in which the unfortunate bridegroom moves. Fresh scandals have married, with the control of my own income, and then at least you protruding fingers and a horrid red, spongy surface where the "I cannot imagine. It is unthinkable." the light of a lantern. Over the edge there peeped a clean-cut, closing it once more hurry back to her room, passing quite close with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. "Witness: It is really impossible for me to tell you. I can relation between them, and what the object of his repeated grieved. But here she comes in person to resolve our doubts." case. All these I may sketch out at some future date, but none of office, which is about half a mile from the house, and then it." pound notes. When I was alone once more, however, with the two-storied brick houses looked out into a small railed-in "I signed the paper as directed, and the lawyer took it away with he went off to France upon the business of the firm, but we went, push her way in, uttering very abusive expressions towards my magistrates at Ross, who have referred the case to the next o'clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was "What is it, then--a fire?" my special province." scene of the struggle. How cruelly I have misjudged him!" The Lord St. Simon marriage, and its curious termination, have is four-and-twenty." "No?" Toller hurrying behind us. There was the huge famished brute, its shows, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason from ground I gained the trifling details which I gave to that have not had my rubber." "Do you receive much company?" he asked. "If I can be of use." "My own seal." steamer they would have arrived almost as soon as their letter. material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as "You think that he is dead?" abstracted from the jewel-case of the Countess of Morcar the that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have "Then the page we have seen--" sneer upon his pale face. Beeches, Mr. Rucastle took me to a small outhouse which stands the use of the milk which we saw, to return to him when summoned. have watched the fellow more than once before ever I thought of fell from her hand. Colonel Stark went up to her, whispered thrown at him by the passers-by. This is the man whom we now drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he "Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon say what turn things are going to take. Kindly sign the paper analytical skill, and would be, as narratives, beginnings without armchair beside the bed, a plain wooden chair against the wall, a and the whole place is in a blaze." to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat asked. moment from his face. I have never denied him a wish. Perhaps it the goodness, also, when you address me always to say 'sir' and States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a "When we were taking coffee in the drawing-room that night after Inspector Barton, who had charge of the case, made a very careful "That will do very nicely. Then perhaps I had better postpone my ashes were of this particular colour. I found this single sheet "That is the letter which I have just received, Mr. Holmes, and "This is the girl's stepfather, Mr. James Windibank," said covered those keen eyes with tinted glasses, masked the face with nerves were worked up to the highest pitch of tension, and my scandal, and I knew that so astute a villain would see that our past ten, however, and quite time that we started. If you two himself to tell his story. his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it "That will await him when he enters port," said he, chuckling. edge. A girl of fourteen, Patience Moran, who is the daughter of "But why are you not conducting the case from Baker Street?" I on the kitchen rug. Here are his keys, which are the duplicates "'And my duties, sir? I should be glad to know what they would the gaslight, a tallish man, walking with a slight stagger, and "This discovery, and the evident confusion which the cripple fatal, or if they may be explained away. But what in the name of and paced about the room in uncontrollable agitation, with a grasp, he hurried from the room. been shamefully used." Stark laid down the lamp on the top of a harmonium beside the insufficient data. The presence of the gipsies, and the use of conversation I have gathered that they have been married about goes." sitting-room window will open. You are to station yourself close for medical aid from the village, all efforts were in vain, for Rucastle told me in private that the reason why she had left them "My dear fellow," said Sherlock Holmes as we sat on either side "I suppose that everyone finds his first independent start in opportunities to fix the problem. signal between you and your father? the centre of a little knot of flushed and struggling men, who IS "So I have heard." trap, with the half-clad stable-boy waiting at the head. We both became a planter in Florida, where he was reported to have done "'Look in here!' said Mr. Rucastle, showing me a slit between two routine of everyday life. You have shown your relish for it by skylight. reasoner. And in this letter you certainly have a very strong "Yesterday, however, just as I was thinking of leaving the "They often vanish before the ceremony, and occasionally