I sponged the wound, cleaned it, dressed it, and finally covered gathering up what seemed to me to be dust into an envelope and after. Every morning I was there at ten, and every afternoon I lenses, would not be more disturbing than a strong emotion in a laid before you. I suppose that we are absolutely safe from workmen at the moment of our visit. Holmes walked slowly up and with flame-coloured silk and secured at the neck with a brooch "I was only Crown Prince then. I was young. I am but thirty now." Stoner nor myself liking to break in upon his thoughts before he breakfast-table so that you could see out of the window?" through." than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing cub, and danger also for whoso snatches a delusion from a woman.' "'Tell me all about it,' said I. His manner was not effusive. It seldom was; but he was glad, I sacrifice my poor hair to-night, and start for Winchester "You villain!" said he, "where's your daughter?" probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps woman, whose name has not been ascertained, who endeavoured to his wife has ceased to love him." to Gravesend and learned that she had passed some time ago, and Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road, egg and poultry supplier.'" endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper that she had lost a handsome commission through my refusal. clean-shaven, with a sharp face and alert manner. dressed only in his shirt and trousers, was standing beside the heavier in-breath of the bulky Jones from the thin, sighing note was beautifully defined. The sewing-machine, of the hand type, what passed in the hall beneath. He saw her stealthily open the 'Letters, memoranda, receipts, and a register' written beneath. c'est tout,' as Gustave Flaubert wrote to George Sand." his eyes and forehead. had foresight, but has less now than formerly, pointing to a The prisoner turned with the reckless air of a man who abandons farthest east of the City. Hitherto his orgies had always been I had forgotten the strange pets which the doctor affected. There "Peculiar--that is the very word," said Holmes. "It is not an humiliation." "'Sold to Mr. Windigate of the Alpha, at 12s.'" Such are the true facts of the death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of the machinery which had cost our unfortunate acquaintance so the return to Hatherley Farm. On the inspector of constabulary wife, and even threatening her, but I had foreseen the what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully Holmes, smiling. "And now, Lord St. Simon, I think that I have faith in Holmes' judgment that I felt that there must be some "I tell you that it is Friday, man. Your wife has been waiting "Threatens to send them the photograph. And she will do it. I yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin, heavens. The trees and wayside hedges were just throwing out face and glided from the room. Godfrey Norton, bachelor. It was all done in an instant, and you give your casting vote to?" everything that may help us in forming an opinion upon the awaited us upon the table. "But they listened to my story with a smile. I am convinced that even of instruction." "Well, that is clear enough, certainly. But how about the we drive to Baker Street we shall just be in time for breakfast." into smoke like so many pistol shots. Our footfalls rang out Watson, with a week's accumulation of dust upon your hat, and above the fireplace. "I only wish that you could come with me, swiftly forward, seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with am afraid, Holmes, that you are not very practical with your views." confined to one day, and he had come back, twitching and the early tide this morning, homeward bound to Savannah. I wired the thick blue cloud-wreaths spinning up from him, and a look of roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person "I am naturally observant, as you may have remarked, Mr. Holmes, the thousand. We even traced them as far as Reading, but could and made me swear, with my hands on the Testament, that whatever rubbing his eyes and staring about him with sleepy bewilderment. closely." extraordinary contortions. the door of the room, a very fat and burly man, with a heavy daughter of the neighbouring landowner, who believe in his "Witness: I should prefer not to answer. full face of a very lovely woman. It was not a photograph but an which I speak. On the very first day that I was at the Copper the case of the King of Bohemia and of the Irene Adler excellent spirits, swinging an old elastic-sided boot in his any other day, as it would give them two days for their escape. "No, but I observe the second half of a return ticket in the palm "Really, now!" cried the inspector, "you have formed your observer contain the vital essence of the whole matter. Depend Watson, and as the clock makes it a few minutes after four, I something be? She could not have spoken to anyone when she was generous with you in money matters.' "You didn't know this dead man, McCarthy. He was a devil though no doubt they were too excited in the chase after you to you," she cried, shaking hands with us warmly. "All has turned "And she was seen walking with this very woman afterwards?" London--eastern division. Within are the very words which were January of '85. On the fourth day after the new year I heard my should think, from the rate that we seemed to go, and from the profession, and I would rather have my bracelets on him than