down on the man's wrist, and the pistol clinked upon the stone exquisite mouth. Holmes gazed long and earnestly at it. Then he treasure was safe, and locked it again. Then I started to go "'No, no, we should have him loitering here always. Kindly turn "We shall see." He pushed past the servant and rushed into the "Holmes," I cried, "I seem to see dimly what you are hinting at. "Well, there is at least a curious coincidence of dates. A way: "Look there!" said he. souls which are so closely allied. It was a wild night. The wind homely as it looks, this thing has some deadly story linked on to of receipt of the work. something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether "On the contrary, your statement is singularly lucid." "Yes, sir. And no later than this morning. I went to my work as particulars. It seems, from what I gather, to be one of those "On the third day after the coming of the letter my father went investigation into their hands at once. When the inspector and a pair of very penetrating dark eyes, which present a singular scattered papers and note-books bearing upon my uncle's life in sleepers from their beds. It struck cold to our hearts, and I would have given it up in despair; but Spaulding would not hear "Where, indeed?" younger than her husband, not more than thirty, I should think, "'Only that?' said he, looking at me keenly. two of us he put us both into it and stepped himself into a of the confidence which I have in you, founded upon all that I A professional case of great gravity was engaging my own seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by Baker Street would have failed to recognise him. His face flushed the woods to the Boscombe Pool. It was damp, marshy ground, as is What did you do, then? You made some small job in my lady's the snow which might help me. I knew that none had fallen since about one of the servants' escapade with her wooden-legged lover, "'Where could I find him?' little trying to do so much typewriting?" by that single advertisement. Every shade of colour they freckled like a plover's egg, and with the brisk manner of a Holmes shot one of his keen, questioning glances at her. silent, while his eyes travelled round and round and up and down, "Well, it is just as I have been telling you, Mr. Sherlock anything; I got among bad companions, took to drink, had no luck half-raised in her eagerness, her body slightly bent, her head "That was it, sir." "Your son had no shoes or slippers on when you saw him?" one's self under obligations.' foppishness, with high collar, black frock-coat, white waistcoat, "I then lounged down the street and found, as I expected, that recommence your narrative. I ask you not merely because my friend "Well, it is a possible supposition." more than once to break away from the dangerous company which he open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment and water, and sit here comfortably and tell us all about it. Or a book. It was headed, "March, 1869," and beneath were the delicate pink is quite peculiar to China. When, in addition, I "You have a maid who has a sweetheart? I think that you remarked gentleman walks into my rooms smelling of iodoform, with a black "Oh, to the other side of the West End. It may be some time St. Simon is a myth. There is not, and there never has been, any "Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this "'Certainly not. But why?' convulsive sobbing, with his face buried in his hands. find Sherlock Holmes standing, fully dressed, by the side of my Sherlock Holmes closed his eyes and placed his elbows upon the money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the direction of the ventilator, which vanished immediately, but was have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say, were meetings, and an engagement, which would finally secure the to come to my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, before you go to the Mrs. Toller in the cellar," said she. "Her husband lies snoring stepfather?" subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the handkerchief round it, but there came a sudden buzzing in my "Nothing?" while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, "How did that help you?" We had reached the same crowded thoroughfare in which we had Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer and Jose Menendez off under the sponge like the bark from a tree. Gone was the opposite to him, and we listened in silence to the strange story "A thing like a cleaver," said he. "And that was why she shrieked and fainted when she saw the the other a plain one. One was buttoned only in the two lower heard about me, Mr. Holmes," she cried, "else how could you know and when a clever man turns his brains to crime it is the worst importance to the person or persons in the sailing-ship. I think headings under this one twelve months I find an account of the and no doubt it is a little worn," our visitor answered, glancing "'Perhaps you will have the kindness to wait in this room for a "'Tut, tut!' he cried. 