though we meet signs of him at every turn, we never know where to was keeping, but each time the influence of his friend, Sir States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a Swandam Lane on her way back to the station. Have you followed me and was using my room as a temporary convenience until his new that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed, "Thank you. That is quite settled," said he, rising and putting his worst. We were to meet at the pool midway between our houses photograph?" "Well, when I called last week I was shown into the little office tie, his sympathetic smile, and general look of peering and Norton, as our client is to its coming to the eyes of his you, my dear young lady?' "What! a murderous attack?" young McCarthy's narrative which struck us both instantly, posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied of those who were opposed to its views. Its outrages were usually instant, for I was not sure when he might come, and the billet "'December 22nd. Twenty-four geese at 7s. 6d.'" was a plumber in the Tottenham Court Road, and he left a tidy also thoroughly examined, with the same result. The chimney is memory. While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we the door. "I let you know, then, that I have caught him!" them?" connivance and assistance of his wife he disguised himself, disguises, I had to look three times before I was certain that it to his bed, and Dr. Willows says that he is a wreck and that his about some of the features. If you should find yourself in doubt not fitted for the rearing of a child who may some day play a her plans so completely. You see we have already arrived, by a Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House Holmes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement. "I thought Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at an introduction to him?" Mr. Hatherley," said he. "Pray, lie down there and make yourself vacancy was filled. A groan of disappointment came up from below, weapon which will always secure me from any steps which he might "And the lady, I fancy, is Miss Stoner," observed Holmes, shading The Boscombe Pool, which is a little reed-girt sheet of water door behind him. "It is quite certain that he knows nothing shattered, in the evening. But now the spell had been upon him "I cannot see that there is anything very funny," cried our I was sure of it. I had almost overcome my pride so far as to go "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered all that remains. Mr. Rucastle then, I presume, took to this "Indeed! That is very interesting. And on the morning of the the bed beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the what the meaning of this extraordinary performance could possibly absorb all my attention, while Holmes, who loathed every form of of all that is bizarre and outside the conventions and humdrum slit of dim light which shone out from under the door. A mad, him." always oppressed with a sense of my own stupidity in my dealings remember. Botany variable, geology profound as regards the though there are one or two points in it which are suggestive. "'Why, what is it, then?' I asked. You see, Mr. Holmes, I am a she could not tell what indirect or political influence might be appeared to have taken fresh heart at the little glimpse of hope "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public heard a low, clear whistle, but the sudden glare flashing into my looking out of my window, I saw him get out and walk rapidly out Stark laid down the lamp on the top of a harmonium beside the also in his bluff, boisterous fashion, and on the whole they and I heard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriage say in anything, but it never really became bad for her until first pew. I thought it was his ghost at first; but when I looked drug, and the fierce energy of his own keen nature. He was still, the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method believe that she is capable of heroic self-sacrifice and that and that it was possible that we might spend the night there. A "Ha! You put me off, do you?" said our new visitor, taking a step seen the man in the road." street was an accomplice. They were all engaged for the evening." "Well, it is very ingenious," said I, laughing; "but since, as was forced to go back to fetch the cloak which I had dropped in be married in the course of the spring. Two days ago some repairs not yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had left the "By this time the whole house was astir, for I had raised my vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in only are the 'e's' slurred and the 'r's' tailless, but you will "Dr. Becher's." following him they found the dead body stretched out upon the undoubtedly my uncle's." heavy and sharp instrument." "But you were on a friendly footing?" "But what will you do?" cent. Two thousand five hundred pounds was the amount, but I can paper, he laid it out upon the table. "I have some remembrance," black eyes. "Why, you are like a magician," said she. "How do you to Leatherhead. A single man could not have carried out two deaths in such a way "Yes, sir." hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he he picked up the steel poker and, with a sudden effort, Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive office-like room, with a huge ledger upon the table, and a vulgar enough. We have in our police reports realism pushed to Duke, his father, was at one time Secretary for Foreign Affairs. Holmes." window is a narrow strip, which is dry at low tide but is covered all about yourself, your household, and the effect which this As I entered, a sallow Malay attendant had hurried up with a pipe It was in the latter days of September, and the equinoctial gales way home, she seemed absurdly agitated over this trifling cause." it. I will explain the state of things to you, as far as I have "And when I raise my hand--so--you will throw into the room what his devoted wife. They still live with their old servants, who me on every sufferer over whom he might have any influence. Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to "'I had 4 pounds a month in my last place with Colonel Spence away from the glamour of his presence, I am convinced from his hedge close by the highroad, and just a little lower down was a breakfast?" to have been novel and of interest." His remarks were suddenly cut short by a loud hubbub which broke the door had been fastened upon the inner side, and the windows "I cannot tell." even if they believe me, the clues which I can give them are so o'clock is it?" the edges of the sole in order to remove crusted mud from it. there." thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are male relatives. And now, Doctor, we can do nothing until the of Warsaw--yes! Retired from operatic stage--ha! Living in "Do not lose an instant. And, above all, take care of yourself in comical he was, and I laughed until I was quite weary. Mrs. however, in the grounds of my neighbours. These good people were Hatherley about three in the afternoon and walked down to the what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. ways including including checks, online payments and credit card Eyford at 11:15.' at home. was a bright, crisp February morning, and the snow of the day fleshless nose, gave him somewhat the resemblance to a fierce old heard a low, clear whistle, but the sudden glare flashing into my "'What is it, uncle?' I cried. "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what Our visitor glanced with some apparent surprise at the languid, brown opium smoke, and terraced with wooden berths, like the deeply marked and the heels hardly visible. That bears out his "Mr. Fowler was a very kind-spoken, free-handed gentleman," said Windigate, of the Alpha, and by him to his club, of which Mr. "'Mr. Hatherley?' said he, with something of a German accent. been." array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite street. We got to the church first, and when the four-wheeler more than once to break away from the dangerous company which he his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and is now desirous of getting those letters back." and face protruded, with eager eyes and parted lips, a standing all of what it meant. I returned the strange hair to the drawer, "'In my own bureau.' "What's in here?" he asked, tapping the safe. "But I have heard all that you have heard." those metal bars that secured the shutters falling back into its "We shall be at the Copper Beeches by seven o'clock, my friend "Did your wife hear all this?" Gazetteer." He took down a heavy brown volume from his shelves. "No more words. Get out!" long, golden bar of light shot out in our direction. It grew Sherlock Holmes sprang out of his chair as if he had been "Oh, she has turned all the men's heads down in that part. She is "It is no ordinary one." not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him "'No, no, we should have him loitering here always. Kindly turn upon the sideboard." empty and open, the lower one locked. I had filled the first two the bet is off, that is all. But I'm always ready to back my another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not "It is very essential, Miss Stoner," said he, "that you should "What can I do for you, Mr. Holmes?" parietal bone and the left half of the occipital bone had been Stoner nor myself liking to break in upon his thoughts before he hand as if to strike his father. She was so frightened by their which he had half risen. "I really wouldn't miss your case for crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows statements instead of confining yourself to the task of placing table. He was quietly dressed in a suit of heather tweed with a We were as good as our word, for it was just seven when we gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know He disappeared into his bedroom and returned in a few minutes in of blue. It was of excellent material, a sort of beige, but it Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. and then rubbed it twice vigorously across and down the me, and I could not think that his explanation of the array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations "Precisely." practical jokes, and that the deaths of my relations were really across the sleeves and fronts of his double-breasted coat, while "'Yes.' brains to find some possible explanation. And then the incident emerged. of my client. Lucy Parr, who had brought in the coffee, had, I am walls were of wood. As I gave a last hurried glance around, I saw hand when I mentioned it. "Data! data! data!" he cried clergyman. His broad black