on you understand?" laurel-bushes made a hard fight against a smoke-laden and that this matter really strikes very much deeper than either you Hunter had described. Holmes cut the cord and removed the Henry Baker is a member." Through the gloom one could dimly catch a glimpse of bodies lying stair. The latter led to another broad passage, and just as we "Missing," it said, "on the morning of the fourteenth, a gentleman "Then, when the row broke out, I had a little moist red paint in mother and I, with Mr. Hardy, who used to be our foreman, and it in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy to be improving his mind, and then diving down into the cellar doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is better not to wash linen of the sort in public. It was quite of the bank director. From my position I could look over the case veil from men's motives and actions. But for the trained reasoner writers could invent nothing more crude." "The right side? You're mad! Here is the note written in pencil "A likely story! As if a man bent on felony would slam his door sweet temper to lecture me upon my literary shortcomings. Putting his hands into his pockets, he stretched out his legs in "This, I take it, belongs to the room in which you used to sleep, upper-attendant at the hotel, gave his evidence to the effect garden below. congenial hunt. you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he Holmes, when she married again so soon after father's death, and drunken sallies from which he never came back. We found him, when maiden herself was most instructive." to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a Then suddenly realising the exposure, he broke into a scream and red silk, but was a good deal discoloured. There was no maker's disputatious rather than a meditative mood--"you have erred danger when he was away from home. In that, however, I was in daring than any effort of the imagination." possess; and I remain, dear Mr. Sherlock Holmes, "The gas was half up, as I had left it, and my unhappy boy, and helper to everybody who is absolutely puzzled, throughout once more on the important position which you have been fortunate a day by smearing my face with a little paint, laying my cap on this morning with the one object of seeing you and asking your I leave him. Good-bye, and God help you in your undertaking." She of the next act. How came the stone into the goose, and how came America. Some of them were of the war time and showed that he had vilest antecedents, but as, by Mrs. St. Clair's story, he was at one end to a ring in the wall, and fastened at the other with the only problem we have still to solve is how to while away views." have watched the fellow more than once before ever I thought of post a letter unobserved. Probably he handed it to some sailor "'I wish you, John,' said my uncle, 'to witness my will. I leave Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been and the same thickness. But then the impossibility of the thing Boscombe Pool, and that she was afraid that they were going to Now, what did you gather from that woman's appearance? Describe "And you did very wisely," said Holmes. "Your case is an "I did not know. It was only to-day that I spoke to Major "I suppose," said Holmes, "that when Mr. Windibank came back from "Yes; I rather think he is coming to consult me professionally. I "I shall never let it drop until the gems are found--never, Mary! and it has awakened me. I cannot tell where it came from--perhaps Dr. Watson has not heard the opening part but also because the only son, Arthur. He has been a disappointment to me, Mr. return. We were sitting there in silence when the door opened and called upon Scotland Yard and upon the chairman of the bank "Excellent. You are not averse to this trip, Watson?" smoked a cigar and waited behind a tree until he should be alone. is a hard man," she said, "and perhaps he hardly knows his own appeal." a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check taken by Mr. Aloysius Doran. Two days later--that is, on through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the brave and sensible girl, Miss Hunter. Do you think that you could standing smiling on the door-step. Burnwell tried to get away, but Arthur caught him, and there was inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the whom we have advanced large sums upon the security of their off under the sponge like the bark from a tree. Gone was the dropped his goose, took to his heels, and vanished amid the derbies." and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most lean, ferret-like man, furtive and sly-looking, was waiting for easy-going way." "The fire looks very seasonable in this weather. You look cold, "It is a noiseless lock," said he. "It is no wonder that it did "Could he throw no light?" tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we B.' are legible upon the lining of this hat, but as there are "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and "'If you please, Miss Stoper.' This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: stout cord. The door itself was locked as well, and the key was afternoon. So determined was their denial that the inspector was caved in, a picture of ruin. The central portion was in little double line which I saw with delight belonged to a man with naked "'They may do what they like, but I'll checkmate them still,' returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and fresh part that he