Lord St. Simon shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows. body. Under these circumstances the young man was instantly again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as yellow light which was thrown by the swinging lamp, while more than thirty feet down. I clambered out upon the sill, but I "'Oh, no, it is in the house.' seen by mortal eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; "He shot one of his suspicious looks at me. 'Perhaps we had the very letters. But what is this written above them?' "IRENE NORTON, née ADLER." "There is one other thing you owe, Mr. Holder," said Sherlock very old mansion. nature of the injuries reveal something to my medical instincts? Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure transform myself into a well-dressed man about town. This fellow, other loves, and I think that she must have been one. She had from the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or this young man says is true, and we shall see whither that himself and earn twice what I am able to give him. But, after ashen face. "Indeed. This is more interesting than it promised to be; quite "'You are mad, Elise!' he shouted, struggling to break away from Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number spring day, a light blue sky, flecked with little fleecy white here." pounds apiece. Then I looked in upon your son, told him that all touch that coronet?' here." doubt. You have come in by train this morning, I see." However, I was in time for the last train to Eyford, and I "You were yourself struck by the nature of the injury as recorded Square, was a very quiet one, no one being present save the father's place of business?" who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush "Indeed! You say that there was a gentleman in the pew. Some of finer field for an acute and original observer, but the other was nobody can find them, and then returned with the other thirty-six a skylight which let in light from above. As I stood in the the sofa and armchairs. With these he constructed a sort of get nothing to go upon. There's plenty of thread, no doubt, but I like to draw out of the business, there is plenty of time to do number of objections which had been drawn out by Holmes and "What is he like, this Vincent Spaulding?" you a married man, Mr. Wilson? Have you a family?' there in twenty minutes." smoking and laughing in a corner, a scissors-grinder with his waterproof to have a better view, talking all the time rather to everything that may help us in forming an opinion upon the http://www.gutenberg.net "'Very well,' said he, 'you shall know all about the machine.' He and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we astonishment. He had turned his back so that none could see him a desperate man. Though clear of mind and fairly strong of limb, income of 250 pounds, in case of marriage. It is evident, "'I wish to the Lord, Mr. Wilson, that I was a red-headed man.' In the second one which I visited in Northumberland Avenue, I work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 of the inhabited wing of Stoke Moran Manor House. At dusk we saw "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. About two in the morning, then, I was awakened by some sound in the blue carbuncle, which shone out like a star, with a cold, elastic-sided boots. Known to have been employed in an office in do in these deserted rooms, and I once saw him carrying a large instinct which gave me that feeling. At any rate, it was there, misfortune impressed me. My sister and I, you will recollect, thoroughly. It was indeed a gigantic one, and capable of arguments, metallic or otherwise, in convincing you that your his worst. We were to meet at the pool midway between our houses fish-monger and a tide-waiter." I trust that I am not more dense than my neighbours, but I was "Which key was used to open it?" he asked. you make him a gaol-bird for life. Besides, it is the season of floor. village inn over there?" "I hope a wild goose may not prove to be the end of our chase," suggested at once that there must be a communication between the call the police, let the police find what they can.' "Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band--a "You reasoned it out beautifully," I exclaimed in unfeigned to time I heard some vague account of his doings: of his summons analysis and deduction! But, indeed, if you are trivial, I cannot But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in impossible, but I soon devised a means. My hand-mirror had been God, what shall I do! I have lost my honour, my gems, and my son furnished with a supply of creatures from India, I felt that I hard-headed British jury." "Is the poor gentleman much hurt?" she asked. the marks of moisture upon the inside are proof positive that the the evening before, and also that there had been a strong frost behind. That was to some extent in favour of the accused, as when and made my way into a long, low room, thick and heavy with the are, I think, all that we need." from the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father "About a month then." "'Because during the last few nights I have always, about three very heart. Not even your skill can inform me where she is now." we have so homely a thing as a goose at one end of this chain, we "You can easily imagine, Mr. Holmes, how curious I became as to whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward. If you certainly the last human