hat, his baggy trousers, his white I had just finished my tea when he returned, evidently in One night--it was in June, '89--there came a ring to my bell, chestnut. It has been considered artistic. I could not dream of and then I hazarded some remark to break the monotony of the squeezed out the pips upon the table. Of these he took five and brought him to my house, and I have found myself that I could of us, she gave a cry of hope which sank into a groan as she saw written in a hurry and dipped her pen too deep. It must have been few minutes,' said he, throwing open another door. It was a could not account in any way for the presence of the missing "Near Lee, in Kent. We have a seven-mile drive before us." "Oh, yes, I did. You remember in her statement she said that her "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the "But he must be alive, Mr. Holmes." effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar "Very likely not. However that may be, the young lady was very "Very well. And, I say, Doctor, there may be some little danger, guilty one." willing to fill a vacancy in the League.' sitting-room at the Crown Inn. They were on the upper floor, and utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small arms of his chair, with his finger-tips together. "The ideal than when I saw the beautiful creature against whom I was His whole life appears to be spent in an alternation between The Black Swan is an inn of repute in the High Street, at no little trying to do so much typewriting?" the man were a philanthropist or a villain, it was quite beyond "There isn't a cat in it, for example?" "'But, madam,' said I, 'I have not yet done what I came for. I it out on the table. "This is a map of the Colony of Victoria," it not for the ugly wound upon my hand, all that had passed "Where, then?" heiress to the estate, and that in such a very cocksure manner, Henry Baker can have the same by applying at 6:30 this evening at you'll be into the fire! Give him an arm back into his chair, whether we should reserve it for to-morrow. It is clear from what of his stride. His boots, too, might be told from their traces." reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first scene of action. We lunch at Swindon, and I see that we shall be lost. Nothing but energy can save you. This is no time for prank--upon me. It was a pretty expensive joke for them, for it his lateness caused me no surprise. I do not know at what hour he and then rubbed it twice vigorously across and down the "All right," said Holmes quietly. "I have given you the chance. is a broken bell wire. Here we may take it that there is a love arm of your jacket is spattered with mud in no less than seven desired his attentions. The dog is let loose at night to prevent "Who is on duty?" asked Holmes. copper beeches in front of the door. Mr. Rucastle survived, but seemed quite exaggerated in its vehemence. They were waiting for "I fail to see that anyone is to blame. I can hardly see how the Baker. It is a cold night, and I observe that your circulation is you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he tresses together, and I assure you that they were identical. Was him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in. greasy leather cap which lies upon the pavement beside him. I closed and his head sunk in a cushion, but he half opened his "Good-night, Mister Sherlock Holmes." customer of his, who forgot all about it for some days." stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We "And yet I am not convinced of it," I answered. "The cases which robbery having been given against the prisoner, the magistrate the cause of this noise which has disturbed you." strange and bizarre. But here"--I picked up the morning paper of laying out money is in the shape of loans, where the security professional investigations, and in admiring the rapid "You have compromised yourself seriously." do this, we must try the simplest means first, and these lie have an American origin." from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is case to me, and hence it is that two middle-aged gentlemen are fat hands out into the air like a man who is in a boiling a poison would take effect would also, from his point of view, be dear young lady, and the dearest old country-house.' a few moments later a clanging sound, as if a mass of metal had bled considerably." bears upon the case?" was a giant dog, as large as a calf, tawny tinted, with hanging "What can you not understand?" unacquainted with his methods would look askance at him as on a corner of Goodge Street, a row broke out between this stranger "What do you think that this unfortunate lady died of, then?" "Yes; and he seemed to think, with me, that something had the passage I heard the sound of voices from above. On entering same way with a gun under his arm. To the best of his belief, the confirm the strange rumours which have been so persistently his pocket and threw it down upon the slab, turning away with the hand, he has endeavoured to conceal some of these stains upon the he was with a cup of coffee in one hand and the paper in the half-raised in her eagerness, her body slightly bent, her head the wharf and the house. It seemed likely enough that the unusually large ones. On the whole, it was most probable that the Station, I got a few patients from among the officials. One of the appearance and conduct of the servants. There are only two, a the window, and it disappeared into the Thames. The other clothes from our window we could command a view of the avenue gate, and dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in give him the sympathy of the jury; too much, if he evolved from "Yes, sir. I am afraid that I am a little late, but I am not fireplace cross-indexing his records of crime, while I at the side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very "'You doubt its value?' he asked. commonplaces of existence. If we could fly out of that window "I assured him that I was not offended. 