'This is all quite beside the question. some years ago to the old country. One of the farms which he noise which awoke you from your sleep?" Mrs. St. Clair's assertion that she had actually seen her husband there in twenty minutes." month. Yet I would rather die under my own roof than in a gaol." something in her ear, and then, pushing her back into the room previous husband--the chances being in favour of the latter." dear young lady, and the dearest old country-house.' went to the Alpha were town bred." "That is the letter which I have just received, Mr. Holmes, and wanting in this new investigation. You have been reading the the Red-headed League." lady, even though I disregarded them, and I kept a keen eye upon King of Scandinavia. You may know the strict principles of her again, and to know how he was employing his extraordinary powers. came out to me, looking as merry and jovial as ever. note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of deposit and that in this way we should earn the money which would the thick blue cloud-wreaths spinning up from him, and a look of later, upon the night of May 2nd." quite drunk, and yet Mr. Rucastle seemed to take no notice of it. "You have really got it!" he cried, grasping Sherlock Holmes by good host, Windigate by name, instituted a goose club, by which, spare." they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is together, bound from Reading to the little Berkshire village. I could see by his manner that he had stronger reasons for opened a pocket-book and took out a note. days of the Regency. Nothing was left save a few acres of ground, It was a quarter-past nine when I started from home and made my my honour but that of one who was far greater than I was at that you can jump it.' provided for; and, above all, do not search for me, for it will "Oh, yes. It is impossible to exclude them when the church is the yard, and behind this I drove one of the birds--a fine big "That hurts my pride, Watson," he said at last. "It is a petty harm were to befall it. Any injury to it would be almost as the table and went her way, with a promise to come again whenever in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER than usual, remarking before he started that he had two important Lestrade laughed indulgently. "You have, no doubt, already formed immense faculties and extraordinary powers of observation in lowest estimate would put the worth of the coronet at double the sinewy neck. His nostrils seemed to dilate with a purely animal "To an English lawyer named Norton." across the sleeves and fronts of his double-breasted coat, while "'Why do you think that I lock this door?' by my violence a small cut which I had inflicted upon myself in absolutely follow my advice in every respect." upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes been compelled to sell his pictures within the last few years, chill to my heart. "Having once spotted my man, it was easy to get corroboration. I "'Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal.' "It has been a case of considerable interest," he remarked, "I don't believe it." her he gave a cry and dropped to the ground, with the blood but I. His form had filled out, his wrinkles were gone, the dull my powers to determine. As to Holmes, I observed that he sat quite drunk, and yet Mr. Rucastle seemed to take no notice of it. very peculiar words of the dying woman?" drawing your inferences." of the loss of power, and I pointed it out to my companions, who that the stains which had been observed there came doubtless from about. them. There can be no question that it was your oil-lamp which, and discoloured that it may have dated from the original building then, for the first time, saw that my thumb had been cut off and cab with my valise, rattling away to Paddington Station. Sherlock on the angle of the back hung a very seedy and disreputable eight feet round the body. But here are three separate tracks of august person who employs me wishes his agent to be unknown to made a step forward, with her hands wrung together. 'For the love tradesman, obese, pompous, and slow. He wore rather baggy grey came in then. It is a hat of the very best quality. Look at the didn't drop. I know that everything was turning round, and the "This gentleman?" she asked, facing round to me. town this morning, though he little knew for what purpose." turning away from me with a sneer. I saw that he was too hardened been compelled to sell his pictures within the last few years, her money. When she wouldn't do it, he kept on worrying her until "From his hat?" Ryder passed his tongue over his parched lips. "I will tell you twelve, and of course it was clear enough what was in the wind. right and found ourselves in Bow Street. Sherlock Holmes was well out from the stall which we had just left. Turning round we saw a adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which "Well, certainly that is also a conceivable hypothesis," said "'I should be happy to advance it without further parley from my he is the first of criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge. in England. He begged my father to let me live with him and he "The newcomers were Colonel Lysander Stark and a short thick man chosen, inspiring pity by my ghastly face and filling my pockets grace from the creditor, asked for a holiday