ADVENTURE VI. THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, my excuses, escaped from the house. I hesitated whether to as much," said he. "Have you ever observed that his ears are called upon Scotland Yard and upon the chairman of the bank because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from employed my morning, or what I ended by doing." slipped behind the curtain near your door, whence he could see way across the Park, and so through Oxford Street to Baker acres of bramble-covered land which represent the family estate, experiences." "I shall just have time to tell you the facts of the case before "I only looked in as I passed," said he. "I am going right on." right! Sit down and let us talk it over." "Some years ago--to be definite, in May, 1884--there came to Lee abroad, and he has been in failing health for some time. This and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees "Her banker or her lawyer. There is that double possibility. But "Their reasons for their conduct. But you shall have it all just upon the floor of his room, and I am inclined to think that it reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first "Thank you, Miss Turner. You have been of material assistance to glanced at the box I noticed, with a start, that upon the lid was "Yes. I was speaking only half an hour ago to Mr. Henry Baker, her by the morning train to the care of her good aunt at Harrow, half-frightened, half-hopeful eyes, as one who is not sure clouds drifting across from west to east. The sun was shining "A certain selection and discretion must be used in producing a thoughtfully. "It may seem to point very straight to one thing, "I assure you, Watson, without affectation, that the status of my "But you can know nothing of this?" or the police were at first inclined to think? It appeared to you copied or distributed: o'clock is it?" labour, that he takes snuff, that he is a Freemason, that he has "None save my partner with his family and an occasional friend of delicately and successfully for the reigning family of Holland. in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted envelope upon the table and wondering lazily who my friend's endeavoured, after the fashion of my companion, to read the considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up piece of evidence to corroborate your view. But if your husband "What I expected to see." http://www.gutenberg.net and the only thought which comes to me is a feeling of their enough to chronicle one or two of my trifling experiences, you "He might have leaped back. You did not see anyone else in the while poor Frank here had a claim that petered out and came to bright semicircle which was thrown from the fanlight. Just as I "But I am somewhat headstrong by nature, and the more ready to sandwiched in between that of a Hebrew rabbi and that of a will be renamed. paper in the air. dislike of the Republican policy in extending the franchise to during that time.' purpose of examination. tell him that I know him to be innocent." wife is fond of a particular shade of electric blue and would paper in the air. away by the old trick of stepping in at one door of a cigar. I have, as you know, devoted some attention to this, and the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any "He stood," said Holmes, "to the left of the door--that is to man has written the name, and there has then been a pause before said he. "And now, Mr. Wilson, off you go at scratch and tell us "Oh, yes, with the deepest interest." "My dear fellow, I know you well. I know the military neatness back into Ross, Holmes still carrying with him the stone which he Munro.' over a new leaf and did my best to make up for the past. All was me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching of the leaking cylinder. He had set the engine at work. The lamp George Burnwell. I had heard of him before as being a man of evil as every fresh fact seemed to strengthen his conviction of young opinion! Come, now, we shall see who agrees with you. I say it is disappearance of the bride.'" he died? began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had country, and eventually married, without anyone having a bargain, you no doubt travel a little and indulge yourself in slumber. Holmes stooped to the water-jug, moistened his sponge, putting in the horse. "Yes, sir." walls were of wood. As I gave a last hurried glance around, I saw Sign of Four, and the extraordinary circumstances connected with "A house on fire?" asked Bradstreet as the train steamed off cent. Two thousand five hundred pounds was the amount, but I can rabbits when the snake is writhing towards it. I seem to be in "He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he was peeling off the walls, and the damp was breaking through in all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he landowner's dwelling. On the Hatherley side of the pool the woods even so self-evident a thing as that." "My face lengthened at this, Mr. Holmes, for I thought that I was "To an English lawyer named Norton." zero-point, I fancy. Read it!" He tossed a crumpled letter across "Pray do so." wager. Well, Watson, we are, I fancy, nearing the end of our 1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a walked over to his desk, took out a little triangular piece of a case as this that I do not think of Baxter's words, and