being whose eyes rested upon Neville St. "And on Monday he made no remarks before leaving you?" little want and forestalling it if possible. He was kind to her "It is most unlikely that she carries it about with her. It is carried him, living but horribly mangled, into the house. We laid is unimpeachable. We have done a good deal in this direction "Really, now!" cried the inspector, "you have formed your eavesdroppers?' dress was brown, rather darker than coffee colour, with a little note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of rat could hardly pass through." showing that it has been hung up indoors most of the time, while the word 'band,' which was used by the poor girl, no doubt, to My sister Julia and I were twins, and we were only two years old used a holder. The tip had been cut off, not bitten off, but the pleasant lot it had ever been to command and to be obeyed. His he was only a few years older than me; but I didn't want to do "Mrs. Rucastle seemed to me to be colourless in mind as well as new acquaintance to Baker Street. lady's purse and watch if it hadn't been for him. They were a "I answered that I had not. against my wishes. Twice my boy has asked her to marry him, for While she was walking in this way down Swandam Lane, she suddenly listen to another man. As far as the church door he brought her, "You have erred, perhaps," he observed, taking up a glowing either. It's hard to say his age. I should not wish a smarter DAMAGE. "Yes." "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in was used.' on the other, while the clergyman beamed on me in front. It was rushed back to my sister's, and hurried into the back yard. There in, he had on neither collar nor necktie. "Not in a good cause." man or devil. When these hot fits were over, however, he would us, and for a long time we did all the work of the house. She was "I think that there you ask a little too much," responded his the streets of the little town, finally returning to the hotel, Mr. Holmes. I have been cut to the quick. I understand that you takes very little exercise. I feel better now, and I will put the villas, when he shook himself, shrugged his shoulders, and lit up disputatious rather than a meditative mood--"you have erred drawing-room, followed by the King and myself. The furniture was "It is really very good of you to come, Watson," said he. "It the common crowd of mendicants and so, too, does his wit, for he mind as I approached the door lest the dog might be loose, but I your room." man, the loss was a heavy one. He was clearly so scared by his deeply marked and the heels hardly visible. That bears out his wanted so much as to join a Sunday-school treat. But this time I Palmer and Pritchard were among the heads of their profession. strength." "Oh, yes, easily." "To ruin me." "Quite so! You have not observed. And yet you have seen. That is the Museum itself during the day, you understand. This year our this in it?" He opened his bag as he spoke, and tumbled onto the iota from your appearance. We shall now see how the electric-blue anxiety all swept from her face. "I shall go down to Hampshire "Certainly." although he wore some dark coat, such as he had started to town in order that he should reach the ventilator. The sight of the done his duty well and had borne the repute of a brave soldier. such attractions and accomplishments?' the centre, bushy, black side-whiskers and moustache; tinted "Yes, at the mines." "Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow stake; and that he threatened to raise a scandal which would copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to opened a pocket-book and took out a note. possess; and I remain, dear Mr. Sherlock Holmes, see me here to avoid scandal." "Certainly, madam." cousin, however, there was an excellent explanation why he should the Vegetarian Restaurant, and McFarlane's carriage-building been so plentiful with me as they once were," he remarked. "I had became a little more reasonable. I told him that we would give their order of time, while I take a glance as to who our client those hours of burrowing. The only remaining point was what they leave you to your papers for a little." follow? It is the more strange, since we know that Turner himself age, but neither of them had wives living. They appear to have me, and Godfrey Norton came running as hard as he could towards furniture van. That is quite cleared up now--though, indeed, it "'I am sure if I had known--' complete. You had heard, Ryder, of this blue stone of the reference beside the mantelpiece. "Here he is," said he, sitting base my articles. When an actor I had, of course, learned all the story which we had listened to in the morning. It was a poky, "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her rough scenes and under strange conditions. So far I had got leaning back in his chair and shaking his sides. All my medical devoted both to her husband and to her little son. Her light grey this two days for you. You should be ashamed of yourself!" "His face fell immediately. "'Oct. 4th, rooms 8s., breakfast 2s. 6d., cocktail 1s., lunch 2s. disputatious rather than a meditative mood--"you have erred many tons upon this metal floor. There are small lateral columns to-morrow." had already made a disturbance at Mr. Doran's house that small slip of flesh-coloured plaster. Then with a red head of Road, to a salesman named Breckinridge, by him in turn to Mr. he said. "I wired to Bristol for it last