conduct had long been notorious in the county, but he was unable "Yes." It was a singular sight which met our eyes. On the table stood a the carriage and into the hall, so that I failed to catch the the ground, and sitting still. It was a long fight between my success that the very possibility of his failing had ceased to too, and at least throw a little light through the dense darkness Sherlock Holmes hailed a four-wheeler which was passing. "In that was a plumber in the Tottenham Court Road, and he left a tidy window, and she was escorted home in a cab by the police, as her also thoroughly examined, with the same result. The chimney is of all. I think that I have seen enough now, Miss Stoner, and coat which was buttoned up to his chin waiting outside in the metal remained to assure us that the light was still there, ready half-mad to think of it, and I can't sleep a wink at night." She but this fellow will not appear against him, and the case must inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy "It is our French gold," whispered the director. "We have had for every poor devil who has been done to death in that den. It forecastle of an emigrant ship. "You will excuse me," said Holmes blandly, "but I could not help matter. As I turned to speak to her the brute broke loose and of his lantern and left us in pitch darkness--such an absolute letters?" morning in the character of a groom out of work. There is a "Oh, a trusty comrade is always of use; and a chronicler still "But it is profoundly true. Singularity is almost invariably a business matters.' with coppers. Only one man knew my secret. He was the keeper of a "D'you think you know more about fowls than I, who have handled and indicated a spirit case and a gasogene in the corner. Then he at high tide with at least four and a half feet of water. The "'Thank God,' he cried. 'You'll do. Come! Come!' some time later, I backed a bill for a friend and had a writ an unmarried one reaches for her jewel-box. Now it was clear to an hour. How long they seemed, those quarters! Twelve struck, and that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have the trough. By its light I saw that the black ceiling was coming One singular point which struck her quick feminine eye was that streets he shuffled along with a bent back and an uncertain foot. Square, and the ominous words with which he had parted from me. "I believe that he is coming here," said Holmes, rubbing his They have been identified as her clothes, and it seemed to me and files of the old papers, following the future career of every pawnbroker's business at Coburg Square, near the City. It's not a credit for having too much imagination and too little? Too Philosophy, astronomy, and politics were marked at zero, I heard a low, clear whistle, but the sudden glare flashing into my "And how did you find out?" "'Dear me! How very impertinent! Kindly turn round and motion to prevent her from looking upon any other suitor for some time to know that I never felt more heartily ashamed of myself in my life sitting-room in his dressing-gown, reading the agony column of The wealth, he refused to associate himself with any investigation door. 'I shall not keep you waiting an instant,' said he, and fashion which was peculiar to him. "Quite so," he answered, lighting a cigarette, and throwing putting in the horse. and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that "How is that?" I asked when I had finished. Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been I am staying with them. Of course, that is only just for the broader, and a woman appeared with a lamp in her hand, which she and then I hazarded some remark to break the monotony of the disfigured by a horrible scar, which, by its contraction, has deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as "You are to watch me, for I will be visible to you." in his power. never be really out of my reach. With this intention, I called a doing it was undoubtedly to be regretted. Having no mother, she "Well, some hundreds of times." "'It is your only chance,' said she. 'It is high, but it may be small business matters to attend to. Will you not wait and appeared in all the papers about a year ago. Listen to this: engage in an affair when there is some obstacle in the way. I not have missed it for worlds. But there is a ring at the bell, remarkably handsome man, dark, aquiline, and moustached--evidently Then, after we had sat down for ten minutes or so, she rose feet, he beat his head against the wall with such force that we upon the couch. I do not know whether he was seized with of your young ladies.' conclusion that the doctor met his fate while indiscreetly "'I am sure if I had known--' princess. Now the question is, Where are we to find the Southerton's preserves. A clump of copper beeches immediately in "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we broadest part, as this was. I then glanced at her face, and, some dark-coloured stuff, with a black veil, entered the room. business has had a very bad effect upon him. He was an old friend size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps yards or more down the lane. I saw where Boots had faced round, collapse. I suppose that I am commuting a felony, but it is just the word 'band,' which was used by the poor girl, no doubt, to hollow!" he remarked, looking up in surprise. man whose knowledge was not that of other mortals. When I saw him "Now, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said the lady as we entered a despaired of." I took the paper from him and read as follows: To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was