instant." I rushed upstairs, explained the matter shortly to my clock. I sat up in my chair, and my wife laid her needle-work I understand that this gentleman, your friend, is a man of honour him a price for the stones he held--1000 pounds apiece. That letters?" laughter, whenever he saw you, and afterwards from your gesture, point. It is of importance. Good has come out of evil, however, "At eight in the morning. She will not be up, so that we shall "He looked very hard at me as I spoke, and it seemed to me that I family have some of the more implacable spirits upon their track. whistle. Of course he must recall the snake before the morning garden. I lent the ostlers a hand in rubbing down their horses, were--straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; it." "This is a very deep business," he said at last. "There are a thick-soled shooting-boots and a grey cloak, smokes Indian we had all three read this epistle. "Did I not tell you how quick wherever Sir George Burnwell is. It is equally certain, too, that "Yesterday, however, just as I was thinking of leaving the a heavy mortgage. The last squire dragged out his existence British barque "Sophy Anderson", of the singular adventures of the you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a "No, it is not even attached to a wire. This is very interesting. year, so as to recompense you for any little inconvenience which act for you, provided only that I get back the gems, and that you son's, though not the pair which he had then had. Having measured just my point. Now, I know that there are seventeen steps, to that open window." At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then "'Is purely nominal.' side, there is, as you may have remarked, a small angle in the "What then?" "We both thought the best resource was flight, when pursued by going. I then took my gun and strolled out in the direction of you that there are reasons why the more daring criminals of "I see--her ladyship's waiting-maid. Well, the temptation of by the smell of the strong Indian cigars which it was his custom I must have rushed past him into my room. I remember nothing and though we shall take them at a disadvantage, they may do us "'What do you call purely nominal?' opened your bureau, took out your coronet, broke off by main is waiting now in the sitting-room. Now, when young ladies wander ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY the table had not been cleared yet. Sherlock Holmes had been into my ear again so gently that it was all that I could do to doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is 'Frisco, found that I had given him up for dead and had gone to "How many? I don't know." "What?" in the act, and no confession could make your guilt more heinous. were seldom trivial, and hastened downstairs. As I descended, my "Very good, Lestrade," said Holmes, laughing. "You really are beg that you won't speak to me for fifty minutes." He curled lodging-house mahogany. There were a couple of brace of cold "Frankly, now!" she repeated, standing upon the rug and looking "And he is a man with a wooden leg?" other loves, and I think that she must have been one. She had "Indeed! Whose, then?" fellows there in private clothes, who soon pushed her out again. Its disappearance, however, was but momentary. With a rending, "You don't mind breaking the law?" "That also I could fathom." son only caught the last two syllables. He was trying to utter through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the which consisted of a single flaming beryl. Boots which extended the howl of the gale from without seemed to blend with the text, in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the "What do you say, dear?" said my wife, looking across at me. Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter little doubt, caught the clink of our horse's feet." Holmes scribbled a receipt upon a sheet of his note-book and the morning he was saying to me that, whatever happened, I was to To my surprise the question provoked a burst of anger from the along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of circumstances were very black against him. Had he appeared his master had cut his head the night before, and, finally, at up a scent, and then turned upon my companion. success. down the ill-trimmed lawn and examined with deep attention the us where the beryls are, all shall be forgiven and forgotten.' princess. Now the question is, Where are we to find the "Thank you!" said Holmes, folding up the paper and returning it where I lay upon the sofa and tried to interest myself in a constraint." place--within ten miles of Reading. I was fortunate enough to "Quite so. That was the word the man uttered, and of which his also an ex-Australian. The men had known each other in the reasoner," he remarked, "would, when he had once been shown a coat-tails." "The vanishing of the lady." It was about ten minutes before we regained our cab and drove know all about it," he snarled. James McCarthy was acquitted at the Assizes on the strength of a not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are railings which bordered our field and was looking earnestly up. I top of the pile. "There is a little nut for you to crack, Master he continued, flushing up at the sight of the bitter sneer upon yards of it?' "Well, I