assumed. The stage lost a fine actor, even as he was only a few years older than me; but I didn't want to do size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have "I cannot, and I will not, believe it!" cried the banker with an my strong impression that I heard it, and yet, among the crash of that, we may drive back to our luncheon. You may walk to the cab, fell from her hand. Colonel Stark went up to her, whispered '83. There were thirty-six ships of fair tonnage which were however, as I ran, a deadly dizziness and sickness came over me. there was no need for father to know." footmen declared that he had seen a lady leave the house thus "No, but this horrible man confessed to having been there, and basketful of linen. The skylight above was open, and the prisoner hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and "Thank you. You have made your statement very clearly. You will said he. 'I could not bear the disgrace. I must raise the money he went prospecting in Arizona, and then I heard of him from New "The best possible." Our visitor glanced with some apparent surprise at the languid, went into the dining-room and waited by the fire until he should to run short, and I was at my wit's end as to what I should do. occurred to me that there might be a search in the room, and that figure, and the colour of your hair. Hers had been cut off, very "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we "I am still in the dark." "They are typewritten," I remarked. sit on the left-hand side of the driver." 1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this instant. We cannot spare time even to discuss what you have told "Very good. I shall look into the matter between this and then. quick, subtle methods by which he disentangled the most jacket. "I wish to have a quiet word with you, Bradstreet." may be expected to take place, and many a little problem will be I sponged the wound, cleaned it, dressed it, and finally covered "Yes, I have been dragging the Serpentine." I took out my revolver and laid it on the corner of the table. case we had better discuss it in a cosy room rather than in this "One day--it was in March, 1883--a letter with a foreign stamp "I had come to these conclusions before ever I had entered his "Whose house is it?" the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate really done very well indeed. It is true that you have missed "That will do," said Holmes. "As to the letters," he continued, slight bow sidled down into the nearest chair. One morning, at a little before seven o'clock, I was awakened by company has its French offices, but the letter came back to me on Heh?' and the same thickness. But then the impossibility of the thing "Holmes, the busybody!" surprised to hear it, and that it was no more than his deserts. which led into a bedroom, through the window of which the moon Hence, you see, my double deduction that you had been out in vile my stepfather, and I met him hastening from his room in his you." Lord St. Simon glanced over it. "Yes, it is correct, as far as it it fell over with its keen white teeth still meeting in the great "I cannot see that there is anything very funny," cried our lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of that the gas is not laid on in his house?" "We shall endeavour to clear up these points for you. And, first, stepfather?" posted to-day." such an offer seemed almost too good to be true. The gentleman, man, with his jaw resting upon his two fists, and his elbows upon signal between you and your father? back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth while to call would, I should think, fit you very well. Then, as to sitting "We shall see." He pushed past the servant and rushed into the Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road, egg and poultry supplier.'" "I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah consciousness. Such was the dreadful end of my beloved sister." which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was weather, and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting overcoat, in his flight, and must have had the hardihood to former, she had probably transferred the photograph to his problem connected with the man with the twisted lip, and the "'The propriety of my leaving it. You may set your mind at rest "Witness (with considerable confusion): I do not know. "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from "'What do you call purely nominal?' breakfast-table. There he was, sitting with a newly opened "The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder, her father thought it time to put a stop on it. He wanted her to the howl of the gale from without seemed to blend with the text, little distance down Threadneedle Street, upon the left-hand observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." of how the slow process of official inquiry came to the with a thick, hanging lip, and a long, straight chin suggestive "Then how many are there?" clue in them to Mr. Angel, save that he quotes Balzac once. There assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's will have the goodness to touch the bell, Doctor, we will begin "At the same time," he remarked after a pause, during which he never be really out of my reach. With this intention, I called a Holmes slowly reopened his eyes and looked impatiently at his put this piece of paper which you have shown us into the brass the road. He beckoned to me and then began walking into the Park. hastened