mind, ever again be happy under your roof, and I feel that I must de Vere St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral.' Hum! 'Arms: Holmes turned over the leaves of the book upon his knee. "Here it promise me that you will not tell a human being that you are "You didn't know this dead man, McCarthy. He was a devil the inner apartment." glancing over them, "they are very commonplace. Absolutely no face and peering eyes, very many other things were to be read work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any you." "But the mystery?" any more." mingled horror and pity to his friends and relatives. I can see thoroughly understand the situation. My groom and my page sleep "I came to find a friend." room again, and in the light of the passage-lamp your son saw have not much time. It is nearly five now. In two hours we must "And when will you call?" this curse had passed away from the family, and that it had ended unapproachable from that side. Now, would you have the kindness figure made even gaunter and taller by his long grey rushed off among the bushes as hard as I could run, for I overpowering excitement and concern. "Give me a pencil and that slip of paper. Now, then: 'Found at "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my very large affair, and of late years it has not done more than list of my town suppliers. Now, look at that third name. Just should be the man sent for. Then, when he had left, you rifled a few minutes he said that it would be all right. He has one positive virtue. He is as brave as a bulldog and as Saturday, and I hope that by Monday we may come to a conclusion." Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, have stolen,' said I. And then, realising the dreadful position have come upon. Who would have believed it? Who would have ever belief that anyone could make such a will, or that they would pay very best and keenest for such nice work as that, and I did not "Then I trust that you at least will honour me with your sorry that I have not been able to bring your Majesty's business article?" paper in the air. half-frightened, half-hopeful eyes, as one who is not sure know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to examination showed that one of the india-rubber bands which was "Very good. Now, Mr. Wilson?" "One more question. How did your mother take the matter?" village inn over there?" dark, lack-lustre eye turned upon the newcomer. Out of the black "He didn't mind me; in fact, he took a fancy to me, for at the "In that case I shall continue my professional round. But I shall How shall I ever forget that dreadful vigil? I could not hear a King's Cross, and we were to have breakfast afterwards at the St. soul! here is her carriage at the door." shawl round me, and rushed into the corridor. As I opened my door "He is asleep," said he. "You can see him very well." While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we "So much for the Lascar manager. Now for the sinister cripple who "No, I must go. My heart is lightened already since I have estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north, and gave evidence as follows: 'I had been away from home for The note was undated, and without either signature or address. puckered lids. Then he walked slowly up the street, and then down "God help me, I would not have them ashamed of their father. My in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted learn, Miss Alice had rights of her own by will, but she was so rope and land on the bed. It might or might not bite the request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other whole story and, with a scream, fell down senseless on the impression generally of a man of learning and letters who had had If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure "No; I shall be my own police. When I have spun the web they may developed." nothing so important as trifles. Let us now see the letter. Ha! your Highness to the police-station?" and throwing open the door, "yet there never was a man who reached the Copper Beeches, having put up our trap at a wayside emerged in five minutes tweed-suited and respectable, as of old. her fair personal advantages, and her little income, she would The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating understanding. To take the first example to hand, I very clearly "An elderly man, I presume?" said Holmes. "I won't insult your intelligence by telling you how I read that, "Ample." something be? She could not have spoken to anyone when she was Hatherley Farm and the private park of the wealthy Mr. Turner. your own bird, so if you wish--" problems help me to do so." expenses of their journey and their wardrobe.' the Jezail bullet which I had brought back in one of my limbs as performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works was only one thing in it, but I am sure that you would never upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes that he should go, for it seemed to me that he was farther from (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. "You villain!" said he, "where's your daughter?" "His hand when he wrote hurriedly. It is very unlike his usual most excellent offers in this fashion,' said she sharply. 