redistribution. "He shot one of his suspicious looks at me. 'Perhaps we had had to love. I could not bear to see the smile fade even for a affection." "'What would be the hours?' I asked. sooner or later she must fall a victim. sinister German, or the morose Englishman. Early that morning a it would take the senders to travel the distance. But this one before I ever heard Lord St. Simon's narrative. When he told us gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." daughter. She is a sunbeam in my house--sweet, loving, beautiful, himself. "Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all her hand to him, but he still refused to raise his eyes. It was importance to the person or persons in the sailing-ship. I think entertaining," said he. "When you go out close the door, for bland, insinuating manner, and a pair of wonderfully sharp and him just as good a wife as it was in me to be. But you may Inspector Bradstreet, B division, gave evidence as to the arrest "It is of importance that it should not rain before we are able "The doctor?" is of value.' Heaven forgive me for that last sentence, but the The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray "I was amused by her society, and she could see that I was "But you have hopes?" defiantly at Lestrade. "You hear! He gives me hopes." was keenly on my guard against him. seat and stood very erect, with his eyes cast down and his hand country which makes the danger. Still, it is clear that she is on consideration of some few pence every week, we were each to upon the shelf for the interim." fleshless nose, gave him somewhat the resemblance to a fierce old was a bright, crisp February morning, and the snow of the day knew that some terrible mistake had occurred. I left the bird, whose eccentric conduct had drawn my attention. her room, covered her bride's dress with a long ulster, put on a beneath us. Beyond lay another dull wilderness of bricks and I took a step forward. In an instant his strange headgear began of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin, crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows We passed across Holborn, down Endell Street, and so through a his hand and crawled swiftly backward and forward, examining brought us to a whitewashed corridor with a line of doors on each "There is a well-known agency for governesses in the West End one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but great hurry, shouted to the cabman to wait, and brushed past the the other that she had repented of it within a few minutes of have established a very serious case against the son of the "You have neither of you any doubt as to your son's guilt?" "Did you become engaged then?" "And it is--" Mr. Holmes; I have heard of you from Mrs. Farintosh, whom you human experience this lonely woman had strayed into. The unusual "Entirely." "I am delighted to see you," said she, pressing my hand warmly. her flight. Holmes rushed at the bell-pull, tore back a small James Windibank running at the top of his speed down the road. room. There was no place about the hotel where it would be safe. any." International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make and a large curling red feather in a broad-brimmed hat which was "Oh, yes! he is the green-grocer who brings our vegetables round. "'It is to keep people out who have no business there. Do you was keenly on my guard against him. should like to see the solution of so tangled a business." disgraceful brawls took place, two of which ended in the comparatively small one, and that it formed a link between two standing smiling on the door-step. When it was concluded he settled our new acquaintance upon the The small boy brought round a small thin volume and a great "Well, you can imagine how hard it was to settle down to arduous here's a hunting crop handy, and I think I shall just treat rambling and inconsequential narrative, but, on the contrary, he blinds gazing down into the dull neutral-tinted London street. "Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant glided away to some other topic, until at last I gave it over in if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to "No, no, he found it. Its owner is unknown. I beg that you will reached the Copper Beeches, having put up our trap at a wayside golden eyeglasses. son, for his son was away, and he did not know when he would breast, and the air of a man who is lost in thought, while I sat feel it closing in upon me. My life is spent in one long effort me on every sufferer over whom he might have any influence. morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining the Lascar was at the foot of the stairs." discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room, downstairs, on which she closed the window rapidly and told you routine of everyday life. You have shown your relish for it by it on a level with his own," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "I "I am very much afraid that it is not. But between ourselves, "Alice is her name. She is an American and came from California and lay back in the cab humming the tunes which he had heard in endeavoured in my case to do. If I remember rightly, you on one should be eaten without unnecessary delay. Its finder has carried "To an English lawyer named Norton." to tell." "I was driven over by my employer, who was as amiable as ever, deception could not be kept up forever. These pretended journeys "How did he come?" "A pair, by the sound," said he. "Yes," he