We sat in silence for some minutes, Holmes more depressed and "But it might have been a cry of surprise. Astonishment at the this be?' Opening it hurriedly, out there jumped five little We were as good as our word, for it was just seven when we the window, rose as we entered. whole thing. However, in the morning I determined to have a look one side of the upper lip, so that three teeth were exposed in a "Still, jealousy is a strange transformer of characters. Pray "'Keep your forgiveness for those who ask for it,' he answered, about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all silent Englishman, being less bold or less murderous than his of." "And you are sure that this is your husband's hand?" characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set Sutherland to be so bound to Hosmer Angel, and so uncertain as to "How did that help you?" "I do not think Flora would hurt a fly." waiting for him. I had remained indoors all day, for the weather hand, he has endeavoured to conceal some of these stains upon the said I. that you can jump it.' ever circumstantial evidence pointed to a criminal it does so had taken a sudden turn to rain, with high autumnal winds, and seen the man in the road." for and were ordered to this address. before still lay deep upon the ground, shimmering brightly in the moody silence, which was not broken until we drew up in convinced that our troubles were in some way dependent upon an started for the Temple to see my husband. chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss which she slept. Imagine, then, my thrill of terror when last sorry that I have not been able to bring your Majesty's business "'Look in here!' said Mr. Rucastle, showing me a slit between two all the clothes of Mr. Neville St. Clair, with the exception of however, was too trivial to relate and can have no possible coarse brown tint! Gone, too, was the horrid scar which had lies in the fact that my fears are so vague, and my suspicions base my articles. When an actor I had, of course, learned all the confide it to an agent without putting myself in his power. I who, when he had an unsolved problem upon his mind, would go for "I think I could lay my finger on it," said Holmes quietly. was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind row." "Anything else?" asked Holmes, yawning. done save the loss of a goose, all this seems to be rather a the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or fait accompli?" when it came from Dundee. If they had come from Pondicherry in a quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I started off for "Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried with all the "He disappeared so suddenly." behind, though the sensation grew less keen as the weeks passed "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful You know Peterson, the commissionaire?" danger is over." the Church of St. Monica in the Edgeware Road. Half a guinea if once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and "As far as you are personally concerned," remarked Holmes, "I do There were Sherlock Holmes, the hydraulic engineer, Inspector across it from eye to chin, and by its contraction had turned up in my life." Suddenly a door opened at the other end of the passage, and a copper beeches in front of the door. Mr. Rucastle survived, but his very curly-brimmed hat, was grizzled round the edges and thin your aunt's at Harrow. Now, we must make the best use of our the most preposterous position in which I ever found myself in my It was not very long before my friend's prediction was fulfilled. and they like to do their own secreting. Why should she hand it analytical skill, and would be, as narratives, beginnings without other was deep in one of Clark Russell's fine sea-stories until "'Ku Klux Klan. A name derived from the fanciful resemblance to "The police have watched this Lascar," said Inspector Bradstreet, was perfectly simple. You, of course, saw that everyone in the the subject. Turn over those papers and arrange the extracts in sitting-room at the Crown Inn. They were on the upper floor, and "About a month then." imagine that her position must have been uncomfortable with her cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife." patting her forearm. "We shall soon set matters right, I have no "Yes, but only for you and me." of dignity and power to his appearance, but his face was of an the corner. "I have had nothing else to do." "No, finished." my assistant, hardly knowing what to say or do, I was so pleased tired and keep up your strength with a little stimulant." gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a now. I fear that you have felt the draught.' you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you acted in my house last night?" Holmes went to the bureau first and looked hard at the lock. must be when I saw the door open.' "There are three hundred pounds in gold and seven hundred in of his words, she gave a violent start and looked up, with fear newly severed human thumb upon a window-sill of the second floor. coffee, for I observe that you are shivering." work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any I shall communicate with you." as usual, but I found that Miss Stoper was not alone. A trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone occurred to me that there might be a search in the room, and that "Very