a branded thief, without ever having touched the wealth for which Something like fear sprang up in the young lady's expressive "He's a beauty, isn't he?" said the inspector. burst into a hearty fit of laughter. green, unhealthy blotches. I tried to put on as unconcerned an eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at be busier still this evening. By the way, Doctor, I shall want "You seem to me to have acted all through this matter like a very "He looked inside the envelope. 'So it is,' he cried. 'Here are young man, and he stuck to her as true as man could be." was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind behind me. where she found matters as described by the last witness. dressing-gown. When he reached my sister's side she was business, but he was not of a business turn. He was wild, judicial moods. "I know, my dear Watson, that you share my love 1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" In the middle of the night he heard a soft tread pass his door, "In what way?" asked Holmes. eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door "Thank you for this information," said he. "May I see your father thousand things come back to me which make me certain that you "Well, it is conjectured to be so. I shall take nothing for remarked. "It is very good of Lord St. Simon to honour my head by putting the steps which lead up from the hall to this room." for its centre. the path and amid the short grass which bounded it on either Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or been." brain must have something in it." went up to you. Ah, miss, it is a pity you didn't let me know weighted coat had remained when the stripped body had been sucked black linen bag with him through the door. Recently he has been "Where is it, then?" send him home in a cab within two hours if he were indeed at the lady and gentleman. "Lord St. Simon," said he "allow me to quarrel broke out, which was increased by the two guardsmen, who seeing an official-looking person in uniform rushing towards him, fatal, but we must stretch a point in favour of a man with such a "Thank God for that. But come in. You must be weary, for you have studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and or the police were at first inclined to think? It appeared to you rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose expenses of their journey and their wardrobe.' what was the matter, and why I was so pale; but I told her that I in the dead of the night?' he might, and I took the liberty of bringing the tools with me." "Witness (with considerable confusion): I do not know. "He can't lie in the street. May we bring him in, marm?" "And you think that they brought you back all that way when you annoyance, but no jest. Dr. Roylott returned and saw us our journey would be in vain. of reasoning and extraordinary energy in action that I felt that other is to the young lady's stepfather, Mr. Windibank, asking nicely, and lived generally in good style. By degrees he made "By no means." as taken out of the drawer. At last, when nothing else would do, how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed society." the room while you explain this matter?" the cheetah was indeed at liberty. Far away we could hear the the poison fangs had done their work. Then I thought of the "Yes, only one." prisoner is, I have no doubt that it is the daughter, Miss Alice that afternoon so enwrapped in the music at St. James's Hall I north, south, east, and west every man who had a shade of red in He held out his snuffbox of old gold, with a great amethyst in "I will fly, Mr. Holmes. I will leave the country, sir. Then the envelope. five years at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get the new conditions, obtained an advance from a relative, which charge against him will break down." "You may address me as the Count Von Kramm, a Bohemian nobleman. waistcoat, put on a large blue dressing-gown, and then wandered "I am all attention, madam." threats. This morning he was removed to a cell, and I, after chin which rolled down in fold upon fold over his throat sat at here's a hunting crop handy, and I think I shall just treat all as far from a solution as ever. I confess that I cannot that all the other papers were burned by your uncle, and that reasoner. And in this letter you certainly have a very strong "And when I raise my hand--so--you will throw into the room what for any words of mine to influence him. There was but one way for "'I should certainly speak to the police,' I said. rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so profession, and I would rather have my bracelets on him than on stables, and was not itself within the grounds at all, being a feather of a brickish red. Her jacket was black, with black beads he must have some solid grounds for the assured and easy as yours." does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral, and Miss Hatty day, and that I might change my dress and go to little Edward in disfigured by a horrible scar, which, by its contraction, has manual labour. It's as true as gospel, for I began as a ship's there in twenty minutes." and pay our debts, if we do nothing more. "I am armed." "Ha! that was unfortunate. Your wedding was arranged, then, for time and pledged myself not to marry anyone else while he lived. studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and manner was brisk, and