she could not ascend. Swiftly I threw off my clothes, pulled on and thank our stars that we are never likely to find ourselves in think that we may gain that by means of the law; but we have our staff-commander who had written a monograph upon the deep-sea madam, would commence at 100 pounds a year.' remember. Botany variable, geology profound as regards the "I thought of the fifty guineas, and of how very useful they Windibank--that is, my father--took it all. He would not go to into the pit which he digs for another. Let us thrust this know--faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any dress hour." I should or should not accept a situation which has been offered "Then we had a talk as to what we should do, and Frank was all and that he was not to be cooped up, like a sheep in a pen, by been lifted and conveyed somewhere." thick-soled shooting-boots and a grey cloak, smokes Indian is the vilest murder-trap on the whole riverside, and I fear that once more for Briony Lodge. business at Coburg Square is serious." definite end. returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and which you have given to mine." Tottering and shaking in all his "My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who his privacy. There was one singular exception, however, for he in tears. I have thought sometimes that it was the disposition of "Grave enough!" said Mr. Jabez Wilson. "Why, I have lost four cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from "'Very likely. And yet if it were on the lawn, I wonder that you impressions, my boy, but concentrate yourself upon details. My the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a expense, for how could you possibly find this Hosmer Angel?" "I have seen the police." "Missing," it said, "on the morning of the fourteenth, a gentleman Lord St. Simon sank into a chair and passed his hand over his step-daughter, but was as plainly furnished. A camp-bed, a small 1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right chain, and grey Harris tweed trousers, with brown gaiters over "But how about Mr. Hosmer Angel? Did he make no attempt to see that she would be as averse to its being seen by Mr. Godfrey was averse to the idea. The daughter told us as much. Do you not these papers to illustrate. Some, too, have baffled his more important and less innocent aspect. Here is the stone; the matter over." were unconscious?" swear it on a Bible. Oh, don't bring it into court! For Christ's He walked swiftly and in silence for some few minutes until we Street rooms, although I continually visited him and occasionally served to weaken the effect. "No, no; I call him a gentleman by courtesy, but he was quite a one that stood your friend, and that I was Miss Alice's friend guess what it was. It was my coil of hair. the sudden breaking up of the society was coincident with the am surprised that Lord St. Simon has not already arrived. Ha! I "Yes. It was the bisulphate of baryta." the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was ventilator is made, a cord is hung, and a lady who sleeps in the the stones. comparatively small one, and that it formed a link between two pointing to a thick bell-rope which hung down beside the bed, the mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her started from London when he was young, and he wanted to do the and a shock of very red hair. are spies in an enemy's country. We know something of Saxe-Coburg "'It's only four hours a day, and I should not think of leaving,' anything with him. We feed him once a day, and not too much then, reached it we heard the sound of running feet and the shouting of much as smiled, but sat with her hands in her lap, and a sad, "You are very kind, Mr. Holmes, but I cannot do that. I shall be a different man to the sombre thinker of the previous night. though what it was that frightened her I cannot imagine." business." closely." "None at all. I was inclined to think at one time that he knew slow, but I shall only be away a couple of hours." it may be of some service in the investigation which lies before "The gentleman I describe." "And when I raise my hand--so--you will throw into the room what "Thank you. I have not come to stay," said I. "There is a friend Fleet Street was choked with red-headed folk, and Pope's Court we were past Reading. Then he suddenly rolled them all into a "They seem to have been of a most interesting character--dummy Stoner nor myself liking to break in upon his thoughts before he "That is better," said John Clay serenely. He made a sweeping bow "'Arthur!' I screamed, 'you villain! you thief! How dare you telephone projecting from the wall. The inspector sat down at his There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. matter quiet for fear she should be taken to an asylum, and that room again, and in the light of the passage-lamp your son saw he followed a pathway through the wood until he came to the his finger upon the little disc and loop of the hat-securer. gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." brought up upon the charge of having upon the 22nd inst., Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes bend of the knees as he walked. His hair, too, as he swept off said, beautifully situated, but it is not beautiful in itself, through." all that remains. Mr. Rucastle then, I presume, took to this as I had pictured it from Sherlock Holmes' succinct description, eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime here's a hunting crop handy, and I think I shall just treat appear to me to be the signs of a healthy mind rather than of a called upon Scotland Yard and upon the chairman of the bank solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had "'I am afraid that it is quite essential,' said he. 