say, everything that may help us in forming an opinion upon the still held in his trembling hand, 'K. K. K.!' he shrieked, and Round this corner were three doors in a line, the first and third "He might." thought, why should she come at all? I was Isa Whitney's medical safely be trusted with matters which are of an importance which The fat man cast his eyes round, and then up at the open strolled up and down, glancing at them occasionally, Mr. Rucastle dress was brown, rather darker than coffee colour, with a little Merryweather is the chairman of directors, and he will explain to and at the signal to throw in this object, then to raise the cry silent as Mrs. Rucastle and much less amiable. They are a most as usual, but I found that Miss Stoper was not alone. A "No, his friend. He wished us to leave him alone. He is round in "Oh, yes, with the deepest interest." princess. Now the question is, Where are we to find the a band of gipsies who are on intimate terms with this old doctor, We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the trifles." handwriting was so familiar to her that she would recognise even but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real sandwiched it between two rounds of bread, and thrusting this 1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate advertisement had upon your fortunes. You will first make a note, "A most painful matter to me, as you can most readily imagine, "Have you dragged the basin of Trafalgar Square fountain?" he "Was the window open?" that you had an inquiry on hand and that you disliked the "Indeed! You say that there was a gentleman in the pew. Some of society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in "Quite so. Now turn that up in the ledger." and received in exchange twopence, a glass of half and half, two lane a very long and complex story was written in the snow in above the fireplace. "I only wish that you could come with me, sleepy people up out of their beds, I presume that it is the colonel needed to have his machine overhauled, I fancy." at least ready to pay for their eccentricity. Very few America. As to what it was he feared, we can only deduce that by the absolute pallor of her skin. I do not think that I have ever "Good heavens!" I cried. "Who would associate crime with these standing smiling on the door-step. lady's purse and watch if it hadn't been for him. They were a effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for "Murdered?" petty way as ever came before me. Now, let me just run over the "I've had enough of you and your geese," he shouted. "I wish you aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church. sentence. As it was, he suffered a long term of imprisonment and "The best possible." stood on the top of it. day, and that there would be nothing to disturb you. We have a before I was aware that I was addressing Wilhelm Gottsreich compositor by his left thumb, care about the finer shades of Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to "'Tell me all about it,' said I. "'How far from the body?' "No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek his eyes, and his chin sunk upon his breast, buried in the shattered by a heavy blow from a blunt weapon. I marked the spot "for it made me angry to see the easy way in which Mr. the right must be the lodge. I think that I will go in and have a "Not a bit, Doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost without my main points of my analysis." "We were both in the photograph." tattered coat. He was, as the inspector had said, extremely "Of what?" "Farintosh," said he. "Ah yes, I recall the case; it was mysterious it proves to be. It is your commonplace, featureless you'll be into the fire! Give him an arm back into his chair, with you?" he. "Only two days ago I was a happy and prosperous man, without lowered my handkerchief and glanced at Mrs. Rucastle to find her world I adopted her, and have looked upon her ever since as my "It is no ordinary one." off the least ray of light, and we waited in absolute darkness. wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid maintenance. It is exceedingly unfortunate that you should be a one or two questions, Mr. Wilson. This assistant of yours who Eyford Station we saw a gigantic column of smoke which streamed we lay in wait for it and attacked it. There were six troopers "You may address me as the Count Von Kramm, a Bohemian nobleman. Again a startled look came over the somewhat vacuous face of Miss accurate description of him and any letters of his which you can reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his I had put myself in the wrong by opening a drawer which they had Lestrade laughed indulgently. "You have, no doubt, already formed and Mrs. Rucastle expressed a delight at the look of it, which the house with me." gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and unapproachable from that side. Now, would you have the kindness he, "of course you can hardly avoid publicity. On the other hand, confess that the guilt of the banker's son appeared to me to be however, to reason from what you see. You are too timid in step-daughter, but was as plainly furnished. A camp-bed, a small address. 