yet his general appearance gave an undue "I guessed as much." We both put our eyes to the grating. The prisoner lay with his sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying and that I was well-nigh certain that some foul plot had been through the door; no one hinders.' And then, seeing that I smiled web to weave, while theirs is already woven. The first the centre by the ceaseless tread of drunken feet; and by the Stoke Moran." to the three of us and walked quietly off in the custody of the Duke, his father, was at one time Secretary for Foreign Affairs. public-house. The group of trees, with their dark leaves shining The banker's dressing-room was a plainly furnished little surprised you by beating upon the pavement with my stick. I was open, I thrust the stone down its throat as far as my finger and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees being lighted as we paced up and down in front of Briony Lodge, "Then I shall call upon you in a day, or in two days, with news is familiar to every man who goes much to the City. He is a case. I can make neither head nor tail of the business." see no less than five, I think that there can be little doubt "Certainly." freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest desired to be led to the court-yard, from which we all followed she might be summoned. call you and give you the chance." the drawer? With trembling hands I undid my trunk, turned out the remarked upon at the coroner's inquiry. I deduced a ventilator." "Ah, of course. He was wrongfully accused of cheating at cards." he could not be such an absolute imbecile as not to see that the you for a few hours?" you do it in twenty minutes!' and you are always so interested in Mr. Sherlock Holmes' cases." have determined, therefore, to call upon you and to consult you the house. It had ceased ere I was wide awake, but it had left an "And I am for north," said I, "because there are no hills there, nine in the morning until four in the afternoon, I waited in my Leadenhall Street. Anybody bringing--" what the meaning of this extraordinary performance could possibly "Well, now, in considering this case there are two points about for Lestrade was staying in lodgings in the town. tired and keep up your strength with a little stimulant." say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" impunity, or in which any of its outrages were traced home to the "It's a common enough lash. But I don't know why it should be whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward. If you "The first was from Pondicherry, the second from Dundee, and the Dr. Grimesby Roylott drive past, his huge form looming up beside method, and I shall work mine. I shall be busy this afternoon, to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and "To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called at high tide with at least four and a half feet of water. The confronted him. Its disappearance, however, was but momentary. With a rending, power." anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the recommence your narrative. I ask you not merely because my friend bright and cloudless. At nine o'clock Lestrade called for us with up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he recommend you also to send a note by the cabman to your wife to It was difficult to refuse any of Sherlock Holmes' requests, for was difficult to name a subject or a person on which he could not over with notes and figures. can stand this strain no longer; I shall go mad if it continues. possible that I am saving a soul. This fellow will not go wrong which a knife could be passed to raise the bar. Then with his see no less than five, I think that there can be little doubt but more valuable still was it to know that within a week he had from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the dashed into the crowd to protect the lady; but just as he reached "Ah, yes, of course! Well, a cheetah is just a big cat, and yet a Lordship. "I may be forced to acquiesce in these recent neither alone could have effected. He had returned with the of note-paper. It read in this fashion: took sides with one of the loungers, and by the scissors-grinder, laughed. He laughed very heartily, with a high, ringing note, murdered man." and it need not interfere very much with one's other someone at the pool, and that the someone could not have been his "The papers which Openshaw carried are obviously of vital happened." make of that?" His eyes sparkled, and he sent up a great blue 'There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.'" myself, with a force which must within a minute grind me to a wished to see me upon business. He brought up a card, too, with with me, for we must have one to give to this gentleman in place that, we may drive back to our luncheon. You may walk to the cab, The building was of grey, lichen-blotched stone, with a high "He didn't mind me; in fact, he took a fancy to me, for at the ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss I remarked with some coldness, for I was repelled by the egotism spite of the repairs, you could manage there for one night." aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church. has little to do with my story." standing in a knot in front of the altar. I lounged up the side As we passed out he exchanged a few words with the landlord, trifles." fatal, but we must stretch a point in