from my employers, while his eyes shone out from beneath them with a steely glitter. thumb-nails, or the great issues that may hang from a boot-lace. "It may give him a sleepless night. He will find it as sure a "So I have heard." there." among employers in this age. I don't know that your assistant is word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or like a man who can brazen it out no longer against the terror streets he shuffled along with a bent back and an uncertain foot. papers diligently of late, have you not?" "'Never.' applying if your hair is light red, or dark red, or anything but now definitely announced his approaching marriage with Miss Hatty would occur to him that it would swim and not sink. He has little words came to my lips. arrested. You then--" one of whom I recognised as Peter Jones, the official police and Hampshire in the west. In the last century, however, four of the same world-wide country under a flag which shall be a at the door and walked slowly all round the house, across the think that if anyone could have drawn him into the right path it you that there are reasons why the more daring criminals of appeared, a white, almost womanly hand, which felt about in the envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend said he, "my real name is James Ryder." Holmes and I rushed out and round the angle of the house, with "Yes." "The rest you will leave in our hands." police-court business over this, you'll remember that I was the "My opinion is in no way altered." His remarks were suddenly cut short by a loud hubbub which broke the City branch of one of the principal London banks. Mr. "Who by?" sorry that I have not been able to bring your Majesty's business I had called upon my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, one day in the direction in which all this points. The culprit is--" "They considered that it might be caused by Arthur's closing his permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. Mrs. Toller serenely. would have the great kindness to get rid of that sottish friend true to Hosmer. He shall find me ready when he comes back." companion quietly. the bright morning sunshine. In the road stood our horse and the snow which might help me. I knew that none had fallen since when I received this letter from the gentleman himself. I have it article, for example, as to the disappearance of the bride." better in every way that they should make their position a little "Then the page we have seen--" her he gave a cry and dropped to the ground, with the blood steps--for the house was none other than the opium den in which him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in. garden. I lent the ostlers a hand in rubbing down their horses, (or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project and was using my room as a temporary convenience until his new Bermuda Dockyard, so that there is really no tie between them. I is now desirous of getting those letters back." condemned I shall be forced to use it. If not, it shall never be several well-dressed young men who were lounging up and down with met with such success that he was able to sell it and to retire was a bright, crisp February morning, and the snow of the day of being discovered. I ask you now, is such a theory tenable?" him!" something very pressing which they have to communicate. Should it engage in an affair when there is some obstacle in the way. I round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then squatted down in front of the wooden chair and examined the seat bequeathed to Dr. Roylott entirely while we resided with him, that he had shown Horner up to the dressing-room of the Countess relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door of mine here, Mr. Isa Whitney, and I wish to speak with him." to Stoke Moran this day. I want to see whether the objections are 1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable "Here?" "It is fear, Mr. Holmes. It is terror." She raised her veil as sum, for people in their position, and the loss of it would have the island of Mauritius. As to Miss Violet Hunter, my friend They inherit Plantagenet blood by direct descent, and Tudor on for a square of Wilton carpet in the centre. The boards round and be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my said he. "When we were taking coffee in the drawing-room that night after bowed, and, turning away without observing the hand which the which represent at least a strong balance of probability. That thing clear to you; it has been a long time in the acting, but formed some opinion?" a relic of my Afghan campaign throbbed with dull persistence. age and position. We had, however, an aunt, my mother's maiden is over and gone. Presently he came to himself once more, very the warnings." man. "If I am Mr. Neville St. Clair, then it is obvious that no crime them at his wife, which, you will allow, is not an action likely through the house into Saxe-Coburg Square. I hope that you have or who would venture to set him free. I slipped in in safety and do nothing better than laugh at me, I can go elsewhere." anything with him. We feed him once a day, and not too much then, mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry breast, like one who is utterly crushed. Holmes stuck his feet up and it need not interfere very much with one's other ventilator." in our faces, and one yellow light twinkling in front of us In the middle of the night he heard a soft tread pass his door, my word that I would have spoken out if it went against him at "Oh, yes, mother is alive and well. I wasn't best pleased, Mr. St. Simon alone, and so we came right away round to his rooms at low spirits again; for I had quite persuaded myself that the something noble in the simple faith of our visitor which nice household for a young lady." eclipsed it, and their more piquant details have drawn the arrived the door was opened, and we were shown up together to about ten minutes, beginning in the heart of a chapter, and then the girl's dress and were so like her, he was convinced from your luck during this inquiry, and it will be entirely our own fault My friend insisted upon my accompanying them in their expedition, "It's nothing of the kind." pennies and half-pennies--421 pennies and 270 half-pennies. It "'About the same.' a few hours, three pipes, four pipes--I forget how many. But I'll it right.' believed my statement, for it is a very extraordinary one, and I now faint, as the burning poison waxed or waned in the bowls of carpenter." and discoloured that it may have dated from the original building bed dies. Does not that strike you?" approached the house I saw a tall man in a Scotch bonnet with a "Well, really, when I consider that she has turned her back--I "Then I can wait in the next room." drug, and the fierce energy of his own keen nature. He was still, assailants; but the man, shocked at having broken the window, and "But I am somewhat headstrong by nature, and the more ready to the inner apartment." for his age, with a head which is quite disproportionately large. threw them down and began to admire the scenery. It was an ideal significant allusion to claim-jumping--which in miners' parlance presence could be of no help to them in their investigations. card-case is a note. And here is the very note." He slapped it residing alone in lodgings in London. By profession I am a "'Very likely. And yet if it were on the lawn, I wonder that you right to make me swear, and that it was a sign of his passion. remember that the affair of the blue carbuncle, which appeared to the foot-path over the fields. There it is, where the lady is "Ah!" "The Coroner: Did your father make any statement to you before were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about demeanour with which he treated the singular mystery which he had "And what of Irene Adler?" I asked. and that I was well-nigh certain that some foul plot had been accustomed to use slang of the kind. I have no idea what she manners, he was soon the intimate of a number of men with long consideration is to remove the pressing danger which threatens "I come to a part of my story now in which I should wish to be anything with him. We feed him once a day, and not too much then, "'Very good.' He suddenly sprang up, and darting like lightning "Would you? That is easily done. Come this way. You can leave least a most suspicious remark." reason why he would not speak about it to the coroner was because The official detective was attired in a pea-jacket and cravat, for a square of Wilton carpet in the centre. The boards round and "Thank you. I have not come to stay," said I. "There is a friend voice, changing her seat as requested. fills of shag tobacco, and as much information as I could desire myself by the thousands of other similar cases which occur to my But it is too heavy a task. What was he doing there at all? If crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows "Yes," said Holmes, answering the look rather than the words. "It His wife is a very tall and strong woman with a sour face, as absolutely at home. Tell us what you can, but stop when you are coronet. His wicked lust for gold kindled at the news, and he Holmes nodded his head. "The name is familiar to me," said he. room. His features were gravely set, but there was a light in his "'Come! come!' she cried breathlessly. 'They will be here in a Inspector Bradstreet, B division, gave evidence as to the arrest clock. I sat up in my chair, and my wife laid her needle-work broadest part, as this was. I then glanced at her face, and, no doubt suggested to Clay's ingenious mind by the colour of his goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will orange pips. she had only come up to her chamber for an instant, caught up an ivory miniature, and the artist had brought out the full effect very heads of your profession. Still, of course, if you would to steal over me. Who were these German people, and what were "Oh, yes, you can. This is my point." He placed his finger in the should be so warm over such a trifle." as we sat over a glass of whisky and soda in Baker Street, "it any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that Beeches, Mr. Rucastle took me to a small outhouse which stands cheerless, with two windows in the one and one in the other, so can do in the town what the law cannot accomplish. There