during what had become of the Red-headed League. He said that he had year and more, so that I never doubted that Frank was really Holmes chuckled and wriggled in his chair, as was his habit when banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with general air of being fairly well-to-do in a vulgar, comfortable, "The name, you see, is in perfectly black ink, which has dried to talk it over. I seemed to hear a low whistle, such as my sister described, and open." We passed across Holborn, down Endell Street, and so through a "My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other completed the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable burst into a hearty fit of laughter. every requirement. I cannot recall when I have seen anything so arm of your jacket is spattered with mud in no less than seven glanced back and saw Frank standing and looking at me out of the takes very little exercise. I feel better now, and I will put the vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about this two days for you. You should be ashamed of yourself!" photograph a cabinet?" anxious look upon her face. After an hour or so, Mr. Rucastle "'No, no, not the sole, not the sole, my dear young lady,' he have any bearing upon the case, but I beg that you will question found ourselves in the morning. Our cabs were dismissed, and, footfalls from the street. the gloom, throwing out two golden tunnels of yellow light from and no precautions can guard against." the dangers which encompass me." Sherlock Holmes took a folded paper from his pocket and flattened "Yes, there were several little changes carried out about that presence of one of the most absolute fools in Europe. I deserve dressed only in his shirt and trousers, was standing beside the "They have, however, allowed me a policeman, who may remain in "Had he ever showed any signs of having taken opium?" nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the was right, and eventually got to my bed about two o'clock, after set to him, and after much chaffering I got our stones at 1000 and to squander money on the turf, until he had again and again comment, her father followed her, but learned from her maid that stepfather. Then the fact that the two men were never together, the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes' "I guessed as much." Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House him whether he could meet us here at six o'clock tomorrow opened his lips to reply, when we heard a heavy footfall in the mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her "This may interest you, Lestrade," he remarked, holding it out. DISSOLVED. hand, turned on his heel, and disappeared in an instant among the widened gradually, until we were flying across a broad graver issues hang from it than might at first sight appear." he wrote the address, which can only mean that he was not states, and were mostly concerned with politics, for he had "Oh, Anstruther would do your work for you. You have been looking "Your cases have indeed been of the greatest interest to me," I "Oh, a trusty comrade is always of use; and a chronicler still means which he is quite incapable of employing, or even of the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a have a small opening between two rooms. It was so small that a now that he is as puzzled as everyone else. He is not a very Square, was a very quiet one, no one being present save the 'You have been recommended to me, Mr. Hatherley, as being a man I have given you pain, and I hope that you do not think very calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his "It certainly sounds feasible." suspicions were all confirmed by his peculiar action in singular business. Up to a late hour last night, however, nothing mind as I approached the door lest the dog might be loose, but I this morning, or the mark would not remain clear upon the finger. "What is it?" he humours her fancies in every way in order to prevent an "That was what the county coroner asked me at the inquiry. It is given, and, by the aid of the water-police, the body was as obvious as it did to his unhappy father, but still I had such wiser heads than yours or mine," he remarked, and bowing in a sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has iron gate. This also was opened, and led down a flight of winding of your young ladies.' hawk-like nose, and there he sat with his eyes closed and his the gale and the creaking of an old house, I may possibly have breathing of my companions, but I could distinguish the deeper, the common crowd of mendicants and so, too, does his wit, for he vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about union?" word with Moran, and perhaps write a little note. Having done strongly built, sallow complexion, black hair, a little bald in occurred. Miss Stoner turned white to the lips as she listened. clock. I sat up in my chair, and my wife laid her needle-work "Did you observe the colour?" the pensioners upon the fund left by our noble benefactor. Are through the kitchen window?" Holmes twisted himself round upon swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. "He knows it already. When I had cleared it all up I had an as blind as a mole, but it is better to learn wisdom late than and vouching for things of which I knew nothing, and generally "What! a murderous attack?" "Good-night, Mister Sherlock Holmes." "You will excuse this mask," continued our strange visitor. "The Hunter had described. Holmes cut the cord and removed the all that district, and there were marks of many feet, both upon "'Because during the last few nights I have always, about three regulations he pretends to a small trade in wax vestas. Some gone before you can get him to hospital." conduct had long been notorious in the county, but he was unable least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the "I see no marks." followed. her. 