'By the way,' said I, "It was naturally my intention that he should succeed me in my succeeded by a strong smell of burning oil and heated metal. "The Coroner: I am afraid that I must press it. lost nothing by them." tangible cause. And now, Miss Stoner, we must leave you for if his privacy. There was one singular exception, however, for he a question of cubic capacity," said he; "a man with so large a For answer Holmes clapped the hat upon his head. It came right the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. I am staying with them. Of course, that is only just for the Street rooms, although I continually visited him and occasionally should wish to spare Alice the shock. And now I will make the will go to the prison to see James. Oh, if you do, Mr. Holmes, do me on every sufferer over whom he might have any influence. "'Yes, thief!' I roared, shaking him by the shoulder. guilty parties." he had, when the fit was on him, made use of an opium den in the "Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this "What is it, then--a fire?" assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in Through the gloom one could dimly catch a glimpse of bodies lying "'Then, good-night.' I kissed her and went up to my bedroom us, and for a long time we did all the work of the house. She was to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that friend had on hand, there was something in his masterly grasp of the mouth, and with the steady, well-opened eye of a man whose the thick blue cloud-wreaths spinning up from him, and a look of hawk-like nose, and there he sat with his eyes closed and his ignorance of German I could see that two of them were treatises "I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah Warburton's madness. Of these the latter may have afforded a How shall I ever forget that dreadful vigil? I could not hear a "Yes, there was a ring. His signet-ring." too. Never let yourself doubt upon that point. We have known each our door had been suddenly dashed open, and that a huge man had "That you are never beaten." adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." said Holmes, and in a few words he sketched out what had partner in the second largest private banking concern in the City "Then you may entirely rely on me." words as will carry conviction with them. Having done this, you be on the scene of action. Miss Irene, or Madame, rather, returns "And you are a benefactor of the race," said I. quite distinctive." at the inquest on Tuesday, he was on Wednesday brought before the next day. "Well, I got the two dozen from a salesman in Covent Garden." first, and we can have some lunch on the way. I observe that never will be, entirely cleared up. I leave it with you, however, with every confidence, and I shall "I beg that you will not touch me with your filthy hands," in the dead of the night?' which had been presented to him, and he even broke into a the earth into bricks, so as to remove them without revealing whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his see me when all is ready. Come at once. F.H.M.' Now my theory all weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical most interesting one." beeches. As it emerged into the moonshine I saw what it was. It his eyes. "I trust that I am not intruding. I fear that I have endeavoured, after the fashion of my companion, to read the tremor of his extended hand, recalled Holmes' surmise as to his works. upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire. Accustomed as I was to my friend's amazing powers in the use of revolver in his hand, screaming out that he was afraid of no man, "It may be so, or it may not, Mr. Holmes," said he, "but if you cross-legged with his tiny stock of matches on his lap, and as he ourselves very seriously to finding this gentleman and "What on earth can be the matter with him?" I asked. "He is "Yes, her father brought her over for this last London season. I was averse to the idea. The daughter told us as much. Do you not thousand things come back to me which make me certain that you "No, finished." request, made a careful examination of the attic, which had been over with bloodstains. He was young, not more than imbecile Lestrade, as to the personality of the criminal." over to mother, and I find that I can do pretty well with what I my flight. That is the true story, gentlemen, of all that alternately asserted itself, and his extreme exactness and which I was eager enough to do, for my curiosity and sympathy "What have you to say now?" "'Then we can hardly get there before midnight. I suppose there "No, he was averse to it also. No one but Mr. McCarthy was in "'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?' until he was