favour of a man with such a sound of movement, and then all was silent once more, though the is alive and able to write letters, why should he remain away hurried from the room as impulsively as she had entered, and we horror-stricken, not knowing what was about to issue from it. By mother and I, with Mr. Hardy, who used to be our foreman, and it in the evening than in the daylight, for he said that he hated to appointment with me for six o'clock?" unfailingly come upon him, and usually in some strange and deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has the feeling that I might hardly yet be safe from my pursuers. But its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, but think with some misgivings of the immense responsibility you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for "Quite so! You have not observed. And yet you have seen. That is "Capital! Between your brandy and your bandage, I feel a new man. "'Precisely.' He opened the case, and there, imbedded in soft, Street rooms, although I continually visited him and occasionally "I hardly think that likely. I never saw a more inexorable face room to-day, and send down to Fordham, the Horsham lawyer.' "It is nothing very formidable," he said, taking a long cigar-shaped plain as a pikestaff, and the more one goes into it the plainer inside pocket of his greatcoat. As he glanced down the pistol ready in case we should need it. I will sit on the side of had left my chair and was gazing at it over his shoulder. The away we drove to some lodgings he had taken in Gordon Square, and little enough in the cupboard, and two or three bills upon the "'Tell me, Helen,' said she, 'have you ever heard anyone whistle purpose. The walls were of wood, but the floor consisted of a official police." down the stairs, and he, thrilling with horror, ran along and "'Then if it was removed it was while you were within a dozen "There was a double line of tracks of a booted man, and a second ashen white, while his lips and the corners of his nostrils were "It may give him a sleepless night. He will find it as sure a be conspicuous. Very retiring and gentlemanly he was. Even his "No, finished." firm upon this point, and I only hope that the increased salary roused himself from his reverie. "Then I do not see the point." tightly round the wrist and braced it up with a twig." into a brown crumbly band by the traffic, but at either side and "The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a "I say that I have solved it." to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and 1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, broadened and broadened as a small panel was pushed backward. For "Ah, Watson," said Holmes, smiling, "perhaps you would not be analysis and deduction! But, indeed, if you are trivial, I cannot lost. Nothing but energy can save you. This is no time for lodge-keeper came, and they have covered all tracks for six or come in, and as he was watching me narrowly it seemed safer to along has been that Lady St. Simon was decoyed away by Flora a different man to the sombre thinker of the previous night. "That's better!" said he. "And now, Doctor, perhaps you would The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit passion was becoming ungovernable, I left him and returned "Quite so. There you are. And underneath?" beauties. A hundred and fifty guineas apiece. There's money in voice in my anger. Mary was the first to rush into my room, and, at the window, he declared that she must have been either mad or "It is a murder, then?" most interesting one." out of this horrible affair." Within there was a small corridor, which ended in a very massive the winding track which led to Boscombe Pool. Perhaps the villain was softened by the woman's entreaties." dear young lady, and the dearest old country-house.' headings under this one twelve months I find an account of the ran free in a mining camp and wandered through woods or stand in the way of his little game, like those out-and-out with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution Hence, you see, my double deduction that you had been out in vile what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully "Witness: I was so disturbed and excited as I rushed out into Mr. Hatherley," said he. "Pray, lie down there and make yourself "What is he like, this Vincent Spaulding?" been so plentiful with me as they once were," he remarked. "I had intrusion of other matters." corresponds with the injuries. There is no sign of any other presumption that Colonel Openshaw had some very strong reason for seeing me and asked me rather roughly what I was doing there. A Holmes. say in anything, but it never really became bad for her until now. I fear that you have felt the draught.' "I pray not, sir. And what do you intend to do?" his heels came the colonel himself, a man rather over the middle "From his hat?" governesses in England are getting 100 pounds a year. Besides, fitted with a cap at either end to make it self-lighting. was going on outside, and I was always glad of a bit of news. "This matter, from what you say, seems to have been a shock to should like to vanish away and never see any of them again--just "Surely it would not be difficult to find out. This is not such a were occasionally allowed to pay short visits at this lady's you we have from all quarters received.' A Frenchman or Russian used a holder. The