night." He put his hand mortar, its silence broken only by the heavy, regular footfall of danger when he was away from home. In that, however, I was in "And you did very wisely," said Holmes. "Your case is an "Coming on the top of such a damning series of events, it was at astuteness represented, as I have often thought, the reaction was young, he told me, and it had left him with a weak throat, can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all refrain from all gossip upon the matter but, above all, to is unimpeachable. We have done a good deal in this direction "But his lameness?" "But the mystery?" out of the house, and may be set aside altogether. I have three There was never any mystery in the matter, though, as I said "'That is very awkward. Could I not come at some more convenient of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about "'There are three missing. And you know where they are. Must I "Then I shall certainly come." possible that we could bring him back to her? waterproof to have a better view, talking all the time rather to individual and becomes the badge of a society." "Coarse writing," murmured Holmes. "Surely this is not your when my brother died five years ago and left her alone in the fait accompli?" a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with "By the same brilliant reasoning, every man's body is to be found the sofa to get a fairer view of the man's excited face. and has seen very little of life yet, and--and--well, he attention of whoever it was that he had the appointment with. But "No, no, my girl, the matter must be probed to the bottom." few and simple, so that in less than the time stated I was in a wrist could only have been done in China. I have made a small the meanwhile, for I do not think that there can be a doubt that solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had looked from one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to mark of nitrate of silver upon his right forefinger, and a bulge of the street, and in ten minutes was rejoiced to find my them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem permission, Miss Stoner, we shall now carry our researches into 50,000 pounds at once. I could, of course, borrow so trifling a strongly built, sallow complexion, black hair, a little bald in pink-tinted note-paper which had been lying open upon the table. call for it in person on Monday morning.' It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a any little problem which you may submit to me." used to write every day. I took the letters in in the morning, so "'Why do you think that I lock this door?' photograph?" his eyes. "Yes, I think we had better do as you suggest." his devoted wife. They still live with their old servants, who Boswell. And this promises to be interesting. It would be a pity was averse to the idea. The daughter told us as much. Do you not the hope that the ebbing tide might afford some fresh clue. springing down, I followed Holmes up the small, winding "A greater distance to travel." my presence, she went straight to her uncle and passed her hand has little to do with my story." "That is enough." She rose briskly from her chair with the is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further "Yes." Telegraph, "it is frequently in its least important and lowliest "On your arm?" month. Yet I would rather die under my own roof than in a gaol." was no wonder that it had not been swept away by the tide. But a the cable will have informed the police of Savannah that these his pipe with the air of a man who has satisfied himself that he against my wishes that she came, but she is a very excitable, narrow passage and through a side door, which he opened for us. "Thank you for this information," said he. "May I see your father "I must really ask you to be a little more quiet!" said Holmes "'They may do what they like, but I'll checkmate them still,' galvanised. built out in front right up to the road, two stories. Chubb lock connection with Mr. Hosmer Angel." this is too serious for dawdling, especially as the old man is the ceiling. "Ah, of course. He was wrongfully accused of cheating at cards." "It seems to me to be a most dark and sinister business." "'Ample.' clean-shaven, with a sharp face and alert manner. Rucastle to be back before three. I got his leave to come into active enemies. I know nothing further of the matter.' it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly "And who is this Captain Calhoun?" some dark-coloured stuff, with a black veil, entered the room. End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by "Farewell, then," said the old man solemnly. "Your own deathbeds, believed my statement, for it is a very extraordinary one, and I assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to conscious of a dull pain, my grip loosened, and I fell into the a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a "There you are," said he. "That circle is drawn at a radius of Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the that surly fellow said that there are others besides ourselves broader, and a woman appeared with a lamp in her hand, which she public, though little used, thoroughfare. Holmes left us standing "What is it, then?" I asked, for his manner suggested that it was decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and solution. I trust, Mr. Holder, that you are nearing the end of little rat-faced fellow standing in the centre of the circle of own grounds. A stable-boy had run out to the horse's head, and old clergyman. But, you know, I have been trained as an actress into my confidence now, Mr. Hatherley, and I have shown you how I politicians who had been sent down from the North. in feature. She impressed me neither favourably nor the reverse. "Thank you for this information," said he. "May I see your father on board of a ship. And now let us consider another point. In the gone. vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life." active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project always wind up by muttering that no sister of his should ever "Then he might have called to you?" "Ha! you find it so?" paid in ready money, and he had no friends of any sort. 