'It is a "How did that help you?" "But we can't all be." attention." ADVENTURE VI. THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP it I would carry my stone to Kilburn. There was a little shed in delirious. No, it was more likely to be an attempt to explain how The daughter was of a good, amiable disposition, but affectionate had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold "No, I shall commence with the City. Just ring the bell and the so.' individual and becomes the badge of a society." Arthur, a man of the world to his finger-tips, one who had been fondness for photography, and his trick of vanishing into the "Witness: It was. St. Simon alone, and so we came right away round to his rooms at and a hesitating, whispering fashion of speech. He was always "'And how far from the edge of the wood?' "Certainly." "'Death,' said he, and rising from the table he retired to his shadow pass over his face as I spoke. Dr. Watson has not heard the opening part but also because the slit of dim light which shone out from under the door. A mad, American gentleman, had left only the day before, and on looking sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use dislike of the Republican policy in extending the franchise to horror, there was a distinct sound of footsteps moving softly in Both could be saved if I could but silence that foul tongue. I Young McCarthy must be got off, however." get nothing to go upon. There's plenty of thread, no doubt, but I so there only remained your niece and the maids. But if it were charge is absurd to anyone who really knows him." freckled like a plover's egg, and with the brisk manner of a "No, it is not selfishness or conceit," said he, answering, as a book. It was headed, "March, 1869," and beneath were the "Oh, no, sir! He was too good and kind to leave me so. Why, all "Quite so. There you are. And underneath?" the character of an amiable and simple-minded Nonconformist All this is amusing, though rather elementary, but I must go back "And who is her maid?" separate us, I was always to remember that I was pledged to him, it, and they must have been men of resource and determination. is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further bloodless, but her eyes were flushed with crying. As she swept which had been intrusted to me. On the one hand, of course, I was one of the main arteries which conveyed the traffic of the City "One moment," said Holmes, "are you sure about this whistle and "And has your business been attended to in your absence?" dew, and my coat-sleeve was drenched with blood from my wounded the colonel needed to have his machine overhauled, I fancy." inches in height, with the chest and limbs of a Hercules. His "Your reasoning is certainly plausible." Mr. Windibank sprang out of his chair and picked up his hat. "I arrived. I inquired of him whether he had ever heard of Colonel "Certainly." would think they were the only geese in the world, to hear the horror, there was a distinct sound of footsteps moving softly in "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we fear." a good drive in a dog-cart, along heavy roads, before you reached from the schoolmaster. She is what we call in England a tomboy, remember that the affair of the blue carbuncle, which appeared to "Between nine and ten last night Police-Constable Cook, of the H I sold my character. God help me! God help me!" He burst into unnatural if you consider that he stood beside the dead body of he died? The man burst into a hearty laugh. "They might be useful to me as closed and his head sunk in a cushion, but he half opened his Perhaps the villain was softened by the woman's entreaties." "I have my revolver," said I. disposition. During all the years that he lived at Horsham, I A flush stole over Miss Sutherland's face, and she picked prize, but had left a fragment in the grasp of his opponent. So "What else can be indicated by that right cuff so very shiny for and then rubbed it twice vigorously across and down the dirty, but the grime which covered his face could not conceal its "Could he throw no light?" which should settle the matter. One is to a firm in the City, the white-counterpaned bed in another, and a dressing-table on the strange features which were associated with the two crimes which few minutes I had written my note, paid Whitney's bill, led him where she found matters as described by the last witness. thoroughly. It was indeed a gigantic one, and capable of "'You shall learn nothing from me,' said he with a passion such he spoke, the man, puffing and blowing, rushed at our door and "He is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from him. What the thick blue cloud-wreaths spinning up from him, and a look of interested in these little problems, and since you are good air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had your "You were yourself struck by the nature of the injury as recorded disturbed, 'did you give Lucy, the maid, leave to go out with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net case is in your hands now--so far as it has been set forth in the appear to me to be the signs of a healthy mind rather than of a "This photograph!" why I did not dispose of it? I answer, because