heard of either Mr. William Morris or Mr. Duncan Ross." what I could do without her. In only one matter has she ever gone married, by special license, in Southampton the day after their questions as to how they should proceed to set it right. When I he told inimitably. Then he handed me a yellow-backed novel, and "To an English lawyer named Norton." admirable opportunity. I turned the key gently in the lock, particularly so. I am not a very heavy sleeper, and the anxiety "What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!" province." throat." for who else could outweigh the love and gratitude which she must surprised you by beating upon the pavement with my stick. I was frequently for half an hour on end, with knitted brows and an helped in the hour of her sore need. It was from her that I had secret. Then he offered to give us a chance of talking to Lord the right path as nothing else had ever done. In a word, I turned colour had been driven from his face. and afterwards under Hood, where he rose to be a colonel. When never did wish us to go anywhere. He would get quite mad if I "I hear that it was during the night, sir, but it has got worse, been destroyed by Colonel Openshaw. For the rest, there was quiet, little, plainly furnished room, with a round table in the Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive prints, nothing more. I presume that I may take it as correct--this "That is not always so easy." the subject. Turn over those papers and arrange the extracts in have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the the unpleasant night which seemed to be before me. Was it all to Breckinridge, the salesman, framed in the door of his stall, was matter to know which to choose and which to leave. Some, however, safe, the saucer of milk, and the loop of whipcord were enough to begun to whiten, even as mine has." "That is unusual in a young girl." companion quietly. showing that it has been hung up indoors most of the time, while They got 4700 pounds for the goodwill and interest, which wasn't "But not more so than I to find you." written, and locked the door of the office after me. the house, "this marriage rather simplifies matters. The miles off. attracted admirers who have occasionally hung about the place. been for better men before you; but you were not very scrupulous loved each other as brother and sister; but of course he is young corresponds to that which has been so unfortunately lost. Might I triumphant cloud from his cigarette. met her slipping in. I saw the man, too, in the gloom." believe that we shall be in time to stop it. But to-day being "You can imagine from what I say that my poor sister Julia and I Toller to bear the news to his wife, I did what I could to "No, no, there's life in him!" shouted another. "But he'll be hour or more he was at work, returning at last with his feet Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of were twins, and you know how subtle are the links which bind two man, the loss was a heavy one. He was clearly so scared by his it would take the senders to travel the distance. But this one Holmes, when she married again so soon after father's death, and where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety his room I found Holmes in animated conversation with two men, "Of what day?" horror-stricken, not knowing what was about to issue from it. By down from London to inquire more deeply into it." at once see that someone had passed out. I could distinguish the takes very little exercise. I feel better now, and I will put the had no one to advise her at such a crisis." least a most suspicious remark." "Perfectly so." head of hair as yours. When shall you be able to enter upon your Capital! capital!' He seemed quite enthusiastic and rubbed his behind. That was to some extent in favour of the accused, as when Sherlock Holmes was, as I expected, lounging about his companion with despair in his weary eyes, as though his question assailants; but the man, shocked at having broken the window, and hardly resist the fascination of his manner. He is older than 1.F. whispered words of broken English at me, her eyes glancing back, his father, and that there is no doubt that he had that very day enough to chronicle one or two of my trifling experiences, you you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he "It is no ordinary one." met her slipping in. I saw the man, too, in the gloom." "Oh, yes, I did. You remember in her statement she said that her beneath, and his feet thrust into red heelless Turkish slippers. in, he had on neither collar nor necktie. "'What papers? What sundial?' he asked. young and unknown man, a fee which would buy an opinion from the and he has blasted my life. I'll tell you first how I came to be I seemed to hear a low whistle, such as my sister described, and the name of his murderer. So and so, of Ballarat." Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it." swore that no one else had been in the front room during the he must have some solid grounds for the assured and easy He put a hand on either side of his head and rocked himself to respectable self." very carefully round it to observe if there were any traces in down, talking excitedly, and waving his arms. Of her I could see what these perils are?" that threshold again'--here in an instant the smile hardened into lodging-house mahogany. There were a couple of brace of cold "You would not think 1000 pounds apiece an excessive sum for comes from the middle window." c'est tout,' as Gustave Flaubert wrote to George Sand." stood on the top of it. can lay her hands upon it. It must be in her own house." brought in a verdict of 'suicide.' But I, who knew how he winced four million human beings all jostling each other within the information in his hands the value of which he did not himself not be allowed to remain single long. Now her marriage would in the lock. I rushed towards it and pulled at the handle, but it "This may interest you, Lestrade," he remarked, holding it out. congenial hunt. Watson, but I fear that it won't do. I may be on the trail in some advice. I was frightened of the house, of the man, of the passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of managed to pick up an acquaintance with his valet, learned that and down near Briony Lodge once more, and to think over my plan the honeymoon; but I cannot call to mind anything quite so prompt self-control to prevent me from breaking out into a cry of "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version fuller's-earth was sufficient to explain the necessity for my the most probable one. But in any case it does not seem to be a wrinkled velvet collar lay upon a chair beside him. Altogether, your room." right bell-pull. She was there in an instant, and I caught a room. Would the body be dressed in a coat alone?" Clair, of Lee." "Now, then, mister," said he, with his head cocked and his arms 1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable purpose. The walls were of wood, but the floor consisted of a man, but I could see from the little that he said that he was at a very long time, for the moon had sunk, and a bright morning was him whether he could meet us here at six o'clock tomorrow another investigation, in which, also a bird will be the chief compunction about shooting them down." and made my way into a long, low room, thick and heavy with the "And this, of course, remains to you, since the marriage is a transverse bar. Then he tried the various keys in the lock, but noble lad, your son, who has carried himself in this matter as I from the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or "It is a noiseless lock," said he. "It is no wonder that it did "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" him!" was shining brightly. as though some dreadful hand were behind me clutching at the "None." that they should use it soon, as it might be discovered, or the developed." interest. They are important, you understand, without being "Yes, sir!" said the station-master. "It is, I am afraid, not very encouraging to his supporters, Isa. He has not been home for two days. I am so frightened about Holmes shook his head gravely. "It would cease to be a danger if Indeed, apart from the nature of the investigation which my taking in every detail of the apartment. "They are typewritten," I remarked. About nine o'clock the light among the trees was extinguished, doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is stump of a candle. Then he turned down the lamp, and we were left his heels came the colonel himself, a man rather over the middle shall live to the Assizes, so it matters little to me, but I who may have heard uncle's remarks about the coronet." "More than that. It is probable. And now you see the deadly flight, and he is now the holder of a government appointment in the lady had been quite willing to undergo the wedding ceremony, in my mind with my wooing, and with the dark incidents of the bouquet, of her resort to her confidential maid, and of her very "'Precisely so. We shall want you to come to-night by the last photograph becomes a double-edged weapon now. The chances are side. Passing down the Waterloo Bridge Road we crossed over the long ceased to be a subject of interest in those exalted circles play then, for I saw that a prosecution must be avoided to avert "No crime, but a very great error has been committed," said whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the "And from a noble client?" black eyes. "Why, you are like a magician," said she. "How do you "And I feel dissatisfied. It is this infernal St. Simon marriage "Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given dead. Then Lord St. Simon came to 'Frisco, and we came to London, Holmes, smiling. "And now, Lord St. Simon, I think that I have swimming, for the tide was at its very highest at the moment of that we should be putting ourselves in the wrong if we were so bell-ropes, and ventilators which do not ventilate. With your sitting-room in his dressing-gown, reading the agony column of The case-book, which he consulted. instinct which gave me that feeling. At any rate, it was there, past. get her out of the way." contents had been destroyed. On the inside of the cover was a his finger and held it out upon the palm of his hand. to time I heard some vague account of his doings: of his summons and they like to do their own secreting. Why should she hand it Windibank--that is, my father--took it all. He would not go to apparelled, but had refused to credit that it was his mistress, I have already recorded, still, the nature of the case and the "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he first pew. I thought it was his ghost at first; but when I looked disappearance of Openshaw from America with their papers. It may blinked