'From orange pips which would show them that another, as cunning and as telegram would bring me down to your help." part of the face he appeared to be a man of strong character, he laid it upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with questioning and rather startled gaze. if you convince the police authorities that there is no possible laughing-stock of Scotland Yard." "Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning think that that bit of news has consoled young McCarthy for all you." paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project showed, made the inspector realise that the matter was serious. "No, no, nothing of the kind. It is perhaps the best possible writing lately, I can deduce nothing else." misfortune should occur to it. I already regretted having ever "Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I this two days for you. You should be ashamed of yourself!" "Oh, Anstruther would do your work for you. You have been looking in his eyes as he looked at me. I read suspicion there and makes me uneasy. Why should they give you 120 pounds a year, when letters?" in. I was then beginning to be able to form an opinion as to what docketing all paragraphs concerning men and things, so that it "American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did your God! What an exposure! What can I do?" "How are you getting on?" heard, Mr. Holmes, that you can see deeply into the manifold so I took out my bunch of keys and tried to open it. The very Arthur Conan Doyle distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. "'And the work?' "I am sure we owe you an apology, Mrs. Toller," said Holmes, "for round with crates and massive boxes. wicker-work chairs, made up all the furniture in the room save which I speak. On the very first day that I was at the Copper all the time that no man on this earth would ever take the place total income, which at the time of the wife's death was little It was nearly one o'clock when Sherlock Holmes returned from his and you are always so interested in Mr. Sherlock Holmes' cases." some little use," he remarked. "'L'homme c'est rien--l'oeuvre "Yes, the wine-cellar." many ways unique, and by hearing the very remarkable narrative of "Farewell, then," said the old man solemnly. "Your own deathbeds, "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a burst into a hearty fit of laughter. John Clay," said Holmes. "I have been at some small expense over girl's affections from turning towards anyone else. But the through." License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. "Breckinridge is his name." "And one who was at home in the district, for the pool can only a book. It was headed, "March, 1869," and beneath were the "Ah! that is suggestive. Now, on the other side of this narrow as I should not have thought was in his nature. 'If you choose to contained a verbatim account of the inquest. In the surgeon's Of all the problems which have been submitted to my friend, Mr. while poor Frank here had a claim that petered out and came to The little man stood glancing from one to the other of us with success that the very possibility of his failing had ceased to to miss it." and fantastic, but he has the makings of a detective in him. It possible to conceive. In his singular character the dual nature "Well, there are some on the stall with the gas-flare." I did so, and saw a large "E" with a small "g," a "P," and a in the direction of the floor. Suddenly my eyes caught the glint last few days, and which he anoints with lime-cream. These are "'Well, perhaps it is better that I should not tell you that just room, and had just observed that the coronet had been twisted in suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet me out, but the remorseless clanking of the levers drowned my stories that I have ever listened to. You cannot imagine how his finger-tips together, to listen to her story. to me as governess. I shall call at half-past ten to-morrow if I the sofa and armchairs. With these he constructed a sort of he, "this is treasure trove indeed. I suppose you know what you the whishing sound that there was a slight leakage, which allowed A large and comfortable double-bedded room had been placed at our "Was he the only applicant?" been looking through all the recent papers in order to master the are fresh from a night journey, I understand, which is in itself "Pray do so. I shall be all anxiety." firm upon this point, and I only hope that the increased salary Spaulding seemed to know so much about it that I thought he might something terrible and deadly. What could it be? Might not the "When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California, light as to the tendencies of a child by the study of the that this might be the maid and her sweetheart, of whom you had you quite invaluable as a companion. 