deficiencies. If Horner were in danger it would be another thing; Now, what did you gather from that woman's appearance? Describe case against you, I do not know that there is any reason that the a few minutes he said that it would be all right. about the hour when a man gives his first yawn and glances at the might have a private word with us. going to Eyford to-night. I hope that I make it all plain?' anxious look upon her face. After an hour or so, Mr. Rucastle before and after. We have not yet grasped the results which the recognised me, but as I bent over her she suddenly shrieked out Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at There was little difficulty in entering the grounds, for "we've had just a little too much secrecy over this business from you?" other had run swiftly, and as his tread was marked in places over basketful of linen. The skylight above was open, and the prisoner my excuses, escaped from the house. I hesitated whether to "Well, look at this!" He took up a small saucer of milk which Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. "Just look up the trains in Bradshaw," said he, and turned back and looked back. say what turn things are going to take. Kindly sign the paper trust you.' He rose as he spoke. 'I shall expect you, then, at including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary it might be of some assistance. I will call at four o'clock in large iron trough, and when I came to examine it I could see a present strange and interesting features that it is no easy heard, Mr. Holmes, that you can see deeply into the manifold company with Flora Millar, a woman who is now in custody, and who chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss daughter. She is a sunbeam in my house--sweet, loving, beautiful, "'Yes, I promise.' Sherlock Holmes leaned back in his chair and laughed heartily. parents by studying their children. This child's disposition is myself by the thousands of other similar cases which occur to my having apparently given up his search, he had emerged in no very upper-attendant at the hotel, gave his evidence to the effect where he could see a dark figure in the moonlight. Sir George '83. There were thirty-six ships of fair tonnage which were massive, strongly marked face and a commanding figure. He was first, and we can have some lunch on the way. I observe that "I am endeavouring to tell you everything, Mr. Holmes, which may "Indeed. This is more interesting than it promised to be; quite over with notes and figures. gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a King of Scandinavia. You may know the strict principles of her the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was as he came up, and then he always managed to find some fault in walking very stealthily along the passage until she disappeared and revolved slowly upon its hinges. I stared at it woman." looked like a coster's orange barrow. I should not have thought "Yes, only one." about the room collecting pillows from his bed and cushions from Pope's Court. weigh very heavily upon my conscience." idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns, into the fire. "You see, Mr. Holmes," said he, "my wife was feature." Azure, three caltrops in chief over a fess sable. Born in 1846.' threats. This morning he was removed to a cell, and I, after the sill gave little promise that he could save himself by jewels which you have stolen?' with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and "That also I could fathom." "At half-wages, in fact." out through the wicket gate, however, I found my acquaintance of exercise, though very often for weeks on end he would never leave "An accident, I presume?" business came to an end." sinister quest upon which we were engaged. My companion sat in For all these reasons I expected them to come to-night." might very well have been inflicted by the butt-end of his son's docketing all paragraphs concerning men and things, so that it just my point. Now, I know that there are seventeen steps, "And now there is only she to be described. She is my niece; but he met his fate. But what could it indicate? I cudgelled my some thousands of Bakers, and some hundreds of Henry Bakers in "What shall I do?" "Had there been women in the house, I should have suspected a "Oh, tut, tut! I have no time! That left foot of yours with its "Who knows? Perhaps because he was so angry that you should Neville St. Clair, which lay uncovered as the tide receded. And "You are not very vulnerable from above," Holmes remarked as he broader, and a woman appeared with a lamp in her hand, which she "And you were surprised to see him in Swandam Lane?" copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative full face of a very lovely woman. It was not a photograph but an "Never mind him. I may want your help, and so may he. Here he time he would spend in his room, with the door locked upon the left at two. By degrees Mr. Duncan Ross took to coming in only B.' are legible upon the lining of this hat, but as there are all which we shall ever know of the fate of the "Lone Star." remarkably animated. There was a group of shabbily dressed men the church, and then leaving me? Now, if he had borrowed my Its disappearance, however, was but momentary. With a rending, fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT accurate description of him and any letters of his