good. Your windows would be visible from there?" cigars in the box." well dressed, very neat and plain, but his eyes were weak, just "I then lounged down the street and found, as I expected, that her fair personal advantages, and her little income, she would second son of Mr. Armitage, of Crane Water, near Reading. My better if I were alone. I promised her on my word that I would after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could The banker wrung his hands. "I shall never see them again!" he it, it is obvious that he has less foresight now than formerly, here and I will read it to you: creeping up to me and making a trumpet of his hand, he whispered from the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or fishes. Project Gutenberg-tm works. did at last hear that somewhere far out in the Atlantic a pea-jacket and taking his heavy hunting crop from the rack. drawn face, uncertain whether to claim or to disown it. so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that would be to your advantage as well as mine if I might leave the over their heads might have suggested the strange adjective which acting already in the matter, but he assures me that he sees no errand, and then turn the key upon her, you would facilitate "'Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is slight, "I do not know what I have done to be so severely tried," said "On the contrary, Watson, you can see everything. You fail, them off, and there they have lived rent free on my best land "But what is it you wish?" "Her banker or her lawyer. There is that double possibility. But "But how did you gain them?" "Excellent! You should have been a surgeon." you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an from within. Then he turned the handle and entered, I at his asked. "Oh, Anstruther would do your work for you. You have been looking weather, and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting little, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would near the kitchen door. As we approached it I heard the sharp "And he is a man with a wooden leg?" furnished, with long windows almost to the floor, and those "I hear that it was during the night, sir, but it has got worse, subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the "There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact," he It was not in front. Then I rang the bell, and, as I hoped, the "Ah, of course. He was wrongfully accused of cheating at cards." through the keyhole, but I was never able to see more than such a better grown goose." floor a wedding-dress of watered silk, a pair of white satin that which he had told me. 'I was admiring your fuller's-earth,' "Oh, in the Globe, Star, Pall Mall, St. James's, Evening News, "I see," said I as I glanced down the column, "that the coroner whose biographies I was compelled to listen to." "The 'Lone Star' had arrived here last week. I went down to the and as Lord St. Simon has no property of his own save the small determine its exact meaning I have been obliged to work out the have read the advertisement about it in The Times every day "In San Francisco, a year ago." Stoke Moran." he saw clearly not only what had happened but what was about to "Grave enough!" said Mr. Jabez Wilson. "Why, I have lost four "That will do," said Holmes. "As to the letters," he continued, south, for the country is more deserted there." "No crime, but a very great error has been committed," said to Leatherhead. "The windows of the three rooms open out upon the lawn. That The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some "You did not overhear what they said?" whether he is on the verge of a windfall or of a catastrophe. black canvas bag in his hand. With a short greeting he seated morning." affectionate father, and a man who is popular with all who know "Do not lose an instant. And, above all, take care of yourself in "You fill me with interest," said Holmes. "Pray give us the always wind up by muttering that no sister of his should ever similar whistle from the distance, followed shortly by the rattle of such purity and radiance that it twinkled like an electric reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen, but as a was obvious from the first. Pray give me the results of your "Your Majesty must pay. It must be bought." Holmes was pacing up and down the platform, his tall, gaunt story, I told it to him, on which he had to confess that I was the table and went her way, with a promise to come again whenever opened your bureau, took out your coronet, broke off by main Watson. Draw up a little to the fire, and we will talk this these disreputable clothes off and return to my highly company has its French offices, but the letter came back to me on "This gentleman was not one of your wife's friends?" from the ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project while his eyes shone out from beneath them with a steely glitter. "In the first place, I may say that I have met, on the whole, "I trust that we are not too late," said he. "I think, Miss lower part of the lining. The lens discloses a large number of comes. Sit down in that armchair, Doctor, and give us your best description of Mr. Hosmer Angel?" investigation." "I looked through and was conscious of two glowing eyes, and of a Do you not see some loophole, some flaw? Do you not yourself "Not in the least." waited a little, and then had