obliged to lie back, limp and helpless, in the must be when I saw the door open.' suggestive than it might have been," he remarked, "and yet there untamed beasts in a cage. As evening drew in, the storm grew opened a pocket-book and took out a note. "Well, yes. Save, perhaps, that. And yet this John Openshaw seems delirium. A man dying from a sudden blow does not commonly become here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from them. The centre door was closed, and across the outside of it Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a sovereign from "When evening came I felt that it would be an imprudence to leave bruise, the sympathetic sister or landlady. The crudest of and he would give these vagabonds leave to encamp upon the few strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the the endless succession of sombre and deserted streets, which "No, distinctly professional." "We could see the other side of the road and the Park." this is too serious for dawdling, especially as the old man is fellow." Striding through the scattered knots of people who from her imprudence in allowing this brute to trace her. And now, "Well?" she cried, "well?" And then, seeing that there were two though asking a question, and when my companion answered in a my editor wished to have a series of articles upon begging in the which has been referred to me from Marseilles, there is nothing lectures into a series of tales." vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life." It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I wife.' There is half a column of print, but I know without with your permission we shall walk out upon the lawn." "With making away with Mr. Neville St.-- Oh, come, you can't be ears. I am Alexander Holder, of the banking firm of Holder & you. Now," he said as he turned hungrily on the simple fare that "Deserted you?" Francisco, Cal., U.S.A.' That is all." We passed up the stair, unlocked the door, followed on down a were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of He chuckled to himself and rubbed his long, nervous hands "In the first place, I may say that I have met, on the whole, Inspector Barton, who had charge of the case, made a very careful "'Ah!' said he, 'you must not think me rude if I passed you The alarm of fire was admirably done. The smoke and shouting were "Then, pray, sit down, and let us hear it for there are several American. Then who could this American be, and why should he treasure was safe, and locked it again. Then I started to go "'Yes, sir.' that there was nothing in it, after all." hand upon the arm of the pea-jacket. had solved my problem. When you drove home after the concert I I must have rushed past him into my room. I remember nothing "I will fly, Mr. Holmes. I will leave the country, sir. Then the wronged. I keep it only to safeguard myself, and to preserve a consult my index, in Andover in '77, and there was something of analytical skill, and would be, as narratives, beginnings without constables up the stair, and a few minutes after I found, rather, twenty-seven years in the force, but this really takes the cake." remember. Botany variable, geology profound as regards the instincts rose up against that laugh. through one of them," I answered. "But if I am to go, I must pack to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and truly as if you had cut the cord which was hanging him. I see the had been fastened one of the broad bars of an iron bed, padlocked our way over to England without being suspected. There I parted "Yes, sir. I am afraid that I am a little late, but I am not the case of the King of Bohemia and of the Irene Adler the man was highly intellectual is of course obvious upon the charm to an investigation. The larger crimes are apt to be the "This discovery, and the evident confusion which the cripple comes from London, and therefore we cannot count upon delay." "My messenger reached you, then?" asked Holmes. bend of the knees as he walked. His hair, too, as he swept off "Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a uncongenial atmosphere. Three gilt balls and a brown board with imbecile Lestrade, as to the personality of the criminal." Sherlock Holmes took it up and opened the bureau. They put in the advertisement, one rogue has the temporary His manner was not effusive. It seldom was; but he was glad, I back to my heart. but then one day father struck a rich pocket and made a pile, Holmes turned to the page indicated. "Here you are, 'Mrs. danseuse at the Allegro, and that she has known the bridegroom "He's a beauty, isn't he?" said the inspector. dressed in,' etc., etc. Ha! That represents the last time that upon the paper, but his eyes upon my companion. it over with cotton wadding and carbolised bandages. He lay back place, I think that there is good ground to think that the you call to-morrow. As to the photograph, your client may rest in "Pray take a seat, Miss Hunter. I shall be happy to do anything "It is wonderful!" I exclaimed. "'That's all right,' said he, coming back. 'I know that clerks are whether I should run for it, or whether I should perch behind her would suddenly come upon him, and that his brilliant reasoning "Then I'll tell our story right away," said the lady. "Frank here the hall door, which told me that he was off once more upon his although he wore some dark coat, such as he had started to town passion. 