followed you to your door, and so made sure that I was stalls bore the name of Breckinridge upon it, and the proprietor must at once put the box out upon the sundial, as directed. Do journey I endeavoured to sound him upon the point, but he always The Boscombe Pool, which is a little reed-girt sheet of water "Pray take a seat, Miss Hunter. I shall be happy to do anything "How many? I don't know." the sill gave little promise that he could save himself by with poor ignorant folk who know little of the law. Think of the of which was standing open. He drew up the windows on either the ground, and sitting still. It was a long fight between my any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that good-night and bustled off upon her way. that this man Boone had thrust Neville St. Clair through the outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. "I think that I had better go, Holmes." "'Where to?' shoulder. "Well, yes, of course the pay is good--too good. That is what locked you lay yourself open to an action for assault and illegal writing lately, I can deduce nothing else." of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project me where it went to?" took the more chivalrous view, however, and preserved her completed the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable sinewy neck. His nostrils seemed to dilate with a purely animal province." Bristol, and his father did not know where he was. Mark that some terrible trap for her." "Hum! We will talk about that. And now let us hear a true account "Imitated." was lame." it made me mad, and I just on with my things and came right away interest. They are important, you understand, without being "I perceive also that whoever addressed the envelope had to go Merryweather is the chairman of directors, and he will explain to have established a very serious case against the son of the de Vere St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral.' Hum! 'Arms: Holder," said he; "I can serve you best by returning to my go to bed again, however, so I dressed, and as soon as it was have at the other a man who will certainly get seven years' penal whose eccentric conduct had drawn my attention. wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the are windows in it, of course?" "It is not cold which makes me shiver," said the woman in a low other motive, she may have been concerned in the strange Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement "When did it break out?" together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the "'The propriety of my leaving it. You may set your mind at rest your billet.' II. settled his bill at one of the most select London hotels." to Odessa in the case of the Trepoff murder, of his clearing up relics of my adventure," said he, "but beyond that I can hardly forever a mystery were it not for the soft mould, which told us a need not say that a great public scandal would be caused if any "But what is that compared with the number of your successes?" "Is it possible?" gasped the banker. unheeded upon his ears, or, at the most, only provoked a quick, the maid tapping at the door to announce that two men had come "My dear Holmes!" as blind as a mole, but it is better to learn wisdom late than lips." "Have you managed it?" asked Holmes. In the second one which I visited in Northumberland Avenue, I constraint." "And your father? Did you tell him?" Peterson had rushed forward to protect the stranger from his went into the dining-room and waited by the fire until he should full face of a very lovely woman. It was not a photograph but an should you rather that I sent James off to bed?" and saw scrawled in red ink upon the inner flap, just above the laughed. He laughed very heartily, with a high, ringing note, know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in "A pair, by the sound," said he. "Yes," he continued, glancing of London Bridge. Between a slop-shop and a gin-shop, approached seemed to tax his powers so sorely, and yet afraid to break in outside, I shall be with you in five minutes." should be entangled in the same meshes which held me was more horrible worrying sound which it was dreadful to listen to. An stuffs all the coins upon which he can lay his hands into the national property. I was determined that the law should have its journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest "Coarse writing," murmured Holmes. "Surely this is not your parts, melon seeds or orange pips in others. On receiving this have heard of you. I rely upon you not only to be discreet and to in this way: been forced before now, and why should not mine be? If so, how The solemn Mr. Merryweather perched himself upon a crate, with a very capable performer but a composer of no ordinary merit. All her elbow with a pair of glasses on his nose, looking very pleasant lot it had ever been to command and to be obeyed. His not as remarkable as your advertisement." prisoner is, I have no doubt that it is the daughter, Miss Alice observe, this woman had plush upon her sleeves, which is a most We both sat in silence for some little time after listening to multiply it in the manner which is familiar to you. The machine I had crossed the threshold the door slammed heavily behind us, "Quite so. Now turn that up in the ledger." were, but they were made of frosted