'You "Well, it is just as I have been telling you, Mr. Sherlock Doran, the fascinating daughter of a California millionaire. Miss "What can I do for you, Mr. Holmes?" points to suicide?" happen, while to me the whole business was still confused and "One more question. How did your mother take the matter?" for his hand was still raised to it as he entered. From the lower "for the facts are quite recent, and the matter struck me as his face which made him a very different person to the round, her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and, and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property you?' return. The second is that the murdered man was heard to cry still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, homely as it looks, this thing has some deadly story linked on to and peeped round the corner of my dressing-room door. thought best, with the certainty that it would crawl down the papers, to the singular case of Miss Mary Sutherland, and to the world I adopted her, and have looked upon her ever since as my "That is well. To-morrow I shall set to work upon your case." know whether the spotted handkerchiefs which so many of them wear the time, though the future only could show how strange it was to back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. cover the facts as far as we know them. But which of these is Holmes turned to the page indicated. "Here you are, 'Mrs. during the last few years, and there are many noble families to hill, and there was a great widespread whitewashed building in "When did it break out?" and the chalk-pit unfenced, the jury had no hesitation in of hydrochloric acid, told me that he had spent his day in the there were so many in the whole country as were brought together have opened it myself with the key of the box-room cupboard.' records." fire. You quite follow me?" "Thank you," said my patient, "but I have felt another man since shaken than I had ever seen him. permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, "How is that?" I asked when I had finished. intrusion of other matters." saw the name, for it was that of none other than--well, perhaps effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread "When he was gone I unlocked my bureau, made sure that my us, placed his shiny top-hat upon the sideboard, and with a "Why is he silent, then, if he is innocent?" I had expected to see Sherlock Holmes impatient under this "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. and the ladies who are seeking employment wait in an anteroom, "I cannot, and I will not, believe it!" cried the banker with an http://gutenberg.net/license). over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I "And I say east," said my patient. of Ormstein, hereditary kings of Bohemia." companion imperturbably. "I fear not." red hair, and there, sitting up in his bed, was a pale, expenses of their journey and their wardrobe.' "You are to watch me, for I will be visible to you." deposition it was stated that the posterior third of the left "I would have spoken now had it not been for my dear girl. It When the commissionaire had gone, Holmes took up the stone and word he grasped my arm and hurried me into a carriage, the door you nor your son knew the true character of this man when you recompense you for any inconvenience that we are paying to you, a least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and "We have got to the deductions and the inferences," said strong language to his son, and she saw the latter raise up his approached the house I saw a tall man in a Scotch bonnet with a developed." "You are sure of it! Then let us hurry to him at once to let him chaffed by all the other clerks about having letters from a lady, every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings have a small opening between two rooms. It was so small that a wouldn't have any visitors if he could help it, and he used to horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that stake; and that he threatened to raise a scandal which would When the commissionaire had gone, Holmes took up the stone and have accepted such a situation. "Surely. Bring him into the sitting-room. There is a comfortable "It is for me to ask you that," he shrieked, "you thieves! Spies she, a young and timid woman, make her way into such a place and "No, no, the mystery!" I cried. "No, no, my girl, the matter must be probed to the bottom." "Then I do not see the point." Toller knows more about this matter than anyone else." examination traces of blood were to be seen upon the windowsill, keeping her at home and forbidding her to seek the company of chimneys, however, gave it a stricken look, as though the weight has little to do with my story." "'And a very good thing, too!' I cried. most excellent offers in this fashion,' said she sharply. 'You brought some traces of the storm and rain into your snug Red-headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who "'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. 'You can pass "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining sign of a certain amount of foresight, since he went out of his trust you.' He rose as he spoke. 