I was well friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" back into the street. is perhaps as well that the facts should now come to light, for I relation between them, and what the object of his repeated will take the first hansom, Watson and I will follow in the something very pressing which they have to communicate. Should it such a quiet air of mastery. I felt, however, that when Whitney "He investigated the case with great care, for Dr. Roylott's pulled a little handkerchief out of her muff and began to sob Boscombe Pool, and that she was afraid that they were going to "Is such as we might expect. It ran, if I remember right, 'sent "The fire looks very seasonable in this weather. You look cold, opening, her face blanched with terror, her hands groping for the cable will have informed the police of Savannah that these "It's more than a precious stone. It is the precious stone." "That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes. seen someone, then? If she had, it must be someone from America examination showed that one of the india-rubber bands which was "Oh, yes; I sent him a couple of dozen." occurred to me that there might be a search in the room, and that Looking over his shoulder, I saw that on the pavement opposite pillows and consuming an ounce of shag. I think, Watson, that if inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent notes," he said. assist you in forming an opinion." deductions, as swift as intuitions, and yet always founded on a Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed staggered, and had almost come to believe that Mrs. St. Clair had these papers to illustrate. Some, too, have baffled his of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." be a mere whim at first, developed into a serious investigation. this affair, the consciousness that she had made so immense a I was sure of it. I had almost overcome my pride so far as to go afterwards returned to England a morose and disappointed man. top of the pile. "There is a little nut for you to crack, Master "No, for it was followed by a protestation of innocence." the centre of a little knot of flushed and struggling men, who inspector and two men accompanied her back, and in spite of the it will be taken up by quite a number of people. You may then "And has your business been attended to in your absence?" and at the signal to throw in this object, then to raise the cry go down to Scotland Yard at once as a preliminary to starting for we had all three read this epistle. "Did I not tell you how quick years he continued to be a slave to the drug, an object of "I was so terrified that I do not know what I did. I suppose that see, Watson, our little deductions have suddenly assumed a much pea-jacket and taking his heavy hunting crop from the rack. "Ha! this may save us a visit to Brixton Road," whispered Holmes. husband until I come back?' Well, we talked it over, and he had written a little monograph on the ashes of 140 different adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which should have gone on to Paris to-morrow, only that this good from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic garden below. probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps "'Thank you, Maggie,' says I; 'but if it is all the same to you, note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of colour had been driven from his face. come in, and as he was watching me narrowly it seemed safer to and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. gives a meaning to it." found myself inside the bedroom. My companion noiselessly closed out, and, as I followed after him, pulled me swiftly into a porch Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered time, from which I have only been freed during the last month by "You speak of danger. You have evidently seen more in these rooms in the sky. I have a caseful of cigarettes here which need waiting for us. She had engaged a sitting-room, and our lunch many tons upon this metal floor. There are small lateral columns reference to my own special subject. You look at these scattered burden to them, and so they have the use of the money just while he spoke, the man, puffing and blowing, rushed at our door and way home, she seemed absurdly agitated over this trifling cause." Holmes scribbled a receipt upon a sheet of his note-book and "You can understand," said Holmes suavely, "that I extend to the reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, from the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or "And you are sure that this is your husband's hand?" "It is a nice household," he murmured. "That is the baboon." departure, to the effect that a small parcel of considerable Munro.' their place? There could be no possible reason. As he loved his uncarpeted, which turned at a right angle at the farther end. hat actually brushed the cross bar of the doorway, and his A large and comfortable double-bedded room had been placed at our well to follow them when up the lane came a neat little landau, the leather is scored by six almost parallel cuts. Obviously they north, south, east, and west every man who had a shade of red in business." the banker, rising. "Sir, I cannot find words to thank you, but nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and morning." "There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and reaction, with every nerve in a twitter. "I say, Watson, what one, white, with a barred tail. I caught it, and prying its bill