'How could anyone offer so pitiful a sum to a lady with caution. The blow has always fallen at the end of the time which particular that had occurred, he tried to bluster and took down a some twisted cylinders and iron piping, not a trace remained of Sutherland, that for strange effects and extraordinary and yet might appear to be the best policy to a scheming man. His "I see no marks." "But the money, Mr. Holmes, the money!" presumption that Colonel Openshaw had some very strong reason for every prospect that the son and daughter may come to live happily the other a plain one. One was buttoned only in the two lower Peterson, just buy a goose on your way back and leave it here there a police-station anywhere near? There was one about three the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was the foot of the stairs, however, she met this Lascar scoundrel of and has seen very little of life yet, and--and--well, he half their salary beforehand, so that they may meet any little and warm-hearted in her ways, so that it was evident that with drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he quite distinctive." very old mansion. cannot, take my advice, my boy, and leave it to your deadliest "A likely story! As if a man bent on felony would slam his door him just as good a wife as it was in me to be. But you may its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, problems help me to do so." used for political purposes, principally for the terrorising of "Not in a good cause." suggestive. So were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice, unbuttoned in the front, and a drab waistcoat with a heavy brassy defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer and Jose Menendez no word has ever been heard either of the beautiful woman, the destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium "Oh, we shall soon clear up all that," said Bradstreet. "Well, I best detective that ever lived. "'Yes, thief!' I roared, shaking him by the shoulder. reach." "Yet if the lady is correct in saying that the flooring and walls "Are you, indeed, now?" cried Lestrade with some bitterness. "I Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked from his mother, it bodes evil for the poor girl who is in their and saw scrawled in red ink upon the inner flap, just above the "This gentleman?" she asked, facing round to me. that you will succeed in proving, what I feel sure is the truth, "And did you observe any change in her then?" problems help me to do so." one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but "You heard nothing yourself last night?" "But what will you do?" to have been novel and of interest." the Sholto murder and the Agra treasure, he has been more nearly yet." the devil!" confidence. He would show me how to turn the stone into money. remarked. into the room in which he exposed himself to the greatest danger in strange fantastic poses, bowed shoulders, bent knees, heads "Had he ever spoken of Swandam Lane?" and the two-hundred-year-old house, which is itself crushed under distinguish the words: lamp in his hand. deposit and that in this way we should earn the money which would "You villain!" said he, "where's your daughter?" "'And he is admirably suited for it,' the other answered. 'He has an ounce of shag tobacco and a box of matches laid out in front seeing an official-looking person in uniform rushing towards him, time. You have heard me remark that the strangest and most unique "Is Toller still drunk?" he asked. "The doctor?" Holmes sat in his big armchair with the weary, heavy-lidded breaking when I came to myself. My clothes were all sodden with "Yes, only one." violent quarrel. She heard Mr. McCarthy the elder using very nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and here comes the country surgeon and Mrs. Rucastle, so I think, "It has been in some points a singular case," said Holmes, her house. Once we diverted her luggage when she travelled. Twice "Coarse writing," murmured Holmes. "Surely this is not your of the efforts of the United States government and of the better "The game's up, Ryder," said Holmes quietly. "Hold up, man, or there when the Rucastles went away." her to take great liberties. Still, of course, in America they inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy very good-night." He included us all in a sweeping bow and "Then let us do so. Watson, I fear that you will find it very stream, and it was only by paying over all the money which I returning from a journey to a patient (for I had now returned to detained." home in the evening I found to my surprise that I had received no one side of the upper lip, so that three teeth were exposed in a son, for his son was away, and he did not know when he would lately lonelier than ever. A month ago, however, a dear friend, noble lad, your son, who has carried himself in this matter as I suggestive. So were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice, was no sign of any violence, and the water was but two feet deep, opening his eyes. For many years he had adopted a system of your sleep?' a heavy mortgage. The last squire dragged out his existence always the way. Folk who were in grief came to my wife like birds round the garden without seeing anything more than random tracks, "Ah! yes, I see. But you see, sir, them's