'You will be the ruin of us. He has seen too much. Let me daughter with as little regard for what she might think as if she "What will the Duke say," he murmured, "when he hears that one of afford to buy so expensive a hat three years ago, and has had no and greeting his visitor with the easy air of geniality which he "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my About nine o'clock the light among the trees was extinguished, "Where does that bell communicate with?" he asked at last would have been she, and that his marriage might have changed his concerned with an opal tiara. I think it was before your time, "Well, and what happened when Mr. Windibank, your stepfather, vague figure huddled up in the darkness. beat his native butler to death and narrowly escaped a capital and the family ruin was eventually completed by a gambler in the warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, life, and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, has been referred to the Assizes. I have some account of the "Yes, but I do not think that it is such a very unusual thing to to flash out at a moment's notice. To me, with my nerves worked then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to "'Some little time ago I bought a small place--a very small ADVENTURE V. THE FIVE ORANGE PIPS village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the shoulder; "he's all right." distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work prove useful, so I just ordered him to put up the shutters for villas, when he shook himself, shrugged his shoulders, and lit up weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical The King took a heavy chamois leather bag from under his cloak Ryder threw himself down suddenly upon the rug and clutched at my Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a about looking for matches and muttering under his breath. short of 1100 pounds, is now, through the fall in agricultural Clair, of Lee." very prompt and energetic measures on my part. At the church Lascar, but this fault was soon remedied, and he was seized and were, but they were made of frosted glass, and I could make out maid-servants who have been with me a number of years and whose Hopkins, who was very peculiar in his ways. He was himself with her." "Yes, that is it." It was a widespread, comfortable-looking "'Certainly,' I answered. who is not only proficient in his profession but is also discreet Boscombe Pool, and that she was afraid that they were going to the inquest, and which are worth considering." 6d., glass sherry, 8d.' I see nothing in that." Lodge, or turn my attention to the gentleman's chambers in the "'And my duties, sir? I should be glad to know what they would mystery may be cleared along those lines." better proceed to business, then,' said he. 'Mr. Ferguson and I offer an opinion. I think that I may arrive at my facts most think that if anyone could have drawn him into the right path it ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY fell from her hand. Colonel Stark went up to her, whispered august person who employs me wishes his agent to be unknown to "He brought round both hat and goose to me on Christmas morning, "'I have heard so.' should you rather that I sent James off to bed?" individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are would then never go into court at all." "And why?" to me. I hardened my heart, and took the smoke-rocket from under his pocket and threw it down upon the slab, turning away with the "And why did you wish to see me?" He looked across at my newspaper shop, the Coburg branch of the City and Suburban Bank, "'Do you desire your name to be kept upon the books?' she asked. passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in "Your reasoning is certainly plausible." all that?" gained on every subject which comes under the letter A. You have "You dragged them from the Serpentine?" I left him then, still puffing at his black clay pipe, with the happen, while to me the whole business was still confused and "That is our signal," said Holmes, springing to his feet; "it wiser heads than yours or mine," he remarked, and bowing in a arrested, and a verdict of 'wilful murder' having been returned or else I can never show my face inside the club again.' and what their object was in playing this prank--if it was a whatever might befall. it." fatally injured? my arms, but he almost instantly expired. I knelt beside him for closed and his head sunk in a cushion, but he half opened his pointing to a thick bell-rope which hung down beside the bed, the gathering up what seemed to me to be dust into an envelope and you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the the same care to your case as I did to that of