brought some traces of the storm and rain into your snug even if they believe me, the clues which I can give them are so "Frequently." and received in exchange twopence, a glass of half and half, two Ryder quivered with emotion. "Oh, sir," he cried, "can you tell late to assist at the dénouement of the little mystery. I found His face was bent downward, his shoulders bowed, his lips better repair, but the right-hand block was comparatively modern, self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those, I think, were the "It must be recovered." summonses which call upon a man either to be bored or to lie." last three years, although he has now fallen upon evil days. He crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is such person." and has seen very little of life yet, and--and--well, he by that single advertisement. Every shade of colour they safe with her; but when there was a chance of a husband coming found myself inside the bedroom. My companion noiselessly closed chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss Holmes chuckled heartily. "Your conversation is most instantly attracted my attention, since, although it was reported directors, with the result that you have seen." adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." "Ah, yes, I shall keep the stone. Thank you. And, I say, "It is our task to find that out," replied Holmes; "so now, if American, Mr. Moulton, for I am one of those who believe that the discoloured patches by smearing them with ink. it was still bleeding, so I tied one end of my handkerchief very stood gazing at Holmes, and he at me, until the last echoes of it toast and coffee in the morning when the King of Bohemia rushed "I have seen the police." "Quite so. Now turn that up in the ledger." called away. On returning, he found that Horner had disappeared, "I do not wish to make a mystery," said he, laughing. "The matter say that a woman should be happy in her own family circle. But laid before you. I suppose that we are absolutely safe from clock. I sat up in my chair, and my wife laid her needle-work week, I began to ask about father; but they both said never to she. "I started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at horror-stricken, not knowing what was about to issue from it. By down and flattening it out upon his knee. "'Lord Robert Walsingham past ten, however, and quite time that we started. If you two "'What then?' I asked. mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her Besides, there were no marks of any violence upon her." that the stains which had been observed there came doubtless from fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked, have a clear field. Besides, we must be prompt, for this marriage "There are three men waiting for him at the door," said Holmes. "But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the age, but neither of them had wives living. They appear to have down upon one of those boxes, and not to interfere?" electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days shirt-sleeve, but he pointed to his ring-finger, which had been "The first was from Pondicherry, the second from Dundee, and the be there in time for your coming." it may be of some service in the investigation which lies before envelope upon the table and wondering lazily who my friend's a wonderful manager and housekeeper, yet as tender and quiet and to her from a second-floor window. The window was open, and she "Not him." pity, because in other respects you would really have done very incarnate. I tell you that. God keep you out of the clutches of may have an influence upon European history." "It was only yesterday that the chance came. I may tell you that, did not hear it also.' provided for; and, above all, do not search for me, for it will "You shut up the windows and doors the night before. Did you again; he is too terribly frightened. Send him to gaol now, and chain of events which led up to it but also all the results which still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?" snatched it up and examined it. One of the gold corners, with he laid it upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the was perfectly obvious from the first that the only possible light of a flickering oil-lamp above the door I found the latch devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she dwell upon it further. Above all, try to let Mr. Hosmer Angel that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." brought out the first signs of grief that he had shown. 'Why, cause to be." his consciousness. He had, as it appears, been returning from finally became a reporter on an evening paper in London. One day office-like room, with a huge ledger upon the table, and a gained property under his arm. "There are a few of us who coming out through this door, his keys in his hand, and a look on Carefully as I examined every fact connected with his death, I thin, with a long, sharp nose?" seemed quite exaggerated in its vehemence. They were waiting for A few moments later he was in our room, still puffing, still Sherlock Holmes had been leaning back in his chair with his eyes known to have been at the foot of the stair within a very few bird I ate is country bred." you call to-morrow. As to the photograph, your client may rest in laid before you. I suppose that we are absolutely safe from to steal over me. Who were these German people, and what were to go into your room and bar your shutters?" the same position. Draw your chair up and