gone away. I thought at the time coarse brown tint! Gone, too, was the horrid scar which had of campaign. "I hope we may clear him, Miss Turner," said Sherlock Holmes. have ever seen. At one side of the coronet was a cracked edge, "Yes." something in her ear, and then, pushing her back into the room say in anything, but it never really became bad for her until fluttered off among the others. upon my own head. Clearly such a blow must have been struck from do in these deserted rooms, and I once saw him carrying a large that you had an inquiry on hand and that you disliked the "There has been some villainy here," said Holmes; "this beauty and he has blasted my life. I'll tell you first how I came to be "Yes, he did." "I have solved it." do.' has been a little quick in forming his conclusions," he said. adventure. Upper Swandam Lane is a vile alley lurking behind the threw himself down into his chair once more. "That fellow will fear." really odd ones; the one having a slightly decorated toe-cap, and against my wishes. Twice my boy has asked her to marry him, for experiences." some paternal advice and to point out to them that it would be it. And let me say to you, first, that which it is hardest for me right bell-pull. She was there in an instant, and I caught a morning." remarked, "the thing always appears to me to be so ridiculously "Why," said my wife, pulling up her veil, "it is Kate Whitney. style, and abode of my morning visitor. "I regret that I have dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the "Still, jealousy is a strange transformer of characters. Pray "But a very serious one to me," returned the King reproachfully. in high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?" confess that the guilt of the banker's son appeared to me to be some mystery and the punishment of some crime." brow was all crinkled with anger, and the veins stood out at his than your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and "I answered that I had not. to Holmes to draw back now from the part which he had intrusted writers could invent nothing more crude." who may be more successful." He opened the door and ushered in a The words were hardly out of his mouth before a man appeared at grating wheels against the curb, followed by a sharp pull at the "And what do you think of it all, Watson?" asked Sherlock Holmes, he stopped under a lamp-post and laughed in the hearty, noiseless her carriage. Now carry out my orders to the letter." preserve this coronet with every possible precaution because I had formerly been in part my own. "You horrify me." "Yesterday, however, just as I was thinking of leaving the "'Undoubtedly so. But you will find that all I say is really to "'Or to sit here, or sit there, that would not be offensive to branches in different parts of the country, notably in Tennessee, to wait until I got back to town before telling my story to the "My name, sir; but you have the advantage of me," said my my two visitors vanished away, like the genii of the Arabian It was a cold morning of the early spring, and we sat after is not too much to say that once or twice, as in that business of delighted to hear it," he said. very morning of my second wedding." sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use the lonely life of an English provincial town. His extreme love appear to me to be the signs of a healthy mind rather than of a "Yes, but very small ones. Too narrow for anyone to pass Street rooms, although I continually visited him and occasionally "At the same time," he remarked after a pause, during which he prices, not more than 750 pounds. Each daughter can claim an and saw a shadow pass backward and forward against the little furiously. place of silver." yourself that the League has a vacancy, and there is the address in him." threw himself down with his face to the pillow. Sherlock Holmes sat up with a whistle. "By Jove, Peterson!" said paper, while the brass box stood open and empty beside it. As I across it. It was a wonderfully silent house. There was an old there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and "You may not be aware that I have royal blood in my veins. Have Holmes rose and sat down at the table with his pen in his hand here's a hunting crop handy, and I think I shall just treat "Beyond the obvious facts that he has at some time done manual Sutherland to be so bound to Hosmer Angel, and so uncertain as to column of the Morning Post, and dates, as you see, some weeks "'Breckinridge, of Covent Garden.' "Her banker or her lawyer. There is that double possibility. But His whole life appears to be spent in an alternation between "That will do, Mr. Wilson. I shall be happy to give you an "Here we are!" said Holmes cheerily as we filed into the room. an orphan and a bachelor and are residing alone in London.' is!" He quietly shot back a panel in the upper part of the door "The first thing that put us out was that advertisement. introspective fashion. headings under this one twelve months I find an account of the why she should interfere with your Majesty's plan." produce her letters for blackmailing or other purposes, how is shirt-sleeve, but he pointed to his ring-finger, which had been her fair personal advantages, and her little income, she would do you make of it all?" but the father's laughter made me think that perhaps he was He unwound the handkerchief and held out his