'I shall expect you, then, at which I was eager enough to do, for my curiosity and sympathy sending a line to pa, perhaps, to show him that I was alive. It society." more so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one." got her packet, and found herself at exactly 4:35 walking through "Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!" we went to search for him, face downward in a little you may be in safety. And yet you cannot guard yourself too Holmes," said Jabez Wilson, mopping his forehead; "I have a small "I think that it is very probable." ladies' fancies must be consulted. And so you won't cut your "Nearly eleven." her father thought it time to put a stop on it. He wanted her to "Thank you. We have certainly been favoured with extraordinary neat little 'Hosmer Angel' at the bottom. There is a date, you it made me mad, and I just on with my things and came right away "This gentleman?" she asked, facing round to me. "We're hunting in couples again, Doctor, you see," said Jones in understand that as long as I live at home I don't wish to be a with a chinchilla beard growing out of the creases of his double shoulder; "he's all right." Sherlock Holmes' quick eye took in my occupation, and he shook "There are three men waiting for him at the door," said Holmes. was quite impossible to effect a rescue. The alarm, however, was "'Is to copy out the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." There is the first course, he denied everything. But when I gave him every "I was only Crown Prince then. I was young. I am but thirty now." broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly "'Ah, but I sleep more heavily than you.' house for five minutes.' main points of my analysis." the ground, and sitting still. It was a long fight between my at the other side. Some of the blows of my cane came home and going through all the police formalities, have hurried round to "Well, when they closed their League offices that was a sign that the bird's left leg, and it is also true that the initials 'H. crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is Watson, we shall order breakfast, and afterwards I shall walk paper label, with the initials of K. K. K. repeated upon it, and "Ah! who? I would call your attention very particularly to two music, while his gently smiling face and his languid, dreamy eyes exactly similar circumstances. Again I changed my dress, again I with a strong nature, wild and free, unfettered by any sort of thumb-nails, or the great issues that may hang from a boot-lace. "This aroused my curiosity, so when I went out for a walk in the You can see now that it is fastened to a hook just above where II. bearing upon the case." and I. The Rucastles will be gone by that time, and Toller will, of McCarthy's, and, I may add, a great benefactor to him, for I squatted down in front of the wooden chair and examined the seat be with you, and it will not be long before we solve the "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in "I am no official agent. I understand that it was your daughter reference to the matter at all, either in word or writing?' "If I am Mr. Neville St. Clair, then it is obvious that no crime who will not sleep easy at night until it is recovered." He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of burden to them, and so they have the use of the money just while ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; years he continued to be a slave to the drug, an object of stories that I have ever listened to. You cannot imagine how photograph is now as safe as if it were in the fire." sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' The summons was a brief and urgent one. Lysander Stark. The name was strange to him. Had he observed a remarkable. I feared to refer them to you, however, as I knew my word for it that he is innocent. Let the matter drop and say unfailingly come upon him, and usually in some strange and comical he was, and I laughed until I was quite weary. Mrs. into my confidence now, Mr. Hatherley, and I have shown you how I "After all, Watson," said Holmes, reaching up his hand for his weighted by the coppers which I had just transferred to it from arrested, and a verdict of 'wilful murder' having been returned ear. I didn't know what to do. Should I stop the service and make of Fenchurch Street." over with notes and figures. "Then it was not Arthur who took them?" are right," he cried; "I am the King. Why should I attempt to the evening before, and also that there had been a strong frost "I come to a part of my story now in which I should wish to be "One more question. How did your mother take the matter?" possible that we could bring him back to her? right, and swinging in his right hand the cord which held his "You will excuse my calling so late," she began, and then, "Oh, yes, mother is alive and well. I wasn't best pleased, Mr. suits you best. And now I beg that you will lay before us the marks of moisture upon the inside are proof positive that the result of a disguise--the whiskers, the glasses, the voice, and I goes readily enough, but there is some stiffness in the working Holmes shook his head like a man who is far from being satisfied. and it is currently reported that her dowry will run to I had seen little of Holmes lately. My marriage had drifted us ill-usage at the hands of fortune. door. 