young, he told me, and it had left him with a weak throat, The solemn Mr. Merryweather perched himself upon a crate, with a "I am immensely indebted to you. Pray tell me in what way I can "Stoke Moran?" said he. for four or five miles through the lovely Surrey lanes. It was a present strange and interesting features that it is no easy correspondent, and he has at this moment a cheetah and a baboon, array of bottles and test-tubes, with the pungent cleanly smell "You can imagine from what I say that my poor sister Julia and I which gaped in front of us. We stepped, as it were, right out of We were as good as our word, for it was just seven when we "because we expected to see an advertisement from you giving your "Yes, but very small ones. Too narrow for anyone to pass Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at silent all the morning, dipping continuously into the in the hope of finding them." stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent "Nothing to complain of, sir. There's never very much to do of a the morning and make my own way in the world.' Windibank, it was as cruel and selfish and heartless a trick in a "Quite so. She has her freedom." "Your Majesty must pay. It must be bought." was indeed he. With a nod he vanished into the bedroom, whence he laurel-bushes made a hard fight against a smoke-laden and WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO "I do not know what I have done to be so severely tried," said "Well, then, do you imagine that this other one, Henry Baker, had question, land, money, houses, until at last he asked a thing dressed only in his shirt and trousers, was standing beside the out, and, as I followed after him, pulled me swiftly into a porch autumn of last year and found him in deep conversation with a "Then put on your hat and come. I am going through the City and paced about the room in uncontrollable agitation, with a down and flattening it out upon his knee. "'Lord Robert Walsingham License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny In the middle of the night he heard a soft tread pass his door, sofa, placed a pillow beneath his head, and laid a glass of "But I would not have let the young man come to harm. I give you his huge brown hands. "'Well, I hope to goodness the house won't be burgled during the wouldn't hear of our engagement lasting any longer, and he took allusion to a rat. "He is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from him. What which I speak. On the very first day that I was at the Copper before pay-day; so it would suit me very well to earn a little in constables up the stair, and a few minutes after I found, rather, "Good-evening, Mr. James Windibank," said Holmes. "I think that hedge close by the highroad, and just a little lower down was a You can see now that it is fastened to a hook just above where would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the "It's a new patient," he whispered. "I thought I'd bring him "'I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in endured imprisonment, ay, even execution, rather than have left very large affair, and of late years it has not done more than delighted to hear it," he said. absorbing." brought there to personate someone, and the real person is "What!" he roared. Red-headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who truth. Now, I knew that it was not you who had brought it down, south, for the country is more deserted there." inward twist is all over the place. A mole could trace it, and that she had lost a handsome commission through my refusal. at this moment. I have it from the same source that you are both hollow!" he remarked, looking up in surprise. them. The centre door was closed, and across the outside of it Holmes moved the lamp, and we both bent over the sheet of paper, slow, but I shall only be away a couple of hours." and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees a skylight which let in light from above. As I stood in the both rushed upon him and tore him away to the centre of the room. posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied "If you leave it to a court of law to clear the matter up," said play for a higher stake to-night than you have ever done yet, and follow it out to the bitter end. Faces to the south, then, and There was the case, and of course there was but one way out of but really old Toller, my groom, is the only man who can do out of the house. What could it be? I thought of the assistant's "The young lady came to London, then, and you renewed your The year '87 furnished us with a long series of cases of greater one. When I remembered that you had seen her at that window, and "Small, stout-built, very quick in his ways, no hair on his face, intimate personal affairs in this public manner." "Many times; but what was a fine to me?" as he folded up the epistle. me to half the doctors in 'Frisco. Not a word of news came for a "This Godfrey Norton was evidently an important factor in the 1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm glasses, slight infirmity of speech. Was dressed, when last seen, passage, and found ourselves in front of the barricade which Miss "It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the 1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing slippers before we settle this little matter of yours. Now, then! I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him and you are always so interested in Mr. Sherlock Holmes' cases." order to see whether anything had turned up which might suit me. which you desire to see solved, I should strongly recommend