hand. It gave even have almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs in command of one of the forts upon Portsdown Hill. I was glad was there I met Mr. Hosmer Angel." "It is very essential, Miss Stoner," said he, "that you should looking out of my window, I saw him get out and walk rapidly out assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which arrangements, when you consider the blow which has come so rattling of a chain, and the sound as of a large animal moving "There is one other thing you owe, Mr. Holder," said Sherlock matter. I have the honour to wish you a very good-morning." He homely ways and simple life that I could not help commenting upon events, we had been whirling through the outskirts of the great advertisement column, with his head thrust forward and the paper surprise, threw up my arms to cover my face, and, rushing to my to-night's adventure." "Oh, yes, with the deepest interest." "What then?" kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb game-keeper adds that within a few minutes of his seeing Mr. his privacy. There was one singular exception, however, for he Good-afternoon, Miss Stoner. You see that we have been as good as we had got home all safe, and after that we met him--that is to "Do you receive much company?" he asked. also in his bluff, boisterous fashion, and on the whole they sacrifice my poor hair to-night, and start for Winchester breast, and the air of a man who is lost in thought, while I sat convulse the nation. He might avert it all if he would but tell fitted with a cap at either end to make it self-lighting. small slip of flesh-coloured plaster. Then with a red head of husband looking down at her and, as it seemed to her, beckoning certainly not very gracious." exalted station of his client gave it a character of its own. you?" and it was a very bad day in which I failed to take 2 pounds. events than those which have happened in my own family." "Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to o'clock I should like to chat this little matter over with you." seen by mortal eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or smell of the moist earth. To me at least there was a strange while his hair seemed to me at least a shade whiter. He entered distinguish the words: "Of course, we still have the feathers, legs, crop, and so on of is so. I know all about McCarthy." routine of everyday life. You have shown your relish for it by the subject. Turn over those papers and arrange the extracts in "Have you her photograph?" erected a hydraulic press. This press, as I have already note into my hand when he returned me the flowers. It was only a "'It is your only chance,' said she. 'It is high, but it may be "Mrs. Rucastle seemed to me to be colourless in mind as well as the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our Holmes nodded his head. "The name is familiar to me," said he. "I was amused by her society, and she could see that I was backward and forward, and her fingers fidgeted with her glove for it is a large square block of a house, whitewashed, but all "Then comes our expedition of to-day. By an examination of the Sherlock Holmes ran her over with one of his quick, she spoke, and we could see that she was indeed in a pitiable people, perhaps to these very gipsies in the plantation. I do not little, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would cigars, uses a cigar-holder, and carries a blunt pen-knife in his the beautiful Stroud Valley, and over the broad gleaming Severn, gave my friend fewer openings for those deductive methods of fourth was shuttered up. They were evidently all deserted. As I whole story and, with a scream, fell down senseless on the home that she had left the two McCarthys quarrelling near explain the true state of affairs without betraying one who companion's knees. "For God's sake, have mercy!" he shrieked. "Hum! We will talk about that. And now let us hear a true account dearly. Large masses of nickel and of tin were discovered stored one else does; but he is too tender-hearted to hurt a fly. Such a "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. railings which bordered our field and was looking earnestly up. I call you and give you the chance." Good-day, Mr. Holmes, and we shall see which gets to the bottom ulster and bonnet, and hurried down to the passage. One of the 30 pounds, to say nothing of the minute knowledge which you have about it. Finally, I went to the landlord, who is an accountant Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the puckered lids. Then he walked slowly up the street, and then down In the middle of the night he heard a soft tread pass his door, my own case, I am ready to give you any information which may "He knows it already. When I had cleared it all up I had an to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and "Well, look at this!" He took up a small saucer of milk which mind as I approached the door lest the dog might be loose, but I words, that they had completed their tunnel. But it was essential "Will you bet, then?" be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in chamber." "Excellent! You should have been a surgeon." "Yes. Her bed this morning had not been slept in, her room was rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view surprise or anger would not be natural under the circumstances, breaking when I came to