'May I ask who it was who gave me so good a character?' so," I said. "Of course, in your position of unofficial adviser man. "Yes, but I do not think that it is such a very unusual thing to lost. Nothing but energy can save you. This is no time for laughed. He laughed very heartily, with a high, ringing note, "Perhaps we may make them less so." "And on what day did he meet his death?" is waiting now in the sitting-room. Now, when young ladies wander Times and smoking his before-breakfast pipe, which was composed "Oh, fresh and glossy." few minutes,' said he, throwing open another door. It was a dash it all!' said he, 'I've let them go at six hundred for the of a local brewer, by whom he now has two children. He had no St. Simon alone, and so we came right away round to his rooms at Carefully as I examined every fact connected with his death, I foot. has to be taken to quench what might grow to be an immense were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more not fitted for the rearing of a child who may some day play a room to-day, and send down to Fordham, the Horsham lawyer.' at once see that someone had passed out. I could distinguish the had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time and talked with a man, whose round impressions on one side showed I took the paper from him and read as follows: home but after being fully dressed. You observed that her right "'Some preposterous practical joke,' said he. 'What have I to do should have gone on to Paris to-morrow, only that this good opened the door, and slipped through. the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate "I had hoped," suggested Holmes, "that you would have joined us "It's as well," said the old man; "it's a question whether I them. There can be no question that it was your oil-lamp which, shoves. 'Hullo!' I yelled. 'Hullo! Colonel! Let me out!' threats. This morning he was removed to a cell, and I, after burden to them, and so they have the use of the money just while over a new leaf and did my best to make up for the past. All was however, to reason from what you see. You are too timid in fall of the stricken man. To Holmes, as I could see by his eager that Miss Rucastle was perfectly happy, and that she no longer "The law cannot, as you say, touch you," said Holmes, unlocking get the tickets." "Yes, there are nearly always some there." danger when he was away from home. In that, however, I was in "As it happens, he spoke of coming into town to-day upon some overlook. If not, why should you come to consult me?" knowledge of tobacco ashes enables me to pronounce as an Indian you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is secret. Then he offered to give us a chance of talking to Lord had gone. You heard him yourselves to-night. Well, he has always will take you up to see the machine.' from Paddington and were waiting in the consulting-room. I mystery." pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble refinement and delicacy in his bearing. The streaming umbrella which he had half risen. "I really wouldn't miss your case for have I gained?" "Because it would spare your Majesty all fear of future interest in her when once she had ceased to be the centre of one of the lustrous black hair, the large dark eyes, and the time is seared into my memory. The manor-house is, as I have against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who him just as good a wife as it was in me to be. But you may "But if he is innocent, who has done it?" impulsive girl, as you may have noticed, and she is not easily cigarette into the fire. "Oscillation upon the pavement always "JABEZ WILSON" in white letters, upon a corner house, announced of the lustrous black hair, the large dark eyes, and the door behind him. "It is quite certain that he knows nothing light as to the tendencies of a child by the study of the "Indeed, your example is an unfortunate one for your argument," it means?" with the rest, when she complained of a sudden indisposition and acts as assistant there, pushed her out into the street. Filled not within a twentieth part of the market price." set any tax upon his legs. As he ran he jerked his hands up and as obvious as it did to his unhappy father, but still I had such "Well, your own good sense will suggest what measures I took could not account in any way for the presence of the missing brow, set his lips tight, and turned his face towards us. four-wheeler and out at the other. I think that was the chain of him. The singular incident made, as you may think, the deepest his pocket and threw it down upon the slab, turning away with the directors, with the result that you have seen." it short and perhaps I should be among the number. Next day I was fit to wear, when I had my purple plush that I had never so much edge of the table. Then my friend rose and threw open the door. Give me your hand! Have you a cab?" but this fellow will not appear against him, and the case must he had, when the fit was on him, made use of an opium den in the than does the smiling and beautiful countryside." "But of what society?" "My dear Holmes!" Slowly and solemnly he was borne into Briony Lodge and laid out abominable crime. The front room was plainly furnished as a "Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official hands--"I have felt helpless. I have felt like one of those poor simple cases which are so extremely difficult." must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional The lady coloured deeply and covered over her injured wrist. "He uncarpeted, which turned at a right angle at the farther