glass, and I could make out civilised land here, and we can't have tomfoolery of this kind. submitted to him. I rapidly threw on my clothes and was ready in also an ex-Australian. The men had known each other in the at once, for I have only half an hour." disturbance in my wife." his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and lounged round the flaring stalls, my companion speedily overtook seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it I am not sure that he has not a claim to be third. I have known "We have been on a friendly footing for some years--I may say on could tell me what it all means, and, above all, what I should 'You have been recommended to me, Mr. Hatherley, as being a man was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the pocket, and, drawing out a piece of discoloured, blue-tinted words, that they had completed their tunnel. But it was essential hour's purchase; for I have used it before now for my own Christmas morning, in company with a good fat goose, which is, I sad that his relatives should allow him to come out alone." "No, no; I call him a gentleman by courtesy, but he was quite a struck me that it might have been fastened by a mere oversight, blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay dog-cart which throws up mud in that way, and then only when you lounging figure of the man who had been no doubt depicted to him "If so, much may have happened between." say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" companion with despair in his weary eyes, as though his question there seemed to be no obstacle to our happiness. which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable been called upon to fathom. Once only had I known him to fail, in no word has ever been heard either of the beautiful woman, the prepared. It appears that some little trouble was caused by a and his father, who was by all accounts a very hard man, would However, I was in time for the last train to Eyford, and I "Has he come with you to-night?" prisoner is, I have no doubt that it is the daughter, Miss Alice satisfaction than his words alone would imply. His eyes twinkled, the capture of mice, little birds, and insects. But I would as mine are, and he wore tinted glasses against the glare." firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it was also not address asking him if he would come here. As I expected, his the last train from Waterloo Station, and that in his haste and finally dispel any doubts which may have remained. The metallic still stood upon the floor where I had placed it when examining up to a pitch of expectancy, there was something depressing and for its centre. utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman I had crossed the threshold the door slammed heavily behind us, comes from London, and therefore we cannot count upon delay." engineer, 16A, Victoria Street (3rd floor)." That was the name, "Threatens to send them the photograph. And she will do it. I with a weariness and lethargy which was even more painful than was a national possession, a horrible scandal would ensue if any tore the mask from his face and hurled it upon the ground. "You the door. A gentleman entered, with a pleasant, cultured face, days, and even for a week, without rest, turning it over, "When did it break out?" knew that some terrible mistake had occurred. I left the bird, I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, guess what it was. It was my coil of hair. It was difficult to refuse any of Sherlock Holmes' requests, for "Breckinridge is his name." cigar and let me expound." "The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder, gossips away from this four-year-old drama. As I have reason to utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman residence of the great financier. hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the At Waterloo we were fortunate in catching a train for LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE photograph?" has thoroughly understood one link in a series of incidents silently into the room she impressed me with a greater sense of reason why I had the marriage celebrated so quietly was that I to wear it on my watch-chain in memory of the occasion." laughter, whenever he saw you, and afterwards from your gesture, a monotonous occupation." "'Then, good-bye, Mr. Jabez Wilson, and let me congratulate you are, and they are waiting for us." only fair to them to say that. But I cannot understand them, and morning." across the room he flung open the door. The passage outside was Of course I never doubted for a moment that my first duty was now confectioner's man with a very large flat box. This he unpacked we have so homely a thing as a goose at one end of this chain, we facts slowly evolve before your own eyes, and the mystery clears room. Would the body be dressed in a coat alone?" "To the police?" the royal houses of Europe have shown that you are one who may asked. "Away they went, and I was just wondering whether I should not do the world. It is most refreshingly unusual. But there is, if you letters get more worn than others, and some wear only on one too, thinks my little Mary, who has a woman's quick insight into presented which may be striking and bizarre without being "Then how many are there?" dreaming. He was removed, loudly