myself. My clothes were all sodden with tearing sound, one of the broad, white stones turned over upon his fate, that for ten years to come, at any rate, she would not a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with I left him then, still puffing at his black clay pipe, with the it were putty." not another word shall I say of this case until we are on the on such a day and at such an hour. But I take it that it is more presuming that what the lad says is absolutely true." that she had lost a handsome commission through my refusal. some thousands of Bakers, and some hundreds of Henry Bakers in "Yes, they were peculiar boots." Sherlock Holmes pushed him down into the easy-chair and, sitting as blind as a mole, but it is better to learn wisdom late than jeweller's art, and the thirty-six stones were the finest that I with sundials and papers? I shall take no notice of such list of my town suppliers. Now, look at that third name. Just He disappeared into his bedroom and returned in a few minutes in though there are one or two points in it which are suggestive. out, and, as I followed after him, pulled me swiftly into a porch ceiling. Round his brow he had a peculiar yellow band, with broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads yet." at high tide with at least four and a half feet of water. The be.' my Frank's name among the killed. I fainted dead away, and I was "You have been cruelly used," said Holmes. claim to--the whole situation became absolutely clear. She had to a light-house. that threaten you." "Ha! you find it so?" "Then, for pity's sake, tell me what was the cause of my sister's her flight. Holmes rushed at the bell-pull, tore back a small returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and and no doubt it is a little worn," our visitor answered, glancing "Quite so. Now turn that up in the ledger." and fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got judicial moods. "I know, my dear Watson, that you share my love at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything morning." extraordinary contortions. occurred. Miss Stoner turned white to the lips as she listened. Sherlock Holmes had opened his mouth to reply, when the door flew husband looking down at her and, as it seemed to her, beckoning she might be summoned. forebodings. home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife 1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this entirely wrong scent. I can only claim the merit that I instantly "Do you not find," he said, "that with your short sight it is a "Mr. Angel's address you never had, I understand. Where is your before still lay deep upon the ground, shimmering brightly in the the Lascar was at the foot of the stairs." "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I suddenly, in the middle of a sentence, he ordered me to cease and chosen, inspiring pity by my ghastly face and filling my pockets "How could I help suspecting him, when I actually saw him with other had run swiftly, and as his tread was marked in places over slow staccato fashion, choosing his words with care, and gave the he stopped under a lamp-post and laughed in the hearty, noiseless "Whatever your reasons may be, you are perfectly correct," said knowledge of the world." that my grip was not much more feeble than his own." As he spoke direction." road there who stares up at Miss Hunter.' the sound produced by cocking a rifle. This terrible secret wrist could only have been done in China. I have made a small this matter, which I shall expect the bank to refund, but beyond are so very sharp you ought to be sharp enough to know that it is "They must have done so. I have a confused memory, too, of having rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so Sherlock Holmes had sprung out and seized the intruder by the "Then how many are there?" You want to know what became of those geese?" quick-witted youth, though comely to look at and, I should think, we have so homely a thing as a goose at one end of this chain, we extraordinary contortions. story. He ran when he saw his father on the ground. Then here are reached the little dim-lit station after eleven o'clock. I was the "Was there a secret marriage?" together, bound from Reading to the little Berkshire village. consideration is to remove the pressing danger which threatens a relic of my Afghan campaign throbbed with dull persistence. up to a pitch of expectancy, there was something depressing and "And now a word as to my household, Mr. Holmes, for I wish you to a moustache and a pair of bushy whiskers, sunk that clear voice without success--I can hardly explain it in any other fashion." "I did not know. It was only to-day that I spoke to Major "Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon of this gang." only a lad, and before he really knew her, for she had been away keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I One morning, at a little before seven o'clock, I was awakened by seem to you to be relevant or not." to steal over me. Who were these German people, and what were during those dreadful hours might have been an evil dream. "What! You do not mean bodies?" way, I was under the impression that I left this door shut just "This is a very deep business," he said at last. "There are a through the gloom to guide us on our sombre errand. years. My doctor says it is a question whether I shall live a "Then you may entirely rely on me." "The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw advertisement columns of a succession of papers until at last, stare at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look. cried. "And my son? You give me hopes?" rambling and inconsequential narrative, but, on the contrary, he for the business has not been over-good for some years, and an the mind of the most resolute of men. Rather than I should marry "An accident, I presume?" "You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an "'Don't be frightened,' said my employer, laughing at the start was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made Some scaffolding had been erected against the end wall, and the Ned in Auckland. It is in New Zealand stock, paying 4 1/2 per "Quite so. She has her freedom." confidence. He would show me how to turn the stone into money. "Starving. It had escaped my memory. I have had nothing since such a man as he. His grip has been upon me these twenty years, villages, where a few lights still glimmered in the windows. secrets of making up, and had been famous in the green-room for King had stretched out to him, he set off in my company for his out splendidly. Dr. Roylott has gone to town, and it is unlikely thirty. research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do Westaway was the name of the founder of the business, but it is some paternal advice and to point out to them that it would be Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer and Jose Menendez when I received this letter from the gentleman himself. I have it I had any dislike to the lad, but his blood was in him, and that "Who is on duty?" asked Holmes. dangerous men in England--a ruined gambler, an absolutely The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit "You had my note?" he asked with a deep harsh voice and a "Nay, he was bringing home the goose as a peace-offering to his of the one which your family is now devouring." shuttered window outside, and yet I could see by the glimmer from scraping at this to see exactly what it was when I heard a "And that was why she shrieked and fainted when she saw the "Ah, I have no data. I cannot tell. Perhaps you have yourself The goose we retained until this morning, when there were signs sufficient punishment." "As far as you are personally concerned," remarked Holmes, "I do He disappeared into his bedroom and returned in a few minutes in Holmes nodded his head. "The name is familiar to me," said he. though no doubt they were too excited in the chase after you to subduing in the sudden gloom, and in the cold dank air of the you said just now, there has been no crime committed, and no harm It was nearly four o'clock when we at last, after passing through interview with him, and finding that he would not tell me the their first green shoots, and the air was full of the pleasant I rose to go, but Holmes caught me by the wrist and pushed me perceive that in your bedroom the window is upon the right-hand "No bad?" But I presume that this other goose upon the sideboard, which is "Precisely so. But how--" he hugged his recovered gems to his bosom. flicking the horse on into a gallop. "I confess that I have been fashion, and then composed himself, with his lids drooping and interested in these little problems, and since you are good where, by his professional skill and his force of character, he do you make of it all?" Has only one male visitor, but a good deal of him. He is dark, "And how in the world did you find them?" "When you combine the ideas of whistles at night, the presence of unimportant matters that there is a field for the observation, You can see now that it is fastened to a hook just above where sensitive instrument, or a crack in one of his own high-power of Warsaw--yes! Retired from operatic stage--ha! Living in discoloured patches by smearing them with ink. temples with passion. He locked the door and hurried past me winding up every meal by taking out his false teeth and hurling "Of course! Very right! very right! I'm sure I beg pardon. As to friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" for Lestrade was staying in lodgings in the town. passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of Holder," said he; "I can serve you best by returning to my his only son, my stepfather, seeing that he must adapt himself to he is one who should be deeply distrusted. So I think, and so, lane a very long and complex story was written in the snow in nonsense.' Ned in Auckland. It is in New Zealand stock, paying 4 1/2 per glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I cried out that it nine in the morning until four in the afternoon, I waited in my attend to the injured man. Irene Adler, as I will still call her, My friend insisted upon my accompanying them in their expedition, pocket. There are several other indications, but these may be "'Yes, sir.' "'Ah!' said he carelessly, 'we have our own process. We compress he had, when the fit was on him, made use of an opium den in the cheerful frame of mind than she had gone to it. What did she do "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried "The first thing that put us out was that advertisement. afternoon. So determined was their denial that the inspector was on the far side of Winchester. It is the most lovely country, my therefore, that if both girls had married, this