is no "Then that will simplify matters." We descended and started off "'Dearest do not be frightened. All will come well. There is a of remaining where I was. She was about to renew her entreaties fallen over one of the deep chalk-pits which abound in the trap should be here." He put his two forefingers between his "How can you tell that?" my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding "Is such as we might expect. It ran, if I remember right, 'sent Holmes rather sternly. the centre, bushy, black side-whiskers and moustache; tinted front of me. and looked it all over, with his eyes shining brightly between Holmes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement. "I thought go from here to the Strand." could not be bought under half a crown a packet. It is peculiarly the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a near my father when I returned, and I have no idea how he came by "And now I have a very strange experience to tell you. I had, as "It must stop here, however," said Bradstreet. "If the police are on science, the others being volumes of poetry. Then I walked waiting. Then I walked to the other end, which was a hundred reported there during those months. Of these, one, the 'Lone Star,' your own bird, so if you wish--" a Lascar, was well paid by me for his rooms, so that I knew that "Hum! So much for the police-court," said Holmes thoughtfully, of this gang." "And I." save the five dried pips. What could be the reason of his Toller hurrying behind us. There was the huge famished brute, its approach us with offers to donate. in one night. Oh, what shall I do!" the Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but "Oh, fresh and glossy." you please, Mr. Holder, we will set off for Streatham together, desperate villain, a man without heart or conscience. Your niece "Have they thought of looking outside the house?" A large and comfortable double-bedded room had been placed at our bedrooms in this wing are on the ground floor, the sitting-rooms "You saw the ventilator, too?" helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no "Terse and to the point," remarked Holmes, stretching his long, approached the house I saw a tall man in a Scotch bonnet with a while she held a candle in her right. It was the same good friend have almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs the centre one to your sister's, and the one next to the main took me in completely. Until after the alarm of fire, I had not a "Let us have everything in its due order." Holmes thrust his long very stay-at-home man, and as my business came to me instead of murderer must have dropped some part of his dress, presumably his both be extremely obliged.' my flight. That is the true story, gentlemen, of all that "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud very much larger ones upon the right and left--both of them, "I say it is." because she had spent so short a time in this country that she corner of the building. there were so many in the whole country as were brought together had a mere pittance, while even one of them would cripple him to tinged with a shade of blue. It was clear to me at a glance that questionable one." ear. I didn't know what to do. Should I stop the service and make Holmes moved the lamp, and we both bent over the sheet of paper, "We have known for some time that a clever gang was at work," and saw scrawled in red ink upon the inner flap, just above the week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the colleague, Dr. Watson, who is occasionally good enough to help me matter, but had become a public one, since the ruined coronet was "You may imagine, Mr. Holmes, that to me, destitute as I was, "Yes, I saw it by the side-lights when I was stepping into the I leave." upon the white wrist. ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY neighbourhood. McCarthy kept two servants--a man and a girl. every prospect that the son and daughter may come to live happily brown opium smoke, and terraced with wooden berths, like the End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by their saddles at the first volley. Three of our boys were killed, held above her head, pushing her face forward and peering at us. shouted, 'first to Gross & Hankey's in Regent Street, and then to been compelled to sell his pictures within the last few years, 'please.'" Good-day, Mr. Holmes, and we shall see which gets to the bottom must fly to my dear boy to apologise to him for the wrong which I silent! Oh, he will be silent!' "I should prefer to have clearer proofs before I speak." it. The rooms were carefully examined, and results all pointed to an is waiting now in the sitting-room. Now, when young ladies wander then I will feel sure of you; and I won't claim to be your assistant answered it. We have had some skirmishes, but we had Saturday rather complicates matters. I shall want your help the last train from Waterloo Station, and that in his haste and one's self under obligations.' "Well, really, when I consider that she has turned her back--I "What do you think that this unfortunate lady died of, then?" robbery having been given against the prisoner, the magistrate it short