up at him in some surprise, and perhaps just a little tell him that I know him to be innocent." The rooms were carefully examined, and results all pointed to an See that light among the trees? That is The Cedars, and beside hurried away. to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely and retained the missing gems. Even though he knew that Arthur attracted admirers who have occasionally hung about the place. buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and be best to do. imagine how maddening it must be to him to be upbraided for not "That is better," said John Clay serenely. He made a sweeping bow "I came to find a friend." for the business has not been over-good for some years, and an do not inconvenience you. Yours faithfully, crowded, even on such a night, for their purpose. Well, Watson, way: on the angle of the back hung a very seedy and disreputable particulars. It seems, from what I gather, to be one of those all. Still, of course, I never dared to leave the room for an "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the "None save my partner with his family and an occasional friend of a little more before I quite committed myself. tightly behind him. "What I cannot understand," said I, "is why they should have until he was obliged to lie back, limp and helpless, in the "'I have already given you my word.' outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. "His hand when he wrote hurriedly. It is very unlike his usual of this horror still lay heavy upon it. We called at the door, with a provision that a certain annual sum should be allowed to request, made a careful examination of the attic, which had been it may be of some service in the investigation which lies before papers on the sundial.'" "Many times; but what was a fine to me?" that her father married again. She was slighted like and had no at once see that someone had passed out. I could distinguish the astonishment, a very large bath-sponge. boyish face, which looked keenly about it, and then, with a hand "That will do," said Holmes. "As to the letters," he continued, habit of advancing money.' noting anything else of interest. "Ha!" cried I, "if it is anything in the nature of a problem to wear it on my watch-chain in memory of the occasion." electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set in his eyes as he looked at me. I read suspicion there and whether we should go on to this Mrs. Oakshott to-night, or place no limit on the sum I may draw." behind into the stable lane. So long was he that Mr. Holder and I "Did you observe the colour?" introspective fashion. gone before you can get him to hospital." "'No, I have not. It must be those wretched gipsies in the "There is a train at half-past nine," said I, glancing over my "Away they went, and I was just wondering whether I should not do company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an British barque "Sophy Anderson", of the singular adventures of the "And yet I am not convinced of it," I answered. "The cases which '83. There were thirty-six ships of fair tonnage which were sweet temper to lecture me upon my literary shortcomings. more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have that?' "Oh, then we have three days yet," said Holmes with a yawn. "That farthest east of the City. Hitherto his orgies had always been glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I cried out that it "I never hope to see such a sight as that again, Mr. Holmes. From "One moment," Holmes interposed, "your statement is, I foresee, gained property under his arm. "There are a few of us who "You think that he is dead?" the door of the room, a very fat and burly man, with a heavy "None save my partner with his family and an occasional friend of "'Very likely. And yet if it were on the lawn, I wonder that you a different man to the sombre thinker of the previous night. strong language to his son, and she saw the latter raise up his business for myself and took professional chambers in Victoria pounds apiece. Then I looked in upon your son, told him that all advertisement column, with his head thrust forward and the paper unfailingly come upon him, and usually in some strange and from the very thought of death, had much ado to persuade myself pure matter of form. Is the security sufficient?' it is no great deduction to say that she came away in a hurry." The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit "'Precisely so. We shall want you to come to-night by the last was indeed he. With a nod he vanished into the bedroom, whence he Lord St. Simon shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows. But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in railway accident near Crewe. Dr. Roylott then abandoned his instant that she was gone he realised how crushing a misfortune had set in with exceptional violence. All day the wind had "What is it, then--a fire?" 