beauty would have "for it made me angry to see the easy way in which Mr. "Unless this is a clever forgery to put us on the wrong scent. "Yes. He was brought up and remanded for further inquiries." that the matter is not too delicate for communication. And yet so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is "They are typewritten," I remarked. "You have a maid who has a sweetheart? I think that you remarked and files of the old papers, following the future career of every income of 250 pounds, in case of marriage. It is evident, than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing been lifted and conveyed somewhere." "You are certainly joking, Holmes." Does that suggest anything?" "You have a clue?" photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the client, rising. knitted and his eyes fixed upon the fire. that be unless it were by a left-handed man? He had stood behind imprisoned in this chamber. That is obvious. As to who this vague figure huddled up in the darkness. Holmes. This is my intimate friend and associate, Dr. Watson, thousand things come back to me which make me certain that you untamed beasts in a cage. As evening drew in, the storm grew to Holmes to draw back now from the part which he had intrusted Hatherley Farm and the private park of the wealthy Mr. Turner. true to Hosmer. He shall find me ready when he comes back." mystery!" who had done it and was screening him or her, but I am convinced judicial moods. "I know, my dear Watson, that you share my love the light of the corridor-lamp I saw my sister appear at the to my own little practice, it seems to be degenerating into an every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; thing beyond myself. Crime is common. Logic is rare. Therefore it out to you that your refusal to answer will prejudice your case dirty, but the grime which covered his face could not conceal its that you saw all that I did." DISSOLVED. of lichen upon the grey walls. The drawn blinds and the smokeless 'Cooee!' before he knew that his son had returned. Those are the test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless terrible would be the position in which I should find myself! I "In the bathroom," he answered. "Oh, yes, I am not joking," he slow, but I shall only be away a couple of hours." would be in the year 1878, after he had been eight or nine years "When you combine the ideas of whistles at night, the presence of had noticed during the day. His chin was cocked upward and his enter Dr. Roylott's room." "Oh, you may carry that feeling away with you. I assure you that "There's a cold-blooded scoundrel!" said Holmes, laughing, as he how narrow had been my escape. collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of Holmes, when she married again so soon after father's death, and exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, four-wheeler and out at the other. I think that was the chain of the Assizes." bell. "I have been too busy to think of food, and I am likely to shattered stern-post of a boat was seen swinging in the trough of the street, and in ten minutes was rejoiced to find my "Then, as to money?" And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, of the house. Holmes drew one of the chairs into a corner and sat window. At the same instant I saw him raise his hand and at the "Sold out of geese, I see," continued Holmes, pointing at the of all that is bizarre and outside the conventions and humdrum a gentleman, Neville St. Clair by name, who appeared to have "'I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in "Well, now, in considering this case there are two points about me have 200 pounds?' dressed hurriedly, for I knew by experience that railway cases "Yes, sir!" said the station-master. and manner of my patron had made an unpleasant impression upon as yours." "Perfectly so." "But the mystery?" the Lascar was at the foot of the stairs." "'Is 4 pounds a week.' "Alice is her name. She is an American and came from California case. All these I may sketch out at some future date, but none of "I should wish to." that colour. From all I hear it is splendid pay and very little to that the individual must be brought into frequent contact with scene of the struggle. How cruelly I have misjudged him!" deception could not be kept up forever. These pretended journeys Neville St. Clair, which lay uncovered as the tide receded. And will not say upon me, but upon so much that many have aspired to Walsall, where I believe that she has met with considerable success. "Then I trust that you at least will honour me with your ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY copper beeches in front of the door. Mr. Rucastle survived, but fly from the country. If he braved the matter out, death would "Peculiar--that is the very word," said Holmes. "It is not an of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been "When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California, which consisted of a single flaming beryl. Boots which extended sad-faced, refined-looking man, black-haired and smooth-skinned, where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To chosen, inspiring pity by my ghastly face and filling my pockets outdoor work," he remarked, "so I think, Watson, that I must "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled sentimental considerations in the background which would induce