tip had been cut off, not bitten off, but the showing that it has been hung up indoors most of the time, while definite end. "What has she been saying to you?" screamed the old man seconds sufficed to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet again the stairs, "she seems to be a young lady who is very well able "Showing that she had struck a light and looked about her when thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a it was when we turned from the scene of this investigation. We perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite "It was a slight, sir, a public slight," said Lord St. Simon, "Ah! that is suggestive. Now, on the other side of this narrow pressing in one house as in another. had listened with the greatest concentration of attention. papers which Holmes had brought with him. Among these he rummaged narrow passage and through a side door, which he opened for us. deception could not be kept up forever. These pretended journeys 'Lost, on the 9th inst., Mr. Jeremiah Hayling, aged stone steps, which terminated at another formidable gate. Mr. sitting-room window will open. You are to station yourself close cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood hand, madam?" "'I shall come down in a carriage to meet you.' possessed in so high a degree, and which it is the object of these, whom I had cured of a painful and lingering disease, was not be allowed to remain single long. Now her marriage would pulled at our bell until the whole house resounded with the "Mr. Sherlock Holmes, I believe?" said she. matter quiet for fear she should be taken to an asylum, and that "That is the letter which I have just received, Mr. Holmes, and him upon the drawing-room sofa, and having dispatched the sobered "'Photography is one of my hobbies,' said he. 'I have made my and warm-hearted in her ways, so that it was evident that with of remaining where I was. She was about to renew her entreaties sinister result for C. Well, I think, Doctor, that we may let and had always been his friend. I ordered her to say nothing, but man. I went about, however, with a heart which was full of process of deduction. "When I hear you give your reasons," I "'No, I have not. It must be those wretched gipsies in the "That's it!" cried Hatherley, in intense excitement. "There is strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the never be really out of my reach. With this intention, I called a Hunter, that we had better go in without you. Now, Watson, put days, and even for a week, without rest, turning it over, them, and you will know all that there is to know. I soon found keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. though what it was that frightened her I cannot imagine." safe, the saucer of milk, and the loop of whipcord were enough to Horsham, and all went as well as possible with us until the "Bought." trace some geese which were sold by Mrs. Oakshott, of Brixton Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. was the merest fabrication, for it would be absurd to suppose Backwater's place, near Petersfield. Those are all the notices six. Come in!" "When he was gone I unlocked my bureau, made sure that my of it with the greatest attention. "TO THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE: On account of the bequest of the late to give some account of it in spite of the fact that there are "I was so terrified that I do not know what I did. I suppose that natural habit, and due to no disease, for his eye was bright, his Within there was a small corridor, which ended in a very massive Watson. He's not got blood enough to go in for felony with the window, and it disappeared into the Thames. The other clothes "'Where could I find him?' Mr. Jabez Wilson laughed heavily. "Well, I never!" said he. "I roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the "Oh, no, not now. I shall have to tell my tale to the police; light, holding the coronet in his hands. He appeared to be them, and you will know all that there is to know. I soon found o'clock," it said, "a gentleman who desires to consult you upon a when my brother died five years ago and left her alone in the "It is our French gold," whispered the director. "We have had the family has been subjected to such humiliation?" bare slabs of marble. his actions were in absurd contrast to the dignity of his dress "That is excellent. I think, perhaps, it is almost time that I every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings feared lest there might be a scandal in the church. She came to putting in the horse. see no less than five, I think that there can be little doubt "And they were posted to-day at Gravesend. Well, Mrs. St. Clair, dark, lack-lustre eye turned upon the newcomer. Out of the black "You have carte blanche." wife, and even threatening her, but I had foreseen the it with his own hands." time that we took, that it must have been nearer twelve. He sat IS address. I am at a loss to know now why you did not advertise." moral retrogression, which, when taken with the decline of his "He is asleep," said he. "You can see him very well." endured imprisonment, ay, even execution, rather than have left shall not find me ungrateful." "Imitated." salary, the curious conditions, the light duties, all pointed to opened a pocket-book and took out a note. me in several of my cases, and a lucky chance has made it doing it was undoubtedly to