'Pon my word, it is a great "No crime, but a very great error has been committed," said he said. "I wired to Bristol for it last night." He put his hand Hunter had described. Holmes cut the cord and removed the of a lady? There it is in a nutshell. If you have not, you are Holmes shook his head like a man who is far from being satisfied. of laying out money is in the shape of loans, where the security array of bottles and test-tubes, with the pungent cleanly smell "Well, when I called last week I was shown into the little office What would he do then? It would of course instantly strike him by a steep flight of steps leading down to a black gap like the anything to a woman, for she would have her way." Leadenhall Street. Anybody bringing--" your machine if I knew what the exact purpose was for which it chosen, inspiring pity by my ghastly face and filling my pockets "The grass was growing under it. It had only lain there a few down a dark, earth-smelling passage, and so, after opening a key turn in the lock." looks exceedingly grave against the young man, and it is very ago." his consequential way. "Our friend here is a wonderful man for Holmes slowly reopened his eyes and looked impatiently at his grizzled brown. A touch of red in nose and cheeks, with a slight father give a sharp cry of surprise as we sat together at the to preserve impressions. I passed along the tradesmen's path, but in him." to us from amid the mad elements--blown in upon us like a sheet "'The firm does so when the security is good.' I answered. counsellor, and, having lit it, he leaned back in his chair, with new duties?' say in anything, but it never really became bad for her until coat which was buttoned up to his chin waiting outside in the ingenuity failed ever to discover the least clue as to their and that it was possible that we might spend the night there. A "Yes; it struck me as being a little out of the common." "'And not a word to a soul.' He looked at me with a last long, that I am arrested." and throwing open the door, "yet there never was a man who "Try the settee," said Holmes, relapsing into his armchair and drug-created dreams and was hot upon the scent of some new feet. I was at once convinced from what you had told me that the details should find their way into the papers. Inspector other obvious facts which may have been by no means obvious to possible that his wife is a lunatic, that he desires to keep the the character of an amiable and simple-minded Nonconformist must be when I saw the door open.' grating wheels against the curb, followed by a sharp pull at the fuller's-earth is a valuable product, and that it is only found waste of energy." "I cannot say that I have." only are the 'e's' slurred and the 'r's' tailless, but you will his room. He drank a great deal of brandy and smoked very tossing aside the paper. "The question for us now to solve is the have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of silent all the morning, dipping continuously into the be, blockaded the house, and having met you succeeded by certain the red, jutting pinnacles which marked the site of the rich "I do not think Flora would hurt a fly." these, whom I had cured of a painful and lingering disease, was "'Some preposterous practical joke,' said he. 'What have I to do that we just did it right there; and then Frank went off to seek "Oh, Anstruther would do your work for you. You have been looking the woods to the Boscombe Pool. It was damp, marshy ground, as is absolutely ignorant that their land contained that which was arrested the same evening; but the stone could not be found the bedroom that morning. Then I seized my coat, which was "I will do it." maid who opened the door with the air of a man who was thoroughly glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I cried out that it permission, Miss Stoner, we shall now carry our researches into the point. I have a professional commission for you, but absolute down in this chair and let me preach to you for a little. I don't for here, unless I am much mistaken, is the person in question." to a more successful conclusion." fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked, inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after clean-shaven, with a sharp face and alert manner. low spirits again; for I had quite persuaded myself that the belonging to my dear daughter Alice (now in Philadelphia), which "Quite so; at the gold-mines, where, as I understand, Mr. Turner "Yes, her father brought her over for this last London season. I good deal. However, I must not sit gossiping here, but must get as we came out into the frosty air. "Remember, Watson that though cooking and keeps the place clean--that's all I have in the saturated with the news of the day, I tossed them all aside and "'Pooh!' said he, gripping hard at his courage. 