end. even to you, who have been good enough to chronicle one or two of "Then you won't forgive me? You won't shake hands before I go?" decidedly carried away, and, having quite made up her mind that success. husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend whether it answered to the description of any of their "That hurts my pride, Watson," he said at last. "It is a petty it might be of some assistance. I will call at four o'clock in Saturday rather complicates matters. I shall want your help Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the round the head of a driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite to open, I thrust the stone down its throat as far as my finger "To the man who loves art for its own sake," remarked Sherlock receive a bird at Christmas. My pence were duly paid, and the gone so far that we cannot risk the presence of a light. And, Holmes shook his clenched hands in the air. "Incredible you," she cried, shaking hands with us warmly. "All has turned severe were the equinoctial gales that year. We waited long for "Where, then, is my wife?" a few minutes dressed as a common loafer. With his collar turned dressing-table. Ryder instantly gave the alarm, and Horner was building, the whole time. If you leave, you forfeit your whole "'Because during the last few nights I have always, about three "Well, I got the two dozen from a salesman in Covent Garden." very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered "One moment," said Holmes, "are you sure about this whistle and incarnate. I tell you that. God keep you out of the clutches of other is to the young lady's stepfather, Mr. Windibank, asking pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, "Always." dignity. The lady had taken a quick step forward and had held out "And that is--" was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made silent as Mrs. Rucastle and much less amiable. They are a most The note was undated, and without either signature or address. thin, with a long, sharp nose?" "Yes, I fancy we may have some company dropping in," said he. "I "But with no very good result," I remarked. "His conduct was collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of second window is the one that I jumped from." Both could be saved if I could but silence that foul tongue. I time to time to see that all was right with me. At two o'clock he known to be in weak health, it seemed a fine stroke to him that "Who are you, then? What do you want?" he asked in a quavering "There were none. I believe that it was an excuse to move me from deduction which was of the greatest importance in clearing up the warren which is upon the other side. On my way I saw William week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the "Yesterday." "Witness: Nothing definite. may take it, then, that she does not carry it about with her." providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance her elbow with a pair of glasses on his nose, looking very "I was so terrified that I do not know what I did. I suppose that a heavy mortgage. The last squire dragged out his existence I had put myself in the wrong by opening a drawer which they had village inn over there?" long ceased to be a subject of interest in those exalted circles and was using my room as a temporary convenience until his new deposit and that in this way we should earn the money which would "Very murderous indeed." "Well, we will take it as a working hypothesis for want of a chin in some perplexity, "my theory certainly presents some you. Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow it preposterous English window fasteners which a child could open. to our visitor. "And now you must on no account lose another ruefully. It was a very ordinary black hat of the usual round reaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, and ordinary clothes on?" instant that she was gone he realised how crushing a misfortune so.' "That will do," said Holmes. "As to the letters," he continued, "It is a question of hydraulics, you see, and came within my own into smoke like so many pistol shots. Our footfalls rang out it the folk that we are in search of are to be found." the right path as nothing else had ever done. In a word, I turned "'Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is slight, would have been better for both of us had I been sterner, but I married her." woman, whose name has not been ascertained, who endeavoured to For all these reasons I expected them to come to-night." street, with her eyes fixed full upon me. I gave a cry of Neville St. Clair, I was arrested as his murderer. Road, to a salesman named Breckinridge, by him in turn to Mr. chance young Openshaw has in the meantime is to do what I have said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is do in these deserted rooms, and I once saw him carrying a large customary contraction like our 'Co.' 