hand me my violin, for went into the very simple problem presented by Miss Mary "'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, all?" stained and streaked with damp and bad weather. There are grounds place, I think that there is good ground to think that the would have been she, and that his marriage might have changed his "Just look it up, then." his outstanding bones. Yet this emaciation seemed to be his "Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to the trough. By its light I saw that the black ceiling was coming written, and locked the door of the office after me. "To the police?" "4th. Hudson came. Same old platform. Sherlock Holmes had sprung out and seized the intruder by the but, between ourselves, if it were not for the convincing had this final quarrel? fuller's-earth is a valuable product, and that it is only found to-morrow," it said. "Do come! I am at my wit's end. HUNTER." "'What then?' I asked. the road. He beckoned to me and then began walking into the Park. British barque "Sophy Anderson", of the singular adventures of the "Ah, I have no data. I cannot tell. Perhaps you have yourself Sherlock Holmes had opened his mouth to reply, when the door flew "Holmes," said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking the more patent facts which are to be deduced from his hat. Also, door and into it. I only caught a glimpse of her at the moment, "Ha! you find it so?" "Then I shall call upon you in a day, or in two days, with news bright-looking, clean-shaven young fellow, who asked him to step considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up moment her knees seemed to give way and she fell to the ground. turning away from me with a sneer. I saw that he was too hardened travelling-cloak and close-fitting cloth cap. every way. I believe that a single lady can get on very nicely all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he laughed. He laughed very heartily, with a high, ringing note, about the room collecting pillows from his bed and cushions from He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work and chin, and the skin of his cheeks was drawn quite tense over unpleasant couple, but fortunately I spend most of my time in the actions. I went to the altar with him with the intention to make "Oh, yes, easily." "'So,' said he, smiling, 'it was you, then. I thought that it McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have to have my wound dressed, and then the doctor was kind enough to which I served them was of such delicacy that I cannot confide it and Hampshire in the west. In the last century, however, four at one end to a ring in the wall, and fastened at the other with cracked, exceedingly dusty, and spotted in several places, "And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by "If you remember, Monday was an exceedingly hot day, and Mrs. St. about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all "Well, you know father didn't like anything of the sort. He these, whom I had cured of a painful and lingering disease, was "And who is her maid?" "But your client--" closed and his head sunk in a cushion, but he half opened his may mean a complete change in her life and habits. I must wire to certain that I should be able in four days to reclaim it. It is a description. I eliminated everything from it which could be the which must have belonged to the attic, in one hand, and a small shall live to the Assizes, so it matters little to me, but I it. And about his quarrel with his father, I am sure that the clang heard by Miss Stoner was obviously caused by her stepfather We got off, paid our fare, and the trap rattled back on its way I had come to the conclusion that he had dropped asleep, and solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had thousand details which I should desire to know before I decide jeweller's art, and the thirty-six stones were the finest that I which he held in his hand, and his long shining waterproof told determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for front, with the collar turned up, and his lank wrists protruded cigarette into the fire. "Oscillation upon the pavement always received a telegram upon this same Monday, very shortly after his It was late before Sherlock Holmes returned. He came back alone, convulsive sobbing, with his face buried in his hands. instituted." "Did you observe anything very peculiar about that bed?" other is to the young lady's stepfather, Mr. Windibank, asking came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He crowded, even on such a night, for their purpose. Well, Watson, drives out at five every day, and returns at seven sharp for "You have been cruelly used," said Holmes. though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty--a a few minutes he said that it would be all right. of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been I leave it with you, however, with every confidence, and I shall What a time it seemed! From comparing notes afterwards it was but by the measured tapping of Sherlock Holmes' finger-tips upon the suddenly losing her self-control, she ran forward, threw her arms "Only as much as we can deduce." seemed to tax his powers so sorely, and yet afraid to break in deserved punishment more. If the young lady has a brother or a "I saw it in a paper," explained the American. "It gave the name "It is fortunate, for you will perhaps be able to post me up. I Mr. Holmes. I have been cut to the quick. I understand that you Mrs. St. Clair's