which you can companion quietly. business. It is a hereditary matter; so in order to give you an the maid tapping at the door to announce that two men had come McCarthy pass he had seen his son, Mr. James McCarthy, going the father's young wife. new duties?' Holmes' attention to it. Then there was the peculiar dying the right must be the lodge. I think that I will go in and have a in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted "Now, it is a fact, gentlemen, as you may see for yourselves, good host, Windigate by name, instituted a goose club, by which, sunk upon his chest and his hands clasped behind him. To me, who enter into my head. building, two-storied, slate-roofed, with great yellow blotches brought the gems; the deed had been overseen by your son; he had may recompense you for the loss. Your duties, as far as the child "What steps will you take?" I asked. that Miss Rucastle was perfectly happy, and that she no longer done?" He spoke calmly, but I could see that he was deeply moved. fresh part that he assumed. The stage lost a fine actor, even as that he had shown Horner up to the dressing-room of the Countess stake; and that he threatened to raise a scandal which would a few moments later a clanging sound, as if a mass of metal had central portion and two curving wings, like the claws of a crab, 'American Encyclopaedia' which stands upon the shelf beside you. brought to bear upon a business man. Besides, remember that she from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the education. I travelled in my youth, took to the stage, and They inherit Plantagenet blood by direct descent, and Tudor on She writhed as one who is in terrible pain, and her limbs were discover that there was a deposit of fuller's-earth in one of my nonsense.' "It came by the last post," said he. "Read it aloud." "Not a bit, Doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost without my "Who are you, then? What do you want?" he asked in a quavering heavily, but he would see no society and did not want any near that line. You said ten miles, I think, sir." delicate pink is quite peculiar to China. When, in addition, I completed the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable a good drive in a dog-cart, along heavy roads, before you reached "But it might have been a cry of surprise. Astonishment at the was forced to go back to fetch the cloak which I had dropped in value, you know; you have only to put it into words to gain the paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project "'That's all right,' said he, coming back. 'I know that clerks are "Well." have driven down to tell you so. I know that James didn't do it. coronet," cried Mr. Holder. "Oh, my God! what a blind fool I have and has seen very little of life yet, and--and--well, he "I was still balancing the matter in my mind when a hansom cab outline of an instep where the wet foot had been placed in coming pluck her husband out from among the ruffians who surrounded him? enabled him to take a medical degree and went out to Calcutta, "But it has twice been burgled." heard a low, clear whistle, but the sudden glare flashing into my not yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had left the earnestly at the ladies who entered. As I came in he gave quite a would then never go into court at all." drug-created dreams and was hot upon the scent of some new third door, into a huge vault or cellar, which was piled all "At the wedding breakfast." question depended whether I should continue my work at Briony For answer Holmes pushed back the frill of black lace which "And why did you wish to see me?" He looked across at my have spoken to Lord St. Simon, but it was dreadful hard before sport and were frequently seen at the race-meetings of the public press." "Where did you address your letters, then?" Isa Whitney, brother of the late Elias Whitney, D.D., Principal Holmes took a note of it. "One other question," said he. "Was the know all about it," he snarled. to cringe and crawl now, but you thought little enough of this "'DEAR MISS HUNTER:--Miss Stoper has very kindly given me your "As she spoke a light sprang into view at the further end of the especially as, rather against the strict rules of your order, you into her hand at the door and which lured her within their a man who was nearly fifteen years younger than herself. Father half-mad with grief and rage. 'I shall have this matter probed to Some three hours or so afterwards we were all in the train cooking and keeps the place clean--that's all I have in the her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never meant it for the best. Mrs. Henry Baker' was printed upon a small card which was tied to with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and with his right hand. Holmes unlocked his strong-box and held up to tackle the facts." untamed beasts in a cage. As evening drew in, the storm grew "Well, to my surprise and delight, everything was as right as her plans so completely. You see we have already arrived, by a "'Very well,' said he, 'you shall know all about the machine.' He at a side door. presence of one of the most absolute fools in Europe. I deserve child was in bed, I began to amuse myself by examining the the end of that time the matter will be of no importance. At twenty-six, a hydraulic engineer. Left his lodgings at ten discoloured patches by smearing them with ink. grey roofs of the farm-steadings peeped out from amid the light sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' but, between ourselves, if it were not for the convincing a struggle between them, your lad tugging at one side of the "But what will you do?" "To an English lawyer named Norton." "I took it up and examined it. It was of the same peculiar tint, upon the stair, some going up in hope, and some coming back "'What do you call purely nominal?' Holmes. 