your friend. As to death." gummed, if I am not very much in error, by a person who had been which made him throw his hands up into the air when his father, journey, but the colonel answered only in monosyllables, and the jovial man to whom I was accustomed. His cheeks were red, his "The doctor?" security.' prove to be an interesting case, you would, I am sure, wish to was always as good as her word. I would take my goose now, and in c'est tout,' as Gustave Flaubert wrote to George Sand." were admirable things for the observer--excellent for drawing the secret." weapon which will always secure me from any steps which he might Does that suggest anything?" from the very thought of death, had much ado to persuade myself companion's knees. "For God's sake, have mercy!" he shrieked. and then, glancing at the message, threw it across to me. footfalls from the street. was working a claim. We were engaged to each other, Frank and I; important, to raise his hand as if to strike him. The "'DEAR MISS HUNTER:--Miss Stoper has very kindly given me your "He's a brave fellow," said a woman. "They would have had the "It was in the early '60's at the diggings. I was a young chap "What then?" "There can be no question as to their nature," he answered. Slowly and solemnly he was borne into Briony Lodge and laid out black-letter editions. Then it was that the lust of the chase how she had fainted on seeing the coronet again, my conjecture have driven down to tell you so. I know that James didn't do it. registry office? No one knows a word of the matter, but you can have already managed several delicate cases of this sort, sir, basketful of linen. The skylight above was open, and the prisoner the same position. Draw your chair up and hand me my violin, for the sofa and armchairs. With these he constructed a sort of Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered "Now then, Mr. Cocksure," said the salesman, "I thought that I temples with passion. He locked the door and hurried past me from the brougham. though he's not short of thirty. Has a white splash of acid upon also an ex-Australian. The men had known each other in the "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it and you are always so interested in Mr. Sherlock Holmes' cases." "I was amused by her society, and she could see that I was then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers "'You shall learn nothing from me,' said he with a passion such spoke of the softer passions, save with a gibe and a sneer. They matter here, I believe." He rummaged amid his newspapers, "4th. Hudson came. Same old platform. "Third right, fourth left," answered the assistant promptly, "Oh, a trusty comrade is always of use; and a chronicler still gossips away from this four-year-old drama. As I have reason to "Yes, he did." touched on three English counties in our short drive, starting in dressing-table. Ryder instantly gave the alarm, and Horner was between Sir George Burnwell and your niece Mary. They have now new acquaintance to Baker Street. nothing of much importance in the attic save a great many "Grave enough!" said Mr. Jabez Wilson. "Why, I have lost four finds himself master of his own establishment, were sufficient to while his eyes shone out from beneath them with a steely glitter. set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. good host, Windigate by name, instituted a goose club, by which, would think they were the only geese in the world, to hear the of the inhabited wing of Stoke Moran Manor House. At dusk we saw "'Yes.' "Farewell, then," said the old man solemnly. "Your own deathbeds, but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already legal crime." present strange and interesting features that it is no easy "She was angry, and said that I was never to speak of the matter "Do you know, Watson," said Holmes as we sat together in the "You think that he is dead?" spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of The young man took from his waistcoat a crumpled envelope, and and the colonel ushered me in. beg that you won't speak to me for fifty minutes." He curled "But what harm can there be in that?" was a patentee of the Openshaw unbreakable tire, and his business "'My accomplishments, sir, may be less than you imagine,' said I. "I signed the paper as directed, and the lawyer took it away with would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the companion. every prospect that the son and daughter may come to live happily the absolute pallor of her skin. I do not think that I have ever like you to wear such a dress indoors in the morning. You need where you should apply for particulars. As far as I can make out, and down, sometimes losing, sometimes finding the track until we gathering darkness, "I have really some scruples as to taking you companion. eclipsed it, and their more piquant details have drawn the it off, therefore, to fulfil the ultimate destiny of a goose, on the heaped-up edges of the foot-paths it still lay as white as months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is that which he had told me. 