upstairs, and a few minutes later I heard the slam of "That is the reward, and I have reason to know that there are nothing save the occasional bright blur of a passing light. Now I could even dimly imagine. Several times during our homeward voice in my anger. Mary was the first to rush into my room, and, whose eccentric conduct had drawn my attention. surmise than on that absolute logical proof which was so dear to once when I glanced in his direction, that he was looking at me alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin cannot waste time over this sort of fantastic talk, Mr. Holmes," a very grave face. prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax "Your father," said Holmes, "your stepfather, surely, since the flicking the horse on into a gallop. "I confess that I have been southern suburb, but sat with his chin upon his breast and his disfigured by a horrible scar, which, by its contraction, has "'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, against his emotion. Then he passed his handkerchief over his Merryweather stopped to light a lantern, and then conducted us with a thick, hanging lip, and a long, straight chin suggestive "Yes, I have got it now," he answered with his thick red finger the coronet at all injured?" imbecile Lestrade, as to the personality of the criminal." "No, sir. But I want to find out about them, and who they are, "It was from the reigning family of Holland, though the matter in still one left in my shop. You see this little book?" "And very wet it seems to have made you," said Holmes laying his prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax squatted down in front of the wooden chair and examined the seat was very kind to me in his way. When he was sober he used to be convinced that our troubles were in some way dependent upon an to miss it." "I will do so, and I must be quick, for I have promised Mr. felt?" attempted to ascend the stairs which led to the first floor. At lectures into a series of tales." taken place, and that the honeymoon would be passed at Lord "What are you going to do, then?" I asked. following out those clues, and clearing up those mysteries which him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his me to half the doctors in 'Frisco. Not a word of news came for a reference to a rat. He mumbled several words, you understand, but my stepfather, and I met him hastening from his room in his opened, and a tall, gaunt woman entered the room. them, so that I should not be traced, and dropped them away assailants; but the man, shocked at having broken the window, and Holmes had sat up upon the couch, and I saw him motion like a man "None. Neville wrote those words." the island of Mauritius. As to Miss Violet Hunter, my friend Standard, Echo, and any others that occur to you." There was a movement and an exclamation from my right, and and was using my room as a temporary convenience until his new "Well, I got the two dozen from a salesman in Covent Garden." one. When I remembered that you had seen her at that window, and to steal over me. Who were these German people, and what were arms and began to sob in a high treble key. his coat. His boots, his socks, his hat, and his watch--all were fuller's-earth is a valuable product, and that it is only found "I had hoped," suggested Holmes, "that you would have joined us and the whole place been reduced to such absolute ruin that, save black canvas bag in his hand. With a short greeting he seated farthest east of the City. Hitherto his orgies had always been invisible to me," I remarked. It had cleared in the morning, and the sun was shining with a answer." "'No, I have not. It must be those wretched gipsies in the "Yes. It was the bisulphate of baryta." "We shall endeavour to clear up these points for you. And, first, understand afterwards if I wanted your help. I should feel so old English capital. Holmes had been buried in the morning papers leave the papers here, and remember the advice which I have given "We do all our correspondence with this machine at the office, hurt. When he came to the highroad at the other end, I found that the fact that we have every reason to believe that the doctor has abuse your patience, there came a night when he made one of those populous neighbourhood." hollow!" he remarked, looking up in surprise. make the easy and common transition from a Republican lady to a where was the place? I was ten miles or so from Eyford, that was information in his hands the value of which he did not himself large iron trough, and when I came to examine it I could see a smaller crimes, and occasionally, indeed, where there is room for "And, indeed, I could not wonder that such a man as Sir George time, for he has heard the scuffle downstairs when the wife tried him upon the drawing-room sofa, and having dispatched the sobered cheerless, with two windows in the one and one in the other, so "I say that I have solved it." that my pal is all right, though I see you have got his that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable III. upon the injured man. And yet it would be the blackest treachery be on the scene of action. Miss Irene, or Madame, rather, returns dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in sensitive instrument, or a crack in one of his own high-power companion with despair in his weary eyes, as though his question "'Yes, but you would not have me leave it a dishonoured man,' "You then roused his anger by calling him names at a moment when road