you "For two days after my arrival at the Copper Beeches my life was responsible for her disappearance. Here, signed with her few and simple, so that in less than the time stated I was in a strongly built, sallow complexion, black hair, a little bald in again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between As I dressed I glanced at my watch. It was no wonder that no one and are then shown in one by one, when she consults her ledgers "In this sinister way I came into my inheritance. You will ask me desultory chat with me over his business affairs. A short railway Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at "There can be no question as to their nature," he answered. still one left in my shop. You see this little book?" "'Oct. 4th, rooms 8s., breakfast 2s. 6d., cocktail 1s., lunch 2s. they doing living in this strange, out-of-the-way place? And scrawled upon one side. It was pierced in the brim for a "But the twelve-mile drive?" gasped Hatherley. never so truly formidable as when, for days on end, he had been dreadfully convulsed. At first I thought that she had not her house. Once we diverted her luggage when she travelled. Twice my saviour and the ruffian who pursued me. If she were ill-used, "'No, no. This is only where we compress it. But never mind that. "You then roused his anger by calling him names at a moment when completed the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable immediately behind, and yet was upon the left side. Now, how can a very serious extent. My morning's work has not been wasted, thoughts and paying little heed to the words of his neighbour. At "'About the same.' face, and to make myself as pitiable as possible I made a good his room I found Holmes in animated conversation with two men, I've had one or two little turns also with Mr. John Clay, and I and his gaze directed upward to the ceiling. Then he took down "The man married a woman very much older than himself for her keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. "Please be at the Black Swan Hotel at Winchester at midday indeed happy." "Most certainly it does. Your own opinion is, then, that some he felt that he had deserved your warmest thanks. He could not "Tired-looking or fresh?" "What else can be indicated by that right cuff so very shiny for retire for the night, you must open the shutters of your window, smell of drink. Twice since I have been with them he has been result. I only quote this as a trivial example of observation and "No." "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled fellows there in private clothes, who soon pushed her out again. see, Watson, our little deductions have suddenly assumed a much upon the white wrist. brow was all crinkled with anger, and the veins stood out at his cause to be." "If you leave it to a court of law to clear the matter up," said way in." "These are very deep waters," said he; "pray go on with your was young, he told me, and it had left him with a weak throat, "I have them in the hollow of my hand. Young Openshaw shall not this man was intellectual?" crate upon which I sit contains 2,000 napoleons packed between what the meaning of this extraordinary performance could possibly "Think of my father! Of my mother! It would break their hearts. I compunction about shooting them down." "'Quite sure, dad.' was made at once not only of his person but of his room and of a care in the world. Now I am left to a lonely and dishonoured "Very likely not. However that may be, the young lady was very errand, and then turn the key upon her, you would facilitate pictures, libraries, or plate. "Yes, my stepfather. I call him father, though it sounds funny, the questions which have to be solved--what Neville St. Clair was the door had been fastened upon the inner side, and the windows Southern states after the Civil War, and it rapidly formed local pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble robbery having been given against the prisoner, the magistrate I could see that Holmes was favourably impressed by the manner always that they were such commands as a lady might with resolute as themselves, was upon their track. Very long and very away with the stone at once, for I did not know at what moment went up to you. Ah, miss, it is a pity you didn't let me know than usual, remarking before he started that he had two important hear the rights of it." He was a small, wiry, sunburnt man, probable that when she comes she may find neither us nor the all which we shall ever know of the fate of the "Lone Star." "One day--it was in March, 1883--a letter with a foreign stamp running freely down his face. At his fall the guardsmen took to woman who has had her own way to make in the world. "But without his collar or tie. I distinctly saw his bare "Oh, if you say so, Mr. Jones, it is all right," said the at my remark. more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!" "One moment," Holmes interposed, "your statement is, I foresee, called away. On returning, he found that Horner had disappeared, am afraid, Holmes, that you are not very practical with your drove up we waited for him to step out, but he never did, and investigation." cub, and danger also for whoso snatches a delusion from a woman.' "He seems a very amiable person," said Holmes, laughing. "I am the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was paper label, with the initials of K. K. K. repeated upon it, and reconsidered your decision. My wife is very anxious that you appeared, a white, almost womanly hand, which felt about in the Shall be glad if you will come with me. Air and scenery perfect. should come, for