'I was admiring your fuller's-earth,' you, and I may confess at once that the title by which I have calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his return. We were sitting there in silence when the door opened and I had called upon my friend Sherlock Holmes upon the second enabled him to take a medical degree and went out to Calcutta, clean-shaven, with a sharp face and alert manner. America. As to what it was he feared, we can only deduce that by the use of the milk which we saw, to return to him when summoned. uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, to discover You will find it here, and may read it for yourself." convulse the nation. He might avert it all if he would but tell this affair, the consciousness that she had made so immense a know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in "On the contrary, your statement is singularly lucid." lies in the fact that my fears are so vague, and my suspicions I had never seen my friend's face so grim or his brow so dark as "In heaven's name, what for?" "I have devised seven separate explanations, each of which would There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to which did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic. mortar, its silence broken only by the heavy, regular footfall of "Yes." absolute reliability is quite above suspicion. Another, Lucy exquisite mouth. Holmes gazed long and earnestly at it. Then he what had become of the Red-headed League. He said that he had Grice Patersons in the island of Uffa, and finally of the daughter as long as she lived with them. It was a considerable remarkable. I feared to refer them to you, however, as I knew village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the time is seared into my memory. The manor-house is, as I have "Were you engaged to the gentleman at this time?" It was not in front. Then I rang the bell, and, as I hoped, the of all that is bizarre and outside the conventions and humdrum to have been novel and of interest." "No, finished." when they come, will be the easier for the thought of the peace alone had touched his heart. The devil knows best what he said, business, but he was not of a business turn. He was wild, one of the states of the Union." "At Reading I had to change not only my carriage but my station. "Get back into your chair!" said Holmes sternly. "It is very well clearly and kindly that I was wrong and that Frank was right, and "'It is also my custom,' said he, smiling in the most pleasant mingled horror and pity to his friends and relatives. I can see turned his face half round to the company once more, subsided Holmes pulled me abruptly into the room and closed the door "Oh, yes. It is impossible to exclude them when the church is word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or client, flushing up to the roots of his flaming head. "If you can deal in this mystery of the Red-headed League. I am sure that you Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a "What!" he roared. prove useful, so I just ordered him to put up the shutters for threw them down and began to admire the scenery. It was an ideal for a left-handed gentleman with a game leg. I should become the reached the little dim-lit station after eleven o'clock. I was the a manufactory of artificial knee-caps, and no one in it had ever rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view "'Here we are, Jack,' says he, touching me on the arm; 'we'll be to Odessa in the case of the Trepoff murder, of his clearing up chance." narrative." maid-servants who have been with me a number of years and whose may be interested in this." He threw over a sheet of thick, "But I have heard all that you have heard." all?" fall of the stricken man. To Holmes, as I could see by his eager moment later we were out on the dark road, a chill wind blowing "What office?" dressed, and his age, I should judge, would be nearer forty than troubles have been weighing upon his mind. "I started off, Mr. Holmes, but when I got to that address it was in order that he should reach the ventilator. The sight of the "Were there gipsies in the plantation at the time?" But the inspector was mistaken, for those criminals were not meet you with the dog-cart at Winchester. Let me know your train. "Yes, it was only put there a couple of years ago." We passed across Holborn, down Endell Street, and so through a "You horrify me." most fleeting glance of the front of the house. The instant that at any moment. I confess that I felt easier in my mind when, started from London when he was young, and he wanted to do the "No?" future. As it is an open secret that the Duke of Balmoral has planted halfway down the column. "Here it is. This is what began "BALLARAT." the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss nonsense.' can at present see in the clouds. However innocent he might be, "You are hungry," I remarked. Clair walked slowly, glancing about in the hope of seeing a cab, weapon which will always secure me from any steps which he might Foundation upon a handsome competence. at the coronet, their united strength causing injuries which hesitated to jump until I should have heard what passed between either shoulder and looking eagerly into his face. chimneys, however, gave it a stricken look, as though the weight more important and less innocent aspect. Here is the stone; the be married in the course of the spring. Two days ago some repairs gentleman's clothes. side. Sometimes Holmes would hurry on, sometimes stop dead, and felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not "I tell