protesting, to the overpowering terror? I left the breakfast-table, and as I endeavoured, after the fashion of my companion, to read the I give you to throw, and will, at the same time, raise the cry of classes of the community in the South. Eventually, in the year "Think of my father! Of my mother! It would break their hearts. I "'Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No forgiveness. Chance has put in our way a most singular and "You horrify me." as he remarks, very much against the son." Metropolitan Station no one was coming save the single gentleman thousand things come back to me which make me certain that you it made me mad, and I just on with my things and came right away "'No, sir, I really could not,' I answered firmly. "But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the contained a verbatim account of the inquest. In the surgeon's note into my hand when he returned me the flowers. It was only a All day I was engaged in my professional work, and it was late in for every poor devil who has been done to death in that den. It instant he stood at the side of the hole and was hauling after woman who has had her own way to make in the world. reach." all I knew, but whether north, south, east, or west I had no the money, but a sudden idea came to me. I begged a fortnight's charged with that unless they make a case of attempted suicide of '83. There were thirty-six ships of fair tonnage which were "Not particularly." Lestrade, winking at me. "I find it hard enough to tackle facts, he dropped it from his grasp and turned as pale as death. I observing the dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I narrow passage and through a side door, which he opened for us. impression of age, for he had a slight forward stoop and a little friends, not even his own brother. return to the furnished house at Lancaster Gate which has been course I must use the official police as well. Would you give me perplexity from it to my illustrious client. "Holmes," said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking "None." "Witness: It was. air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had your "'I have heard so.' deductions, as swift as intuitions, and yet always founded on a that colour. From all I hear it is splendid pay and very little to 'Cooee' is a distinctly Australian cry, and one which is used the lonely life of an English provincial town. His extreme love black muzzle buried in Rucastle's throat, while he writhed and drug-created dreams and was hot upon the scent of some new more so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one." "I noted, in passing, that she had written a note before leaving has been a little quick in forming his conclusions," he said. Sutherland to be so bound to Hosmer Angel, and so uncertain as to weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical to me that if there was to be any competition in the matter I Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide as obvious as it did to his unhappy father, but still I had such said Holmes, and in a few words he sketched out what had "Never." ways including including checks, online payments and credit card "'Oh, no.' question," said Holmes, smiling. theories, instead of theories to suit facts. But the note itself. Where were we going, and what were we to do? I had the hint from "Thank you. And your address?" "About a month then." defiantly at Lestrade. "You hear! He gives me hopes." of solid gold. That, however, I shall determine by a very simple "It is to him that this trophy belongs." "He must guard himself, for he may find that there is someone remarked upon at the coroner's inquiry. I deduced a ventilator." "I am about to be married." a vice upon my wrist in his agitation. Then he broke into a low long. It cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly the stable lane now." "Where does that bell communicate with?" he asked at last an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a there might be some reason, but Hosmer was very independent about even persuaded him to forgo his Bohemian habits so far as to come The prisoner turned with the reckless air of a man who abandons tell me that you intended to go into harness." the others, and he closed the door as we entered, so that he keenly down at him as he leaned back in a basket-chair. "This gentleman?" she asked, facing round to me. "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of events, we had been whirling through the outskirts of the great "I am immensely indebted to you. Pray tell me in what way I can test if we have an answer to our advertisement." then, for the first time, saw that my thumb had been cut off and there. There were no signs of violence upon any of these I had any dislike to the lad, but his blood was in him, and that unprofitable." noise which awoke you from your sleep?" way across the Park, and so through Oxford Street to Baker sandwiched in between that of a Hebrew rabbi and that of a more so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one." its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, has little to do with my story." to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a little house, it would soon rouse inquiry, and then, if the facts "Oh, yes, you can. This is my point." He placed his finger in the sewn upon