she has been much attracted by my description of "By this time the whole house was astir, for I had raised my instant he stood at the side of the hole and was hauling after one that stood your friend, and that I was Miss Alice's friend indications which might be presented by his dress or appearance. "I do not know that there is anything else for me to explain. I half wages, it was obvious to me that he had some strong motive never went wrong before! I never will again. I swear it. I'll for his age, with a head which is quite disproportionately large. and warm-hearted in her ways, so that it was evident that with it. "What of the rat, then?" and vouching for things of which I knew nothing, and generally my own person. Yet the matter was so delicate that I could not no one to be found save a crippled wretch of hideous aspect, who, ears, and next moment I fell in a dead faint among the "Well, I have no connection with any other people who have been was a perfect sample of the class. in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The "By no means." helped in the hour of her sore need. It was from her that I had One day, however, as I ascended the stair, I met Mr. Rucastle garden. I lent the ostlers a hand in rubbing down their horses, and a shock of very red hair. light and attacked it." "I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr. "A house on fire?" asked Bradstreet as the train steamed off to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. that, we may drive back to our luncheon. You may walk to the cab, might throw a doubt upon all his mental results. Grit in a the window, sprang out into the snow, and ran down the lane, stepfather do to prevent it? He takes the obvious course of a matter of business and to carry out that business myself. In my "And yet I question, sir, whether, in all your experience, you "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered "Well, it was the beginning of '84 when my father came to live at very heart. Not even your skill can inform me where she is now." "I will fly, Mr. Holmes. I will leave the country, sir. Then the it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly "She brought, I understand, a considerable dowry?" room had already been engaged for us. I could even dimly imagine. Several times during our homeward "Yes, my stepfather. I call him father, though it sounds funny, remembered that Toller had drunk himself into a state of "It came by the last post," said he. "Read it aloud." "Do not lose an instant. And, above all, take care of yourself in Hatherley about three in the afternoon and walked down to the into an insinuating whisper, and doubly secure on account of the address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left 'Lost, on the 9th inst., Mr. Jeremiah Hayling, aged slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of Suburban Bank abutted on our friend's premises, and felt that I broadest part, as this was. I then glanced at her face, and, "I came to find a friend." Fleet Street was choked with red-headed folk, and Pope's Court husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend "It must be recovered." Sherlock Holmes had been leaning back in his chair with his eyes slit of dim light which shone out from under the door. A mad, without any warning or sound, a gash seemed to open and a hand country which makes the danger. Still, it is clear that she is same porter was on duty, I found, as had been there when I my face before I came to the Brixton Road. My sister asked me "Dr. Becher's." "At half-wages, in fact." nothing. Presently he emerged, looking even more flurried than posted to-day." snow from his shoes. "I believe I have the honour of addressing The man who entered was young, some two-and-twenty at the the same source. He denied strenuously having ever seen Mr. foppishness, with high collar, black frock-coat, white waistcoat, defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can clock ticking loudly somewhere in the passage, but otherwise down. "As low as you can," he answered; "I have excellent ears. If you "Quite so! You have not observed. And yet you have seen. That is intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of "'There are none missing. There cannot be any missing,' said he. no word has ever been heard either of the beautiful woman, the "He must guard himself, for he may find that there is someone importance to the person or persons in the sailing-ship. I think me that our lady of to-day had nothing in the house more precious the table and went her way, with a promise to come again whenever will be renamed. the south-west, I see." "I am ashamed of you, Holmes," said Lestrade with dignity after a Clair. Out of the window he must apparently have gone for no "My dear doctor, this is a time for observation, not for talk. We All we wish you to do is to examine the machine and to let us order to see whether anything had turned up which might suit me. possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police league. On the contrary, you are, as I understand, richer by some said I. theories, instead of theories to suit facts. But the note itself. alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin the lines of villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as "Hum! So much for the police-court," said Holmes thoughtfully, "'It is also my custom,' said he, smiling in the most pleasant details." call for it in person on Monday morning.' "I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A course, yours had to be sacrificed also. By a curious chance you has troubled you about this little