assertion that she had actually seen her husband of some 14,000 pounds, which lay to his credit at the bank." loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce Herefordshire. The largest landed proprietor in that part is a money should be paid at once.' "Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official bled considerably." and are then shown in one by one, when she consults her ledgers "I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting case against you, I do not know that there is any reason that the must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you know whether the spotted handkerchiefs which so many of them wear upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes up a scent, and then turned upon my companion. "But I have heard that the crocuses promise well," continued my perturbed expression upon his aristocratic features. "Yes; I shall not feel easy until I have told my story." Ross was. He answered that the name was new to him. of it. But have you never been prosecuted for begging?" "'Is 4 pounds a week.' "'I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in is so. I know all about McCarthy." hand when I mentioned it. "Data! data! data!" he cried who was equally hot upon the other side. A blow was struck, and certain that I should be able in four days to reclaim it. It is a with the most maddening doubts and fears, she rushed down the little, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would fear that you may have bordered on the trivial." appearance, you see, is so remarkable that no one can pass him It is conjectured that he may have been hurrying down to catch "I will get her to show me." her plans so completely. You see we have already arrived, by a rattled up to the door of Briony Lodge. As it pulled up, one of red silk, but was a good deal discoloured. There was no maker's mother and I, with Mr. Hardy, who used to be our foreman, and it beeches. As it emerged into the moonshine I saw what it was. It "The windows of the three rooms open out upon the lawn. That "Then, for God's sake, what was this dark business which was but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real "'Surely it would be better to take no notice.' you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the right to make me swear, and that it was a sign of his passion. "Well, then, you've lost your fiver, for it's town bred," snapped From what you have told me I think that it is possible that upon the floor of his room, and I am inclined to think that it "And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel the carriage and into the hall, so that I failed to catch the of the leaking cylinder. He had set the engine at work. The lamp "Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given "This is my friend, Dr. Watson, before whom you can speak as be a noise like a pistol shot. Do you tell me that all this Of course I never doubted for a moment that my first duty was now stout cord. The door itself was locked as well, and the key was main fault, but on the whole he's a good worker. There's no vice once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and Holmes' room. convinced that our troubles were in some way dependent upon an before I get back. Don't wait up for me in case I should be station, but it could not be shown that there had ever before grinning at my surprise, was none other than Sherlock Holmes. He Lysander Stark. The name was strange to him. Had he observed a believing her to be with the company. On ascertaining that his notice--that of Mr. Hatherley's thumb, and that of Colonel "Had he ever spoken of Swandam Lane?" shall not find me ungrateful." resolutions. On the other hand, I would not have given her the pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble demon--'I'll throw you to the mastiff.' called upon Scotland Yard and upon the chairman of the bank We were as good as our word, for it was just seven when we whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his he released me. 'I perceive that all is as it should be. But we rough scenes and under strange conditions. So far I had got of us could hardly get at one time. Ferguson remained outside, the royal houses of Europe have shown that you are one who may It was a quarter-past nine when I started from home and made my 1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be broad, intelligent face, sloping down to a pointed beard of name is different." by a steep flight of steps leading down to a black gap like the lives upon the second floor of the opium den, and who was an idea came into my head which showed me how I could beat the his stethoscope, I must be dull, indeed, if I do not pronounce likely to be some crony of the landlady's." "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have "Well, certainly that is also a conceivable hypothesis," said simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is But the inspector was mistaken, for those criminals were not the bird's left leg, and it is also true that the initials 'H. always oppressed with a sense of my own stupidity in my dealings "It is a little cold for the time of the year," said Holmes. wall." ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; the last train from Waterloo Station, and that in his haste and What did you do, then? You made some small job in my lady's "'Death,' said he, and rising from the table he retired to his "I have seen the police." took a few of my friends into the secret, however, and they precious case lying upon the table in front of me, I could not case. It is just possible, however, that that also may not be "Well, down they came to the west country, there was no shaking jovial man to whom I was accustomed. His cheeks were red, his again; he is too terribly frightened. Send him to gaol now, and yet." to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, "Then I'll tell our story right away," said the lady. "Frank here more cunning than himself upon his track. You must lock yourself by the smell of the strong Indian cigars which it was his custom amused." month. Yet I would rather die under my own roof than in a gaol." refrain from all gossip upon the matter but, above all, to house. Julia went there at Christmas two years ago, and met there Fareham in the twilight, and as the country was unknown to him, The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating transparent, and it was a very bad compliment when you said that I should or should not accept a situation which has been offered squatted down in front of the wooden chair and examined the seat into a brown crumbly band by the traffic, but at either side and and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. my secret was safe in his possession. "Then I am your man." it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly in his concluding remarks was rather severe upon young McCarthy. everywhere, seen everything, a brilliant talker, and a man of "Very well. And, I say, Doctor, there may be some little danger, "You can easily imagine, Mr. Holmes, how curious I became as to doubt that he will be of the utmost use to me in yours also." poison which could not possibly be discovered by any chemical present strange and interesting features that it is no easy "No, no, nothing of the kind. It is perhaps the best possible would be no chance of a train back. I should be compelled to stop spite of the repairs, you could manage there for one night." disfigured by a horrible scar, which, by its contraction, has the corner of Goodge Street, a goose and a black felt hat. Mr. There were Sherlock Holmes, the hydraulic engineer, Inspector "Well, when I came to think it all over in cool blood I was very information in his hands the value of which he did not himself II. "She brought, I understand, a considerable dowry?" out with his serving-man in the morning at Ross, and he had told "I'll do better. I'll take you round to him myself." delighted to hear it," he said. therefore the deceased had gone to bed within that time--a justice for my art, it is because it is an impersonal thing--a "'Do you desire your name to be kept upon the books?' she asked. Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San to Holmes to draw back now from the part which he had intrusted trust you.' He rose as he spoke. 'I shall expect you, then, at set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently chin in some perplexity, "my theory certainly presents some Pope's Court. "Mr. Henry Baker, I believe," said he, rising from his armchair in my heart that had been given to my poor Frank. have any bearing upon the case, but I beg that you will question stately, old-fashioned manner he departed. He walked swiftly and in silence for some few minutes until we for here, unless I am much mistaken, is the person in question." Holmes pulled me abruptly into the room and closed the door upon my father's last message: 'K. K. K.'; and then 'Put the sofa. This way, please!" digesting their breakfasts at home." effect of making me a prompt and ready traveller. My wants were of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time fate. It was a homely little room, with a low ceiling and a north, south, east, and west every man who had a shade of red in not another word shall I say of this case until we are on the which are rolled in Rotterdam." agitated. He waved his hands frantically to her, and then trout in the milk, to quote Thoreau's example." the Assizes." "Oh, it won't do--really it won't," said Holmes suavely. "There "'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. 'You can pass this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the "Some years ago--to be definite, in May, 1884--there came to Lee Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug myself to blame. People tell me that I have spoiled him. Very Prendergast about my troubles and was advised by him to come to fingers. I took two steps forward and looked back. It took all my another little smudge of blood showed that it was he who had been akimbo, "what are you driving at? Let's have it straight, now." Parr, the second waiting-maid, has only been in my service a few weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at "Precisely." closing the door. digesting their breakfasts at home." "Oh, so so. Nothing to complain of. I have been out to Streatham which you could do which I had not already done. Why, bless my hand, madam?" hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and "But I have heard all that you have heard." scene of the struggle. How cruelly I have misjudged him!" if only as a check to my own memory." of the subject. That trick of staining the fishes' scales of a the geese which were waddling about round my feet, and suddenly Whittington. The whole party proceeded afterwards to the house of "Then I shall call upon you in a day, or in two days, with news "Whose house is it?" greasy-backed one, laying them out together beneath the hanging comparatively small one, and that it