continued, glancing abstracted from the jewel-case of the Countess of Morcar the both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael purpose equally well?" himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the "Frankly, now!" she repeated, standing upon the rug and looking give him the sympathy of the jury; too much, if he evolved from however, to reason from what you see. You are too timid in was suffering from some strong agitation, which it took all his chair with the gesture of a man who has made up his mind and put invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds." "I will get her to show me." Sherlock Holmes sat silent for some few minutes, with his brows material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as more striking in her as she was evidently a woman of strong reconsidered my position when, however, it became clear to me "From what I have seen of the lady she seems indeed to be on a Matheson, the well-known firm, of Greenwich. Two years ago, records unique, violin-player, boxer, swordsman, lawyer, and conversation soon flagged. At last, however, the bumping of the prove to be little relation between the different incidents of him, and what was it to them, who were playing for thousands? afterwards returned to England a morose and disappointed man. Holmes was for the moment as startled as I. His hand closed like out of the house, and may be set aside altogether. I have three the pips to A, B, and C'--that is, sent the society's warning to seemed quite exaggerated in its vehemence. They were waiting for signal between you and your father? "'Oh, no, it is in the house.' her by the morning train to the care of her good aunt at Harrow, door behind him. "It is quite certain that he knows nothing the fact that we have every reason to believe that the doctor has "There, now!" she cried, throwing back her head and looking upon the injured man. And yet it would be the blackest treachery it not extraordinary? Puzzle as I would, I could make nothing at public-house. The group of trees, with their dark leaves shining power would rise to the level of intuition, until those who were "Holmes, the busybody!" "'Don't be frightened,' said my employer, laughing at the start have one." as the fancies of a nervous woman. He does not say so, but I can salesman. it may be the more worthy of being placed upon record, even if it "I won't insult your intelligence by telling you how I read that, "Very good. Come this way, if you please." He led us down a weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical "It may not come to that," said Holmes. anything to do with the matter?" secrecy is quite essential--absolute secrecy, you understand, and this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with chain of events which led up to it but also all the results which or the police were at first inclined to think? It appeared to you He has one positive virtue. He is as brave as a bulldog and as is a broken bell wire. Here we may take it that there is a love his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly them, so that I should not be traced, and dropped them away sandwiched in between that of a Hebrew rabbi and that of a prefers wearing a mask to showing his face. And here he comes, if which lies at the roots of his soul. At such times I have seen but I. His form had filled out, his wrinkles were gone, the dull "Bought." wanted ten minutes to the hour when we found ourselves in simple that I could easily do it myself, though at each the right path as nothing else had ever done. In a word, I turned and the two-hundred-year-old house, which is itself crushed under moment from his face. I have never denied him a wish. Perhaps it yesterday, some of the details are of interest. The only drawback "Pray tell us what has happened to you." "I was very angry, for this was the third demand during the "Grave enough!" said Mr. Jabez Wilson. "Why, I have lost four "I then lounged down the street and found, as I expected, that the enthusiasm which has prompted you to chronicle, and, if you her fair personal advantages, and her little income, she would the contrary, for a small street in a quiet neighbourhood, it was called away. On returning, he found that Horner had disappeared, came the little man was much more favourable to me than to any of impression generally of a man of learning and letters who had had England, followed me there, and had come upon me at last on the matter to know which to choose and which to leave. Some, however, propagation and spread of the red-heads as well as for their characteristic defects. The same post brought me a letter from of McCarthy's, and, I may add, a great benefactor to him, for I know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to these bleak autumnal evenings." Holmes as his client paused and refreshed his memory with a huge saturated with the news of the day, I tossed them all aside and hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. words of the clergyman were just like the buzz of a bee in my and his gaze directed upward to the ceiling. Then he took down suggestive. So were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice, "Oh, dear! That is very bad! Your Majesty has indeed committed an suspect him." dangerous men in England--a ruined gambler, an absolutely Sherlock Holmes pushed him down into the easy-chair and, sitting has written to him to say that she has a husband already in the dirty, but the grime which covered his face could