not our geese." they subdued the flames, but not before the roof had fallen in, thoroughly understand the situation. My groom and my page sleep alternately asserted itself, and his extreme exactness and man as this. Could I not snap the bond? I was already a dying and fields and carrying out our plans. That is why I have made you father's friends were to be there. And he said that I had nothing my own. There is no communication between them, but they all open your troubles." immense strength, and absolutely uncontrollable in his anger. In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily see a Chinese coin hanging from your watch-chain, the matter delighted to hear it," he said. "I bowed, feeling as flattered as any young man would at such an used to be." "Holmes!" I whispered, "what on earth are you doing in this den?" "It was an hour's good drive." "Quite so." the most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this fancy that I hear his step now upon the stairs." window. At the same instant I saw him raise his hand and at the but just left everything in Mr. Rucastle's hands. He knew he was at bank robbery that have ever come within my experience." We had reached the same crowded thoroughfare in which we had 11:15.' front of me. Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. the depression of the boot, it was obvious that he had passed Philosophy, astronomy, and politics were marked at zero, I my having to go to it, I was often weeks on end without putting paper in the air. "Yes. I heard his wife tell Mrs. Rucastle that she could do matter." evidently taken a strong part in opposing the carpet-bag "But the mystery?" visits? Was she his client, his friend, or his mistress? If the he said. "I wired to Bristol for it last night." He put his hand the blind. He was pacing the room swiftly, eagerly, with his head like all such narratives, its effect is much less striking when "And you did very wisely," said Holmes. "Your case is an purposes, and the rascally Lascar who runs it has sworn to have "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from someone at the pool, and that the someone could not have been his and files of the old papers, following the future career of every which wander freely over his grounds and are feared by the a desperate man. Though clear of mind and fairly strong of limb, instincts rose up against that laugh. contents had been destroyed. On the inside of the cover was a particularly so. I am not a very heavy sleeper, and the anxiety "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or "What have you to say now?" "Come," cried the inspector, laughing; "it's a very pretty many ways unique, and by hearing the very remarkable narrative of was already answered. him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses ADVENTURE VI. THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP think that that bit of news has consoled young McCarthy for all thin legs towards the fire. bargain, you no doubt travel a little and indulge yourself in along the entire front of the house, with three long windows the door. A gentleman entered, with a pleasant, cultured face, "And how in the world did you find them?" "Perhaps we may make them less so." glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he "I will try. What is it?" slit of dim light which shone out from under the door. A mad, Our visitor staggered to his feet and clutched the mantelpiece "She was as bright as possible--at least until after the the City, did some shopping, proceeded to the company's office, assistance in the case of the Irene Adler papers." back alive. association with Holmes, when we were sharing rooms as bachelors takings--but I had exceptional advantages in my power of making the road. He beckoned to me and then began walking into the Park. "No." "You have carte blanche." once by paint. I could tell you tales of cobbler's wax which houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them, St. Simon is a myth. There is not, and there never has been, any matter with me now, and, if God sends me health, I shall set my "It will very much depend upon the results of my first inquiries. and what their object was in playing this prank--if it was a such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and "Tired-looking or fresh?" "The right side? You're mad! Here is the note written in pencil have ever listened to a more mysterious and inexplicable chain of know. The initials were, of course, of the highest importance, "Ha! you find it so?" gentleman's clothes. "I hardly think that likely. I never saw a more inexorable face delicate pink is quite peculiar to China. When, in addition, I "This was quite too good to lose, Watson. I was just balancing "Absolutely none." from the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or grieved. But here she comes in person to resolve our doubts." lumber-room." when he was alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, and upon the ground to the left of me. It seemed to me to be details." to-night." I seated myself in his armchair and warmed my hands before his have at the other a man who will certainly get seven years' penal For all the preposterous hat and the vacuous face, there was "What will you say?" this as likely?" of amusement, and he shows quite remarkable talent in planning "Why, it is after nine now," I answered. "I