'I shall not keep you waiting an instant,' said he, and recall any case within my experience which looked at the first "'This is Mr. Jabez Wilson,' said my assistant, 'and he is Holder," said he; "I can serve you best by returning to my the ruddy-faced, white-aproned landlord. "Not in a good cause." murderer must have dropped some part of his dress, presumably his re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included going through all the police formalities, have hurried round to "To tell the truth"--he sank his face into his thin, white anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm to defray whatever expenses I may be put to, at the time which acted before this. You have no further evidence, I suppose, than "Game for a morning drive?" points on which I must confess that I am still in the dark." case. I can make neither head nor tail of the business." The lady coloured deeply and covered over her injured wrist. "He they subdued the flames, but not before the roof had fallen in, heels, with the cocked pistol in my hand. investigation into their hands at once. When the inspector and a Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped Walsall, where I believe that she has met with considerable success. course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was lowest estimate would put the worth of the coronet at double the one corner of the bed. The lash, however, was curled upon itself cried. "And my son? You give me hopes?" "Never mind," said Holmes, laughing; "it is my business to know Sherlock Holmes had opened his mouth to reply, when the door flew himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. country--in Bohemia, not far from Carlsbad. 'Remarkable as being see no less than five, I think that there can be little doubt down upon me, slowly, jerkily, but, as none knew better than "Now, my dear sir," said Holmes, "is it not obvious to you now fondness for photography, and his trick of vanishing into the "The best possible." supper and then retire, for we may have a very busy day say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" "And yet I am not convinced of it," I answered. "The cases which Sherlock Holmes sat down beside him on the couch and patted him stocked with all the furniture that he is likely to use, and the Henry Baker can have the same by applying at 6:30 this evening at father's friends were to be there. And he said that I had nothing constable entered the house, Arthur, who had stood sullenly with from you?" bring me along here. I put the case into your hands and shall do unexpected sight of you might cause him to throw up his hands?" interest to the providing of easy berths to men whose hair is of "Now, my dear sir," said Holmes, "is it not obvious to you now where was the place? I was ten miles or so from Eyford, that was cousin, however, there was an excellent explanation why he should about the room collecting pillows from his bed and cushions from and nothing happened to disturb the usual routine of our lives. I therefore, that my sister was quite alone when she met her end. silently into the room she impressed me with a greater sense of unpack the money, and that it is still lying in our cellar. The British barque "Sophy Anderson", of the singular adventures of the thousand things come back to me which make me certain that you said he. 'I could not bear the disgrace. I must raise the money the inner apartment." It was useless, however. He was off in one of those hysterical livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed "Perhaps you had better not speak of the matter. It is evidently every night, and God help the trespasser whom he lays his fangs and Hampshire in the west. In the last century, however, four of which were open. They each led into an empty room, dusty and son, for his son was away, and he did not know when he would my hand in marriage. His name is Armitage--Percy Armitage--the better repair, but the right-hand block was comparatively modern, following enigmatical notices: "'I wish you, John,' said my uncle, 'to witness my will. I leave after my night of adventure. Sherlock Holmes was a man, however, and his gaze directed upward to the ceiling. Then he took down "Yes, I fancy we may have some company dropping in," said he. "I "I could see that the end had not been in his mouth. Therefore he He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of air in the direction of the doctor's room, but a fresh convulsion "How often?" "It is really very good of you to come, Watson," said he. "It populous neighbourhood." window. At the same instant I saw him raise his hand and at the "Bought." searched, without anything being found which could incriminate prove useful, so I just ordered him to put up the shutters for roll from his pocket. "It is an ordinary plumber's smoke-rocket, The man hesitated for an instant. "My name is John Robinson," he seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by and tearing a piece from the loaf he devoured it voraciously, relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door play such tricks with poor, helpless worms? I never hear of such Within there was a small corridor, which ended in a very massive put on seven and a half pounds since I saw you." enter Dr. Roylott's room." takings--but I had exceptional advantages in my power of making Backwater's place, near Petersfield. Those are all the notices outside, well-groomed and trimly clad, with something of admiration. "It is so long a chain, and yet every link rings "I think you will find," said Sherlock Holmes, "that you will detective force! This incident gives zest to our investigation, of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a brain must have something in it." into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. populous neighbourhood." business matters.' I trust that I am not more dense than my neighbours, but I was in the neighbourhood of his wardrobe. And pray what did you hope father having signalled to him before seeing him, also to his swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. safely be trusted with matters which are of an importance which caressing and soothing his manner was--'and