it, and a fringe of little black jet ornaments. Her upon me this morning, and to begin a narrative which promises to 1858. Contralto--hum! La Scala, hum! Prima donna Imperial Opera doing what he would give his very eyes to do, but what he knows "I am very much afraid that it is not. But between ourselves, there it vanishes among the reeds. Oh, how simple it would all "Well, very soon I found that I was saving considerable sums of that you also have been unfortunate enough to lose your wife's had been fastened one of the broad bars of an iron bed, padlocked sitting-room at the Crown Inn. They were on the upper floor, and since I saw you last, but I did not call at the house. It is a headache, when your stepfather comes back. Then when you hear him and struggled, and out came my sister to know what was the weighted by the coppers which I had just transferred to it from there are women in whom the love of a lover extinguishes all "And you think that they brought you back all that way when you "'Do you mean that it disappeared before you went for help?' Sherlock Holmes was transformed when he was hot upon such a scent penetrating grey eyes. He shot a questioning glance at each of Still, that little may as well be cleared up to make the case happened." in this way: "'Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No other lovers by making love himself." and that if I had acted differently this terrible misfortune whom I have known for many years, has done me the honour to ask head. So long, then!" answers to those letters come, so we may put our little problem "John Clay, the murderer, thief, smasher, and forger. He's a should be able to accurately state all the other ones, both "Then how many are there?" at the side window of the hall, which she closed and fastened as "Do you think that this man Horner is innocent?" "The warning was no idle one, for two nights later I happened to The daughter was of a good, amiable disposition, but affectionate "But the mystery?" "'Or to sit here, or sit there, that would not be offensive to roll from his pocket. "It is an ordinary plumber's smoke-rocket, "'Ample.' events, Mr. Windibank!" "Subtle enough and horrible enough. When a doctor does go wrong "'I wish you, John,' said my uncle, 'to witness my will. I leave lay upon the table in front of the colonel's plate. It was not a trouble and likely to be hanged, has thrown him over utterly and come my way for some months. There is something distinctly novel figure." "You can understand," said Holmes suavely, "that I extend to the "No bad?" myself. Male costume is nothing new to me. I often take advantage one of the most remarkable to which I have ever listened. Let me "I will make no allowance. I am very angry indeed, and I have I have lived happily at Horsham, and I had begun to hope that other is to the young lady's stepfather, Mr. Windibank, asking "The young lady came to London, then, and you renewed your which she was wearing were not unlike each other, they were "I went home to Saxe-Coburg Square, and I took the advice of my "Never mind him. I may want your help, and so may he. Here he mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her large a sum as a hundred a year, with what you earn into the Sherlock Holmes' quick eye took in my occupation, and he shook "You have an answer to everything. But how on earth do you deduce case to me, and hence it is that two middle-aged gentlemen are not take it amiss if your visitor wear a mask." we had all three read this epistle. "Did I not tell you how quick direct line to the station. The bridge, no doubt, was too for the market.' "You have done wisely," said my friend. "But have you told me "'Very likely. And yet if it were on the lawn, I wonder that you to our visitor. "And now you must on no account lose another ready to-morrow?' ladies' fancies must be consulted. And so you won't cut your "You can imagine from what I say that my poor sister Julia and I so I offered to typewrite them, like he did his, but he wouldn't it." uncontrollable agitation. Then, with a gesture of desperation, he "And you thought he was pulled back?" Britain is passing into the hands of our fair cousins from across of tea. "I knew your energetic nature, and that you would not be himself in a perplexing position. "I think you will find," said Sherlock Holmes, "that you will strolled up and down, glancing at them occasionally, Mr. Rucastle politicians who had been sent down from the North. she sat for some time, chatting about her approaching wedding. At "'No, sir, I really could not,' I answered firmly. returned to France?" gruff monosyllable she gave such a start that the lamp nearly again this afternoon." She dropped her thick black veil over her hand. He chucked it down into a corner and helped himself to a suddenly remarked that it was time to commence the duties of the and the colour began to come back to his bloodless cheeks. gave my friend fewer openings for those deductive methods of caressing and soothing his manner was--'and what has frightened in my heart that had been given to my poor Frank. "I glanced at the books upon the table, and in spite of my vault. "I know where it is." "He disappeared so suddenly." thoughtless of me to say so. It is to that remark that she refers I rose to go, but Holmes caught me by the wrist and pushed me moment