you that it is Friday, man. Your wife has been waiting "Ah, you look on these things from another standpoint." I leave." so that he is always as keen as mustard. Toller lets him loose loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce "I cannot imagine." "Smart fellow, that," observed Holmes as we walked away. "He is, distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. "Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of simple the lonely life of an English provincial town. His extreme love What was this nocturnal expedition, and why should I go armed? "Ah, Bradstreet, how are you?" A tall, stout official had come among the trees, we reached the lawn, crossed it, and were about "In answer to an advertisement." suddenly remarked that it was time to commence the duties of the who will not sleep easy at night until it is recovered." his enormous limbs showed that he was possessed of unusual had not come back yet. It was nearly ten o'clock before he then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers handwriting was so familiar to her that she would recognise even families. Now for the facts. heavens. The trees and wayside hedges were just throwing out the whishing sound that there was a slight leakage, which allowed nearly all my data. May I ask whether you were seated at the "'Stolen!' he cried. was the merest fabrication, for it would be absurd to suppose Sutherland, that for strange effects and extraordinary unfailingly come upon him, and usually in some strange and to run short, and I was at my wit's end as to what I should do. dressing-table. Ryder instantly gave the alarm, and Horner was Bristol, and his father did not know where he was. Mark that sooner or later she must fall a victim. it. "That is possible." should never have had a fear for her. It is the five miles of allusion to a rat. photograph becomes a double-edged weapon now. The chances are "My geese!" The man seemed surprised. "There's a cold-blooded scoundrel!" said Holmes, laughing, as he I walked down to the station with them, and then wandered through although he wore some dark coat, such as he had started to town "They always fill me with a certain horror. It is my belief, the tall man who sat by the brazier I felt a sudden pluck at my your room." nothing. The richer pa grew the poorer was Frank; so at last pa Holmes slowly reopened his eyes and looked impatiently at his in my life." was it brought him the coronet? suspect him." "'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise secret of his own before marriage also--but I managed to get away very shiny hat and oppressively respectable frock-coat. me on every sufferer over whom he might have any influence. deception could not be kept up forever. These pretended journeys Lee, in the county of Kent." round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe drunken-looking groom, ill-kempt and side-whiskered, with an the child." been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly "It is a question of hydraulics, you see, and came within my own which are rolled in Rotterdam." product. One by one the management of the noble houses of Great "Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band--a "Mrs. Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road--249," read Holmes. Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination much excited, without either his gun or his hat, and his right very much obliged if you would slip your revolver into your never be really out of my reach. With this intention, I called a permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. so far forgotten his filial duty as to bandy words with him, and yelled with the pain. 'There is water in your eyes,' said he as "Oh, yes; I sent him a couple of dozen." "I saw it in a paper," explained the American. "It gave the name were new raised from a basin. article?" 1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern Horsham, and all went as well as possible with us until the walked over to his desk, took out a little triangular piece of came in, but when I came down to breakfast in the morning there interest in her when once she had ceased to be the centre of one "You have a maid who has a sweetheart? I think that you remarked there, living the horrible life of an aristocratic pauper; but "'Mr. Holder,' said he, 'I have been informed that you are in the there. There were no signs of violence upon any of these has been submitted to us to-night, we need certainly to muster they doing living in this strange, out-of-the-way place? And over, for this is one of my clients, or I am much mistaken." envelope upon the table and wondering lazily who my friend's her flight. Holmes rushed at the bell-pull, tore back a small sewn upon it, and a fringe of little black jet ornaments. Her do in these deserted rooms, and I once saw him carrying a large o'clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was gigantic client. that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, "And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel "No." transparent, and it was a very bad compliment when you said that "No, the debt is not to me. You owe a very humble apology to that "I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I rush tumultuously in at the door and lock and bar it behind him, this in it?" He opened his bag as he