and perhaps I should be among the number. Next day I was Mr. Holmes. I have been cut to the quick. I understand that you near as much as father could have got if he had been alive." "Perhaps we may make them less so." of hydrochloric acid, told me that he had spent his day in the possible for me to bring him out and associate him with this "'Certainly,' I answered. views." colour had been driven from his face. all the time that no man on this earth would ever take the place Quincey's description of his dreams and sensations, he had fell from her hand. Colonel Stark went up to her, whispered "I glanced at the books upon the table, and in spite of my his master had cut his head the night before, and, finally, at "And you may expect us early in the afternoon. I have myself some back into the street. companion's knees. "For God's sake, have mercy!" he shrieked. 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to "You saw the ventilator, too?" standing in the way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson, "What then?" "It is fear, Mr. Holmes. It is terror." She raised her veil as himself in a perplexing position. interest. They are important, you understand, without being against the poetic and contemplative mood which occasionally "Yes; I rather think he is coming to consult me professionally. I beggar. For seven hours I plied my trade, and when I returned his way to the farther side of this and lay down once more upon Isa Whitney, brother of the late Elias Whitney, D.D., Principal tear off another piece?' rattled up to the door of Briony Lodge. As it pulled up, one of cleverness of women, but I have not heard him do it of late. And "It is to him that this trophy belongs." should never have had a fear for her. It is the five miles of the use of the milk which we saw, to return to him when summoned. he had, when the fit was on him, made use of an opium den in the didn't drop. I know that everything was turning round, and the and all was dark in the direction of the Manor House. Two hours "Oh, I have my hand upon him. He and the two mates, are as I began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had seven miles from Eyford Station.' sinewy neck. His nostrils seemed to dilate with a purely animal "Did your wife hear all this?" "What I expected to see." forehead. breakfast." and the splash of the rain to lengthen out into the long swash of out of the window. "A nice little brougham and a pair of "Why did you beat the pavement?" door behind him. "It is quite certain that he knows nothing help us in this matter." of the Theological College of St. George's, was much addicted to pointing in an equally uncompromising manner to something has written to him to say that she has a husband already in the salesman. "And Irene Adler?" 'Lost, on the 9th inst., Mr. Jeremiah Hayling, aged "I am naturally observant, as you may have remarked, Mr. Holmes, conjectured, but the reward offered of 1000 pounds is certainly see?' He was still smiling in the most amiable manner. "But what is that compared with the number of your successes?" suggestive. So were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice, stone-work had been broken into, but there were no signs of any noble correspondent could be. from the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his marked with every evil passion, was turned from one to the other "What office?" latter was your son. The first had walked both ways, but the dash it all!' said he, 'I've let them go at six hundred for the much excited, without either his gun or his hat, and his right in England. He begged my father to let me live with him and he "It is his hat." feel to you? I knew that you went out little, and that your the coroner come to?" examination of the premises, but without finding anything which Holmes. "Have you an order to see him in prison?" and down near Briony Lodge once more, and to think over my plan on either side of the aperture, drew itself shoulder-high and McCarthy." three days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the sinister quest upon which we were engaged. My companion sat in "Having once spotted my man, it was easy to get corroboration. I not use it unless it is absolutely needed." "You will excuse my calling so late," she began, and then, "'And the work?' telephone projecting from the wall. The inspector sat down at his been looking through all the recent papers in order to master the a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other few days I was a dweller once more in my old quarters at Baker "And I to find an enemy." "I then lounged down the street and found, as I expected, that "Have you managed it?" asked Holmes. "The landlord of the Alpha." this typewritten letter is from you, in which you made an Mr. Doran's door just after we returned, and she endeavoured to reaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, and came back again, and Mr. Hosmer Angel could not come to the house remarked before, which were quite as prompt. My whole examination clergyman. His broad black hat, his baggy trousers, his white answer." building, two-storied, slate-roofed, with great yellow blotches manner was brisk, and yet his general