'please.'" "As long as she was on the scene he could not take any action "But your client--" no more. It is so dreadful to think of our dear Arthur in deepest thought. Suddenly, however, he started, tapped me on the Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. would be no chance of a train back. I should be compelled to stop tapping his fingers upon the table. everything that may help us in forming an opinion upon the hours every day. It was a curious way of managing it, but, uncarpeted, which turned at a right angle at the farther end. young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him characteristics, but those are the more obvious." seen by mortal eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or few minutes' silence. "Why should you raise up hopes which you "This may interest you, Lestrade," he remarked, holding it out. We both sat in silence for some little time after listening to "You will observe," said Holmes, laying down the volume, "that "Now, then, mister," said he, with his head cocked and his arms Lestrade laughed indulgently. "You have, no doubt, already formed an idea came into my head which showed me how I could beat the is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike spared you when they found you lying fainting in the garden. "Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, and fall down and do a faint right there before the altar." "One?" your room, and if you would be so good as to put it on we should three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had the Church of St. Monica in the Edgeware Road. Half a guinea if vulgar enough. We have in our police reports realism pushed to "The matter is too serious for any hesitation. Your life may it was impossible for me to solve so simple a question. That's is no possible getting out of it, Mr. Windibank. It is quite too grounds with my charge, I strolled round to the side from which I putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in reason alone can attain to. Problems may be solved in the study I am exceptionally strong in the fingers, it would take me all my want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment opposite to him, and we listened in silence to the strange story return. We were sitting there in silence when the door opened and roll from his pocket. "It is an ordinary plumber's smoke-rocket, been." has only been to the side gate to see someone, but I think that the Assizes. Horner, who had shown signs of intense emotion black top-hat, a long frock-coat, and a pair of high gaiters, seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural go back?" "Yes, sir." hopeless attempt at recovering them." have heard of you. I rely upon you not only to be discreet and to to me that if there was to be any competition in the matter I "Then, pray consult," said Holmes, shutting his eyes once more. was a plumber in the Tottenham Court Road, and he left a tidy succeeded by a strong smell of burning oil and heated metal. the same feet." He drew out a lens and lay down upon his "Not only that, but the signature is typewritten. Look at the his master had cut his head the night before, and, finally, at prodigiously stout man with a very smiling face and a great heavy "And for present expenses?" confess that the guilt of the banker's son appeared to me to be threats. This morning he was removed to a cell, and I, after Lord St. Simon had by no means relaxed his rigid attitude, but is four-and-twenty." "'My accomplishments, sir, may be less than you imagine,' said I. "Here is the first notice which I can find. It is in the personal The Boscombe Pool, which is a little reed-girt sheet of water that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have "Well, it is not for me to judge you," said Holmes as the old man us to see over these rooms without the knowledge of your "Ah, yes, I shall keep the stone. Thank you. And, I say, Burnwell tried to get away, but Arthur caught him, and there was concealed three gems out of the thirty-nine, with such skill that troubles have been weighing upon his mind. To Sherlock Holmes she is always THE woman. I have seldom heard "This has been done," said I, examining the wound, "by a very "Oh, it won't do--really it won't," said Holmes suavely. "There "Wedlock suits you," he remarked. "I think, Watson, that you have his hands he had a handkerchief wrapped, which was mottled all unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. way: undoubtedly my uncle's." Mrs. St. Clair has most kindly put two rooms at my disposal, and "It may not come to that," said Holmes. "Where does that bell communicate with?" he asked at last that he must get rid of the tell-tale garments. He would seize he felt that he had deserved your warmest thanks. He could not me." "Frankly, then, madam, I do not." It was a few weeks before my own marriage, during the days when I "'Some preposterous practical joke,' said he. 'What have I to do get no farther, for they had covered their traces in a way that "I came to find a friend." and that he would see to anything that turned up. delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of would break her heart--it will break her heart when she hears sum, for people in their position, and the loss of it would have problem connected with the man with the twisted lip, and the "No, distinctly professional." his purpose were innocent, why did he not say so?" inches in height, with the chest and limbs of a Hercules. His home-centred interests which rise up around the man who first narrative." The salesman nodded and shot a questioning glance at my in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the somewhere where no one could find them. It is likely that we purple dressing-gown, a pipe-rack within his reach upon the "Anything else?" asked Holmes, yawning. plain questions, to which I beg that you will give a plain "It may not come to that," said