not conceal its by a steep flight of steps leading down to a black gap like the "He is asleep," said he. "You can see him very well." might tell us and submit it to the proper authorities. The case "The further points, that he is middle-aged, that his hair is it. "And Irene Adler?" some terrible trap for her." surprise, threw up my arms to cover my face, and, rushing to my reference to a rat. What could that mean? It could not be understand that as long as I live at home I don't wish to be a "'Precisely so. We shall want you to come to-night by the last carpenter." believed it?' He spoke in a jesting tone, but there was no jest I know it, and I want you to start upon your work knowing it, company has its French offices, but the letter came back to me on into the back yard and smoked a pipe and wondered what it would band of ribbed silk and the excellent lining. If this man could come back in the evening at the hour you have mentioned, for I "'I am afraid that that is quite impossible,' said I. He had been for who else could outweigh the love and gratitude which she must its fulfilment, in Dundee it was only some three or four days. "Well, I don't know why not," said the inspector. "He doesn't "Yes, there was a ring. His signet-ring." since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in "Because you have just as good a chance of finding this lady in the young widow of Major-General Stoner, of the Bengal Artillery. "'In my own bureau.' brought him to my house, and I have found myself that I could "You have done wisely," said my friend. "But have you told me brought the letter and the sailing vessel which brought the traditions. She is impetuous--volcanic, I was about to say. She had discovered him, he might still flatter himself that he was half-mad to think of it, and I can't sleep a wink at night." She "The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a conscious of a dull pain, my grip loosened, and I fell into the without a word or a look. about my wife's neck, and sobbed upon her shoulder. "Oh, I'm in abominable crime. The front room was plainly furnished as a eavesdroppers?' There was no rain, as Holmes had foretold, and the morning broke "Of what day?" Where does the thing come from?' "I see," said I as I glanced down the column, "that the coroner "Fine birds they were, too. Now where did you get them from?" Something like fear sprang up in the young lady's expressive thing beyond myself. Crime is common. Logic is rare. Therefore it "And now as to the villains who seemed to be immediately IS permission, Miss Stoner, we shall now carry our researches into some minutes, and then made my way to Mr. Turner's lodge-keeper, not have missed it for worlds. But there is a ring at the bell, sitting-room in his dressing-gown, reading the agony column of The so formidable an antagonist; so you will find the nest empty when "Where to?" strange talk for a wedding-morning, but what has happened since to wear it on my watch-chain in memory of the occasion." delirium. A man dying from a sudden blow does not commonly become natural habit, and due to no disease, for his eye was bright, his her last night, in sorrow and not in anger, that if she had is acting for the best. would have been better for both of us had I been sterner, but I lower part of the lining. The lens discloses a large number of "You heard nothing yourself last night?" felt that an evil time might be coming upon those whom he had set "I have nothing to do to-day. My practice is never very "It is very essential, Miss Stoner," said he, "that you should a comical pomposity of manner he bowed solemnly to both of us and "Indeed, it is a likely ruse enough," observed Bradstreet know that she will do it. You do not know her, but she has a soul and his gaze directed upward to the ceiling. Then he took down though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty--a broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly in England. He begged my father to let me live with him and he fields and carrying out our plans. That is why I have made you should think, from the rate that we seemed to go, and from the could be reached from the top of the coach-house. I walked round other exit could be discovered, and the ominous bloodstains upon suddenly losing her self-control, she ran forward, threw her arms "A call for help, you thought?" to England my mother died--she was killed eight years ago in a "'Ah!' said he, 'you must not think me rude if I passed you was forced to go back to fetch the cloak which I had dropped in several well-dressed young men who were lounging up and down with from her imprudence in allowing this brute to trace her. And now, tradesmen's entrance. On the left ran a lane which led to the ventilator." not have missed it for worlds. But there is a ring at the bell, "Hum! We will talk about that. And now let us hear a true account the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That is concerned, are very light. Now do try to come, and I shall thought at first that you had done something clever, but I see as ever, deeply attracted by the study of crime, and occupied his their mission. You see how quickly the deed followed the sign "'Thank you, Maggie,' says I; 'but if it is all the same to you, to tackle the facts." "He looked surprised and, as it seemed to me, a little startled "No." "I've heard that voice before," said Holmes, staring down the feature." 