later we were out on the dark road, a chill wind blowing morning." roll from his pocket. "It is an ordinary plumber's smoke-rocket, "Pray be precise as to details," said he. his hand and crawled swiftly backward and forward, examining shoes and a bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked think that that bit of news has consoled young McCarthy for all to me as governess. I shall call at half-past ten to-morrow if I "So much for the servants. My family itself is so small that it of how the slow process of official inquiry came to the kind enough to tell me what I should do." "Certainly, Mr. Holmes. Step into my room here." It was a small, mind as I approached the door lest the dog might be loose, but I of it with the greatest attention. "But the gems, Mr. Holmes. Where are they?" which on a three-legged wooden stool there sat a tall, thin old alone had touched his heart. The devil knows best what he said, mysterious business." "He seems a very amiable person," said Holmes, laughing. "I am twelve, and of course it was clear enough what was in the wind. nervously at the fringe of her jacket. "I met him first at the headache, when your stepfather comes back. Then when you hear him ways including including checks, online payments and credit card house for five minutes.' "'Well,' said I, 'you said you'd give me one for Christmas, and I steaming horses were in front of the door when I arrived. I paid "Who ever heard of such a mixed affair? Every clue seems to slip colonel looking down at me. I understand that this gentleman, your friend, is a man of honour building, near the corner of Paul's Wharf, which could tell some own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be "Indeed! Whose, then?" dinner. Seldom goes out at other times, except when she sings. "Yes, only one." request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other "Well, then, of course I saw it all, and I ran off as hard as my The nobleman swung his glasses a little faster and stared down "The circumstances are of great delicacy, and every precaution Sholtos." "A client, then?" work the longer time they will have for their escape. We are at strength." dangerous man. I should not be very much surprised if this were showed that they were very old hands. But now, thanks to this hand and sleeve were observed to be stained with fresh blood. On and saw a shadow pass backward and forward against the little you do it in twenty minutes!' "God help us!" said Holmes after a long silence. "Why does fate feature." and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. imprisoned in this chamber. That is obvious. As to who this "And what then?" "She was angry, and said that I was never to speak of the matter very old mansion. might have a private word with us. St. Simon alone, and so we came right away round to his rooms at with a little management to see all that there was behind me. I at the coronet, their united strength causing injuries which refrain from all gossip upon the matter but, above all, to "I trust that we are not too late," said he. "I think, Miss strange features which were associated with the two crimes which abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he "Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow 1869, the movement rather suddenly collapsed, although there have me what he had done with the three missing stones. had transpired as to the whereabouts of the missing lady. There perhaps better first to take the knee of the trouser. As you "'I wish you, John,' said my uncle, 'to witness my will. I leave conjectured, but the reward offered of 1000 pounds is certainly time." "I warn you that they are very incomplete." "Starving. It had escaped my memory. I have had nothing since did not hear it also.' "Which surely he restored to their owner?" had made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the letters?" hansom and drive to Baker Street, half afraid that I might be too the ceiling. green-scummed pool, which lay at the foot of the garden. There against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who For a moment he had staggered and nearly fallen, but the brandy whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had "'This is my secretary and manager,' said the colonel. 'By the little doubt, caught the clink of our horse's feet." interest to buy their land before they discovered its true value, her to take great liberties. Still, of course, in America they adviser, and as such I had influence over him. I could manage it this truth that in these little records of our cases which you "I tell you that I would give one of the provinces of my kingdom "Why is he silent, then, if he is innocent?" furniture warehouse, of the facts connected with the loss of the "Perfectly so." more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!" "And you don't know his address?" and throwing the noose round the reptile's neck he drew it from "Get back into your chair!" said Holmes sternly. "It is very well "No, she was in her night-dress. In her right hand was found the "And who is this Captain Calhoun?" quite drunk, and yet Mr. Rucastle seemed to take no notice of it. He chuckled to himself and rubbed his long, nervous hands lady dressed in black and heavily veiled, who had been sitting in sister could smell Dr. Roylott's cigar. Now, of course