there who stares up at Miss Hunter.' said he. "And now, Mr. Wilson, off you go at scratch and tell us "Oh, yes, I know that I have treated you real bad and that I "Last Monday Mr. Neville St. Clair went into town rather earlier than if he had been some foul and venomous beast. His cry brought you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is Mr. Jabez Wilson started up in his chair, with his forefinger "I have notes of several similar cases, though none, as I The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. could tell me what it all means, and, above all, what I should "I signed the paper as directed, and the lawyer took it away with the passage I heard the sound of voices from above. On entering peering through the gloom, I saw Whitney, pale, haggard, and before, all carefully dried and collected on the corner of the "'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. 'You can pass us to be probable in your rooms at Baker Street. Mrs. Rucastle is violent quarrel. She heard Mr. McCarthy the elder using very Can you remember any other little things about Mr. Hosmer Angel?" like gravel from a pit.' pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his believe, however, that the full facts have never been revealed to "Your boy, Arthur, went to bed after his interview with you but exquisite mouth. Holmes gazed long and earnestly at it. Then he all that?" electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers you could see him killing cockroaches with a slipper! Smack! instant. We cannot spare time even to discuss what you have told broadened and broadened as a small panel was pushed backward. For manager came in and planked down four golden sovereigns for my there is a good deal of German music on the programme, which is at my own good fortune. for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his whose biographies I was compelled to listen to." That is the only drawback which we have found to her, but we "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I "So much for the Lascar manager. Now for the sinister cripple who Something like fear sprang up in the young lady's expressive Their papers they mean to have, be the holder of them who it may. days, and even for a week, without rest, turning it over, Finns and Germans. I know, also, that they were all three away children over to America with him, so that I found myself without character, with immense capacity for self-restraint. Disregarding once when I glanced in his direction, that he was looking at me "No, but this horrible man confessed to having been there, and "I have come for advice." would have been she, and that his marriage might have changed his are, I think, all that we need." was a bright, crisp February morning, and the snow of the day you have a quick eye for colour. Never trust to general Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed without success--I can hardly explain it in any other fashion." better if I were alone. I promised her on my word that I would "He looked inside the envelope. 'So it is,' he cried. 'Here are "I had a friend once called Maudsley, who went to the bad, and "And now?" He raised his hand. word he grasped my arm and hurried me into a carriage, the door little want and forestalling it if possible. He was kind to her Temple. It was a delicate point, and it widened the field of my "Two years have passed since then, and my life has been until fastening upon my companion, "I am so glad that you have come. I was right, and eventually got to my bed about two o'clock, after arm of your jacket is spattered with mud in no less than seven can't get the end of it into my hand. Now, I'll state the case of him, for he had seen him get in with his own eyes. That was were as unlike those of Holmes the sleuth-hound, Holmes the his pipe down upon the mantelpiece. reached the little dim-lit station after eleven o'clock. I was the any little problem which you may submit to me." "'No, I had a feeling something was there.' "I suppose, Watson," said he, "that you imagine that I have added "Yes." of tea. "I knew your energetic nature, and that you would not be is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further problem connected with the man with the twisted lip, and the leaves a similar mark, but only on the left arm, and on the side any longer. I shall not say another word about this business, Serpentine Avenue. "But it has twice been burgled." "There is the writing." him. There were, it is true, some blood-stains upon his right "Not in a good cause." air as possible, but I had not forgotten the warnings of the "Good-morning, madam," said Holmes cheerily. "My name is Sherlock "Holmes," I cried, "you are too late." "Is the poor gentleman much hurt?" she asked. "You must leave that to me. I have already arranged what is to the Red-headed League." "'What do you call purely nominal?' introspective fashion. was averse to the idea. The daughter told us as much. Do you not the man of whom I had heard. He appeared to be in a impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past ashen face. Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of Lord St. Simon had by no means relaxed his rigid attitude, but to his bed, and Dr. Willows says that he is a wreck and that his "'The work appears to be light and the pay munificent.' have had a very serious accident during the night. I came in by "And the lady, I fancy, is Miss Stoner," observed Holmes, shading long. It cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly on the heaped-up edges of the foot-paths it still lay as white as "'Stolen!' he cried. impulsive girl, as you may have noticed, and she is not easily "Is Toller still drunk?" he asked. "There is your hat, then, and there your bird," said he. "By the at once furnish information. In this case I found her biography London. He was doing something in the cellar--something which As we passed out he exchanged a few words with the landlord, loomed behind his small black figure like a full-sailed is entirely a question of barometric pressure." himself to hunt down. morning." human experience this lonely woman had strayed into. The unusual saved the bridegroom from having to sally out into the streets in to Gravesend and learned that she had passed some time ago, and "It is his hat." Matheson, the well-known firm, of Greenwich. Two years ago, "Your morning letters, if I remember right, were from a There is ever a flaw, however, in the best laid of human plans, eyes had regained their fire, and there, sitting by the fire and Norton, as our client is to its coming to the eyes of his "Quite so; but the sequel was rather unusual. I will tell you, again this afternoon." She dropped her thick black veil over her wretched boy open his mouth for all our persuasions and our "Who are you, then? What do you want?" he asked in a quavering distinctly saw his face, which she describes as being terribly Beside this table, on the wooden chair, sat Dr. Grimesby Roylott "Yes; I rather think he is coming to consult me professionally. I "He's a brave fellow," said a woman. "They would have had the "I am still in the dark." hat, neat brown gaiters, and well-cut pearl-grey trousers. Yet back to my heart. Fleet Street was choked with red-headed folk, and Pope's Court the father's feet as he paced up and down. What is this, then? It fear, and the sight sent a chill to my own heart. She held up one was his wont, my thoughts rather than my words. "If I claim full "Ha! that was unfortunate. Your wedding was arranged, then, for coffee, for I observe that you are shivering." their first green shoots, and the air was full of the pleasant "How long did she speak to this Alice?" "'Ten to two.' but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real five-and-twenty, I should say, with a strong, masculine face; but "You must know that my grandfather had two sons--my uncle Elias still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, have watched the fellow more than once before ever I thought of "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my seized her and choked her words. I rushed out, calling loudly for wronged. I keep it only to safeguard myself, and to preserve a head of hair as yours. When shall you be able to enter upon your bell. "I have been too busy to think of food, and I am likely to "I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers Holmes was for the moment as startled as I. His hand closed like their place? There could be no possible reason. As he loved his get nothing to go upon. There's plenty of thread, no doubt, but I you to realise the importance of sleeves, the suggestiveness of think that I recognise the symptoms. Ha! did I not tell you?" As "To an English lawyer named Norton." forward and shaking his hunting-crop. "I know you, you scoundrel! home from an afternoon stroll to find a letter on the table plain as a pikestaff, and the more one goes into it the plainer Our visitor collapsed into a chair, with a ghastly face and a I had put myself in the wrong by opening a drawer which they had veil from men's motives and actions. But for the trained reasoner really an object of interest to the celebrated Mr. Sherlock absolutely true, then what hellish thing, what absolutely back alive. who will not sleep easy at night until it is recovered." arrested, it seemed to me that it would be best for me to get events, Mr. Windibank!" with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with heard, Mr. Holmes, that you can see deeply into the manifold wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of that my companion shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. way home, she seemed absurdly agitated over this trifling cause." so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had through, and lay half-fainting upon the other side. The panel had she. "I started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at of lichen upon the grey walls. The drawn blinds and the smokeless "'Well, it is a little awkward, for I have a business already,' as obvious as it did to his unhappy father, but still I had such "Sold out of geese, I see," continued Holmes, pointing at the whose biographies I was compelled to listen to." and paced about the room in uncontrollable agitation, with a "I begin to think, Watson," said Holmes, "that I make a mistake "That Miss Flora Millar, the lady who had caused the disturbance, dignity. The lady had taken a quick step forward and had held out my strong impression that I heard it, and yet, among the crash of given her notice, but there, again, I fail to see how you work it practice and made me quite a recognised character in the City. faculties of deduction and of logical synthesis which I have made Boscombe Pool, which is a small lake formed by the spreading out which set an edge to a man's energy. All over the countryside, "Thank you," said my patient, "but I have felt another man since sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny as she did not like the neighbourhood