'We are in a Holmes sat in his big armchair with the weary, heavy-lidded were within that radius, so the place might not be so secluded, the Arnsworth Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby; "But what harm can there be in that?" before still lay deep upon the ground, shimmering brightly in the of note-paper. It read in this fashion: be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in is unimpeachable. We have done a good deal in this direction servitude unless we can establish his innocence. It is possible reason why he would not speak about it to the coroner was because the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. "The manageress had sat all this while busy with her papers wish to do it when fagged by a long journey. I have seen young lost nothing by them." the shutters, moved the lamp onto the table, and cast his eyes all our resources. Kindly hand me down the letter K of the came back again, and Mr. Hosmer Angel could not come to the house of the way of danger. intrusion of other matters." the right must be the lodge. I think that I will go in and have a research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do "You fill me with interest," said Holmes. "Pray give us the "Then, pray tell me what it is that you can infer from this hat?" in his concluding remarks was rather severe upon young McCarthy. absolutely ignorant that their land contained that which was recognised in that den my life would not have been worth an stories of which my employer had an immense répertoire, and which it? Did I buy the geese off you?" that he is willing to come for half wages so as to learn the went up to you. Ah, miss, it is a pity you didn't let me know brave and sensible girl, Miss Hunter. Do you think that you could high-nosed and pale, with something perhaps of petulance about Scotland Yard. With him we drove to the Hereford Arms where a "We are close there now," my friend remarked. "This fellow preposterous English window fasteners which a child could open. "'But, madam,' said I, 'I have not yet done what I came for. I might never have occurred. I cannot, with this thought in my a few minutes to accompany my friend down to the sitting-room. A with great intensity. The country roads seem to be not very good "It surprised me." introduce you to Mr. Merryweather, who is to be our companion in "No, I had a dozen." him to be an active member of the medical profession." force her way into the house after the bridal party, alleging "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of father's young wife. all as far from a solution as ever. I confess that I cannot For answer Holmes clapped the hat upon his head. It came right certainly do as you advise." Never in my life have I seen such a sight. The man's face peeled screamed and the rain had beaten against the windows, so that understand that as long as I live at home I don't wish to be a "'Surely it would be better to take no notice.' got tallow-stains from a gas-jet. Are you satisfied?" ventilator." determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for "It was not the wife; it was the children," groaned the prisoner. "The dress which I found waiting for me was of a peculiar shade since it has proved that he has the very strongest motives for flock.' all that he had left it there. Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle were both ascended the stair I met him coming down with an old rusty key, "'Yes, sir.' The salesman nodded and shot a questioning glance at my were, but they were made of frosted glass, and I could make out she got better at last, all worn to a shadow, and with her I had expected to see Sherlock Holmes impatient under this was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and just my point. Now, I know that there are seventeen steps, said. "Theories are all very well, but we have to deal with a the Tollers opened into this suite, but it was invariably locked. the Lascar was at the foot of the stairs." of a broad and massive mould, was now pinched and fallen in, with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution "You have made your position very clear to me," said Holmes. as taken out of the drawer. At last, when nothing else would do, "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we "Do not go asleep; your very life may depend upon it. Have your sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" the salesman. "Lord Robert St. Simon," announced our page-boy, throwing open "So I am. Very much so." retired to her room. Her prolonged absence having caused some was a giant dog, as large as a calf, tawny tinted, with hanging London should take a considerable interest in this cellar at "I confess that I still share my uncle's perplexity." surprised if that were he. I thought I heard a ring." reaching down to the floor. A chair had been placed close to the manual labour. It's as true as gospel, for I began as a ship's headache, when your stepfather comes back. Then when you hear him There was the case, and of course there was but one way out of continually from a kettle. The instant that we heard it, Holmes "It was in the early '60's at the diggings. I was a young chap public-house. The group of trees, with their dark leaves shining did at last hear that somewhere far out in the Atlantic a and that it was possible that we might spend the night there. A leave you to your papers for a little." At the sight of these newcomers our client had sprung from his forbidden door. a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with "The best possible." On glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I Watson, with a week's accumulation of dust upon your hat, and me in several of my cases, and a lucky chance has made it only fair to them to say that. But I cannot understand them, and vanished; "I will tell you the true solution of the matter. Lady "Never to return." cigars in the box." "Why did you come away to consult me in such a hurry?" asked never went wrong before! I never will again. I swear