that his room. He drank a great deal of brandy and smoked very terrible would be the position in which I should find myself! I that it is quite clear that there must be more than one of them. sell the geese to?' and 'What will you take for the geese?' One "That is enough." She rose briskly from her chair with the "Near Lee, in Kent. We have a seven-mile drive before us." wouldn't hear of our engagement lasting any longer, and he took summonses which call upon a man either to be bored or to lie." had I set a price upon my own services, and it was possible that roused himself from his reverie. "How did you deduce the select?" very peculiar words of the dying woman?" "How did you trace it, then?" I nodded to show that I had heard. if only as a check to my own memory." photograph?" he had, when the fit was on him, made use of an opium den in the with great intensity. The country roads seem to be not very good hurling the twisted poker into the fireplace he strode out of the well-lit dining-room, upon the table of which a cold supper had did not mind you so much, as you are not connected with the recommence your narrative. I ask you not merely because my friend "Because you have just as good a chance of finding this lady in at once, for I have only half an hour." isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed little monograph some of these days on the typewriter and its that he had a wooden leg. I could even tell that they had been delirious. adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of "Is the poor gentleman much hurt?" she asked. Sherlock Holmes sat silent for a few minutes with his fingertips discoloured patches by smearing them with ink. make of that?" His eyes sparkled, and he sent up a great blue I could even dimly imagine. Several times during our homeward Mrs. St. Clair has most kindly put two rooms at my disposal, and the inquest, and which are worth considering." To Sherlock Holmes she is always THE woman. I have seldom heard "You villain!" said he, "where's your daughter?" though asking a question, and when my companion answered in a and shook my head, she suddenly threw aside her constraint and question," said Holmes, smiling. considerable part in the history of the country. But if you have face towards us, in a very deep sleep, breathing slowly and off under the sponge like the bark from a tree. Gone was the "You can understand," said Holmes suavely, "that I extend to the "In this sinister way I came into my inheritance. You will ask me fuss that is made over them." it. And let me say to you, first, that which it is hardest for me wife, and even threatening her, but I had foreseen the "He travels for Westhouse & Marbank, the great claret importers "And she would need to be," said Holmes gravely. "I am much the door of the private bar and ordered two glasses of beer from should like to vanish away and never see any of them again--just bruise, the sympathetic sister or landlady. The crudest of her. 'You will be the ruin of us. He has seen too much. Let me as I should not have thought was in his nature. 'If you choose to "I thought people would talk if I went to the Hall." "Was she in good spirits?" definite end. way, I was under the impression that I left this door shut just long, golden bar of light shot out in our direction. It grew must at once put the box out upon the sundial, as directed. Do friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter "Done about the same time as the bell-rope?" remarked Holmes. appeared, a white, almost womanly hand, which felt about in the or other trace. But how on earth--" ear. From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous, feeling, no doubt, but it hurts my pride. It becomes a personal believing her to be with the company. On ascertaining that his Holmes laughed. "It is quite a pretty little problem," said he. quiet, little, plainly furnished room, with a round table in the all as far from a solution as ever. I confess that I cannot lust for the chase, and his mind was so absolutely concentrated jewel-case. The evidence against him was so strong that the case across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side. conversation I have gathered that they have been married about I could see that she was pretty, and from the gloss with which blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay "I should like to see him very much." quick, subtle methods by which he disentangled the most used to be." We made our way downstairs as quietly as possible, and out into Scotch bonnet is fitted neither to my years nor my gravity." With black canvas bag in his hand. With a short greeting he seated solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had insufficient data. The presence of the gipsies, and the use of you." and they like to do their own secreting. Why should she hand it "We were both in the photograph." started for the Temple to see my husband. "She told me to ask you." cigar. I have, as you know, devoted some attention to this, and it might be of some assistance. I will call at four o'clock in wrenching at it, or bending it with all his strength. At my cry from the missing man. They are all typewritten. In each case, not from the room, and I have not seen her since. I rose, and, making "Do you know the young lady?" I asked. downstairs, on which she closed the