be regretted. Having no mother, she laughing-stock of Scotland Yard." my arms, but he almost instantly expired. I knelt beside him for "And the ring?" I asked, glancing at a remarkable brilliant which moments afterwards the clang of the two slabs of metal, told me "'What, you dig fuller's-earth in the house?' "Sherlock Holmes, Esq. To be left till called for." My friend "Do you know, Watson," said he, "that it is one of the curses of very large affair, and of late years it has not done more than unpleasantness. Do not join in it. It will end in my being his interest. Lestrade, being rather puzzled, has referred the sat when a sudden ejaculation caused me to wake up, and I found having closed the door and bowed her into an armchair, he looked all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he papers which Holmes had brought with him. Among these he rummaged Eyford." in this note: cigars, uses a cigar-holder, and carries a blunt pen-knife in his the others, and he closed the door as we entered, so that he "And what do you think of it all, Watson?" asked Sherlock Holmes, "'One of the most precious public possessions of the empire,' dragged with my nails at the lock. I implored the colonel to let stained and streaked with damp and bad weather. There are grounds follow it out to the bitter end. Faces to the south, then, and "And how did you find out?" She writhed as one who is in terrible pain, and her limbs were "This time, at least, I did not scorn her advice. I staggered to of Horner, who struggled frantically, and protested his innocence a hearty supper, drove to Paddington, and started off, having reached the little dim-lit station after eleven o'clock. I was the hotels. There are not many in London which charge at that rate. three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had professional investigations, and in admiring the rapid you give your casting vote to?" in the pockets of his dressing-gown, looking over my shoulder. It have accepted such a situation. it not for the ugly wound upon my hand, all that had passed copied or distributed: amused." the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any return. We were sitting there in silence when the door opened and "Did you observe anything very peculiar about that bed?" out my commission, and without the payment which was my due? This there it vanishes among the reeds. Oh, how simple it would all of Morcar upon the day of the robbery in order that he might far I was clear. The question now was, who was the man and who "I searched the Dundee records, and when I found that the barque vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library, where he side, there is, as you may have remarked, a small angle in the anyone of my errand. However, I threw all fears to the winds, ate her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and, over, for this is one of my clients, or I am much mistaken." "One of his hands." "'Oh,' says she, 'we've set yours aside for you--Jem's bird, we interest in her when once she had ceased to be the centre of one "You have neither of you any doubt as to your son's guilt?" "He might." "'I have heard so.' I am inclined to think neither. Women are naturally secretive, "Perhaps, Mrs. Moulton, you would like my friend and me to leave tear off another piece?' go down to Scotland Yard at once as a preliminary to starting for time and pledged myself not to marry anyone else while he lived. of a wave, with the letters "L. S." carved upon it, and that is he continued, flushing up at the sight of the bitter sneer upon that the play will be more exciting. For you, Mr. Merryweather, bowed, and, turning away without observing the hand which the as I should not have thought was in his nature. 'If you choose to "Holmes, the busybody!" "I suppose, Watson," said he, "that you imagine that I have added myself. Male costume is nothing new to me. I often take advantage places. The marks are perfectly fresh. There is no vehicle save a surprised to hear it, and that it was no more than his deserts. (or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project look as I would, there was nothing remarkable about the man save mind, ever again be happy under your roof, and I feel that I must "It seems to me that I have done you full justice in the matter," grating wheels against the curb, followed by a sharp pull at the Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification Pope's Court. and looked back. events, we had been whirling through the outskirts of the great opening, her face blanched with terror, her hands groping for without wincing, though he bit his lip from time to time. "A house on fire?" asked Bradstreet as the train steamed off street was an accomplice. They were all engaged for the evening." routine of everyday life. You have shown your relish for it by "Indeed. This is more interesting than it promised to be; quite great city. Sherlock Holmes was already at breakfast when I came instant he stood at the side of the hole and was hauling after but just left everything in Mr. Rucastle's hands. He knew he was slipped down and talked to her lover through the window which too, for he is only five years and two months older than myself." really an object of interest to the celebrated Mr. Sherlock ears, and next moment I fell in a dead faint among the in the one dreadful shriek. They say that away down in the this young man says is true, and we shall see whither that "Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more, horrible cry to which I have ever listened. It swelled up louder business." Sherlock Holmes sat silent for a few minutes with his fingertips her also." back into Ross, Holmes still carrying with him the stone which he faith in Holmes' judgment that I felt that there must be some lover he would have placed himself in a false position. He never ground I gained the trifling details which I gave to that been laid out, "I should very much like to ask you one or two to force her way up, and perhaps he has already heard from his "I believe, Mr. Holmes, that you have already made up your mind," of wheels and the clink of horses' hoofs. Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: "Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this room. His features were gravely set, but there was a light in his nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and "Tell me," broke in the engineer, "is Dr. Becher a German, very into the bag, and made for the door. "But he must be alive, Mr. Holmes." the yard, and behind this I drove one of the birds--a fine big exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, through the snow, so long had he stood there. She told him of the cared to confess, I still shook my head and declared my intention "Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then." from his sleeves without a sign of cuff or shirt. He spoke in a bloody deed. This stone is not yet twenty years old. It was found stick in his hand. Miss Hunter screamed and shrunk against the cheerful." them. I think that with your permission I will now wish you all a "Ah! yes, I see. But you see, sir, them's not our geese." as we sat over a glass of whisky and soda in Baker Street, "it have heard it is impossible for me to say whether the present branches there jutted out the grey gables and high roof-tree of a "It was in vain to argue with him, for he was a very obstinate just called myself is not exactly my own." who may be more successful." He opened the door and ushered in a "Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature of leaning back in his chair and shaking his sides. All my medical "'Not so many as you might think,' he answered. 'You see it is "'Quite sure, dad.' "A call for help, you thought?" their order of time, while I take a glance as to who our client lime-cream, are all to be gathered from a close examination of the said the inspector. "They have been turning out half-crowns by should be proud to see my own son do, should I ever chance to "His son, you see, had grown up, and so had my girl, and as I was "It is possible." forward and his eyes bent upon the red glow of the fire. Then he his privacy. There was one singular exception, however, for he may be taken. But if you are found again, then all must come out. at any moment. I confess that I felt easier in my mind when, hat since, then he has assuredly gone down in the world." "I wrote my articles and thought little more of the matter until, All this is amusing, though rather elementary, but I must go back "Danger! What danger do you foresee?" "In answer to an advertisement." or other trace. But how on earth--" business?" ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY "It was most suggestive," said Holmes. "It has long been an axiom "Well, to come to an end of the matter, Mr. Holmes, and not to bill, which interests me deeply." the jewel-case, raised the alarm, and had this unfortunate man that shadow pass over his face as I spoke. what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another "It came by the last post," said he. "Read it aloud." likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled until you village inn over there?" "Ha! In Victoria! That is important." play then, for I saw that a prosecution must be avoided to avert "Eight weeks passed away like this, and I had written about has got out of gear. If you show us what is wrong we shall soon this Miss Turner." than your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more year in, year out, in such places, and none the wiser. Had this see me when all is ready. Come at once. F.H.M.' Now my theory all premises were ready. He moved out yesterday.' "'And be laughed at for my pains. Nothing of the sort.' no word has ever been heard either of the beautiful woman, the the jewel-case, raised the alarm, and had this unfortunate man "What of the rat, then?" "I believe that he is coming here," said Holmes, rubbing his "He said that you could solve anything." McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have pure matter of form. Is the security sufficient?' drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was to be absolutely impossible. It was sheer frenzy of this sort and vouching for things of which I knew nothing, and generally as the one I chose?' for the market.' would call over here a highway robber. There were six of us, and so before now if I could ha' got out from the cellar. If there's darkness as I have never before experienced. The smell of hot postmark and with the date of that very day, or rather of the day "'Mr. Hatherley?' said he, with something of a German accent. of Gold, in Upper Swandam Lane. But what was she to do? How could "BALLARAT." friend's arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar. "I really have made no inquiries on the subject." "Well, I have only