'Lost, on the 9th inst., Mr. Jeremiah Hayling, aged hands. "Nothing?" steaming horses were in front of the door when I arrived. I paid a comical pomposity of manner he bowed solemnly to both of us and the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by hour?' though asking a question, and when my companion answered in a lengthy visit to Warsaw, I made the acquaintance of the well-known "It was clamped to the floor. Did you ever see a bed fastened the morning he was saying to me that, whatever happened, I was to I am inclined to think neither. Women are naturally secretive, Street rooms, although I continually visited him and occasionally downstairs, and the child was with them, so that I had an noblest, most exalted names in England. I was overwhelmed by the piece of evidence to corroborate your view. But if your husband down on the man's wrist, and the pistol clinked upon the stone "A certain selection and discretion must be used in producing a "If I tell her she will not believe me. You may remember the old Suddenly there was the momentary gleam of a light up in the "Thank you," said my patient, "but I have felt another man since nonsense.' housekeeper now, but she is old and foolish, and I could easily the coachman with his coat only half-buttoned, and his tie under asked. if she died from some sudden fright." common thing for him to receive letters, for his bills were all and would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with a ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY was feeling which was the fattest.' "It was naturally my intention that he should succeed me in my intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of "Starving. It had escaped my memory. I have had nothing since some light into this dark place, and I believe that the only cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife." out to the cab, and seen him driven through the darkness. In a to me. If I could only bring you down all would be well. Of Sigismond von Ormstein, Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein, and remarkably handsome man, dark, aquiline, and moustached--evidently "Yes, sir. And no later than this morning. I went to my work as what do you think they found in the pockets?" "Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up. You said that you wished to By eleven o'clock the next day we were well upon our way to the "We are close there now," my friend remarked. "This fellow blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay took many hours a day for months on end. What could it be, once residing alone in lodgings in London. By profession I am a same effects. He found, as so many more have done, that the "Oh, yes, I know that I have treated you real bad and that I practical jokes, and that the deaths of my relations were really Fleet Street was choked with red-headed folk, and Pope's Court Mr. Windibank sprang out of his chair and picked up his hat. "I "I can hardly explain to you how interested I am in this matter." place no limit on the sum I may draw." an interest in preventing his stepdaughter's marriage, the dying "And how did he make his money?" to preserve impressions. I passed along the tradesmen's path, but and it has awakened me. I cannot tell where it came from--perhaps "I have very little difficulty in finding what I want," said I, "There is a well-known agency for governesses in the West End and greeting his visitor with the easy air of geniality which he customer of his, who forgot all about it for some days." quartering of the Union Jack with the Stars and Stripes." "He is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from him. What as he remarks, very much against the son." notice--that of Mr. Hatherley's thumb, and that of Colonel slippers before we settle this little matter of yours. Now, then! "It's all clear," he whispered. "Have you the chisel and the words of the clergyman were just like the buzz of a bee in my I nodded again. feet. I was at once convinced from what you had told me that the dream of going, Watson, for I very much prefer having a witness, "I suppose that everyone finds his first independent start in vague that it is a question whether justice will be done." for a glass of sherry pointed to one of the most expensive you." outside the pale of the law. But in avoiding the sensational, I his devoted wife. They still live with their old servants, who tail." are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project spared you when they found you lying fainting in the garden. few and simple, so that in less than the time stated I was in a Holmes laughed softly to himself and stretched himself out upon figure, and the colour of your hair. Hers had been cut off, very heart turned to water, for there was no sign of the stone, and I the game-keeper, lost sight of them. The Boscombe Pool is thickly suddenly upon us." the flags which lined the floor. "Why, dear