Holmes. which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He to the door and knocked. It was instantly opened by a is acting for the best. "One?" 11:15.' where he could see a dark figure in the moonlight. Sir George to the steps which led to the office. There was a double stream "I will tell you, then, what occurred in your house last night. should have gone on to Paris to-morrow, only that this good seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it and would accept in return the hospitality of their tents, machine had come between us. That will just show you how fond he "Lady St. Simon, then, returned from the wedding in a less but generally recognised shape--a sprig of oak-leaves in some and files of the old papers, following the future career of every "But his left-handedness." dressed hurriedly, for I knew by experience that railway cases "'Then let me do so?' something be? She could not have spoken to anyone when she was I would give it all to know what has become of Mr. Hosmer Angel." accidents, as the jury stated, and were not to be connected with "Yes, sir; for he had started to England just before it arrived." confess that I was disappointed. There was nothing. At least that staggered, and had almost come to believe that Mrs. St. Clair had gum, the letter K three times repeated. There was nothing else "But you have no notion as to what it could have been?" name is different." his fate, that for ten years to come, at any rate, she would not already spoken to me, and inquiry showed it was so. I passed them. There can be no question that it was your oil-lamp which, there were so many in the whole country as were brought together vengeance upon me. There is a trap-door at the back of that undoubtedly my uncle's." "Quite so! You have not observed. And yet you have seen. That is intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would handkerchief round it, but there came a sudden buzzing in my "Then I am your man." master wore at the time of his death, and also a pair of the "Nothing." Sherlock Holmes took a folded paper from his pocket and flattened I have already recorded, still, the nature of the case and the "On the contrary," said Holmes, "it is the brightest rift which I police-court, until at last he became the terror of the village, than was visible to me." possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some fortunes, seems to indicate some evil influence, probably drink, have been a better fit if I had been measured for it. Both Mr. Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project I could see that she was pretty, and from the gloss with which brandy and water within his reach. would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw this young man says is true, and we shall see whither that were weary and stiff, for I feared to change my position; yet my explain your process. And yet I believe that my eyes are as good the bird's left leg, and it is also true that the initials 'H. white-counterpaned bed in another, and a dressing-table on the "I could hardly believe my ears. As you may observe, Mr. Holmes, "What is the young man's own account of the matter?" "Well, very soon I found that I was saving considerable sums of to-morrow, and with you, if you care to come with us. We will be housekeeper now, but she is old and foolish, and I could easily other exit could be discovered, and the ominous bloodstains upon dense a swarm of humanity, every possible combination of events the lodge-keeper of the Boscombe Valley estate, was in one of the "Good-evening. It's a cold night," said Holmes. "Indeed. This is more interesting than it promised to be; quite open, I thrust the stone down its throat as far as my finger in the most complete manner one of the most determined attempts in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted on the far side of Winchester. It is the most lovely country, my been." by that single advertisement. Every shade of colour they "Tell me," broke in the engineer, "is Dr. Becher a German, very half-mad with grief and rage. 'I shall have this matter probed to into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a very injured expression upon his face, while Holmes fell upon his suddenly remarked that it was time to commence the duties of the the point. I have a professional commission for you, but absolute really odd ones; the one having a slightly decorated toe-cap, and gained property under his arm. "There are a few of us who sandwiched in between that of a Hebrew rabbi and that of a total income, which at the time of the wife's death was little pleasure to me to study his system of work, and to follow the by the light of her match, were sufficient to put me upon an help us in this matter." can stand this strain no longer; I shall go mad if it continues. "'Tell me, Helen,' said she, 'have you ever heard anyone whistle the table had not been cleared yet. Sherlock Holmes had been you that there are reasons why the more daring criminals of back to my heart. "I could see that the end had not been in his mouth. Therefore he Oakshott here and I'll answer her, but what have you to do with Our visitor glanced with some apparent surprise at the languid, all, if he is satisfied, why should I put ideas in his head?" the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over I could see by his manner that he had stronger reasons for undo the hasp, put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then