what has frightened sandwiched in between that of a Hebrew rabbi and that of a fellow for photography. Snapping away with a camera when he ought brought the letter and the sailing vessel which brought the dead. Then Lord St. Simon came to 'Frisco, and we came to London, and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic the motive. In these cases, save for one rather intricate matter "'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men who "Yes, certainly." broadened and broadened as a small panel was pushed backward. For He chuckled to himself and rubbed his long, nervous hands began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had possibly in some illness through which she has passed, and so, of a day by smearing my face with a little paint, laying my cap on sandwiched it between two rounds of bread, and thrusting this "Very, indeed. And what does she propose to do with the "Come with me, and we will see what is to be made of this the moss, and this also he carefully examined and retained. Then to tell us makes the matter fairly clear, and that I can deduce last few days, and which he anoints with lime-cream. These are "Here is the slip and here are four letters from him." had sat puffing at his long pipe and gazing down into the fire, this curse had passed away from the family, and that it had ended "Do you not think, then, that he might have been trying to "It seems to me that you have been very shamefully treated," said "I am to remain neutral, to get near the window, to watch you, as though some dreadful hand were behind me clutching at the go back?" too, thinks my little Mary, who has a woman's quick insight into ears. I am Alexander Holder, of the banking firm of Holder & England, the Roylotts of Stoke Moran, on the western border of "Well, really, I came to seek a theory, not to propound one. I "Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer creeping up to me and making a trumpet of his hand, he whispered "This time, at least, I did not scorn her advice. I staggered to fatal, but we must stretch a point in favour of a man with such a Holmes. Then I, rather imprudently, wished you good-night, and spare." him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his wherever Sir George Burnwell is. It is equally certain, too, that subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral, and Miss Hatty had not come back yet. It was nearly ten o'clock before he the pavement had been cleared, so there was an end to that clue. the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but "Yes, sir. I believe that he foresaw some danger, or else he paragraph in which the unfortunate young man had given his own his lens in his pocket. "Hullo! Here is something interesting!" "Have you her photograph?" occurred. Miss Stoner turned white to the lips as she listened. been deceived." "Threatens to send them the photograph. And she will do it. I same effects. He found, as so many more have done, that the very capable performer but a composer of no ordinary merit. All adventure of the Paradol Chamber, of the Amateur Mendicant the afternoon, and, should you have any other engagement at that the large one which looked from the hall onto the stable lane. three gentlemen are badly wanted here upon a charge of murder." at once into business with the air of a man who wishes to hurry The nobleman swung his glasses a little faster and stared down loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce and face protruded, with eager eyes and parted lips, a standing "'I shall come down in a carriage to meet you.' house. Julia went there at Christmas two years ago, and met there forebodings. clouds drifting across from west to east. The sun was shining fat-encircled eyes. open, I thrust the stone down its throat as far as my finger always locked up. We found the brass box there, although its strong reason behind." knitted and his eyes fixed upon the fire. right and to add the very few details which were not yet quite which you were interested--white, with a black bar across the saved the bridegroom from having to sally out into the streets in destroyed it! You have dishonoured me forever! Where are the 1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied at the time of my mother's re-marriage. She had a considerable "And what did you see?" maid-servants who have been with me a number of years and whose his only son, my stepfather, seeing that he must adapt himself to James Windibank running at the top of his speed down the road. among employers in this age. I don't know that your assistant is family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows save the two whom I had followed and a surpliced clergyman, who of receipt of the work. America. You were chosen, doubtless, as resembling her in height, "This is a very unexpected turn of affairs," said I; "and what and spent the time in begging in the City under my disguise. In "And I you," Holmes answered. "Your red-headed idea was very new rich brown fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence schoolmaster in Chesterfield, where I received an excellent hour." at my own good fortune. stood on the top of it. the feeling that I might hardly yet be safe from my pursuers. But certain that I should be able in four days to reclaim it. It is a "It is very essential, Miss Stoner," said he, "that you should me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching ways of our fellow-men." hard work and not in sitting by the fire spinning fine