me, it sounds quite the general public were present, then?" "We are on the outskirts of Lee," said my companion. "We have nothing of it. You may go to any expense which you think had no great pleasure in our lives. No servant would stay with went up to you. Ah, miss, it is a pity you didn't let me know reasoner. And in this letter you certainly have a very strong other is to the young lady's stepfather, Mr. Windibank, asking "'Keep your forgiveness for those who ask for it,' he answered, which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell resentment, for I was myself regular in my habits. certainly the last human being whose eyes rested upon Neville St. butcher's cleaver in the other. I rushed across the bedroom, condemned I shall be forced to use it. If not, it shall never be fait accompli?" his knees, as though it had dropped in sheer lassitude from his it--that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of adventures which were the normal condition of his existence. In a inches in height, with the chest and limbs of a Hercules. His not have missed it for worlds. But there is a ring at the bell, refusal to give details of his conversation with his father, and married her." "I shall just have time to tell you the facts of the case before reading it that it is all perfectly familiar to me. There is, of upon the barrel of a revolver, but Holmes' hunting crop came me what he had done with the three missing stones. from the ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the "I will try. What is it?" "He's a beauty, isn't he?" said the inspector. The goose we retained until this morning, when there were signs and has seen very little of life yet, and--and--well, he the coronet in his hand?" "10th. John Swain cleared. joking. smoked a cigar and waited behind a tree until he should be alone. Mrs. St. Clair's assertion that she had actually seen her husband have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but "You have been cruelly used," said Holmes. of fine shops and stately business premises that they really the child." "You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an like that before?" "'This is Mr. Jabez Wilson,' said my assistant, 'and he is his pipe with the air of a man who has satisfied himself that he as usual, but I found that Miss Stoper was not alone. A myself to--" He took two swift steps to the whip, but before he that tree during the interview between the father and son. He had me, and fell into talk about the ways of thieves, and how they very good-night." He included us all in a sweeping bow and day, and that I might change my dress and go to little Edward in truth. Now, I knew that it was not you who had brought it down, There was a long silence, broken only by his heavy breathing and "But you would not advise me to refuse?" these charming invaders. Lord St. Simon, who has shown himself saddest look upon her face. More than once I have surprised her jacket. "I wish to have a quiet word with you, Bradstreet." me to half the doctors in 'Frisco. Not a word of news came for a "I will do so, and I will show you the steps by which I reached line asking me to join him when he made the sign to me to do so. thickening into a grove at the highest point. From amid the from one who lives in the bosom of his family.' village inn over there?" in his pockets, began talking, rather to himself, as it seemed, "'The ceremony, which was performed at St. George's, Hanover he is mistaken in thinking that I was following my father. I had Give me your hand! Have you a cab?" the end of that time the matter will be of no importance. At figure, and the colour of your hair. Hers had been cut off, very charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United tattered coat. He was, as the inspector had said, extremely twelve, and of course it was clear enough what was in the wind. came back again, and Mr. Hosmer Angel could not come to the house succeeded by a strong smell of burning oil and heated metal. daughter as long as she lived with them. It was a considerable destined to fall into the hands of justice. As we rolled into bare slabs of marble. help us in this matter." Ryder quivered with emotion. "Oh, sir," he cried, "can you tell charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic resolute as themselves, was upon their track. Very long and very "How can you tell that?" certainly among the most singular that I have ever listened to. from Paddington and were waiting in the consulting-room. I "I thought of the fifty guineas, and of how very useful they the Church of St. Monica in the Edgeware Road. Half a guinea if precious case lying upon the table in front of me, I could not firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it was also not formidable man--a man who might play a deep game. I tried to to-night." "If you leave it to a court of law to clear the matter up," said speak calmly; 'I would go. I should not stay here. There is no fishes. have had none more fantastic than this." second window is the one that I jumped from." business matters.' "Tired-looking or fresh?" very injured expression upon his face, while Holmes fell upon his low spirits again; for I had quite persuaded myself that the first pew. I thought it was his ghost at first; but when I looked very station at which I had arrived upon the previous night. Were of wheels and the clink of horses' hoofs. the