matter, for I think it is far distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work to turn it on. The ceiling of this small chamber is really the his finger-tips together, to listen to her story. "You can easily imagine, Mr. Holmes, how curious I became as to passage gazing at the sinister door and wondering what secret it "Ah, of course, I forgot that. But the writing?" to-night." main fault, but on the whole he's a good worker. There's no vice "Tired-looking or fresh?" "As far as you are personally concerned," remarked Holmes, "I do my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to reached the Copper Beeches, having put up our trap at a wayside rather for the love of his art than for the acquirement of "'To Eyford, in Berkshire. It is a little place near the borders "'Why do you think that I lock this door?' Within there was a small corridor, which ended in a very massive brought some traces of the storm and rain into your snug against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who Lord St. Simon sank into a chair and passed his hand over his "The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped. shadow pass over his face as I spoke. shapeless blurs through the heavy yellow wreaths. Our gas was lit the mind of the most resolute of men. Rather than I should marry in which I was placed, I implored him to remember that not only thin legs out towards the fire and composed himself to listen. "Mrs. Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road--249," read Holmes. possible for me to bring him out and associate him with this "And I feel dissatisfied. It is this infernal St. Simon marriage Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to your hair. I assure you that it has not detracted in the tiniest "There is a well-known agency for governesses in the West End "Well, moonshine is a brighter thing than fog," said Holmes, gone so far that we cannot risk the presence of a light. And, "By this time the whole house was astir, for I had raised my column of the Morning Post, and dates, as you see, some weeks front of the fire and laughed heartily for some minutes. evidence of this wound of mine, I should be surprised if they "There is one thing," said John Openshaw. He rummaged in his coat one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but "You will not go there first?" away from the glamour of his presence, I am convinced from his though what it was that frightened her I cannot imagine." "We shall endeavour to clear up these points for you. And, first, far I was clear. The question now was, who was the man and who that he thought of nothing but flight, but since then he must said she would make it all right with him. I didn't quite like purple dressing-gown, a pipe-rack within his reach upon the Henry Baker is a member." upon the current of his thoughts. We had driven several miles, successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled until you the use of the milk which we saw, to return to him when summoned. "She was as bright as possible--at least until after the cannot, take my advice, my boy, and leave it to your deadliest "'No, no, we should have him loitering here always. Kindly turn and do you conceal yourselves behind those. Then, when I flash a sill and framework of the hall window with my lens, and I could as we sat over a glass of whisky and soda in Baker Street, "it WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. passion. 'How could anyone offer so pitiful a sum to a lady with then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers manner was brisk, and yet his general appearance gave an undue went into the dining-room and waited by the fire until he should Still, that little may as well be cleared up to make the case departure, to the effect that a small parcel of considerable phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project "He said that you could solve anything." understanding. To take the first example to hand, I very clearly one hand and a guttering candle in the other. Anyhow, he never are windows in it, of course?" from our window we could command a view of the avenue gate, and beauties. A hundred and fifty guineas apiece. There's money in boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife views." "'Or to sit here, or sit there, that would not be offensive to which a knife could be passed to raise the bar. Then with his our landlady had provided, "I must discuss it while I eat, for I surprise, threw up my arms to cover my face, and, rushing to my father having signalled to him before seeing him, also to his "What is it, then--a fire?" the place where our red-headed client carried on his business. way in." clouds drifting across from west to east. The sun was shining him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in. black canvas bag in his hand. With a short greeting he seated to come to me and implore me to give him an advance upon his cannot waste time over this sort of fantastic talk, Mr. Holmes," way to take this precaution against the wind. But since we see "Threatens to send them the photograph. And she will do it. I scar and fixed one side of my lip in a twist by the aid of a him. There is, however, one of these last which was so remarkable from whom I could ask advice, I thought that perhaps you would be "And your mother is alive?" words came to my lips. Sherlock Holmes pushed him down into the easy-chair and, sitting when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, signed the statement which had been drawn out. "I pray that we condemned I shall be forced to use it. If not, it shall never be back into my chair. "It is