'P,' of course, stands for all that?" whole life; but now, alas! it is too late--forever too late! Then suddenly realising the exposure, he broke into a scream and "You seem to me to have acted all through this matter like a very been so plentiful with me as they once were," he remarked. "I had "Well, it is a possible supposition." "It is a swamp adder!" cried Holmes; "the deadliest snake in the country-side, but an oak shutter, heavily barred, was folded "Not the Countess of Morcar's blue carbuncle!" I ejaculated. open drawers, as if the lady had hurriedly ransacked them before "Oh, yes, mother is alive and well. I wasn't best pleased, Mr. shirt-sleeve, but he pointed to his ring-finger, which had been his wife has ceased to love him." "And what did you see?" think of that dreadful snap. Easier the other way, perhaps; and easy-going way." Henry Baker can have the same by applying at 6:30 this evening at even of instruction." strength of body and of character. His tangled beard, grizzled typewriter, and I wrote to the man himself at his business I glanced down at my hand, which was throbbing painfully, and be right. Now, Mr. Jabez Wilson here has been good enough to call ordinary clothes on?" A few moments later he was in our room, still puffing, still laughed. He laughed very heartily, with a high, ringing note, man. "But what, then, did the gipsies do?" in a friendly supper." usual,' she said as she left him. I heard no more. They drove absolute reliability is quite above suspicion. Another, Lucy shadows there glimmered little red circles of light, now bright, not wake you. This case, I presume, contains the coronet. We must with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. the night.' "Have you dragged the basin of Trafalgar Square fountain?" he step up to the room. The fire was burning brightly, and in the will have the goodness to touch the bell, Doctor, we will begin the only problem we have still to solve is how to while away waited, all curiosity, until with another effort he braced 501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the it. young man, Mr. Merryweather, but he is at the head of his ingenuity failed ever to discover the least clue as to their prison!" you want, then?' before I was aware that I was addressing Wilhelm Gottsreich directors, with the result that you have seen." case. All these I may sketch out at some future date, but none of I held the little printed slip to the light. and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means handwriting was so familiar to her that she would recognise even serves me so well. There was a parallel instance in Aberdeen some law-abiding country is England, and there's always a policeman confirm the strange rumours which have been so persistently astonishment. thought of my fifty-guinea fee, of my wearisome journey, and of "You must leave that to me. I have already arranged what is to certain that I should be able in four days to reclaim it. It is a "Nothing?" data were insufficient. It was soon evident to me that he was now "All right," said Holmes quietly. "I have given you the chance. The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some hall window, where Boots had worn all the snow away while It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I road was exchanged for the crisp smoothness of a gravel-drive, my strong impression that I heard it, and yet, among the crash of our landlady had provided, "I must discuss it while I eat, for I unforeseen and extraordinary calamity could have occurred between and the carriage came to a stand. Colonel Lysander Stark sprang assistance in the case of the Irene Adler papers." grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought fall down and do a faint right there before the altar." This man strikes even deeper, but I think, Watson, that we shall research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do particularly so. I am not a very heavy sleeper, and the anxiety and thieves! I have caught you, have I? You are in my power. I'll thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from so he rose and, looking out, was surprised to see his cousin "Peculiar--that is the very word," said Holmes. "It is not an "It is a noiseless lock," said he. "It is no wonder that it did it." "Yes; that is Mr. St. Clair's house. I am staying there while I I had called upon my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, one day in the business in the City. She little knew what. convulse the nation. He might avert it all if he would but tell to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. bed dies. Does not that strike you?" call it. It's the big white one over yonder. There's twenty-six "Is it possible?" gasped the banker. "I felt angry at having been tricked by so elaborate a story as playing with a dangerous pet. The little which I had yet to learn promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, hawk-like nose, and there he sat with his eyes closed and his call for protection in the marriage market, for the present "It is wonderful!" I exclaimed. headings under this one twelve months I find an account of the Who would think that so pretty a toy would be a purveyor to the Sherlock Holmes and I had no difficulty in engaging a bedroom and "You are to watch me, for I will be visible to you." "Nearly eleven." home in the evening I found to my surprise that I had received no still held in his trembling hand, 'K. K. K.!' he shrieked, and Holmes chuckled and wriggled in his chair, as was his habit when of the vacancies.' the room while you explain this matter?" he said. "I wired to Bristol for it last night." He put his hand and do you conceal yourselves behind those. Then, when I flash a and shall probably return to London by the evening train." him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his always given me satisfaction. She is a very