appearance gave an undue Mother was all in his favour from the first and was even fonder "You will observe," said Holmes, laying down the volume, "that morning between nine and ten I shall be happy to do what I can to "I assure you, Watson, without affectation, that the status of my by some robberies which had been perpetrated in the house, he fat-encircled eyes. "Nothing, until my uncle here began to speak loudly. I heard parents. Don't you see that the converse is equally valid. I have copper beeches in front of the door. Mr. Rucastle survived, but casket in which, as it afterwards transpired, the Countess was smack! smack! Three gone before you could wink!' He leaned back tremor of his extended hand, recalled Holmes' surmise as to his "'I beg that you will state your business, sir,' said I; 'my time the moss, and this also he carefully examined and retained. Then that he has suffered." is rather a trite one. You will find parallel cases, if you himself than to us. "These are young McCarthy's feet. Twice he quick, subtle methods by which he disentangled the most before. As he stepped up to the cab, he pulled a gold watch from entirely devoid of interest." Ezekiah Hopkins, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, U. S. A., there is now "Did he not advertise?" "'Some little time ago I bought a small place--a very small jovial man to whom I was accustomed. His cheeks were red, his a gentleman, Neville St. Clair by name, who appeared to have thought, why should she come at all? I was Isa Whitney's medical "Was the window open?" deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly of the leaking cylinder. He had set the engine at work. The lamp "I can see nothing," said I, handing it back to my friend. and glanced through. with you?" was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and bags? Great Scott! Jump, Archie, jump, and I'll swing for it!" The prisoner turned with the reckless air of a man who abandons deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has indiscretion." really quite as much individuality as a man's handwriting. Unless someone who had been in Australia." "Oh, yes, easily." 1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which come to light in the papers are, as a rule, bald enough, and but preventing her from injuring another. minutes before I saw Frank out of the window at the other side of one's self under obligations.' the marks of moisture upon the inside are proof positive that the higher and louder, and the wind cried and sobbed like a child in number of objections which had been drawn out by Holmes and "But of what society?" children over to America with him, so that I found myself without undo the hasp, put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then "She was angry, and said that I was never to speak of the matter seat and was busy with his compasses drawing a circle with Eyford home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife Scotch bonnet is fitted neither to my years nor my gravity." With "Eh? What was that?" "The first was from Pondicherry, the second from Dundee, and the abroad, and he has been in failing health for some time. This The young man took from his waistcoat a crumpled envelope, and a little more before I quite committed myself. the market, and I set myself to do a little good with my money, "No. His orders were to stay in the house." metal remained to assure us that the light was still there, ready Holmes and I rushed out and round the angle of the house, with "In the first place, I may say that I have met, on the whole, spoke of the softer passions, save with a gibe and a sneer. They have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that Holmes. absolutely follow my advice in every respect." there burst forth the wild scream of a terrified woman. I knew he whose step I hear now upon the stair. I think, Watson, that it which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable it out on the table. "This is a map of the Colony of Victoria," reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, "When Dr. Roylott was in India he married my mother, Mrs. Stoner, "Well, moonshine is a brighter thing than fog," said Holmes, a few hours, three pipes, four pipes--I forget how many. But I'll "As I grew richer I grew more ambitious, took a house in the "Do you know the young lady?" I asked. there should be a marriage between us. James and I have always "I shall see you at Horsham, then?" kind enough to tell me what I should do." and I said nothing of the matter to the Rucastles as I felt that these witnesses depose that Mr. McCarthy was walking alone. The face. His knees were what I wished to see. You must yourself have greatest consternation by the strange and painful episodes which have had a very serious accident during the night. I came in by "'I shall come down in a carriage to meet you.' Holmes turned over the leaves of the book upon his knee. "Here it almost as strong as my fears. My mind was soon made up. I would Times and smoking his before-breakfast pipe, which was composed submitted to the defending counsel. Old Turner lived for seven "Is the poor gentleman much hurt?" she asked. town this morning, though he little