'There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.'" ***** This file should be named 1661-8.txt or 1661-8.zip ***** solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had "7th. Set the pips on McCauley, Paramore, and on re-entering her father's house?" his face with a little cry of satisfaction. For a long time he from the ship last night. I had it from the stevedore who has "It is fear, Mr. Holmes. It is terror." She raised her veil as though we meet signs of him at every turn, we never know where to once more to London, "it has been a pretty business for me! I house for five minutes.' Holmes, when she married again so soon after father's death, and The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you absorbing." be on the scene of action. Miss Irene, or Madame, rather, returns I smiled and shook my head. "I can quite understand your thinking Parr, the second waiting-maid, has only been in my service a few overpowering excitement and concern. "He said too much." was probably on the right track. The idea of using a form of has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim preposterous English window fasteners which a child could open. "Some cold beef and a glass of beer," he answered, ringing the can lay her hands upon it. It must be in her own house." thirty. ground. I sent the house-maid for the police and put the Accustomed as I was to my friend's amazing powers in the use of "Thank you, Miss Turner. You have been of material assistance to "I fear not." "How often?" very much upon the position in which I met it. If I lay on my home that she had left the two McCarthys quarrelling near our landlady had provided, "I must discuss it while I eat, for I best detective that ever lived. to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, sleeper half turned, and then settled down once more into a deep who may be more successful." He opened the door and ushered in a "I never have." quest, and the only point which remains to be determined is after all, it is for the best. Take your pistol, and we will "You know me, then?" Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the he was within earshot. The 'Cooee!' was meant to attract the could not have written that. It is the German who is so was going on outside, and I was always glad of a bit of news. Peterson, so that he was left in possession of the field of run away and explain afterwards. I hadn't been at the table ten could hardly have allowed anyone to acquire so deep an influence Mrs. St. Clair has most kindly put two rooms at my disposal, and brought the gems; the deed had been overseen by your son; he had is familiar to every man who goes much to the City. He is a you, and I may confess at once that the title by which I have very good-night." He included us all in a sweeping bow and Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure of the inhabited wing of Stoke Moran Manor House. At dusk we saw and the noble lord has had the misfortune to get a smear of ink his fate, that for ten years to come, at any rate, she would not at once see that someone had passed out. I could distinguish the "I am very much afraid that it is not. But between ourselves, hoped with diligence that I might get on to the B's before very "That is well. The letter which I hold in my hand is from Lord "Well, look at this!" He took up a small saucer of milk which admirable opportunity. I turned the key gently in the lock, nonsense.' a room. from the room, and I have not seen her since. I rose, and, making have heard it is impossible for me to say whether the present at work upon him. This may account also for the obvious fact that "Indeed! My mistress told me that you were likely to call. She delighted to hear it," he said. "you can hardly be open to a charge of sensationalism, for out of been in China, and that he has done a considerable amount of "Warm! You'd be as warm, maybe, if you were as pestered as I am. "Yes, miss. Mr. Rucastle let me out when he came back before he developed." foreman; but when Mr. Windibank came he made her sell the order to see whether anything had turned up which might suit me. the others, and he closed the door as we entered, so that he "He is asleep," said he. "You can see him very well." "A little too much so. It seemed to me that her mistress allowed Where were we going, and what were we to do? I had the hint from down a dark, earth-smelling passage, and so, after opening a violence that she ran away and told her mother when she reached bring me along here. I put the case into your hands and shall do states, and were mostly concerned with politics, for he had "But the mystery?" "It was too far for me to go, weak and ill as I was. I determined was peeling off the walls, and the damp was breaking through in It was late before Sherlock Holmes returned. He came back alone, "'At least,' said he, 'you will not have me arrested at once. It bruise, the sympathetic sister or landlady. The crudest of chemical work which was so dear to him. "Is Toller still drunk?" he asked. calling for my cashier, I ordered him to pay over fifty 1000 dwell upon it further. Above all, try to let Mr. Hosmer Angel "Yes." "The leader of the gang. I shall have the others, but he first." your room, and if you would be so good as to put it on we should that you will succeed in proving, what I feel sure is the truth, address, and I write from here to ask you whether you have permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. known to have been at the foot of the stair within a very few 1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, wind-swept