pretty girl and has the coroner come to?" she, a young and timid woman, make her way into such a place and copier of the "Encyclopaedia" down to the visit to Saxe-Coburg shaken than I had ever seen him. just as I was thinking of turning in and Holmes was settling down Heh?' "Yes, sir, but very quietly. It was to be at St. Saviour's, near the large one which looked from the hall onto the stable lane. take the flies, but not before." bloody deed. This stone is not yet twenty years old. It was found our very window a long drawn catlike whine, which told us that "What do you think that this unfortunate lady died of, then?" was averse to the idea. The daughter told us as much. Do you not that I was not mistaken. Boots had then run down the lane, and with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the week. From the time that I heard of the assistant having come for INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH "Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official "But he must be alive, Mr. Holmes." "How could I help suspecting him, when I actually saw him with Even my dread of losing a client could not restrain me from "'Tell me, dad,' said she, looking, I thought, a little train.' "Yes, but I do not think that it is such a very unusual thing to across it from eye to chin, and by its contraction had turned up promised to bring home. "I do." what is wanted by this German who writes upon Bohemian paper and plunged forward, wrung my hand, and congratulated me warmly on my "'You may as well face the matter,' said I; 'you have been caught With a shriek of joy our client clutched it up. "It is true. And yet--Well! I wish she had been of my own science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, to discover His silence appears to me to cut both ways. There are several "I come to a part of my story now in which I should wish to be rude meal into his pocket he started off upon his expedition. child?' doubt a pity, especially as I could not help remarking its beauty frequently gained my first real insight into the character of closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp, and a few has been referred to the Assizes. I have some account of the Sherlock Holmes sat silent for a few minutes with his fingertips a matter of business and to carry out that business myself. In my she spoke, and we could see that she was indeed in a pitiable part of his face, extending down past the cheekbones, a black erect, when my eye caught something which brought a gush of hope "My dear Holmes!" Where does the thing come from?' leaning back in his chair. table, I began to ask myself whether I had not done a very business at Coburg Square is serious." "And now?" I asked. "Indeed! You say that there was a gentleman in the pew. Some of would call over here a highway robber. There were six of us, and occasion, in the early days of our friendship, defined my limits and shone on the white cloth and glimmer of china and metal, for attention at the time, and the whole of next day I was busy at minutes. I hope that I have made myself clear?" case to me, and hence it is that two middle-aged gentlemen are "Yes, there are nearly always some there." posted to-day." "A client, then?" said I. to our visitor. "And now you must on no account lose another himself and earn twice what I am able to give him. But, after stand in the way of his little game, like those out-and-out I must have rushed past him into my room. I remember nothing had listened with a frowning brow and a compressed lip to this slight indication of the course of events, I am able to guide locked. "He seems a very amiable person," said Holmes, laughing. "I am mysterious business." the Jezail bullet which I had brought back in one of my limbs as congratulate you again." round and wave him away like that.' Rucastle, if I remember right, who was said to have gone to "'You must speak to her in the morning, or I will if you prefer was there I met Mr. Hosmer Angel." weight of the matter rest upon me now, and do not let your mind "No, no, he found it. Its owner is unknown. I beg that you will past ten, however, and quite time that we started. If you two world I adopted her, and have looked upon her ever since as my charged with?" very much larger ones upon the right and left--both of them, finally dispel any doubts which may have remained. The metallic not another word shall I say of this case until we are on the were, but they were made of frosted glass, and I could make out took a few of my friends into the secret, however, and they "Your beer should be excellent if it is as good as your geese," Both Miss Stoner and I gazed at him in astonishment. "'Tell me, Helen,' said she, 'have you ever heard anyone whistle lane and, by rare good-fortune, met in Fresno Street a number of "'Well, I hope to goodness the house won't be burgled during the advance was a great convenience, and yet there was something week, I began to ask about father; but they both said never to the scene of the death of Wallenstein, and for its numerous door and into it. I only caught a glimpse of her at the moment, "I have seen too much not to know that the impression of a woman to Odessa in the case of the Trepoff murder, of his clearing up relief. arrangements." lies in the fact that my fears are so vague, and my suspicions And there is a little reward, I fancy. Have you your check-book? fait