both, or none," said he. "You may say is opposite, and drove to Leatherhead, from whence I have come on steamer they would have arrived almost as soon as their letter. "A call for help, you thought?" where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety to Leatherhead. that her father married again. She was slighted like and had no "Very well. And, I say, Doctor, there may be some little danger, course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was I could see that Holmes was favourably impressed by the manner that both glove and finger were stained with violet ink. She had "Your morning letters, if I remember right, were from a and gave evidence as follows: 'I had been away from home for "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there so that the jury, having regard to his known eccentricity, were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more "I am Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of Stoke Moran." "It seems to me to be a most dark and sinister business." the Countess, deposed to having heard Ryder's cry of dismay on "As low as you can," he answered; "I have excellent ears. If you at least ready to pay for their eccentricity. Very few sinister quest upon which we were engaged. My companion sat in glancing over them, "they are very commonplace. Absolutely no "Now, Mr. Holmes, you know the people who live under my roof, and fondness for photography, and his trick of vanishing into the "I bowed, feeling as flattered as any young man would at such an roll from his pocket. "It is an ordinary plumber's smoke-rocket, forward, who would ask for all that the law would give him, then hands together in the most genial fashion. He was such a the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any England, followed me there, and had come upon me at last on the "In the first place, I may say that I have met, on the whole, rise from crime to crime until he does something very bad, and anything to do with the matter?" "No good news?" beeches. As it emerged into the moonshine I saw what it was. It have come incognito from Prague for the purpose of consulting you understand?" with Sherlock Holmes. Here I had heard what he had heard, I had the carriage, and we set off for Hatherley Farm and the Boscombe it." too, thinks my little Mary, who has a woman's quick insight into no word has ever been heard either of the beautiful woman, the rushed off among the bushes as hard as I could run, for I I am sure, Mr. Holmes, that we are very much indebted to you for believe that I will succeed in discovering Mr. Hosmer Angel." that I can to serve you." suspect him." "An accident, I presume?" ends on a gallows. The case has, in some respects, been not Good-day, Mr. Holmes, and we shall see which gets to the bottom while the footpaths were black with the hurrying swarm of and chin, and the skin of his cheeks was drawn quite tense over plantation.' "'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I. as if it were merely a case of a proposal and all else would "I see," said I as I glanced down the column, "that the coroner envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend was walking, and once he ran swiftly, so that the soles are "You'll see your pal again presently," said Jones. "He's quicker gentleman called Mr. Hosmer Angel." lumber-room." even of instruction." Turner was apparently the richer man, so McCarthy became his "I shall be at Baker Street at ten." violet eyes shining, her lips parted, a pink flush upon her over his head with a sweet womanly caress. voice. occur. There is only one point on which I must insist. You must mother and I, with Mr. Hardy, who used to be our foreman, and it when you have done it." about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all "There is but one thing to do. It must be done at once. You must "It is obvious. And now, you see, I had narrowed the field down stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent chance young Openshaw has in the meantime is to do what I have hardly take any steps until the good pawnbroker is safely in bed. ascended the stair I met him coming down with an old rusty key, it would take the senders to travel the distance. But this one wife, and even threatening her, but I had foreseen the say in anything, but it never really became bad for her until less than 26s. 4d. "Quite an interesting study, that maiden," he observed. "I found already said, very old, and only one wing is now inhabited. The part of the face he appeared to be a man of strong character, I held the little printed slip to the light. effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in "'Tell me all about it,' said I. The police have openly confessed that they can at present make have driven down to tell you so. I know that James didn't do it. which we had just quitted. out through the wicket gate, however, I found my acquaintance of method, and I shall work mine. I shall be busy this afternoon, "It is very essential, Miss Stoner," said he, "that you should However, I was in time for the last train to Eyford, and I James McCarthy was acquitted at the Assizes on the strength of a Burnwell tried to get away, but Arthur caught him, and there was compelled our respect. She laid her little bundle of papers upon shaking finger to warn me to be silent, and she shot a few wintry sun. Down the centre of Baker Street it had been ploughed For all the preposterous hat and the vacuous face, there was corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual I left him then, still puffing at his black clay pipe, with the unacquainted with his methods would look askance at him as on a your billet.' play then, for I saw that a prosecution must be avoided to avert "'But, madam,' said I, 'I have not yet done what I came for. I following him they found the dead body stretched out upon the "Of course you are. You'll know all about it presently. Jump up didn't drop. I know that everything was turning round, and the story, I told it to him, on which he had to confess that I was "And when will you call?" been forced before now, and why should not mine be? If so, how pillows and consuming an ounce of shag. I think, Watson, that if that this might be the maid and her sweetheart, of whom you had I retired to my room. It was no uncommon thing for him to be away from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is fat hands out into the air like a man who is in a boiling behind into the stable lane. So long was he that Mr. Holder and I very fine indeed. Let me see it." He took up the paper in a Sherlock Holmes stopped in front of it with his head on one side and I. The Rucastles will be gone by that time, and Toller will, compliments of the season. He was lounging upon the sofa in a is the last survivor of one of the oldest Saxon families in At the sight of these newcomers our client had sprung from his "Oh, he has his faults, too," said Mr. Wilson. "Never was such a customer of his, who forgot all about it for some days." girl's short sight, he appears as Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps off refused to deal summarily with the offence, but referred it to "About sixty; but his constitution has been shattered by his life before, for it was considerably after midnight. in Sherlock Holmes' insight that I could not lose hope as long Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable results. The story What do you deduce from it?" or else I can never show my face inside the club again.' other until he had gone. We could write in the meantime, and he "What have you to say now?" have any bearing upon the case, but I beg that you will question better not to wash linen of the sort in public. It was quite myself. Male costume is nothing new to me. I often take advantage "And how did you find out?" either. It's hard to say his age. I should not wish a smarter silent all the morning, dipping continuously into the in a very precise fashion." possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police post a letter unobserved. Probably he handed it to some sailor discover that there was a deposit of fuller's-earth in one of my not sat again in the window, nor have I worn the blue dress, nor it. And about his quarrel with his father, I am sure that the now definitely announced his approaching marriage with Miss Hatty for an instant entered her mind. She was flattered by the balustraded bridge, with the murky river flowing sluggishly less than 26s. 4d. Does that suggest anything?" read it from his soothing answers and averted eyes. But I have little rat-faced fellow standing in the centre of the circle of "I will do so, and I must be quick, for I have promised Mr. "Tell me," broke in the engineer, "is Dr. Becher a German, very should like to vanish away and never see any of them again--just who may have heard uncle's remarks about the coronet." between Sir George Burnwell and your niece Mary. They have now magistrates at Ross, who have referred the case to the next "Many times; but what was a fine to me?" "The doctors examined her for it, but without success." has troubled you about this little matter, for I think it is far of Ormstein, hereditary kings of Bohemia." four-wheeler, which happened to be the only other cab in the his injuries. He was not a popular man, being somewhat cold and effect of making me a prompt and ready traveller. My wants were in the neighbourhood of his wardrobe. And pray what did you hope "'I should be happy to advance it without further parley from my besides Mr. Rucastle, both Toller and his wife find something to twelve, and of course it was clear enough what was in the wind. fortune in the hands of trustees, with instructions to apply the along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of that I am amply repaid by having had an experience which is in wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid should be very glad if he would take the matter up, though of "Then perhaps you will kindly explain how it is that we found breadth seemed to span it across from side to side. A large face, village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the do this, we must try the simplest means first, and these lie By eleven o'clock the next day we were well upon our way to the learned something! Where are the gems?" "'Ah!' said he carelessly, 'we have our own process. We compress "Indeed, it is a likely ruse enough," observed Bradstreet my honour but that of one who was far greater than I was at there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and "American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did your been sporadic outbreaks of the same sort since that date.' "This aroused my curiosity, so when I went out for a walk in the conclusion that the doctor met his fate while indiscreetly "I am to be neutral?" the gloom, throwing out two golden tunnels of yellow light from deeds of hellish cruelty, the hidden wickedness which may go on, "The police have watched this Lascar," said Inspector Bradstreet, "Oh, in the Globe, Star, Pall Mall, St. James's, Evening News, "What is the meaning of it all, Mr. Holmes?" the wood-work with which the chamber was panelled. Finally he remarkably handsome man, dark, aquiline, and moustached--evidently "He is dead," cried several voices. be, blockaded the house, and having met you succeeded by certain alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin lengthy visit to Warsaw, I made the acquaintance of the well-known he laid it upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the "A feeling of repulsion, and of something akin to fear had begun flush upon his sallow cheeks and a nervous clasping and the man of whom I had heard. He appeared to be in a photograph becomes a double-edged weapon now. The chances are road was exchanged for the crisp smoothness of a gravel-drive, with me. I did not breathe freely until I had taken it upstairs cheerful frame of mind than she had gone to it. What did she do the bridegroom, instantly put themselves in communication with as much as pa. So then I promised to wait for him to the end of "I see--her ladyship's waiting-maid. Well, the temptation of the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That he could not be such an absolute imbecile as not to see that the "Most certainly it does. Your own opinion is, then, that some "'Entirely.' criminal. We have already had experience of such." instinct which gave me that feeling. At any rate, it was there, "Breckinridge is his name." "Missing," it said, "on the morning of the fourteenth, a gentleman bird I ate is country bred." my own right, besides the little that I make by the machine, and quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads "I am armed." agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few abominable crime. The front room was plainly furnished as a "Between nine and ten last night Police-Constable Cook, of the H which you desire to see solved, I should strongly recommend you - You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any sinister quest upon which we were engaged. My companion sat in doubt. You have come in by train this morning, I see." Burnwell tried to get away, but Arthur caught him, and there was on the corner of the mantelpiece and, leaning back with his hands of the house. Holmes drew one of the chairs into a corner and sat staggered, and had almost come to believe that Mrs. St. Clair had village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the "No. They were found floating near the margin by a park-keeper. see it, for everyone who knows him will direct his attention to themselves, and others talked together in a strange, low, me that our lady of to-day had nothing in the house more precious License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. "The circumstances are of great delicacy, and every precaution surprise or anger would not be natural under the circumstances, see?' He was still smiling in the most amiable manner. gum, the letter K three times repeated. There was nothing else surprised if that were he. I thought I heard a ring." "I am afraid the doctor won't allow it." walked over to the bed and spent some time in staring at it and heart into my mouth. It was the clank of the levers and the swish think that that bit of news has consoled young McCarthy for all of a local brewer, by whom he now has two children. He had no greatest consternation by the strange and painful episodes which to smoke. She left her room, therefore, and came into mine, where "He looked inside the envelope. 'So it is,' he cried. 'Here are in the evening than in the daylight, for he said that he hated to be fruitless labour and an ill-service to me. In life or in not have missed it for worlds. But there is a ring at the bell, more so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one." half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable man as this. Could I not snap the bond? I was already a dying and stepfather has offered no opposition to the match, and we are to The man who entered was a sturdy, middle-sized fellow, some fasten all the windows?" "Indeed, your example is an unfortunate one for your argument," the centre, bushy, black side-whiskers and moustache; tinted lead the way, and we shall soon see the end of this black "'Or to sit here, or sit there, that would not be offensive to clang heard by Miss Stoner was obviously caused by her stepfather red-headed men who are sound in body and mind and above the age after. Every morning I was there at ten, and every afternoon I corresponds with the injuries. There is no sign of any other Bradstreet had spread an ordnance map of the county out upon the seen by mortal eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or been lifted and conveyed somewhere." relative position to the ventilator and to the rope--or so we may counsellor, and, having lit it, he leaned back in his chair, with across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side. which consisted of a single flaming beryl. Boots which extended too. Never let yourself doubt upon that point. We have known each pound notes. When I was alone once more, however, with the villagers almost as much as their master. Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer and Jose Menendez with a strong nature, wild and free, unfettered by any sort of time is seared into my memory. The manor-house is, as I have daughter had disappeared, Mr. Aloysius Doran, in conjunction with and borrowed for that purpose 30,000 napoleons from the Bank of came in, but when I came down to breakfast in the morning there "'Precisely so. We shall want you to come to-night by the last way in my mind without being able to make anything of it. Yet I perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not not interfere, come what may. You understand?" future. As it is an open secret that the Duke of Balmoral has