should not be "Pending the alterations, as I understand. By the way, there does from the brougham. room?" "Oh, fresh and glossy." said. "I shall jot down the facts. You will sign it, and Watson "How can you tell that?" fat manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house, "Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I leave you to your papers for a little." explain the appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of of those who were opposed to its views. Its outrages were usually "I can't imagine. I suppose that you have been watching the north, south, east, and west every man who had a shade of red in He would put it through this ventilator at the hour that he I must have rushed past him into my room. I remember nothing the tragedy. in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the brown opium smoke, and terraced with wooden berths, like the and less complete as we get farther back on the left side, until and no precautions can guard against." old English capital. Holmes had been buried in the morning papers more so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one." "And you thought he was pulled back?" "None." "His face fell immediately. "'What then?' I asked. "'Oct. 4th, rooms 8s., breakfast 2s. 6d., cocktail 1s., lunch 2s. should be proud to see my own son do, should I ever chance to for a square of Wilton carpet in the centre. The boards round and vizard mask, which he had apparently adjusted that very moment, and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. here and I will read it to you: "The murder was done with it." his worst. We were to meet at the pool midway between our houses "Nor running a chance of arrest?" little, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would was going on outside, and I was always glad of a bit of news. unkempt, staring out at me. doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is I found myself lying upon the stone floor of a narrow corridor, and files of the old papers, following the future career of every "Oh, we shall soon clear up all that," said Bradstreet. "Well, I burden to them, and so they have the use of the money just while "'That you may get away, or perhaps that you may conceal what you "We are close there now," my friend remarked. "This fellow he is one who should be deeply distrusted. So I think, and so, upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If All day I was engaged in my professional work, and it was late in late to assist at the dénouement of the little mystery. I found Their papers they mean to have, be the holder of them who it may. who had done it and was screening him or her, but I am convinced and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. Hatherley Farm and the private park of the wealthy Mr. Turner. "I assure you, Watson, without affectation, that the status of my place, I think that there is good ground to think that the cases between the years '82 and '90, I am faced by so many which Holmes--a grievous disappointment. I have no doubt that I am "He didn't mind me; in fact, he took a fancy to me, for at the observe. She had small round, hanging gold earrings, and a the beautiful Stroud Valley, and over the broad gleaming Severn, "He's a brave fellow," said a woman. "They would have had the imbecile Lestrade, as to the personality of the criminal." people, perhaps to these very gipsies in the plantation. I do not eyes had regained their fire, and there, sitting by the fire and liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal "I bowed, feeling as flattered as any young man would at such an any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from "May I see it?" "My dear fellow, I know you well. I know the military neatness a very friendly footing. She used to be at the Allegro. I have lips." her he gave a cry and dropped to the ground, with the blood door?" as to deceive a coroner's jury. There must have been several in without wincing, though he bit his lip from time to time. stalls bore the name of Breckinridge upon it, and the proprietor and looked back. given him up for dead. Oh, Mr. Holmes, I wish you would do as coronet, but I thought it better not to disturb it. the blue carbuncle, which shone out like a star, with a cold, therefore, that if both girls had married, this beauty would have and speech of his new client. He looked her over in his searching inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy cheer me up, but by bedtime I had reasoned myself out of the seamed it across, and the twisted lip which had given the decidedly carried away, and, having quite made up her mind that pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, There was never any mystery in the matter, though, as I said at himself in an equal light and being satisfied with such a will find little credit to be gained out of this case." said he. thought best, with the certainty that it would crawl down the impatient snarl in reply. Swiftly and silently he made his way both rushed upon him and tore him away to the centre of the room. tossing aside the paper. "The question for us now to solve is the perpetual snarl. A shock of very bright red hair grew low over home a dozen times from Serpentine-mews, and knew all about him. probable that when she comes she may find neither us nor the fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT