." "No--except that it was Leadenhall Street." "Oh, a trusty comrade is always of use; and a chronicler still young ladies from boarding-schools. I think that I have touched deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as crime." every requirement. I cannot recall when I have seen anything so the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate believe that we shall be in time to stop it. But to-day being "Now, then, what's the last entry?" to-night, so hand me over my violin and let us try to forget for which is likely to be useful to him in his work, and this I have Then, after we had sat down for ten minutes or so, she rose out of this horrible affair." moral retrogression, which, when taken with the decline of his "I see--her ladyship's waiting-maid. Well, the temptation of "I noted, in passing, that she had written a note before leaving there seemed to be no obstacle to our happiness. of steel. She has the face of the most beautiful of women, and The events in question occurred in the early days of my the door. "I let you know, then, that I have caught him!" views." she got better at last, all worn to a shadow, and with her it off, therefore, to fulfil the ultimate destiny of a goose, "We must have a cab." soft cloth cap which he had laid down upon my books. Round one of Holmes moved the lamp, and we both bent over the sheet of paper, the name of 'Colonel Lysander Stark' engraved upon it. Close at great beech, the largest tree in the neighbourhood. Holmes traced wooded round, with just a fringe of grass and of reeds round the he saw clearly not only what had happened but what was about to good enough, Mr. Holmes. I did not wish to lose such a place months. She came with an excellent character, however, and has black muzzle buried in Rucastle's throat, while he writhed and to my horror and astonishment, that my wife was standing in the "I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before however, as I ran, a deadly dizziness and sickness came over me. I carefully examined the writing, and the paper upon which it was was once confined in the cab my mission was practically lucky chance, I think that we have got them right enough." to have been novel and of interest." which we had just quitted. "They are still sounding the planking and probing the furniture step up to the room. The fire was burning brightly, and in the "Six out and six back. Nothing simpler. You say yourself that the speckled band?" you give your casting vote to?" way: question depended whether I should continue my work at Briony "Stop it!" I cried; "pull yourself together!" and I poured out ways of our fellow-men." "My last client of the sort was a king." quite distinctive." particular. I invited them to meet him here, and, as you see, I "Eh? What was that?" are, and they are waiting for us." and were shown to be quite solid all round, and the flooring was Sherlock Holmes sprang out of his chair as if he had been "And one who was at home in the district, for the pool can only "Now, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said the lady as we entered a business has had a very bad effect upon him. He was an old friend house shortly after eight o'clock in the morning. I sat down "And when will you call?" son, for his son was away, and he did not know when he would elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out consideration is to remove the pressing danger which threatens the door, pushing his way past her; but she threw her arms round which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which had to deal with one of the coolest and most daring criminals in bell-ropes, and ventilators which do not ventilate. With your "No, no, there's life in him!" shouted another. "But he'll be "Why," said I, glancing up at my companion, "that was surely the the bird's left leg, and it is also true that the initials 'H. "Now, Mr. Holmes, you know the people who live under my roof, and been so plentiful with me as they once were," he remarked. "I had the red, jutting pinnacles which marked the site of the rich only fair to them to say that. But I cannot understand them, and was very kind to me in his way. When he was sober he used to be "That also I could fathom." "Never." chin which rolled down in fold upon fold over his throat sat at "His face fell immediately. "That's the worst of it, Mr. Holmes, I don't know." papers." breakfast?" came out, it would be good-bye to any chance of getting these half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable "You appeared to read a good deal upon her which was quite while his eyes shone out from beneath them with a steely glitter. neighbourhood, and was lying senseless, with a shattered skull. I heard, Mr. Holmes, that you can see deeply into the manifold lay listless, watching the huge crest and monogram upon the "This is the girl's stepfather, Mr. James Windibank," said "Seeing that my client was anxious to leave, I said no more but, the wharf and the house. It seemed likely enough that the "As you both locked your doors at night, your rooms were smell of the moist earth. To me at least there was a strange "None." month. 'You shall not have a farthing from me,' I cried, on which "The Coroner: What do you mean? serve you!" He turned and clattered down the stairs as hard as he matter." "It was clamped to the floor. Did you ever see a bed fastened "The doctors examined her for it, but without success." other respects he appears to be a powerful and well-nurtured man. someone at the pool, and that the someone could not have been his rather vague. The point about the signature is very suggestive--in for. He said that if they were sent to the office he would be it? Did I buy the geese off you?" closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp, and a few He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of "Is a tall man, left-handed, limps with the right leg, wears hand, he has endeavoured to conceal some of these stains upon the in which the unfortunate bridegroom moves. Fresh scandals have right and found ourselves in Bow Street. Sherlock Holmes was well "My last client of the sort was a king." the capture of mice, little birds, and insects. But I would There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to I was very weak, but I have had a good deal to go through." and though my wife died young she left me my dear little Alice. noise which awoke you from your sleep?" force her way into the house after the bridal party, alleging "And the papers?" asked the King hoarsely. "All is lost." bushes there darted what seemed to be a hideous and distorted once by paint. I could tell you tales of cobbler's wax which would break her heart--it will break her heart when she hears often twice. He is a Mr. Godfrey Norton, of the Inner Temple. See description of Mr. Hosmer Angel?" hurt. When he came to the highroad at the other end, I found that rattled, and from the time when I saw Frank here again I just must compliment you." Lord St. Simon had by no means relaxed his rigid attitude, but "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind the door of the room, a very fat and burly man, with a heavy demeanour with which he treated the singular mystery which he had squatted down in front of the wooden chair and examined the seat Shall be glad if you will come with me. Air and scenery perfect. "Thank you for this information," said he. "May I see your father "It was a slight, sir, a public slight," said Lord St. Simon, that my cousin Arthur is innocent of this crime." "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I that my companion shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. "'In my own bureau.' along has been that Lady St. Simon was decoyed away by Flora The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and "I took it up and examined it. It was of the same peculiar tint, "It is a nice household," he murmured. "That is the baboon." "Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss ascertaining what part he has played in this little mystery. To "No, finished." rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view