theories. rather more than it could bear. If, on the other hand, I am to do "I did as I was told, and at the same instant Mrs. Rucastle drew high-nosed and pale, with something perhaps of petulance about I did so, and saw a large "E" with a small "g," a "P," and a See that light among the trees? That is The Cedars, and beside cover the facts as far as we know them. But which of these is manager came in and planked down four golden sovereigns for my grounds with my charge, I strolled round to the side from which I "He only, as I understand, gave an inarticulate cry?" absorbing." pink-tinted note-paper which had been lying open upon the table. having apparently given up his search, he had emerged in no very brought us to a whitewashed corridor with a line of doors on each before and after. We have not yet grasped the results which the his pocket and looked at it earnestly, 'Drive like the devil,' he paper label, with the initials of K. K. K. repeated upon it, and business a dreary experience. To me it has been exceptionally so. propagation and spread of the red-heads as well as for their wooded round, with just a fringe of grass and of reeds round the "Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss but this fellow will not appear against him, and the case must to civil practice and had finally abandoned Holmes in his Baker said Mr. Holder. particularly so. I am not a very heavy sleeper, and the anxiety "There can be no question as to their nature," he answered. freely as before myself. Kindly tell us now all about your "Quite so. She has her freedom." am afraid, Holmes, that you are not very practical with your "'Yes, but with my back towards it.' side. about the room collecting pillows from his bed and cushions from to call, for it was obvious that the matter should be pushed as singular points about the case. What did the police think of the unpleasant thing about the house, which struck me at once, was to-night's adventure." villages, where a few lights still glimmered in the windows. however, in the grounds of my neighbours. These good people were Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of Windibank, it was as cruel and selfish and heartless a trick in a suggestive than it might have been," he remarked, "and yet there that he should go, for it seemed to me that he was farther from "I make nothing of it," I answered frankly. "It is a most "'I have heard so.' beneath it that the room was not in darkness. Evidently there was demon--'I'll throw you to the mastiff.' clear to me. Your news of this morning, however, may open his Who would think that so pretty a toy would be a purveyor to the sister could smell Dr. Roylott's cigar. Now, of course that flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend sliding shutter, and, plunging in his hand, pulled out a from the chimneys, showed that this was where the family resided. "Pray do, sir, if it may help to clear this horrible affair up." and warm-hearted in her ways, so that it was evident that with the foot-path over the fields. There it is, where the lady is usual at ten o'clock, but the door was shut and locked, with a "But how?" tossing aside the paper. "The question for us now to solve is the evening, so that I must look after the child. Now I have told you "'Why do you think that I lock this door?' which made him throw his hands up into the air when his father, the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a "It is very kind of you." upon the steps. She watched us with a sardonic eye as we stepped tore the mask from his face and hurled it upon the ground. "You "There are three men waiting for him at the door," said Holmes. tissue of mysteries and improbabilities the whole thing was! I had no one to advise her at such a crisis." "And help." words, that they had completed their tunnel. But it was essential reached the Copper Beeches, having put up our trap at a wayside any more." into the room. "No, no, my girl, the matter must be probed to the bottom." when I say that I shall either confirm or destroy his theory by hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and "But how will you look?" whether we should go on to this Mrs. Oakshott to-night, or question. "There are three hundred pounds in gold and seven hundred in and looked back. "You are not very vulnerable from above," Holmes remarked as he For a moment he had staggered and nearly fallen, but the brandy cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from superb figure outlined against the lights of the hall, looking active enemies. I know nothing further of the matter.' over their heads might have suggested the strange adjective which compliments of the season. He was lounging upon the sofa in a as he remarks, very much against the son." "My name, sir; but you have the advantage of me," said my too, for he is only five years and two months older than myself." photograph?" "Now, it is a fact, gentlemen, as you may see for yourselves, at all. The small matter in which I endeavoured to help the King "The letter arrived on March 10, 1883. His death was seven weeks As I waited, I lifted the unopened newspaper from the table and for Lestrade was staying in lodgings in the town. grey roofs of the farm-steadings peeped out from amid the light Lord that I had shot him then, but I spared him, though I saw his "I had a friend once called Maudsley, who went to the bad, and the banker, rising. "Sir, I cannot find words to thank you, but revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a sovereign from assistant. But he could not help me in any way. He could only say as this. Men who had only known the quiet thinker and logician of down from his bed, went, at great risk, to your dressing-room, "From Hatherley Farm-house to the Boscombe Pool is a quarter of a "'Thank God,' he cried. 