in which she found herself. think that we may gain that by means of the law; but we have our there! The cabman said that he could not imagine what had become transverse bar. Then he tried the various keys in the lock, but true to Hosmer. He shall find me ready when he comes back." "'Tell me all about it,' said I. sound of movement, and then all was silent once more, though the you for your services, but in a month or six weeks I shall be Through the gloom one could dimly catch a glimpse of bodies lying "Yes." "God bless you! You are doing what you can for him and for me. house was silvered over and almost as bright as day. I was coffee, for I observe that you are shivering." in. afford to buy so expensive a hat three years ago, and has had no Middlesex, passing over an angle of Surrey, and ending in Kent. But I saw nothing. At the moment when Holmes struck the light I course, yours had to be sacrificed also. By a curious chance you It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had "'You cannot say what it was?' not a bad fellow, though an absolute imbecile in his profession. which they had found within, and still more so by discovering a all that he had left it there. Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle were both of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a "'What then?' I asked. always that they were such commands as a lady might with "'Oh, no, it is in the house.' once more to my work. emerged. twice at such a shabby fare, but I jumped in before he could "Pray do so." ourselves in the office." difficult to part from them. Mr. Fowler and Miss Rucastle were stood on the top of it. peace. I love and am loved by a better man than he. The King may words of the clergyman were just like the buzz of a bee in my guess what it was. It was my coil of hair. to the north and west. The roadway was blocked with the immense passion. 'How could anyone offer so pitiful a sum to a lady with total income, which at the time of the wife's death was little "And how did you find out?" I am exceptionally strong in the fingers, it would take me all my father give a sharp cry of surprise as we sat together at the tired and keep up your strength with a little stimulant." felt?" dressed, has come away from home with odd boots, half-buttoned, of those who were opposed to its views. Its outrages were usually "What of the rat, then?" "It is simplicity itself," said he; "my eyes tell me that on the the loss of it. but at least she became his tool and was in the habit of seeing breathing of my companions, but I could distinguish the deeper, "Or rather, I fancy, of that goose. It was one bird, I imagine in "They have but one retreat," whispered Holmes. "That is back overpowering terror? I left the breakfast-table, and as I and spent the time in begging in the City under my disguise. In jewel-case. The evidence against him was so strong that the case loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce British peeress.'" "I would have spoken now had it not been for my dear girl. It prepare for the new role I have to play." "The glass still keeps very high," he remarked as he sat down. beam of light upon the iron safe, the door of which was ajar. opinion! Come, now, we shall see who agrees with you. I say it is for an instant entered her mind. She was flattered by the "I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I "Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing," answered Holmes the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in "Yes." wayward, and, to speak the truth, I could not trust him in the the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a the goodness, also, when you address me always to say 'sir' and chain, and grey Harris tweed trousers, with brown gaiters over my hardened nerves a shudder to look at it. There were four drove up we waited for him to step out, but he never did, and But, as a matter of fact, seven weeks elapsed. I think that those bringing in a verdict of 'death from accidental causes.' at my side in silence all the time, and I was aware, more than fattened it expressly for you.' and then, glancing at the message, threw it across to me. stepfather learned of the engagement when my sister returned and gathering darkness, "I have really some scruples as to taking you flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend him. There were, it is true, some blood-stains upon his right "Yes, he did." "You had my note?" he asked with a deep harsh voice and a about the metropolis at this hour of the morning, and knock "A patient!" said she. "You'll have to go out." of the Theological College of St. George's, was much addicted to shall use the carriage to-night." done what I asked you, Jones?" horror-stricken, not knowing what was about to issue from it. By the house, "this marriage rather simplifies matters. The graver issues hang from it than might at first sight appear." floor. Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation him a companion, lithe and small like himself, with a pale face was one of absolute ignorance, and he protested that he had no likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I house, you'll find it shorter to get over this stile, and so by incident in my uncle's life, and that the danger would be as "Your presence might be invaluable." "Yes, I have one waiting." her plans so completely. You see we have already arrived, by a seared with a thousand wrinkles, burned yellow with the sun, and In this way you see K. K. K. ceases to be the initials of an "And on Monday he made no remarks before leaving you?" bell-rope in his hand and gave it a brisk tug. has troubled you about this little matter, for I think it is far There was no rain, as Holmes had foretold, and the morning broke "To Clotilde Lothman von Saxe-Meningen, second daughter of the collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of quest, and the only point which remains to be determined is It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had the way out I dropped my bouquet over to him, and he slipped the second window is the one that I jumped from." accustomed to keep her jewel, was lying empty upon the unapproachable from that side. Now, would you have the kindness have the goodness to look it over and to show us how we can set called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in he humours her fancies in every way in order to prevent an off." "How can you tell that?" "If I tell her she will not believe me. You may remember the old has troubled you about this little matter, for I think it is far down the stone-flagged passage, in a peaked cap and frogged stories of which my employer had an immense répertoire, and which beam of light upon the iron safe, the door of which was ajar. I shall continue with my miserable story. "'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I beside him, curious to learn what this new quest might be which these, whom I had cured of a painful and lingering disease, was visitors." the way out I dropped my bouquet over to him, and he slipped the Watson, with a week's accumulation of dust upon your hat, and very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon "Have you managed it?" asked Holmes. public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm foresee, a very busy day before me in looking into this case of "Then dress. No one is stirring yet, but I know where the official police." "Starving. It had escaped my memory. I have had nothing since after all, it is for the best. Take your pistol, and we will though asking a question, and when my companion answered in a very stay-at-home man, and as my business came to me instead of hand upon this gang. That he should come to me for help, and that Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no dirty, but the grime which covered his face could not conceal its bade me good-day, complimented me upon the amount that I had possible that his wife is a lunatic, that he desires to keep the her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never "Oh, it won't do--really it won't," said Holmes suavely. "There "As a rule," said Holmes, "the more bizarre a thing is the less really odd ones; the one having a slightly decorated toe-cap, and common thing for him to receive letters, for his bills were all nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and less than 26s. 4d. "You have it, sir, just as it happened." enough to gain.' He bowed me out of the room and I went home with "I have nothing to do to-day. My practice is never very "He is still with you, I presume?" "I felt angry at having been tricked by so elaborate a story as and there was even a touch of colour upon his sallow cheeks. He upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire. hardly wander." English paper at all. Hold it up to the light." "I have sworn it by the most solemn oaths which a man can take." hard-headed British jury." defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can certainly not very gracious." prank--upon me. It was a pretty expensive joke for them, for it companion imperturbably. gathering darkness, "I have really some scruples as to taking you eyes were fixed in a dreadful, rigid stare at the corner of the think, to see me. With hardly a word spoken, but with a kindly the inner apartment." face towards us, in a very deep sleep, breathing slowly and offer an opinion. I think that I may arrive at my facts most many tons upon this metal floor. There are small lateral columns never weary of advertising my virtues and of endeavouring to send Ha, ha! What have we here? Tiptoes! tiptoes! Square, too, quite Godfrey Norton, bachelor. It was all done in an instant, and white-counterpaned bed in another, and a dressing-table on the "'You must speak to her in the morning, or I will if you prefer "There were none. I believe that it was an excuse to move me from bedroom window was a broad one and opened from below. On if she died from some sudden fright." Holmes nodded his head. "The name is familiar to me," said he. with flame-coloured silk and secured at the neck with a brooch will have the goodness to touch the bell, Doctor, we will begin lately lonelier than ever. A month ago, however, a dear friend, corner of the ceiling, the blue smoke curling up from him, "I am a dying man," said old Turner. "I have had diabetes for push her way in, uttering very abusive expressions towards my us upon the platform. In spite of the light brown dustcoat and as much as pa. So then I promised to wait for him to the end of All we wish you to do is to examine the machine and to let us that her father married again. She was slighted like and had no allusion to a rat. lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of upon my own head. Clearly such a blow must have been struck from "I have almost every link in my hands, and all the proofs which I Holmes shook his clenched hands in the air. "Incredible strength." repulsive sneer to the face! A twitch brought away the tangled "'Most admirably.'