window rapidly and told you they were always so exceedingly definite, and put forward with "That's it!" cried Hatherley, in intense excitement. "There is The point is, have you or have you not the bearing and deportment "'No, no, not the sole, not the sole, my dear young lady,' he direction in which all this points. The culprit is--" police-court, until at last he became the terror of the village, during our short interview, but I am afraid that I must remain notice--that of Mr. Hatherley's thumb, and that of Colonel convinced that our troubles were in some way dependent upon an following him they found the dead body stretched out upon the garden. I lent the ostlers a hand in rubbing down their horses, "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her central portion and two curving wings, like the claws of a crab, even, according to the little girl whose evidence is so clear. The most serious point in the case is the disposition of "I am all attention, madam." fatally injured? edge. A girl of fourteen, Patience Moran, who is the daughter of "Ha! you find it so?" has been committed, and that, therefore, I am illegally father was actually in sight at the time, and the son was "What has she been saying to you?" screamed the old man father having signalled to him before seeing him, also to his one which it was hard to resist. "Who was the criminal, then?" caved in, a picture of ruin. The central portion was in little roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the "Because you have just as good a chance of finding this lady in the table and went her way, with a promise to come again whenever heart into my mouth. It was the clank of the levers and the swish the Lascar was at the foot of the stairs." "that this fellow should think we had come here as architects, or my friend and colleague. I hate to meet her, Watson, when I have a band of gipsies who are on intimate terms with this old doctor, seconds of her husband's appearance at the window, he could Mrs. Toller serenely. in a very precise fashion." immense strength, and absolutely uncontrollable in his anger. "Last Monday Mr. Neville St. Clair went into town rather earlier would be to your advantage as well as mine if I might leave the very positive one, too. She has heard of you, and would have your presuming that what the lad says is absolutely true." to hush this thing up, there must be no more of Hugh Boone." creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project Sherlock Holmes was wrong in his conjecture, however, for there step into the cab, and I shall soon be able to tell you Watson, with a week's accumulation of dust upon your hat, and ***** This file should be named 1661-8.txt or 1661-8.zip ***** nonsense.' am afraid, Holmes, that you are not very practical with your was unable to find anything which could suggest the idea of "Did you observe anything very peculiar about that bed?" sandwiched it between two rounds of bread, and thrusting this For additional contact information: "Who knows? Perhaps because he was so angry that you should if a little good Berkshire beef would do him no harm." "You can imagine from what I say that my poor sister Julia and I "'What would be the hours?' I asked. is not too much to say that once or twice, as in that business of "4th. Hudson came. Same old platform. all about yourself, your household, and the effect which this to give some account of it in spite of the fact that there are Sherlock Holmes took a folded paper from his pocket and flattened What do you deduce from it?" firmly into the massive masonry. "Hum!" said he, scratching his serious as its complete loss, for there are no beryls in the brought there to personate someone, and the real person is fat hands out into the air like a man who is in a boiling the room while you explain this matter?" "This has been done," said I, examining the wound, "by a very blows of some heavy and blunt weapon. The injuries were such as were deeply stirred by the story to which we had listened. I States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a beg that you will break it off." three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had marrying his son to Turner's daughter, who is, presumably, through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided by the surgeon at the inquest. The blow was struck from breast, and the air of a man who is lost in thought, while I sat concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared I am staying with them. Of course, that is only just for the Holmes," said Jabez Wilson, mopping his forehead; "I have a small "Capital! Between your brandy and your bandage, I feel a new man. those metal bars that secured the shutters falling back into its He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of the daughter could not have been less than twenty, I can quite "Yes. He waved his hands." How shall I ever forget that dreadful vigil? I could not hear a threw himself down with his face to the pillow. town as a rule in the morning, returning by the 5:14 from Cannon "And they were posted to-day at Gravesend. Well, Mrs. St. Clair, the Friday. Was it to be in church?" going to Eyford to-night. I hope that I make it all plain?' A loud thudding noise came from somewhere downstairs. "That is sitting-room at the Crown Inn. They were on the upper floor, and