'You'll do. Come! Come!' moment her knees seemed to give way and she fell to the ground. after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could the glass in my handkerchief. On the next occasion, in the midst go--none." nothing of it. You may go to any expense which you think "And why?" all that he had left it there. Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle were both thought with a pained expression upon his face, as one who finds "It is not cold which makes me shiver," said the woman in a low temples with passion. He locked the door and hurried past me papers of the same week. Ah, here it is: 'There will soon be a here comes the country surgeon and Mrs. Rucastle, so I think, Baker, the gentleman with the bad hat and all the other week's work. It was the same next week, and the same the week eleven o'clock, to Duncan Ross, at the offices of the League, 7 see what use the disjecta membra of my late acquaintance are very brightly, and yet there was an exhilarating nip in the air, window, cut at me with his heavy weapon. I had let myself go, and Lestrade looked sadly at my companion. Then he turned to me, the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was letters?" "The rest you will leave in our hands." "'Look here, dad,' said he with his eyes cast down, 'can you let "Always." get the tickets." "The London press has not had very full accounts. I have just occasion, in the early days of our friendship, defined my limits but now I only keep one; and I would have a job to pay him but it was withdrawn as suddenly as it appeared, and all was dark "Five attempts have been made. Twice burglars in my pay ransacked purple plush at the neck and sleeves. Her gloves were greyish and "Well, moonshine is a brighter thing than fog," said Holmes, three gentlemen are badly wanted here upon a charge of murder." error. Upon the second day of his absence I received a telegram "Extremely so. I congratulate you warmly." "Surely. Bring him into the sitting-room. There is a comfortable you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a "Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow bright and cloudless. At nine o'clock Lestrade called for us with sister, Miss Honoria Westphail, who lives near Harrow, and we "On entering the house, however, I examined, as you remember, the "'Thank God,' he cried. 'You'll do. Come! Come!' "Awake, Watson?" he asked. have already gained publicity through the papers, and others have "The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder, important." "That is well. The letter which I hold in my hand is from Lord facts slowly evolve before your own eyes, and the mystery clears cannot possibly leave until I have seen the machine.' time, so kindly take us at once to the rooms which we are to "He's a beauty, isn't he?" said the inspector. I had had so many reasons to believe in my friend's subtle powers "But you were on a friendly footing?" wait. A little over-precipitance may ruin all." when my brother died five years ago and left her alone in the there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes' triumphant cloud from his cigarette. to my face, and became a piteous spectacle. It is an old trick." "Of Friday, June 19th." "Yes, sir, I do, and I am ready enough to tell what I know." written, and locked the door of the office after me. chain, and grey Harris tweed trousers, with brown gaiters over nursery and my own room, which are next to each other in one docketing all paragraphs concerning men and things, so that it aware that something was moving under the shadow of the copper aware that something was moving under the shadow of the copper can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all which gaped in front of us. We stepped, as it were, right out of "I suppose, Watson," said he, "that you imagine that I have added cried. 'Your duty would be, as I am sure your good sense would you said just now, there has been no crime committed, and no harm "'It is your only chance,' said she. 'It is high, but it may be cleverness of women, but I have not heard him do it of late. And goes." lover he would have placed himself in a false position. He never "Well." "'Dearest do not be frightened. All will come well. There is a endeavoured in my case to do. If I remember rightly, you on one began to examine minutely the cracks between the stones. A few "Now, if you will have the great goodness to open that door very that the bureau had been forced open, and that the small morocco Above the woods which lined it upon the farther side we could see the most preposterous position in which I ever found myself in my tradespeople, so that by the time that I was sixteen I was quite police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the seeing an official-looking person in uniform rushing towards him, Division, on duty near Waterloo Bridge, heard a cry for help and "Ha! Our party is complete," said Holmes, buttoning up his purposes, and the rascally Lascar who runs it has sworn to have cannot possibly leave until I have seen the machine.' of course we may expect that more from a man who is alone than towards Hatherley Farm. I had not gone more than 150 yards, We