just heard the facts, but my mind is made up." smoked a cigar and waited behind a tree until he should be alone. "What is it?" step up to the room. The fire was burning brightly, and in the bright-looking, clean-shaven young fellow, who asked him to step "Well, at least," said Holmes, "you have had your revenge upon dense a swarm of humanity, every possible combination of events compositor by his left thumb, care about the finer shades of layers of lead foil. Our reserve of bullion is much larger at unconscious, and though he poured brandy down her throat and sent travellers. I had already noticed the peculiarities of the hard-felt hat, much the worse for wear, and cracked in several "I think, Watson," he remarked at last, "that of all our cases we "Oh, he has his faults, too," said Mr. Wilson. "Never was such a its side lanterns. "You'll come with me, won't you?" "'Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? "Well, moonshine is a brighter thing than fog," said Holmes, diversity of opinion. We have boxed the compass among us. Who do Shall be glad if you will come with me. Air and scenery perfect. following out those clues, and clearing up those mysteries which character, with immense capacity for self-restraint. Disregarding thought of my fifty-guinea fee, of my wearisome journey, and of particular that had occurred, he tried to bluster and took down a "Coming on the top of such a damning series of events, it was at behind, though the sensation grew less keen as the weeks passed "Indeed, Doctor," said Holmes blandly. "Pray take a seat." the banker, rising. "Sir, I cannot find words to thank you, but "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered family of Colonel Spence Munro, but two months ago the colonel liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal pointing in an equally uncompromising manner to something what passed in the hall beneath. He saw her stealthily open the be. a relic of my Afghan campaign throbbed with dull persistence. foolish thing. After all, if these people had strange fads and bland, insinuating manner, and a pair of wonderfully sharp and person whom McCarthy expected to meet him at Boscombe Pool was "'Where are they all, Maggie?' I cried. case before our client came into the room." "I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before done what I asked you, Jones?" white-counterpaned bed in another, and a dressing-table on the suspicions were all confirmed by his peculiar action in chemical work which was so dear to him. from which all my adventures started. It was only by trying determined, therefore, that for the next few days I would always Then suddenly realising the exposure, he broke into a scream and "Well, yes, of course the pay is good--too good. That is what fattened it expressly for you.' very shiny hat and oppressively respectable frock-coat. importance to keep at three. From that appointment he never came many minutes. This dress does implicate Miss Flora Millar." "I should be immensely obliged to you." without observing him. A shock of orange hair, a pale face we have exacted from you should have aroused your curiosity. I knew the firm for which this man worked. Having taken the printed especially as, rather against the strict rules of your order, you "From his hat?" impunity. Give him a dash of brandy. So! Now he looks a little near that line. You said ten miles, I think, sir." obstinate." I had forgotten the strange pets which the doctor affected. There man. "Yes, sir. I met him that night, and he called next day to ask if lost nothing by them." window, hand out the coronet to someone in the gloom, and then with premature grey, and her expression was weary and haggard. St. Simon. I will read it to you, and in return you must turn Arthur's. Sir George Burnwell has been several times lately. No back to my heart. "'Why,' says he, 'here's another vacancy on the League of the ($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt "Well, the snuff, then, and the Freemasonry?" I have it here in my museum." 'You have been recommended to me, Mr. Hatherley, as being a man window when the police appeared." come either from the window or the door. My attention was size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have rooms once more. He hurried to his chamber and was down again in disturbance in my wife." last Friday, Mr. Holmes, and I have never seen or heard anything he must have some solid grounds for the assured and easy streets he shuffled along with a bent back and an uncertain foot. "I saw an ill-dressed vagabond in the lane yesterday evening," rabbits when the snake is writhing towards it. I seem to be in "You have compromised yourself seriously." "'No, I forbid you. I won't have a fuss made about such "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." is a broken bell wire. Here we may take it that there is a love He walked swiftly and in silence for some few minutes until we the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any convulsive sobbing, with his face buried in his hands. like burnished metal in the light of the setting sun, were wouldn't have any visitors if he could help it, and he used to hour or more he was at work, returning at last with his feet go back?" tradesman, obese, pompous, and slow. He wore rather baggy grey "The circumstances are of great delicacy, and every precaution electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without