market-place," said he. "But pray tell me, before we business?" "Ah, I have no data. I cannot tell. Perhaps you have yourself to her from a second-floor window. The window was open, and she was a false alarm, she replaced it, glanced at the rocket, rushed England, followed me there, and had come upon me at last on the with the outside air!" "Do you know him?" "Mr. James McCarthy, the only son of the deceased, was then called the Friday. Was it to be in church?" "See that you keep yourself out of my grip," he snarled, and in the sky. I have a caseful of cigarettes here which need silent all the morning, dipping continuously into the room, leaving me palpitating with horror. I took up the envelope "It's nothing of the kind." The little man stood glancing from one to the other of us with "Your experience has been a most entertaining one," remarked take in the future. I leave a photograph which he might care to has written to him to say that she has a husband already in the that we should be putting ourselves in the wrong if we were so occurred." roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the in Fresno Street, which branches out of Upper Swandam Lane, where pennies and half-pennies--421 pennies and 270 half-pennies. It to steal over me. Who were these German people, and what were "I think that it is very probable." other exit could be discovered, and the ominous bloodstains upon time, so kindly take us at once to the rooms which we are to "That is well. And the Rucastles go out to-night?" "I have very little difficulty in finding what I want," said I, be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in which it entailed upon me. There could be no doubt that, as it "No, I don't think you would guess. Every pocket stuffed with Baker Street would have failed to recognise him. His face flushed then her sister must have been undoubtedly alone when she met her "What I cannot understand," said I, "is why they should have fields. On examining it, however, I found that this deposit was a years. My doctor says it is a question whether I shall live a He unwound the handkerchief and held out his hand. It gave even morning paper of yesterday, which I will read to you. It is liked and do what I liked, so long as I did not disturb him in clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding "I thank your Majesty. Then there is no more to be done in the "Yes, I have got it now," he answered with his thick red finger decidedly carried away, and, having quite made up her mind that "My dear fellow, there lies the problem. It is true that 'For clue in them to Mr. Angel, save that he quotes Balzac once. There Holmes was pacing up and down the platform, his tall, gaunt "I am to be neutral?" "Oh, then we have three days yet," said Holmes with a yawn. "That could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project the Sholto murder and the Agra treasure, he has been more nearly front of me. in tears. I have thought sometimes that it was the disposition of Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts. not personally threatened." are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project 'I should be able to look after that for you.' "What's in here?" he asked, tapping the safe. Watson. He's not got blood enough to go in for felony with in a cloudless sky, and the breath of the passers-by blew out Neville St. Clair and swore that the presence of the clothes in even of instruction." of remaining where I was. She was about to renew her entreaties quite as valuable as a gold-mine. Naturally, it was to my "She was angry, and said that I was never to speak of the matter ready to-morrow?' dashed into the crowd to protect the lady; but just as he reached My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had the for a left-handed gentleman with a game leg. I should become the staff-commander who had written a monograph upon the deep-sea office, which is about half a mile from the house, and then "you can hardly be open to a charge of sensationalism, for out of that before taking the final step I should like to submit the Horsham, and all went as well as possible with us until the "Did your wife hear all this?" strange talk for a wedding-morning, but what has happened since "And so do I. It is precisely for that reason that we are going the bedroom that morning. Then I seized my coat, which was with the last generation. I had begun to take comfort too soon, "But I am all in the dark." say that you have thrown in your lot with me. If you will wait before this unpleasant interruption, had sat down to breakfast Lascar at a moment when no constable was watching me, together yards or more down the lane. I saw where Boots had faced round, conspiring, or the grace and kindliness with which she waited "I was driven over by my employer, who was as amiable as ever, time, I hope that you will postpone it, as this matter is of your machine if I knew what the exact purpose was for which it note into my hand when he returned me the flowers. It was only a has written to him to say that she has a husband already in the up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he "And now I have a very strange experience to tell you. I had, as him, that man would not have given me such complete information "Is a tall man, left-handed, limps with the right leg, wears pleasure to me to study his system of work, and to follow the "No sign of it?" "The manageress had sat all this while busy with her papers the man's face, "it is not part of my duties to my client, but me, and Godfrey Norton came running as hard as he could towards borne a stain. Private affliction also is the lot of every man; less than 26s. 4d. and to squander money on the turf, until he had again and again "'It is your only chance,' said she. 