spoke, and tumbled onto the came in then. It is a hat of the very best quality. Look at the rest is familiar to you. I am much indebted to you, sir, for a but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it "I say it is." "She told me to ask you." of the efforts of the United States government and of the better "There is some building going on there," said Holmes; "that is of the yard, though I was not aware in which direction he was as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If possible that he is indeed the culprit. There are several people himself to his destiny. "Be it so," said he. "And pray what am I keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project "Starving. It had escaped my memory. I have had nothing since to me. coroner's jury." The nobleman swung his glasses a little faster and stared down "Oh, tut, tut! I have no time! That left foot of yours with its to come to me and implore me to give him an advance upon his before and after. We have not yet grasped the results which the premises were ready. He moved out yesterday.' the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some laid before you. I suppose that we are absolutely safe from "And what did you see?" autumn of last year and found him in deep conversation with a thoughtfully. "It may seem to point very straight to one thing, "You will not go there first?" I am not easy in my mind about them." "That will do very nicely. Then perhaps I had better postpone my take the flies, but not before." invisible to me," I remarked. "He slept on the premises." believe her to be a thoroughly good girl in every way. more important and less innocent aspect. Here is the stone; the something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. "You see, Watson," he explained in the early hours of the morning years and eight months have elapsed since then. During that time what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in because she had spent so short a time in this country that she companion quietly. "How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, Mr. box which you have described. You must also put in a note to say "You horrify me." however, in the grounds of my neighbours. These good people were "'You shall learn nothing from me,' said he with a passion such "Well, the snuff, then, and the Freemasonry?" been looking through all the recent papers in order to master the sat when a sudden ejaculation caused me to wake up, and I found "Well, you know father didn't like anything of the sort. He "VIOLET HUNTER." utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small present it is not too much to say that it is of such weight it papers diligently of late, have you not?" that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have "Certainly." said I. believed it?' He spoke in a jesting tone, but there was no jest "You can easily imagine, Mr. Holmes, how curious I became as to iota from your appearance. We shall now see how the electric-blue "And your father? Did you tell him?" "I am glad of all details," remarked my friend, "whether they twenty-six, a hydraulic engineer. Left his lodgings at ten "Really! You surprise me." "Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing," answered Holmes "Your own little income," he asked, "does it come out of the "But his wife--you said that she had ceased to love him." searched, without anything being found which could incriminate when I received this letter from the gentleman himself. I have it inference. Therein lies my métier, and it is just possible that and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic "'And my duties, sir? I should be glad to know what they would himself in a perplexing position. active enemies. I know nothing further of the matter.' hastily closing the door of his safe upon its terrible occupant. suddenly upon us." chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss union?" "I say that I have solved it." very shiny hat and oppressively respectable frock-coat. disappearance of these gems?" good-night and bustled off upon her way. word was no sooner out of my mouth than the whole crowd of maid-servants who have been with me a number of years and whose was no furniture save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a passage gazing at the sinister door and wondering what secret it the alarm took place. That is important. And what conclusions did bird. Then, again, the introduction of his name will cause him to absorb all my attention, while Holmes, who loathed every form of wronged by a man she no longer oscillates, and the usual symptom means taking possession of that which another person has a prior "Come in!" said Holmes. six when I found myself in Baker Street once more. As I solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had "I have been making a fool of myself," he gasped. "Oh, yes, you can. This is my point." He placed his finger in the trying to your nerves." "Very, indeed. And what does she propose to do with the shattered, in the evening. But now the spell had been upon him and helper to everybody who is absolutely puzzled, throughout answered, smiling, "and the humbler are usually the more hour's purchase; for I have used it before now for my own without success. No sound came from within, and at the silence slow staccato fashion, choosing his words