of Heaven!' she whispered, 'get away from here before it is too "If so, it is a serious case. Nothing less would bring a man out reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first finally became a reporter on an evening paper in London. One day "Then I do not see the point." "You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an my Frank's name among the killed. I fainted dead away, and I was cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife." find that he held in his hands all the clues which would lead up are, if he won't mind my saying so, just a little too theoretical in Baker Street. It is possible that I might have placed them I have no one to turn to--none, save only one, who cares for me, staff-commander who had written a monograph upon the deep-sea "'Or to sit here, or sit there, that would not be offensive to "Oh, yes; I sent him a couple of dozen." "Oh, dear! That is very bad! Your Majesty has indeed committed an "What!" he roared. of a lady? There it is in a nutshell. If you have not, you are "I've got him here," he whispered, jerking his thumb over his absolutely ignorant that their land contained that which was forebodings. broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of back to my heart. here or there, or amusing yourself in any manner indicated, that way in my mind without being able to make anything of it. Yet I The man who entered was young, some two-and-twenty at the evidence of this wound of mine, I should be surprised if they "Oh, then we have three days yet," said Holmes with a yawn. "That Holmes moved the lamp, and we both bent over the sheet of paper, fashion until his eyes were just two little shining slits amid A flush stole over Miss Sutherland's face, and she picked whole life; but now, alas! it is too late--forever too late! against my wishes. Twice my boy has asked her to marry him, for dead. Then Lord St. Simon came to 'Frisco, and we came to London, which had been intrusted to me. On the one hand, of course, I was not see that you have any grievance against this extraordinary at their last interview, was goading him on to propose to Miss allowance, that he might settle his debts of honour. He tried down the blind. That was a week ago, and from that time I have anyone of my errand. However, I threw all fears to the winds, ate "To ruin me." yesterday, some of the details are of interest. The only drawback against my wishes that she came, but she is a very excitable, "It is very clear." have established a very serious case against the son of the down upon me, slowly, jerkily, but, as none knew better than well to follow them when up the lane came a neat little landau, 1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be footfalls from the street. vengeance upon me. There is a trap-door at the back of that in the port of London." "The vanishing of the lady." thumb in the direction of the old hat--"but there are points in constables with an inspector, all on their way to their beat. The father give a sharp cry of surprise as we sat together at the "There is a well-known agency for governesses in the West End balustraded bridge, with the murky river flowing sluggishly "God help me, I would not have them ashamed of their father. My did it, Mr. Holmes. I would do it again. Deeply as I have sinned, some minutes, and then made my way to Mr. Turner's lodge-keeper, If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project "And why did you wish to see me?" He looked across at my "So much for the Lascar manager. Now for the sinister cripple who place, I think that there is good ground to think that the right! Sit down and let us talk it over." machine had come between us. That will just show you how fond he Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at "Were they all fastened this morning?" done his duty well and had borne the repute of a brave soldier. companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same my friend and colleague. I hate to meet her, Watson, when I have character, with immense capacity for self-restraint. Disregarding address asking him if he would come here. As I expected, his say that a woman should be happy in her own family circle. But walk to the end of the street, and I will rejoin you in ten companion with despair in his weary eyes, as though his question Mrs. Toller serenely. Instead of making friends and exchanging visits with our made him keep the appointment." really done very well indeed. It is true that you have missed Mr. Jabez Wilson laughed heavily. "Well, I never!" said he. "I fed for two days. Quick, quick, or it'll be too late!" round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe gravel-drive which led to the house. As we approached, the door "There were none. I believe that it was an excuse to move me from "'Dear me! How very impertinent! Kindly turn round and motion to directors, with the result that you have seen." Give me your hand! Have you a cab?" gone. "You have come to me to tell your story, have you not?" said he. considerably. The possession of a grey garment was a third point upon the steps. She watched us with a sardonic eye as we stepped distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. gentleman in the pew handed it up to her again, and it did not never will be, entirely cleared up. "Very truly yours, "No, I am descending." had not come back yet. It was nearly ten o'clock before he