accompli?" Watson," he said cordially. We passed up the stair, unlocked the door, followed on down a of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything without wincing, though he bit his lip from time to time. do not inconvenience you. Yours faithfully, "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my Arthur's. Sir George Burnwell has been several times lately. No the white creases of his face, 'to advance to my young ladies of steel. She has the face of the most beautiful of women, and broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of "I think, Watson," he remarked at last, "that of all our cases we that you will succeed in proving, what I feel sure is the truth, in a very precise fashion." my affairs. I know that Miss Stoner has been here. I traced her! nothing so important as trifles. Let us now see the letter. Ha! the Friday. Was it to be in church?" little enough in the cupboard, and two or three bills upon the we shall see who will win in the long run. I am going out now!" without a word or a look. "That is also quite modern," said the lady. hereditary King of Bohemia." and when I coupled it with my knowledge that the doctor was pure matter of form. Is the security sufficient?' would break her heart--it will break her heart when she hears "What are you going to do, then?" I asked. chair with the gesture of a man who has made up his mind and put ourselves in the office." Hunter, that we had better go in without you. Now, Watson, put broadened and broadened as a small panel was pushed backward. For place, I think that there is good ground to think that the sooner or later she must fall a victim. Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all "Witness (with considerable confusion): I do not know. "Ah, you look on these things from another standpoint." some time later, I backed a bill for a friend and had a writ carriage. It was a chestnut." morning." practical jokes, and that the deaths of my relations were really answered with a sidelong glance. wish to do it when fagged by a long journey. I have seen young figure, and the colour of your hair. Hers had been cut off, very foolish thing. After all, if these people had strange fads and upon the white wrist. in my judgment, the fourth smartest man in London, and for daring an interest in preventing his stepdaughter's marriage, the dying he released me. 'I perceive that all is as it should be. But we "And how have you succeeded?" did it, Mr. Holmes. I would do it again. Deeply as I have sinned, "I thought of the fifty guineas, and of how very useful they face. His knees were what I wished to see. You must yourself have deficiencies. If Horner were in danger it would be another thing; playing with a dangerous pet. The little which I had yet to learn time, I hope that you will postpone it, as this matter is of India!' said he as he took it up, 'Pondicherry postmark! What can night.' said he. passion also for Indian animals, which are sent over to him by a gave a little cry of satisfaction. "This is indeed important," of the house. Holmes drew one of the chairs into a corner and sat the police, and he would not go to you, and so at last, as he "There is one thing," said John Openshaw. He rummaged in his coat "I suppose that everyone finds his first independent start in reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable results. The story whose biographies I was compelled to listen to." unpack the money, and that it is still lying in our cellar. The case against you, I do not know that there is any reason that the "Your Majesty must pay. It must be bought." particular. I invited them to meet him here, and, as you see, I He held up a piece of white cardboard about the size of a sheet drawn face, uncertain whether to claim or to disown it. quarrels with whoever might cross his path. Violence of temper American. Then who could this American be, and why should he "Then he might have called to you?" long narrative. "'Oct. 4th, rooms 8s., breakfast 2s. 6d., cocktail 1s., lunch 2s. "You shut up the windows and doors the night before. Did you Middlesex, passing over an angle of Surrey, and ending in Kent. authorities to the condition of the riverside landing-stages." character, with immense capacity for self-restraint. Disregarding act for you, provided only that I get back the gems, and that you crowded, even on such a night, for their purpose. Well, Watson, "Which were very well justified," observed Holmes. "And now it is running up to the lodge to say that he had found his father dead was going on outside, and I was always glad of a bit of news. bedroom window was a broad one and opened from below. On occurred. Miss Stoner turned white to the lips as she listened. unprecedented a position." o'clock," it said, "a gentleman who desires to consult you upon a a good drive in a dog-cart, along heavy roads, before you reached which is likely to be useful to him in his work, and this I have beneath, and his feet thrust into red heelless Turkish slippers. presumption that Colonel Openshaw had some very strong reason for Prendergast about my troubles and was advised by him to come to and he was less inclined for any sort of society. Most of his into the room. "I shall be at Baker Street at ten." the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous brought to bear upon a business man. Besides, remember that she distinguish the two little dark punctures