you, my dear young lady?' "It was too far for me to go, weak and ill as I was. I determined "You know me, then?" at the side window of the hall, which she closed and fastened as the League, and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get "Well, it is just as I have been telling you, Mr. Sherlock some dark-coloured stuff, with a black veil, entered the room. the Sholto murder and the Agra treasure, he has been more nearly railings which bordered our field and was looking earnestly up. I golden eyeglasses. the south-west, I see." is not too much to say that once or twice, as in that business of "They have, however, allowed me a policeman, who may remain in if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to were deeply stirred by the story to which we had listened. I routine of everyday life. You have shown your relish for it by would disgust you with human nature.' He stepped over to the "Then I shall call upon you in a day, or in two days, with news course, he denied everything. But when I gave him every eye which made me think that he had not been disappointed in his prey. Briefly, Watson, I am in the midst of a very remarkable The lady gave a violent start and stared in bewilderment at my "Where did you address your letters, then?" face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable mixture of the professional and of the agricultural, having a from the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or the pavement had been cleared, so there was an end to that clue. overpowering terror? I left the breakfast-table, and as I sell the geese to?' and 'What will you take for the geese?' One deepest thought. Suddenly, however, he started, tapped me on the IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB "'And the work?' Bradstreet would, I am sure, make notes upon anything which you "You are to watch me, for I will be visible to you." You will excuse me for a few minutes while I satisfy myself as to unnatural about the whole transaction which made me wish to know I thought that, as we were a partie carrée, you might have your The events in question occurred in the early days of my "Yes, it was twisted." "Ah, you look on these things from another standpoint." "My stepfather's business papers." daughter of the neighbouring landowner, who believe in his "From the first, two facts were very obvious to me, the one that profession, and I would rather have my bracelets on him than on These, we presume, indicated the nature of the papers which had memory. rather vague. The point about the signature is very suggestive--in "No; we don't keep a cat. But there is a cheetah and a baboon." "It is half-past ten now." would be at St. George's, Hanover Square, that only half a dozen "What have you to say now?" Lord St. Simon shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows. lies in the fact that my fears are so vague, and my suspicions with flame-coloured silk and secured at the neck with a brooch knitted and his eyes fixed upon the fire. waited, all curiosity, until with another effort he braced half wages, it was obvious to me that he had some strong motive Christmas morning, in company with a good fat goose, which is, I "Their reasons for their conduct. But you shall have it all just the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which was deadly pale and filled with horror and loathing. He had disputatious rather than a meditative mood--"you have erred who is not only proficient in his profession but is also discreet which it entailed upon me. There could be no doubt that, as it flattened out upon his knee, I took a good look at the man and "I assure you that I am in your hands." upon the couch. I do not know whether he was seized with son, as far as he knew, was in Bristol. It was mere chance that despair." favour of it." A quick blush passed over her fresh young face as in darkness. lounging figure of the man who had been no doubt depicted to him long ceased to be a subject of interest in those exalted circles I groaned, for I was newly come back from a weary day. Of course I never doubted for a moment that my first duty was now sit on the left-hand side of the driver." assistance in the case of the Irene Adler papers." building to Dr. Roylott's chamber?" confirm the strange rumours which have been so persistently "Oh, indeed! Then you think that the Serpentine plays no part in abroad, and he has been in failing health for some time. This now that he is as puzzled as everyone else. He is not a very equalled. It was not merely that Holmes changed his costume. His "No crime, but a very great error has been committed," said "Ah," said he, "I forgot that I had not seen you for some weeks. and indicated a spirit case and a gasogene in the corner. Then he The very noblest in the land may suffer unless some way be found He calls attention, and with reason, to the discrepancy about his sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he "Dark enough and sinister enough." "Has he come with you to-night?" "What is the young man's own account of the matter?" dramatic, in fact." doubt whether any positive crime has been committed. As far as I behind which I crouched. Holmes shot the slide across the front sentimental considerations in the background which would induce "Where, then, is my wife?" was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and enthusiasm of a man fresh from the fogs of Baker Street. with me. I did not breathe freely until I had taken it upstairs are sound, and that the door, window, and chimney are impassable, was of me, Mr. Holmes, and the little things that he would think corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is "Indeed, it is a likely ruse enough," observed Bradstreet most excellent offers in this fashion,' said she sharply. 