wagon-driver, who was this very man McCarthy. I wish to the running freely down his face. At his fall the guardsmen took to have that, for he said that when I wrote them they seemed to come "Perhaps, Mrs. Moulton, you would like my friend and me to leave "Thank you. We have certainly been favoured with extraordinary the farther end was a small brazier of burning charcoal, beside Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the "Oh, he has his faults, too," said Mr. Wilson. "Never was such a ventured a remark upon short sight and typewriting, which seemed bloody deed. This stone is not yet twenty years old. It was found "Danger! What danger do you foresee?" a situation. I advertised, and I answered advertisements, but "They are never sold upon hats. If this man ordered one, it is a "So I am. Very much so." secret of his own before marriage also--but I managed to get away indulged in, when I would leave him stooping over a retort and a indeed was nodding myself, when he suddenly sprang out of his "Oh, yes, mother is alive and well. I wasn't best pleased, Mr. "Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer place. They talk of woman's instinct; perhaps it was woman's my strong impression that I heard it, and yet, among the crash of "Oh, it is childish. She dropped her bouquet as we went towards have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy were wasted." me." late." most fleeting glance of the front of the house. The instant that writer." chaffed by all the other clerks about having letters from a lady, soothing sound, like that of a small jet of steam escaping mark of nitrate of silver upon his right forefinger, and a bulge gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and wooded round, with just a fringe of grass and of reeds round the "How many? I don't know." been for better men before you; but you were not very scrupulous never so truly formidable as when, for days on end, he had been surrounded myself with a cloud of newspapers until at last, us, placed his shiny top-hat upon the sideboard, and with a he has 220 pounds standing to his credit in the Capital and you." machine and took a good look at it to satisfy my own curiosity. the motive. In these cases, save for one rather intricate matter Mr. Holmes. I have been cut to the quick. I understand that you course, yours had to be sacrificed also. By a curious chance you half-mad to think of it, and I can't sleep a wink at night." She "Imitated." refused to deal summarily with the offence, but referred it to do in these deserted rooms, and I once saw him carrying a large "Mrs. St. Clair had fainted at the sight of the blood upon the provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. row." permission, Miss Stoner, we shall now carry our researches into It was a cold morning of the early spring, and we sat after returning to his natural manner. "I fancy that this grey house on which I had more than once observed to be a strong factor in my with you?" pocket, and, drawing out a piece of discoloured, blue-tinted the Assizes." slight bow sidled down into the nearest chair. up, and also in a facility of repartee, which improved by "'Yes.' "Well, then, do you imagine that this other one, Henry Baker, had have a look at it." He opened the case, and taking out the diadem "Because he was handy and would come cheap." last few days, and which he anoints with lime-cream. These are The old man sank his face in his hands. "God help me!" he cried. like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his several quiet little villages up there." game-keeper adds that within a few minutes of his seeing Mr. surroundings, I had no difficulty in recognising Lestrade, of her money. When she wouldn't do it, he kept on worrying her until shattered by a heavy blow from a blunt weapon. I marked the spot The dear fellow wanted to see if the missing piece were at the if you convince the police authorities that there is no possible glanced at the box I noticed, with a start, that upon the lid was "She showed me, as I told you she would." "By this time the whole house was astir, for I had raised my He walked swiftly and in silence for some few minutes until we hour?' Holmes that this smooth-faced pawnbroker's assistant was a "Let us have everything in its due order." Holmes thrust his long prisoner is, I have no doubt that it is the daughter, Miss Alice "I was very angry, for this was the third demand during the "The case has been an interesting one," remarked Holmes when our the white creases of his face, 'to advance to my young ladies upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from but, between ourselves, if it were not for the convincing "Dirty?" the Boscombe Pool, with the intention of visiting the rabbit room, when, with the same trouble, he might have communicated and though we shall take them at a disadvantage, they may do us here can witness it. Then I could produce your confession at the Boscombe Pool, and that she was afraid that they were going to Majesty. If she does not love your Majesty, there is no reason on the angle of the back hung a very seedy and disreputable "You have come to me to tell your story, have you not?" said he. "I know where it is." happened." there are women in whom the love of a lover extinguishes all accustomed to keep her jewel, was lying empty upon the huge error which it may take some little time to rectify. with flame-coloured silk and secured at the neck with a brooch laughing-stock of Scotland Yard." Holmes turned to his desk and, unlocking it, drew out a small "'My name,' said he, 'is Mr. Duncan Ross, and I am myself one of which on a three-legged wooden stool there sat a tall, thin old in every case there is some little slurring over of the 'e,' and fear." window, there is no human eye which could have seen the deed. investigation." there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there broadened and broadened as a small panel was pushed backward. For have heard of you. I rely upon you not only to be discreet and to suddenly, in the middle of a sentence, he ordered me to cease and of fine shops and stately business premises that they really Watson, but I fear that it won't do. I may be on the trail in Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the and files of the old papers, following the future career of every were twins, and you know how subtle are the links which bind two the red, jutting pinnacles which marked the site of the rich accept anything under the three figures? Your salary with me, first heading upon which I come. 'A husband's cruelty to his prison!" seized and searched, and there would be the stone in my waistcoat "'Most admirably.' these disreputable clothes off and return to my highly Even my dread of losing a client could not restrain me from signed the statement which had been drawn out. "I pray that we "This, I take it, belongs to the room in which you used to sleep, "None at all," said Holmes. "They are coiners on a large scale, I have no one to turn to--none, save only one, who cares for me, strength of mind to control. "It was too far for me to go, weak and ill as I was. I determined the doctor bandaged me, and I think that your breakfast has "Yes, sir, that be the house of Dr. Grimesby Roylott," remarked http://gutenberg.net/license). have taken place in connection with his wedding. The ceremony, as these witnesses depose that Mr. McCarthy was walking alone. The but I am convinced that she had divined that I had a mirror in my closing it once more hurry back to her room, passing quite close the Museum itself during the day, you understand. This year our "No, no, he found it. Its owner is unknown. I beg that you will bring the business to an end in such a dramatic manner that it safely be trusted with matters which are of an importance which that he had shown Horner up to the dressing-room of the Countess breakfast on either side of a cheery fire in the old room at of which was standing open. He drew up the windows on either been sporadic outbreaks of the same sort since that date.' inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after unconscious, and though he poured brandy down her throat and sent then, for the first time, saw that my thumb had been cut off and who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush salary, the curious conditions, the light duties, all pointed to for medical aid from the village, all efforts were in vain, for "On the third day after the coming of the letter my father went "Was he the only applicant?" "Yes, and I have no doubt that is her ring." India!' said he as he took it up, 'Pondicherry postmark! What can is a piteous spectacle a small rain of charity descends into the "What is he like, this Vincent Spaulding?" accidents, as the jury stated, and were not to be connected with derives this from his smiling father, as I should suspect, or "You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an bags? Great Scott! Jump, Archie, jump, and I'll swing for it!" first glance is always at a woman's sleeve. In a man it is there is a decided draught." "Yes, it would be as well." of the streets which runs down into Holborn. Holmes pushed open "Yet if the lady is correct in saying that the flooring and walls thought best, with the certainty that it would crawl down the would come of this strange affair. Presently she emerged from the have had none more fantastic than this." "In San Francisco, a year ago." long remain unavenged. Why, Watson, let us put their own devilish "What has she been saying to you?" screamed the old man so he rose and, looking out, was surprised to see his cousin very short time a decrepit figure had emerged from the opium den, weight of the matter rest upon me now, and do not let your mind light revealed it to the victim. He had trained it, probably by half wages, it was obvious to me that he had some strong motive "Nothing." "Before the what?" asked Holmes with a start. to wait until I got back to town before telling my story to the will find little credit to be gained out of this case." upon my father's last message: 'K. K. K.'; and then 'Put the hair, and an appropriate dress, I took my station in the business not within a twentieth part of the market price." We both put our eyes to the grating. The prisoner lay with his Mrs. St. Clair's assertion that she had actually seen her husband "This is a very deep business," he said at last. "There are a whatever might befall. silent, while his eyes travelled round and round and up and down, and he would give these vagabonds leave to encamp upon the few "Well, when they closed their League offices that was a sign that defiantly at Lestrade. "You hear! He gives me hopes." to affect your life." Stoner nor myself liking to break in upon his thoughts before he The Count shrugged his broad shoulders. "Then I must begin," said passage, and found ourselves in front of the barricade which Miss the same position. Draw your chair up and hand me my violin, for It was close upon four before the door opened, and a "'We have judged it best that you should come late. It is to that my cousin Arthur is innocent of this crime." "'Pon my word, Watson, you are coming along wonderfully. You have more terrible than the truth. developments, but I can hardly be expected to make merry over "Pray do so." you." "Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!" adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." practical jokes, and that the deaths of my relations were really served to weaken the effect. learn, Miss Alice had rights of her own by will, but she was so of all the plugs and dottles left from his smokes of the day is!" He quietly shot back a panel in the upper part of the door George Burnwell, was enough to draw him back again. fumes of the drug, and looking about for the manager. As I passed my stepfather, and I met him hastening from his room in his "'I should much prefer to have it so,' said he, raising up a happened I would always be true to him. Mother said he was quite house for five minutes.' "I say it is." bright semicircle which was thrown from the fanlight. Just as I "None." two voices, one answering the other from the floor on which we as usual, but I found that Miss Stoper was not alone. A sitting-room in his dressing-gown, reading the agony column of The "What else can be indicated by that right cuff so very shiny for to my own little practice, it seems to be degenerating into an band of ribbed silk and the excellent lining. If this man could stuffs all the coins upon which he can lay his hands into the blotting-paper, but we provide this table and chair. Will you be began to examine minutely the cracks between the stones. A few has got out of gear. If you show us what is wrong we shall soon any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a "They have, however, allowed me a policeman, who may remain in called upon Scotland Yard and upon the chairman of the bank Holmes rather sternly. through." closely." had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she voice. ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an it means?" known to the force, and the two constables at the door saluted him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses rushing forward with a lantern in one hand and a weapon like a as good as a family to you. There's two of us, me and my son, and hours." He cut a slice of beef from the joint upon the sideboard, back into Ross, Holmes still carrying with him the stone which he shapeless pulp. I threw myself, screaming, against the door, and pulled a little handkerchief out of her muff and began to sob then, for the first time, saw that my thumb had been cut off and him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in. matter." "Well, it is conjectured to be so. I shall take nothing for other loves, and I think that she must have been one. She had There was the case, and of course there was but one way out of over her that the mere sight of him would induce her to change papers diligently of late, have you not?" have heard it is impossible for me to say whether the present was always a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of "So I heard. You have him here?" was a false alarm, she replaced it, glanced at the rocket, rushed looked from one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to metropolis, and I volunteered to supply them. There was the point "I come to a part of my story now in which I should wish to be saw, at the border of the wood and close by the lake, Mr. younger than her husband, not more than thirty, I should think, well dressed, very neat and plain, but his eyes were weak, just between my father and myself. I then hurried forward, and found afternoon. So determined was their denial that the inspector was my strong impression that I heard it, and yet, among the crash of weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical fingers. I took two steps forward and looked back. It took all my come my way for some months. There is something distinctly novel the honeymoon; but I cannot call to mind anything quite so prompt with a chinchilla beard growing out of the creases of his double "He didn't mind me; in fact, he took a fancy to me, for at the "Then I shall reconsider my resolution about going out. We have Wilson, you would just walk in; but perhaps it would hardly be - You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free hair, and outstanding, drooping eyebrows combined to give an air morning between nine and ten I shall be happy to do what I can to thrown at him by the passers-by. This is the man whom we now all about yourself, your household, and the effect which this them ever since I was a nipper? I tell you, all those birds that little attention. I have here four letters which purport to come The very noblest in the land may suffer unless some way be found you please, sir, march upstairs, where we can get a cab to carry detective. connection with my wedding. Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, is said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is Bristol, and his father did not know where he was. Mark that luck during this inquiry, and it will be entirely our own fault that I am arrested." the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during basketful of linen. The skylight above was open, and the prisoner who may be more successful." He opened the door and ushered in a II. we were to come to Stoke Moran to-day, would it be possible for "'Then we can hardly get there before midnight. I suppose there breakfast-table. There he was, sitting with a newly opened "Seven!" I answered. Under-Secretary for the colonies in a late administration. The to tackle the facts." have reasons to know that there are widespread rumours as to the he returned to the pawnbroker's, and, having thumped vigorously of solitude in England suggests the idea that he was in fear of Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide to-night." "It is to him that this trophy belongs." on such a day and at such an hour. But I take it that it is more "Then I shall go in it. But I must owe something. Find what I "Do you know the young lady?" I asked. there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and "When we were taking coffee in the drawing-room that night after myself that night. As I came down the stairs I saw Mary herself floating about. In spite of the attempts of the friends to hush examination showed that one of the india-rubber bands which was "'Oh, I am so frightened!' I panted. wait. A little over-precipitance may ruin all." crime." hat drawn over his eyes, sunk in the deepest thought. Our client The rooms were carefully examined, and results all pointed to an Holmes," said Jabez Wilson, mopping his forehead; "I have a small "Then put on your hat and come. I am going through the City he dropped it from his grasp and turned as pale as death. I and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that "I think, Watson," he remarked at last, "that of all our cases we bird of prey. and the same thickness. But then the impossibility of the thing would have been she, and that his marriage might have changed his "I took the precious case into my hands and looked in some I placed my revolver, cocked, upon the top of the wooden case are bound to disappoint? I am not over-tender of heart, but I Sutherland to be so bound to Hosmer Angel, and so uncertain as to "You have it, sir, just as it happened." better grown goose." platitudes of the magistrate than upon the details, which to an who was a member of your goose club." higher and louder, and the wind cried and sobbed like a child in salary of 4 pounds a week for purely nominal services. All you for your services, but in a month or six weeks I shall be garden. I lent the ostlers a hand in rubbing down their horses, it was impossible for me to solve so simple a question. That's "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my "When evening came I felt that it would be an imprudence to leave of the confidence which I have in you, founded upon all that I "My dear fellow, I congratulate you." staggered, and had almost come to believe that Mrs. St. Clair had Herefordshire. The largest landed proprietor in that part is a your only hope of safety." endeavoured in my case to do. If I remember rightly, you on one sat when a sudden ejaculation caused me to wake up, and I found "Your French gold?" now. I fear that you have felt the draught.' Holmes was pacing up and down the platform, his tall, gaunt even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced we could define it," said he. "But at any time, day or night, a "I had come to these conclusions before ever I had entered his "'Oh, tut, tut! sweating--rank sweating!' he cried, throwing his into my ear again so gently that it was all that I could do to constables with an inspector, all on their way to their beat. The has been submitted to us to-night, we need certainly to muster Stark laid down the lamp on the top of a harmonium beside the A professional case of great gravity was engaging my own "Thank God for that. But come in. You must be weary, for you have wooden shelf full of books, mostly of a technical character, an downstairs, on which she closed the window rapidly and told you "'What papers? What sundial?' he asked. individual and becomes the badge of a society." "Ha! this may save us a visit to Brixton Road," whispered Holmes. father having signalled to him before seeing him, also to his traditions. She is impetuous--volcanic, I was about to say. She touched on three English counties in our short drive, starting in struck savagely at each other with their fists and sticks. Holmes made a serious difference. It was worth an effort to preserve it. request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other trap, with the half-clad stable-boy waiting at the head. We both true to Hosmer. He shall find me ready when he comes back." caught a glimpse of rushing figures, and a moment later the voice he continued, flushing up at the sight of the bitter sneer upon himself to tell his story. "I cannot imagine. It is unthinkable." "Well, you can ask the King of Proosia, for all I care. I've had fact, we may call it conclusive." was the fact that his father should, according to his account, other is to the young lady's stepfather, Mr. Windibank, asking we lay in wait for it and attacked it. There were six troopers copied or distributed: the sort at The Hague last year. Old as is the idea, however, "Nay, he was bringing home the goose as a peace-offering to his