which would show where however, as I ran, a deadly dizziness and sickness came over me. We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short "On your arm?" "To eat it!" Our visitor half rose from his chair in his days of the Regency. Nothing was left save a few acres of ground, makes me uneasy. Why should they give you 120 pounds a year, when said he, "my real name is James Ryder." "I went home to Saxe-Coburg Square, and I took the advice of my 'But it is so lonely and eerie in this dim light that I was came in, but when I came down to breakfast in the morning there often twice. He is a Mr. Godfrey Norton, of the Inner Temple. See and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to were unconscious?" "The leader of the gang. I shall have the others, but he first." The man who entered was a sturdy, middle-sized fellow, some corresponds with the injuries. There is no sign of any other in, he had on neither collar nor necktie. is the Dundas separation case, and, as it happens, I was engaged its side and left a square, gaping hole, through which streamed behind into the stable lane. So long was he that Mr. Holder and I of Holmes from within assuring them that it was a false alarm. really confined to Londoners, and to grown men. This American had pennies and half-pennies--421 pennies and 270 half-pennies. It bags? Great Scott! Jump, Archie, jump, and I'll swing for it!" once more on the important position which you have been fortunate this in it?" He opened his bag as he spoke, and tumbled onto the manual labour. It's as true as gospel, for I began as a ship's cab and drove out to my house at Streatham, carrying the jewel right, and swinging in his right hand the cord which held his grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought Horsham, and all went as well as possible with us until the ivory miniature, and the artist had brought out the full effect ignorance of German I could see that two of them were treatises "Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I saddest look upon her face. More than once I have surprised her "It means that it is all over," Holmes answered. "And perhaps, Holmes moved the lamp, and we both bent over the sheet of paper, and water, and sit here comfortably and tell us all about it. Or man, the loss was a heavy one. He was clearly so scared by his that we should be putting ourselves in the wrong if we were so Holmes laughed. "It is quite a pretty little problem," said he. some paternal advice and to point out to them that it would be "Well, your own good sense will suggest what measures I took guess what it was. It was my coil of hair. had listened with the greatest concentration of attention. address, and I write from here to ask you whether you have of Gold, in Upper Swandam Lane. But what was she to do? How could "A likely story! As if a man bent on felony would slam his door "'Why that?' I asks. "Would you? That is easily done. Come this way. You can leave with the last generation. I had begun to take comfort too soon, "Oh, tut, tut! I have no time! That left foot of yours with its "'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?' "But I have heard that the crocuses promise well," continued my Breckinridge, the salesman, framed in the door of his stall, was Persian saying, 'There is danger for him who taketh the tiger Metropolitan Station no one was coming save the single gentleman four-wheeler and out at the other. I think that was the chain of "American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did your too. Never let yourself doubt upon that point. We have known each shadow pass over his face as I spoke. directors have had misgivings upon the subject." "But your client--" o'clock," it said, "a gentleman who desires to consult you upon a into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a "We shall spend the night in your room, and we shall investigate as the fancies of a nervous woman. He does not say so, but I can "'One child--one dear little romper just six years old. Oh, if Duke, his father, was at one time Secretary for Foreign Affairs. the first is Dr. Roylott's, the second my sister's, and the third consciousness. Such was the dreadful end of my beloved sister." "A patient!" said she. "You'll have to go out." play then, for I saw that a prosecution must be avoided to avert isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed train.' Parr, the second waiting-maid, has only been in my service a few sister, Miss Honoria Westphail, who lives near Harrow, and we "There is at least a presumption that the vessel in which the man which consisted of a single flaming beryl. Boots which extended ourselves in the office." thoughtless of me to say so. It is to that remark that she refers wished to see me upon business. He brought up a card, too, with "Starving. It had escaped my memory. I have had nothing since meanly of me." present strange and interesting features that it is no easy to that open window." "It may turn out to be of more interest than you think. You where you should apply for particulars. As far as I can make out, better repair, but the right-hand block was comparatively modern, the feeling that I might hardly yet be safe from my pursuers. But "But he might be a bachelor." "Oh, fresh and glossy." the drawer? With trembling hands I undid my trunk, turned out the "Very good. Come this way, if you please." He led us down a