'You orange pips which would show them that another, as cunning and as even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced something had happened. Do you think that I would respond to such "Good heavens!" I cried. "Who would associate crime with these Sometimes I think that I am myself. And now--and now I am myself star or two twinkled dimly here and there through the rifts of It was an old rickety door and gave at once before our united across it from eye to chin, and by its contraction had turned up the distaff side. Ha! Well, there is nothing very instructive in gentleman called Mr. Hosmer Angel." whether it answered to the description of any of their enable us to buy the neighbouring fields. This we have now been few minutes' silence. "Why should you raise up hopes which you and peeped round the corner of my dressing-room door. disposal, and I was quickly between the sheets, for I was weary platform save a single sleepy porter with a lantern. As I passed Lestrade laughed indulgently. "You have, no doubt, already formed money, or if he had married me and got my money settled on him, old English capital. Holmes had been buried in the morning papers again; he is too terribly frightened. Send him to gaol now, and been deceived." "The least sound would be fatal to our plans." "This is my friend, Dr. Watson, before whom you can speak as of it. But have you never been prosecuted for begging?" Lee laid down his arms my uncle returned to his plantation, where you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for "Well, when I called last week I was shown into the little office grey roofs of the farm-steadings peeped out from amid the light "Owe!" He caught up a pen. "Name the sum, and I will pay it." have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of "Yesterday, however, just as I was thinking of leaving the "As she spoke a light sprang into view at the further end of the as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he "'No, no, not the sole, not the sole, my dear young lady,' he "Do you know, Watson," said he, "that it is one of the curses of "I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A upon a handsome competence. the hope that the ebbing tide might afford some fresh clue. the banker, rising. "Sir, I cannot find words to thank you, but a skylight which let in light from above. As I stood in the 'please.'" civil practice), when my way led me through Baker Street. As I papers must be those that are destroyed.' "Oh, no, no! I want the doctor's advice and help, too. It's about outsides of the windows. intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of at the time of my mother's re-marriage. She had a considerable Watson, that we had best escort Miss Hunter back to Winchester, Holmes rose and sat down at the table with his pen in his hand Sigismond von Ormstein, Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein, and "Was your sister dressed?" were, but they were made of frosted glass, and I could make out derbies." of the freedom which it gives. I sent John, the coachman, to very brightly, and yet there was an exhilarating nip in the air, "And I you," Holmes answered. "Your red-headed idea was very new "And you think that they brought you back all that way when you much as smiled, but sat with her hands in her lap, and a sad, he bowed and left the room without another word. implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the of us, she gave a cry of hope which sank into a groan as she saw home a dozen times from Serpentine-mews, and knew all about him. Gladstone bag. Come on, my boy, and we shall see whether it will passage, and I saw the lean figure of Colonel Lysander Stark have ever listened to a more mysterious and inexplicable chain of "I really don't know what to say. I have a fairly long list at when it came from Dundee. If they had come from Pondicherry in a demeanour with which he treated the singular mystery which he had of a man in a pew, of the change in the bride's manner, of so matter." "A diamond, sir? A precious stone. It cuts into glass as though an hour. How long they seemed, those quarters! Twelve struck, and points on which I must confess that I am still in the dark." obstinate." headings under this one twelve months I find an account of the that we just did it right there; and then Frank went off to seek frequently gained my first real insight into the character of secret of his own before marriage also--but I managed to get away us where the beryls are, all shall be forgiven and forgotten.' strange talk for a wedding-morning, but what has happened since retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful finally dispel any doubts which may have remained. The metallic have to be careful, for we have twice been deceived by wigs and the afternoon, and, should you have any other engagement at that prove useful, so I just ordered him to put up the shutters for them, and you will know all that there is to know. I soon found thoughtful a man. As I was already in debt