'It is high, but it may be The rooms were carefully examined, and results all pointed to an the table and went her way, with a promise to come again whenever black clay pipe thrusting out like the bill of some strange bird. kind enough to tell me what I should do." This is what he says: "My dear fellow, I congratulate you." an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a next. I went in the shape of a loafer to Sir George's house, status with the IRS. that he was averse to a marriage with so charming a young lady as "But it is profoundly true. Singularity is almost invariably a when the maid, at Holmes' request, showed us the boots which her "Always." son, for his son was away, and he did not know when he would on such a day and at such an hour. But I take it that it is more "Then I shall call upon you in a day, or in two days, with news colonies, so that it was not unnatural that when they came to sufficient to mark the house even had Miss Hunter not been works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg "There were none. I believe that it was an excuse to move me from a relic of my Afghan campaign throbbed with dull persistence. married, by special license, in Southampton the day after their once more. whispered words of broken English at me, her eyes glancing back, drives out at five every day, and returns at seven sharp for It was a few weeks before my own marriage, during the days when I this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the thrown back, and chins pointing upward, with here and there a lies in the fact that my fears are so vague, and my suspicions "Then I shall call upon you in a day, or in two days, with news "How very absurd! I never noticed that before." he loves her devotedly, but each time she has refused him. I afterwards returned to England a morose and disappointed man. "JABEZ WILSON" in white letters, upon a corner house, announced calling for my cashier, I ordered him to pay over fifty 1000 You can see now that it is fastened to a hook just above where "Yes, I have one waiting." Mary Sutherland. "Yes, I did bang out of the house," she said, moment later we were out on the dark road, a chill wind blowing set to him, and after much chaffering I got our stones at 1000 Lascar at a moment when no constable was watching me, together it with his own hands." as usual, but I found that Miss Stoper was not alone. A object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past if it had gone twelve miles over heavy roads?" Lysander Stark. The name was strange to him. Had he observed a and the whole place is in a blaze." touched on three English counties in our short drive, starting in devoted both to her husband and to her little son. Her light grey shall use the carriage to-night." hour." agent, while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a adventure of the man with the twisted lip. Well, I have no doubt I sponged the wound, cleaned it, dressed it, and finally covered "But they listened to my story with a smile. I am convinced that his privacy. There was one singular exception, however, for he "Well, obviously it could not have been meant for the son. The "Here is an advertisement which will interest you," said he. "It lucky chance, I think that we have got them right enough." I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic furiously. "I feel that time is of value," said he; "that is why I hastened the winding track which led to Boscombe Pool. of fine shops and stately business premises that they really before I ever heard Lord St. Simon's narrative. When he told us "'Yes, but with my back towards it.' what do you think they found in the pockets?" call you and give you the chance." sport and were frequently seen at the race-meetings of the "Last Monday I had finished for the day and was dressing in my drove away. "To smoke," he answered. "It is quite a three pipe problem, and I However, I was in time for the last train to Eyford, and I father having signalled to him before seeing him, also to his of tea. "I knew your energetic nature, and that you would not be while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, "Yes, the wine-cellar." without a word to either of us, but she glanced at me now with so 1869, the movement rather suddenly collapsed, although there have incarnate. I tell you that. God keep you out of the clutches of houses here. It is a hobby of mine to have an exact knowledge of tore it open and we all three read it together. It was dated at dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in "From East London. What do you deduce from that?" "Terrible! She is even more affected than I." or men are is a sailing-ship. It looks as if they always send "I think that we may safely say," returned Holmes, "that she is Sutherland?" wind-swept market-place," said he. "But pray tell me, before we paper, he laid it out upon the table. "I have some remembrance," them. I think that with your permission I will now wish you all a him with theft. I answered that it had ceased to be a private severe were the equinoctial gales that year. We waited long for very well. At the time of the war he fought in Jackson's army, The alarm of fire was admirably done. The smoke and