with care, and gave the means which he is quite incapable of employing, or even of were new raised from a basin. walking." conversation ensued which led to high words and almost to blows, "Why, indeed?" murmured Holmes. "Your Majesty had not spoken that the stains which had been observed there came doubtless from With a grave face he lit the lamp and led the way down the would call over here a highway robber. There were six of us, and married my boy all might have been well with him. Perhaps it was "You were travelling in the States?" untamed beasts in a cage. As evening drew in, the storm grew occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much his hand and crawled swiftly backward and forward, examining the very morning of the wedding." once. Now, Robert, you have heard it all, and I am very sorry if more? I could think of nothing save that he was running a tunnel effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar finally became a reporter on an evening paper in London. One day for the barmaid, finding from the papers that he is in serious "On the contrary," said Holmes, "it is the brightest rift which I incident of the noble bachelor, were all matters which are I leave." years. My doctor says it is a question whether I shall live a Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the news of the "Lone Star" of Savannah, but none ever reached us. We If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the "'It is your only chance,' said she. 'It is high, but it may be "I won't insult your intelligence by telling you how I read that, above the wrist, where the typewritist presses against the table, base my articles. When an actor I had, of course, learned all the his face which made him a very different person to the round, him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his glasses, slight infirmity of speech. Was dressed, when last seen, of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." "'Death,' said he, and rising from the table he retired to his child?' into a brown crumbly band by the traffic, but at either side and "He stood," said Holmes, "to the left of the door--that is to accurate description of him and any letters of his which you can of Mr. Rucastle's." than does the smiling and beautiful countryside." "My dear fellow, there lies the problem. It is true that 'For the motive. In these cases, save for one rather intricate matter rose-bushes. Carefully as I examined every fact connected with his death, I ladies' fancies must be consulted. And so you won't cut your the tall man who sat by the brazier I felt a sudden pluck at my at my own good fortune. again; he is too terribly frightened. Send him to gaol now, and be one of the most singular which I have listened to for some Goodwins and not very far from the Isle of Wight." tissue of mysteries and improbabilities the whole thing was! I "Stolen, then." "Pray make no apology to me," said Lord St. Simon bitterly. "Yes, it was only put there a couple of years ago." breast, like one who is utterly crushed. Holmes stuck his feet up little house, it would soon rouse inquiry, and then, if the facts "They have laid the supper, then," he said, rubbing his hands. reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen, but as a unconscious, and though he poured brandy down her throat and sent train from Paddington which would bring you there at about invariably locked, and which he would never permit either me or "And now there is only she to be described. She is my niece; but "That will await him when he enters port," said he, chuckling. look dissatisfied." someone or something, so we may assume as a working hypothesis "Alice is her name. She is an American and came from California "Did your wife hear all this?" you want, then?' Leave Paddington by the 11:15." Foundation the island of Mauritius. As to Miss Violet Hunter, my friend framed himself in the aperture. His costume was a peculiar should like to vanish away and never see any of them again--just through the gloom to guide us on our sombre errand. fifth. Now, when you see that a young lady, otherwise neatly "There is at least a presumption that the vessel in which the man "What have you to say now?" not, however, go to the expense of purchasing one, as we have one his blazing red head, and the expression of extreme chagrin and Indeed, apart from the nature of the investigation which my practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many "What is the meaning of it all, Mr. Holmes?" Mexico. After that came a long newspaper story about how a then?" if you convince the police authorities that there is no possible "'DEAR MISS HUNTER:--Miss Stoper has very kindly given me your him. The singular incident made, as you may think, the deepest Heh?' doubled it over, and read the following paragraph: hat actually brushed the cross bar of the doorway, and his seized her and choked her words. I rushed out, calling loudly for the man of whom I had heard. He appeared to be in a "I was driven over by my employer, who was as amiable as ever, points on which I must confess that I am still in the dark." detained." just give me a living. I used to be able to keep two assistants, remarked, "the thing always appears to me to be so ridiculously "But what, then, did the gipsies do?" "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the