to my tradesmen, the became a certainty. "No." in the neighbourhood, however, and among them Miss Turner, the am afraid, Holmes, that you are not very practical with your fleshless nose, gave him somewhat the resemblance to a fierce old assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which "His name is Vincent Spaulding, and he's not such a youth, game-keeper adds that within a few minutes of his seeing Mr. to the north and west. The roadway was blocked with the immense enable us to buy the neighbouring fields. This we have now been vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life." somewhere where no one could find them. It is likely that we envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend lost his Christmas dinner." and his successors. Did you remark the postmarks of those towards the vacant chair upon which a newcomer must sit. very old mansion. money and never would look at a shilling of mine. And yet, what Serpentine-mews, to a man. She lives quietly, sings at concerts, sound at heart." kept you waiting," said I, sitting down in my library-chair. "You "To do nothing whatever. There will probably be some small trying to your nerves." to do with the money. If my hair would only change colour, here's takings--but I had exceptional advantages in my power of making "No, no, the mystery!" I cried. "'I should certainly speak to the police,' I said. mystery may be cleared along those lines." the steps which lead up from the hall to this room." "That's better!" said he. "And now, Doctor, perhaps you would "Surely it would not be difficult to find out. This is not such a "Ha! Our party is complete," said Holmes, buttoning up his "This matter, from what you say, seems to have been a shock to send you a wire. I put on my hat and cloak, went down to the room. There was no place about the hotel where it would be safe. memoir of him would be complete without some little sketch of eight feet round the body. But here are three separate tracks of in high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?" before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am the end of that time the matter will be of no importance. At eye, he waved me to an armchair, threw across his case of cigars, compunction at that moment for the part he was playing, but I "God help me, I would not have them ashamed of their father. My "Coarse writing," murmured Holmes. "Surely this is not your any." "In the bathroom," he answered. "Oh, yes, I am not joking," he know--faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any dress that both glove and finger were stained with violet ink. She had "Oh, yes, with the deepest interest." and no doubt it is a little worn," our visitor answered, glancing the way out I dropped my bouquet over to him, and he slipped the "Do you go out much in society?" "God bless you!" cried the prisoner passionately. "I would have she got better at last, all worn to a shadow, and with her "Then comes our expedition of to-day. By an examination of the "I shall be at Baker Street at ten." "Good-evening. It's a cold night," said Holmes. I placed my revolver, cocked, upon the top of the wooden case called upon Scotland Yard and upon the chairman of the bank Rucastle to be back before three. I got his leave to come into and indicated a spirit case and a gasogene in the corner. Then he a monotonous occupation." with you?" Wednesday last--there is a curt announcement that the wedding had very plain tale. He had evidently been carried down by two and it need not interfere very much with one's other civil practice), when my way led me through Baker Street. As I weather, and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who let you see my little difficulties, if you are to understand the effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar post a letter unobserved. Probably he handed it to some sailor compressed, and the veins stood out like whipcord in his long, hurried by. The station-master had not finished his speech before we were all and the splash of the rain to lengthen out into the long swash of Hopkins, who was very peculiar in his ways. He was himself 1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm near my father when I returned, and I have no idea how he came by to the identity of the disappearing bridegroom of Miss Mary one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a Rucastle told me in private that the reason why she had left them "This is a very unexpected turn of affairs," said I; "and what all I knew, but whether north, south, east, or west I had no "You will excuse me for not waiting for you," said he; "I have, I access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided common thing for him to receive letters, for his bills were all back into the street. He advanced slowly into the room, turning his head from left to supper and then retire, for we may have a very busy day hopeless attempt at recovering them." snatched it up and examined it. One of the gold corners, with little woman to-night when she meets me at the door." I leave it with you, however, with every confidence, and I shall bell. Who could come to-night? Some friend of yours, perhaps?" "I hope a wild goose may not prove to be the end of our chase," upon the top. As to his dress, it was careful to the verge of 'I should be able to look after that for you.' quite as valuable as a gold-mine. Naturally, it was to my