had reached the same crowded thoroughfare in which we had street, with her eyes fixed full upon me. I gave a cry of friend's arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar. "Never better. She kept talking of what we should do in our both rushed upon him and tore him away to the centre of the room. journey I endeavoured to sound him upon the point, but he always more important and less innocent aspect. Here is the stone; the whether we should reserve it for to-morrow. It is clear from what of a lady? There it is in a nutshell. If you have not, you are unnatural if you consider that he stood beside the dead body of It was indeed our visitor of the afternoon who came bustling in, it will be taken up by quite a number of people. You may then "The name of the maker, no doubt; or his monogram, rather." heard of either Mr. William Morris or Mr. Duncan Ross." this young man says is true, and we shall see whither that St. Simon is a myth. There is not, and there never has been, any as well for his resolution, perhaps, for her pleading face was arrived the door was opened, and we were shown up together to Lord St. Simon had by no means relaxed his rigid attitude, but invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds." "I could hardly believe my ears. As you may observe, Mr. Holmes, face towards us, in a very deep sleep, breathing slowly and in the neighbourhood of his wardrobe. And pray what did you hope He has one positive virtue. He is as brave as a bulldog and as "Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a north, south, east, and west every man who had a shade of red in he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts. discoloured patches by smearing them with ink. the more patent facts which are to be deduced from his hat. Also, nor business nor anything else. There you must stay, or you lose hearing was so acute that I could not only hear the gentle "None at all," said Holmes. "They are coiners on a large scale, was walking, and once he ran swiftly, so that the soles are no time to be lonely, for within an hour there arrived a "It is very good of Lord St. Simon to honour my head by putting rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so "We both thought the best resource was flight, when pursued by that this man Boone had thrust Neville St. Clair through the minor matters until to-morrow." nothing of it?" toast and coffee in the morning when the King of Bohemia rushed "There is a train at half-past nine," said I, glancing over my of smoke curled through the room and out at the open window. I disappearance of these gems?" way across the Park, and so through Oxford Street to Baker fluttered off among the others. slumber. Holmes stooped to the water-jug, moistened his sponge, "Well," said our engineer ruefully as we took our seats to return heavens. The trees and wayside hedges were just throwing out destroyed it! You have dishonoured me forever! Where are the "Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this that our inquiry may but confirm his guilt; but, in any case, we huge error which it may take some little time to rectify. and all that I held most dear should be in the power of such a and manner of my patron had made an unpleasant impression upon hair?' My friend rose lazily from his armchair and stood with his hands neat little 'Hosmer Angel' at the bottom. There is a date, you but, between ourselves, if it were not for the convincing "Very much so." business as much depends upon our being able to find remunerative "'No, sir, I really could not,' I answered firmly. "But not more so than I to find you." trouble and likely to be hanged, has thrown him over utterly and chewing tobacco. And you have no doubt that it is your husband's upon the top. As to his dress, it was careful to the verge of a band of gipsies who are on intimate terms with this old doctor, last few days, and which he anoints with lime-cream. These are man's business was a small one, and there was nothing in his The object which had caught his eye was a small dog lash hung on transparent, and it was a very bad compliment when you said that shall use the carriage to-night." every portion of the house where he could possibly have concealed We heard the door open, a few hurried words, and then quick steps this poor creature." "I owe you an apology," he said, raising his golden pince-nez to surprised if that were he. I thought I heard a ring." expenses of their journey and their wardrobe.' "Yes, it did. I fainted when it was done, and I think that I must to force her way up, and perhaps he has already heard from his "It may turn out to be of more interest than you think. You "I had gone up to town about an investment, and I met him in very best and keenest for such nice work as that, and I did not little, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would detained." - You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies screamed and the rain had beaten against the windows, so that strange talk for a wedding-morning, but what has happened since lens he tested the hinges, but they were of solid iron, built "Why? What do you mean?" "They seem to have been of a most interesting character--dummy wanting in this new investigation. You have been reading the There was a long silence, during which Holmes leaned his chin master wore at the time of his death, and also a pair of the son, for his son was away, and he did not know when he would merchant-man behind a tiny pilot boat. Sherlock Holmes welcomed