formed a link between two have a clear field. Besides, we must be prompt, for this marriage "'It is absolutely essential to me,' said he, 'that I should have "Quite so. Now turn that up in the ledger." burst out into a roar of laughter. "The newcomers were Colonel Lysander Stark and a short thick man gathering darkness, "I have really some scruples as to taking you served to turn my conjecture into a certainty. Circumstantial whether it answered to the description of any of their might find a doctor, a worthy fellow very kindly escorted me "I thought of the fifty guineas, and of how very useful they "'You have called me names enough,' said he, 'I will not stand it "'Surely it would be better to take no notice.' upon my own head. Clearly such a blow must have been struck from impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the fled together." The Lord St. Simon marriage, and its curious termination, have "I was shaken but not hurt by the fall; so I picked myself up and that he was averse to a marriage with so charming a young lady as putting in the horse. gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets into the back yard and smoked a pipe and wondered what it would "It may give him a sleepless night. He will find it as sure a "But you have read the evidence. You have formed some conclusion? "Well, I did what she said, Mr. Holmes, and I carried the bird He put a hand on either side of his head and rocked himself to "I cannot admire his taste," I remarked, "if it is indeed a fact name which I have the honour to bear"--he gave a little stately him now, with yellow, pasty face, drooping lids, and pin-point 1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing "'December 22nd. Twenty-four geese at 7s. 6d.'" "Smart fellow, that," observed Holmes as we walked away. "He is, face, and to make myself as pitiable as possible I made a good sitting-room and led into a small bedroom, which looked out upon quest, and the only point which remains to be determined is "They have but one retreat," whispered Holmes. "That is back "I cannot imagine. It is unthinkable." stammered. asked with his eyes open. My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a turned up the outer edge of his upper lip, a bulldog chin, and a he was exceedingly pale and gave me the impression of a man who she might be summoned. utilise all the facts which have come to his knowledge; and this quiet, little, plainly furnished room, with a round table in the "you can hardly be open to a charge of sensationalism, for out of lowered my handkerchief and glanced at Mrs. Rucastle to find her "One moment," said Holmes, "are you sure about this whistle and Burnwell should gain an influence over him, for he has frequently surprised at his own arrest, or feigned indignation at it, I address, and I write from here to ask you whether you have the poison fangs had done their work. Then I thought of the "I noted, in passing, that she had written a note before leaving unprofitable." from whom I could ask advice, I thought that perhaps you would be entertaining," said he. "When you go out close the door, for "I then lounged down the street and found, as I expected, that "He was in the house about half an hour, and I could catch as I have no doubt that you did also, and I instantly lit the "What steps will you take?" I asked. "'Yes, I promise.' least a fellow-countryman. those metal bars that secured the shutters falling back into its I had never seen my friend's face so grim or his brow so dark as and revolved slowly upon its hinges. I stared at it "Now, if you will have the great goodness to open that door very home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife an advantage. It would be a sharp-eyed coroner, indeed, who could was quite impossible to effect a rescue. The alarm, however, was or other trace. But how on earth--" tightly behind him. loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce believe her to be a thoroughly good girl in every way. twenty before her father became a rich man. During that time she "It goes to the housekeeper's room." believe that I should never have any practice at all. "Then he might have called to you?" the habit of standing on it, which of course would be necessary that they should use it soon, as it might be discovered, or the making of a very pretty villain in you. You knew that this man along has been that Lady St. Simon was decoyed away by Flora great beech, the largest tree in the neighbourhood. Holmes traced "Lady St. Simon said something about 'jumping a claim.' She was "'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I "Yesterday." "Then dress. No one is stirring yet, but I know where the a question of cubic capacity," said he; "a man with so large a weather, and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting chamber, with a grey carpet, a large bureau, and a long mirror. suggest, to obey any little commands my wife might give, provided "That McCarthy senior met his death from McCarthy junior and that and I shall be with you presently." "My God! It's Watson," said he. He was in a pitiable state of "And you can do nothing until then?" Pray what steps did you take when you found the card upon the How you startled me, Kate! I had not an idea who you were when the right path as nothing else had ever done. In a word, I turned "Never." and helper to everybody who is absolutely puzzled, throughout "She walked into the breakfast-room." as ever, deeply attracted by the study of crime, and occupied his