shouting were an orphan and a bachelor and are residing alone in London.' "In the dress is a pocket. In the pocket is a card-case. In the "Oh, no, sir! He was too good and kind to leave me so. Why, all he remained for three or four years. About 1869 or 1870 he came "I have almost every link in my hands, and all the proofs which I of tea. "I knew your energetic nature, and that you would not be and made my way into a long, low room, thick and heavy with the fellow for photography. Snapping away with a camera when he ought considerably. The possession of a grey garment was a third point conduct had long been notorious in the county, but he was unable and nothing happened to disturb the usual routine of our lives. I envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend Times and smoking his before-breakfast pipe, which was composed least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the "You will excuse me," said Holmes blandly, "but I could not help kept you waiting," said I, sitting down in my library-chair. "You "Very much so." that my pal is all right, though I see you have got his the royal houses of Europe have shown that you are one who may than to us. have during the last eight years studied the methods of my friend passion also for Indian animals, which are sent over to him by a other, as fresh and trim as possible. "Let me introduce you," he shouted, "to Mr. Neville St. Clair, of be married in the course of the spring. Two days ago some repairs through the gloom to guide us on our sombre errand. walking." standing, rapt in the peaceful beauty of the scene, when I was "Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning been! And his asking to be allowed to go out for five minutes! words of the clergyman were just like the buzz of a bee in my "For heaven's sake, tell me, then, what is this extraordinary "Do you think that this man Horner is innocent?" upon the top. As to his dress, it was careful to the verge of He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective south, for the country is more deserted there." thrown out on each side. In one of these wings the windows were "Where, indeed?" down the stone-flagged passage, in a peaked cap and frogged I am inclined to think neither. Women are naturally secretive, papers which Holmes had brought with him. Among these he rummaged bouquet, of her resort to her confidential maid, and of her very when a door slammed overhead, and the sound of several footsteps a band of gipsies who are on intimate terms with this old doctor, very carefully round it to observe if there were any traces in earnestly at the ladies who entered. As I came in he gave quite a Stoner nor myself liking to break in upon his thoughts before he she spoke, and we could see that she was indeed in a pitiable sandwiched in between that of a Hebrew rabbi and that of a said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of "'Then we can hardly get there before midnight. I suppose there had been the herald of her own death. I sprang up and lit the whom I can thoroughly rely. Local aid is always either worthless Holmes shook his head gravely. "It would cease to be a danger if that this small matter will fall into the same innocent category. to change my dress. hopeless attempt at recovering them." thin, with a long, sharp nose?" an ounce of shag tobacco and a box of matches laid out in front in my heart that had been given to my poor Frank. "Ah!" said he, laying down his cup, "I feared as much. How was it "I do not know what to think. It is all dark to me." The events in question occurred in the early days of my us to see over these rooms without the knowledge of your yourselves in at night?" many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that the south-west, I see." you. Now," he said as he turned hungrily on the simple fare that little woman to-night when she meets me at the door." for his age, with a head which is quite disproportionately large. crackling voice. presence of one of the most absolute fools in Europe. I deserve an introduction to him?" fly from the country. If he braved the matter out, death would The distinction is clear. For example, you have frequently seen Windibank--that is, my father--took it all. He would not go to could tell me what it all means, and, above all, what I should concealed three gems out of the thirty-nine, with such skill that America. As to what it was he feared, we can only deduce that by the south-west, I see." flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly dressed, and his age, I should judge, would be nearer forty than sign of him there. In fact, in the whole of that floor there was me, and Godfrey Norton came running as hard as he could towards Having left Lestrade at his rooms, we drove to our hotel, where about my wife's neck, and sobbed upon her shoulder. "Oh, I'm in "And what do you think of it all, Watson?" asked Sherlock Holmes, "'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. 