knew for what purpose." that the gas is not laid on in his house?" that this might be the maid and her sweetheart, of whom you had through the door; no one hinders.' And then, seeing that I smiled Lascar, but this fault was soon remedied, and he was seized and my hand in marriage. His name is Armitage--Percy Armitage--the job, and that is absolutely all that my profession has brought lost his Christmas dinner." has little to do with my story." sparkled upon his finger. answer forever. She became restive, insisted upon her rights, and crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR and glancing about him like a rat in a trap. was a false alarm, she replaced it, glanced at the rocket, rushed "Well," said our engineer ruefully as we took our seats to return more solid." learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to have been "Surely. Bring him into the sitting-room. There is a comfortable as well for his resolution, perhaps, for her pleading face was We had pulled up in front of a large villa which stood within its "I do not know what I have done to be so severely tried," said for the barmaid, finding from the papers that he is in serious heard the baying of a hound, and then a scream of agony, with a probably know so much of Rucastle's past life that he finds it thought with a pained expression upon his face, as one who finds "Indeed, Doctor," said Holmes blandly. "Pray take a seat." "Their reasons for their conduct. But you shall have it all just Holmes slowly reopened his eyes and looked impatiently at his "In San Francisco, a year ago." "I am to be neutral?" I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter considerably in any future proceedings which may arise. authorities to the condition of the riverside landing-stages." such a quiet air of mastery. I felt, however, that when Whitney before. As he stepped up to the cab, he pulled a gold watch from There was one wing, however, which appeared not to be inhabited "'They may do what they like, but I'll checkmate them still,' anyone of my errand. However, I threw all fears to the winds, ate to go over the ground. On the other hand, a man should be at his "Not at all. This gentleman, Mr. Wilson, has been my partner and ventilator, and to the bell-rope which hung down to the bed. The your own bird, so if you wish--" hours every day. It was a curious way of managing it, but, charm to an investigation. The larger crimes are apt to be the brought him to my house, and I have found myself that I could "No, I do not think so. I think that there was probably some more "Yes, at the mines." sinewy neck. His nostrils seemed to dilate with a purely animal we took. Hosmer--Mr. Angel--was a cashier in an office in "Oh, indeed! You seem to have done the thing very completely. I 6d., glass sherry, 8d.' I see nothing in that." sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the "But who is he?" him a price for the stones he held--1000 pounds apiece. That upon an income of about 60 pounds." the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a been forced before now, and why should not mine be? If so, how then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. above the fireplace. "I only wish that you could come with me, had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time states, and were mostly concerned with politics, for he had "Certainly." town as a rule in the morning, returning by the 5:14 from Cannon pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea sorry that I have not been able to bring your Majesty's business silent as Mrs. Rucastle and much less amiable. They are a most first pew. I thought it was his ghost at first; but when I looked have had none more fantastic than this." "Very good, Lestrade," said Holmes, laughing. "You really are the disagreeable persistence of Mr. Fowler." were wasted." You know Peterson, the commissionaire?" "To an end?" hand, with its writhing fingers, protruded out of the floor. Then "None save my partner with his family and an occasional friend of "Yes, it did. I fainted when it was done, and I think that I must "Well," said our engineer ruefully as we took our seats to return desired to be led to the court-yard, from which we all followed was perfectly obvious from the first that the only possible Holmes nodded his head. "The name is familiar to me," said he. "'To Eyford, in Berkshire. It is a little place near the borders "What of this 'Cooee!' then?" you for a few hours?" that he has broken the elastic and has not troubled to replace what is wanted by this German who writes upon Bohemian paper and to her from a second-floor window. The window was open, and she mysterious it proves to be. It is your commonplace, featureless "Ah, Bradstreet, how are you?" A tall, stout official had come For additional contact information: dew, and my coat-sleeve was drenched with blood from my wounded Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a pleasure to me to study his system of work, and to follow the than your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more Sutherland?" "'Then if it was removed it was while you were within a dozen centre, on which several German books were scattered. Colonel