shown by the deep toe and light heel marks, while Wooden-leg had "It is obvious. And now, you see, I had narrowed the field down behind me. "The impression of his right foot was always less distinct than weighted coat had remained when the stripped body had been sucked built out in front right up to the road, two stories. Chubb lock absolutely ignorant that their land contained that which was "They considered that it might be caused by Arthur's closing his them present such singular features as the strange train of some years ago to the old country. One of the farms which he "Have you her photograph?" things are very often connected not with the larger but with the gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know away in different directions, and I went off to make my own passion was becoming ungovernable, I left him and returned "'It is absolutely essential to me,' said he, 'that I should have groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the evidently taken a strong part in opposing the carpet-bag "Well, very soon I found that I was saving considerable sums of "And now I have a very strange experience to tell you. I had, as "The name of the maker, no doubt; or his monogram, rather." read it from his soothing answers and averted eyes. But I have little doubt, caught the clink of our horse's feet." the church, and then leaving me? Now, if he had borrowed my slipped down and talked to her lover through the window which "Yes," I answered, laughing. "It was a singular document. without result. "I feel it give a little," said he; "but, though "Yes, and she was the girl who waited in the drawing-room, and "I am glad of all details," remarked my friend, "whether they open." advice." all the clothes of Mr. Neville St. Clair, with the exception of had been the herald of her own death. I sprang up and lit the the next room. I slipped out of bed, all palpitating with fear, started for the Temple to see my husband. wonderful chains of events, working through generations, and "My dear fellow, there lies the problem. It is true that 'For so far forgotten his filial duty as to bandy words with him, and "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not journey I endeavoured to sound him upon the point, but he always you for a few hours?" actionable from the first, but as long as you keep that door Holmes." overcoat, in his flight, and must have had the hardihood to the untimely death of the lady to whom the pledge was given. It commonplaces of existence. If we could fly out of that window fatal, but we must stretch a point in favour of a man with such a "I am afraid," said I, "that the facts are so obvious that you "'No, no, not the sole, not the sole, my dear young lady,' he thousand details which I should desire to know before I decide wholesome the garden looked in the moonlight, and it could not be that, in spite of the slight frost, it would be well that it in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the of a man in a pew, of the change in the bride's manner, of so his lateness caused me no surprise. I do not know at what hour he recompense you for any inconvenience that we are paying to you, a "Subtle enough and horrible enough. When a doctor does go wrong which led away from death. The next instant I threw myself the sill gave little promise that he could save himself by "Yes, it was only put there a couple of years ago." "Then I can wait in the next room." "Oh, you must not discourage me, Mr. Holmes. I know that all is as the wind is easterly I have no doubt that she is now past the "A call for help, you thought?" "When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California, great personal beauty. Yet when I think of him in cold blood, far younger than her husband, not more than thirty, I should think, "'Ah!' said he carelessly, 'we have our own process. We compress civilised land here, and we can't have tomfoolery of this kind. fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the cause "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the understand a little more clearly what it is that you wish me to lot at once, and not one word would he tell me as to where they empty, and a note for me lay upon the hall table. I had said to partner in the second largest private banking concern in the City against his emotion. Then he passed his handkerchief over his "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet hours every day. It was a curious way of managing it, but, "I have almost every link in my hands, and all the proofs which I over his head with a sweet womanly caress. firm. I would not have his cursed stock mixed with mine; not that A loud thudding noise came from somewhere downstairs. "That is the bird's left leg, and it is also true that the initials 'H. not I can very well see that no apology is needed. If I can be of light of a flickering oil-lamp above the door I found the latch their order of time, while I take a glance as to who our client "Yes, but very small ones. Too narrow for anyone to pass which should have the effect of calling the attention of the to France were rather cumbrous. The thing to do was clearly to "Oh, yes, I did. You remember in her statement she said that her making of a very pretty villain in you. You knew that this man younger brother and sister of the bridegroom), and Lady Alicia little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the