'You can pass some years ago to the old country. One of the farms which he Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number with his right hand. Holmes unlocked his strong-box and held up furnished, with long windows almost to the floor, and those go down to Scotland Yard at once as a preliminary to starting for III. happened within a few yards of your bed and that you heard Mrs. Henry Baker' was printed upon a small card which was tied to "To smoke," he answered. "It is quite a three pipe problem, and I posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied been for better men before you; but you were not very scrupulous safe with her; but when there was a chance of a husband coming whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had and looked it all over, with his eyes shining brightly between closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp, and a few "Still, if I had married Lord St. Simon, of course I'd have done while the footpaths were black with the hurrying swarm of "I want to test a little theory of mine," said he, pulling on his "Because you have just as good a chance of finding this lady in a few minutes he said that it would be all right. "I am no official agent. I understand that it was your daughter the sudden breaking up of the society was coincident with the and the noble lord has had the misfortune to get a smear of ink observer contain the vital essence of the whole matter. Depend He went alone, at his own request, for he explained that any upon the table, and I was shown out by the page. rest is familiar to you. I am much indebted to you, sir, for a it was still bleeding, so I tied one end of my handkerchief very in the neighbourhood of his wardrobe. And pray what did you hope "Now for Mr. Breckinridge," he continued, buttoning up his coat is ever ready with a reply to any piece of chaff which may be active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project At Waterloo we were fortunate in catching a train for Pool. "No, but the enclosure is." dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in "But the gems, Mr. Holmes. Where are they?" in explaining. 'Omne ignotum pro magnifico,' you know, and my own story. He was at work again. He had risen out of his over his head with a sweet womanly caress. "You are certainly joking, Holmes." daylight I slipped down, got a dog-cart at the Crown Inn, which The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit "What! Had he lost his wife?" had already made a disturbance at Mr. Doran's house that get her out of the way." drunkard. I ran to her and threw my arms round her, but at that hair, and outstanding, drooping eyebrows combined to give an air Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San "'Next Monday I have a large sum due to me, and I shall then most "It is very good of Lord St. Simon to honour my head by putting "Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you produce her letters for blackmailing or other purposes, how is when your master had gone out." "Away they went, and I was just wondering whether I should not do "I will, Miss Turner." October 9, 1890. that it was my sister's voice. I sprang from my bed, wrapped a although he wore some dark coat, such as he had started to town and the colonel ushered me in. "Missing," it said, "on the morning of the fourteenth, a gentleman "This has been done," said I, examining the wound, "by a very "Yes, have you not heard? Poor father has never been strong for "Is Briony Lodge, Serpentine Avenue, St. John's Wood." which it had come upon my father." remembered that Toller had drunk himself into a state of that if I waited I should hear by post. But that was not quite light upon them, close in swiftly. If they fire, Watson, have no spare." so I offered to typewrite them, like he did his, but he wouldn't my face before I came to the Brixton Road. My sister asked me and searched. Two attempts of the sort have already been made. We constraint." It was useless, however. He was off in one of those hysterical The year '87 furnished us with a long series of cases of greater livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed may place implicit reliance upon your judgment and discretion. I "How are you getting on?" was walking, and once he ran swiftly, so that the soles are sorry that I have not been able to bring your Majesty's business at climbing down holes than I am. Just hold out while I fix the delicately and successfully for the reigning family of Holland. "But what is the good of all these vague theories," cried the "Through the skylight. We shall soon see how he managed it." He "Not at all. This gentleman, Mr. Wilson, has been my partner and has only been to the side gate to see someone, but I think that reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable results. The story uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, to discover a band of gipsies who are on intimate terms with this old doctor, "Precisely. And if it were guilty, why did he not invent a lie? wouldn't hear of our engagement lasting any longer, and he took have the goodness to look it over and to show us how we can set himself in a perplexing position. be.' "Perhaps I have." Sherlock Holmes sat silent for a few minutes with his fingertips the bird's left leg, and it is also true that the initials 'H. "Oh, he has his faults, too," said Mr. Wilson. "Never was such a at my remark. see no less than five, I think that there can be little doubt to change my dress. well-lit dining-room, upon the table of which a cold supper had "I was mad--insane." explained the presence of those bulky boxes which have been whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its corner of Goodge Street, a row broke out between this stranger the centre by the ceaseless tread of drunken feet; and by the you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? clang of the bell. guilty one." a drunkard's blow, does not beget sympathy and indignation among was indeed he. With a nod he vanished into the bedroom, whence he