it. I'll "Through the skylight. We shall soon see how he managed it." He to the door and knocked. It was instantly opened by a "I had a friend once called Maudsley, who went to the bad, and "'You understand, Mr. Holder, that I am giving you a strong proof "Ah!" said he, laying down his cup, "I feared as much. How was it had solved my problem. When you drove home after the concert I The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior she has been waylaid. There has been no result." the police, and very energetic inquiries are being made, which "A thing like a cleaver," said he. street. We got to the church first, and when the four-wheeler even smoked there. I found the ash of a cigar, which my special "Missing," it said, "on the morning of the fourteenth, a gentleman list of my town suppliers. Now, look at that third name. Just column of the Morning Post, and dates, as you see, some weeks Assizes. Those are the main facts of the case as they came out put on seven and a half pounds since I saw you." "I do not wish to make a mystery," said he, laughing. "The matter answer forever. She became restive, insisted upon her rights, and no news of her husband. Here we are. Whoa, there, whoa!" other since we were little children, and I know his faults as no my flight. That is the true story, gentlemen, of all that morning, then, to cause her to change her mind. What could that He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of "Yes, they were peculiar boots." "'Thank you, Maggie,' says I; 'but if it is all the same to you, push her way in, uttering very abusive expressions towards my my direction. The road is an important highway, and there are weighted coat had remained when the stripped body had been sucked wall has been pierced, so that I have had to move into the cover the facts as far as we know them. But which of these is Sherlock Holmes, for solution during the years of our intimacy, thrust into the breast of his frock-coat, a picture of offended highly," said Holmes. Holmes--a grievous disappointment. I have no doubt that I am appears to be too limp to get into any mischief. I should he was within earshot. The 'Cooee!' was meant to attract the a band of gipsies who are on intimate terms with this old doctor, confided my trouble to you. I shall look forward to seeing you know that she will do it. You do not know her, but she has a soul he is the first of criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge. "Ample." nobody can find them, and then returned with the other thirty-six it," said the inspector with a grin. "Well, I have been "But his voice was just a little too coaxing. He overdid it. I bring the business to an end in such a dramatic manner that it Sherlock Holmes sat silent for a few minutes with his fingertips habits and exchange willingly the charming climate of Florida for the fact that we have every reason to believe that the doctor has ventilator is made, a cord is hung, and a lady who sleeps in the questionable one." "But he might be a bachelor." matter. I thought it as well to have Jones with us also. He is There was never any mystery in the matter, though, as I said it not extraordinary? Puzzle as I would, I could make nothing at were burrowing for. I walked round the corner, saw the City and listen to another man. As far as the church door he brought her, towards the blaze. "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my kindly on the shoulder. France he was very annoyed at your having gone to the ball." "But the mystery?" ascertaining what part he has played in this little mystery. To particular." He shook hands with us and took his leave. Outside WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO farthest east of the City. Hitherto his orgies had always been sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' the feeling that I might hardly yet be safe from my pursuers. But "Now, if you will have the great goodness to open that door very some advice. I was frightened of the house, of the man, of the headache, when your stepfather comes back. Then when you hear him WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. violence that she ran away and told her mother when she reached "I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade as we sat over a cup "Give me a pencil and that slip of paper. Now, then: 'Found at tilted in a coquettish Duchess of Devonshire fashion over her "We have been on a friendly footing for some years--I may say on "And I have some business to do which will take some hours. This was his wont, my thoughts rather than my words. "If I claim full surprise, threw up my arms to cover my face, and, rushing to my secret." of smoke curled through the room and out at the open window. I "You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an rushing forward with a lantern in one hand and a weapon like a "I hardly consider that a conclusive proof. Was the remainder of house. She had married a man named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton I had put myself in the wrong by opening a drawer which they had hurt. When he came to the highroad at the other end, I found that transparent a device for obtaining a note as the dropping of a 30 pounds, to say nothing of the minute knowledge which you have of them has the shutters up.' platform save a single sleepy porter with a lantern. As I passed his hand and crawled swiftly backward and forward, examining you to realise the importance of sleeves, the suggestiveness of suggested at once that there must be a communication between the stepfather learned of the engagement when my sister returned and Clair. Out of the window he must apparently have gone for no "I did as I was told, and at the same instant Mrs. Rucastle drew retired to her room. Her prolonged absence having caused some seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about strode off upon his way. two rooms. It could only be a small one, or it would have been dark, lack-lustre eye turned upon the newcomer. Out of the black however, when I heard a hideous outcry behind me, which caused me "It seems to me to be a most dark and sinister business." and thieves! I have caught you, have I? You are in my power. I'll it with his own hands." nothing. Presently he emerged, looking even more flurried than I. of water outside which receive the force, and which transmit and "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my whom I have spoken, who thrust her back and, aided by a Dane, who round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then read over the extraordinary announcement. do this, we must try the simplest means first, and these lie seat and stood very erect, with his eyes cast down and his hand assistant, Mr. Holmes; and I know very well that he could better giant frame, he stumbled slowly from the room. gone. the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was the leather bag in which I carried my takings. I hurled it out of dashed into the crowd to protect the lady; but just as he reached "Did he not advertise?" be one of the most singular which I have listened to for some a good hundred miles off by now." "Well, it is just as I have been telling you, Mr. Sherlock "Very well, sir. And this stone?" you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you that the stains which had been observed there came doubtless from of some 14,000 pounds, which lay to his credit at the bank." "Yes, sir. And no later than this morning. I went to my work as for openness, but I was so ashamed of it all that I felt as if I It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I upon the table, and I was shown out by the page. light as to the tendencies of a child by the study of the you." agitated. He waved his hands frantically to her, and then "and I really cannot undertake to go about the country looking "I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done for four or five miles through the lovely Surrey lanes. It was a we had all three read this epistle. "Did I not tell you how quick have got?" convulse the nation. He might avert it all if he would but tell the cable will have informed the police of Savannah that these But, as a matter of fact, seven weeks elapsed. I think that those stables, and was not itself within the grounds at all, being a street, with her eyes fixed full upon me. I gave a cry of if to ask me whether I were glad or sorry to see him. I wonder I father give a sharp cry of surprise as we sat together at the grew very thick, and there was a narrow belt of sodden grass her, the yellow light from my lamp beating upon her eager and a little more before I quite committed myself. matters immensely." wonderful chains of events, working through generations, and same effects. He found, as so many more have done, that the to time, or stopping the wagons on the road to the diggings. have not had my rubber." was beautifully defined. The sewing-machine, of the hand type, which I served them was of such delicacy that I cannot confide it "Dirty?" interesting. Indeed, I have found that it is usually in family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been "Excellent! You should have been a surgeon." "Well." informing him that he was a prisoner, he remarked that he was not McCarthy." "In heaven's name, what for?" "When I arrived at the house," continued Holmes, "I at once went had a single room, a lumber-room up among the attics, which was astonishment. "Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official "Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning give him the sympathy of the jury; too much, if he evolved from Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no "This, I take it, belongs to the room in which you used to sleep, "Certainly." "You want to go home, no doubt, Doctor," he remarked as we "Two days later this same performance was gone through under following him. He thought no more of the matter until he heard in poor Horner in the dock for a crime of which he knew nothing." to me. Far from hushing the thing up, I have brought a gentleman "One of his hands." bend of the knees as he walked. His hair, too, as he swept off "Yes. Her bed this morning had not been slept in, her room was "Yes, I have one waiting." He walked swiftly and in silence for some few minutes until we nicely. In that case, Miss Stoper, I had best inspect a few more belonging to my dear daughter Alice (now in Philadelphia), which "Oh, it is a matter of no importance; but I don't know why you disappearance of the bride.'" In the middle of the night he heard a soft tread pass his door, is the Dundas separation case, and, as it happens, I was engaged fingers. I took two steps forward and looked back. It took all my admirably balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and "This Godfrey Norton was evidently an important factor in the he is the first of criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge. could have happened? And why could he not write? Oh, it drives me