tightly behind him. Munro.' Leadenhall Street. Anybody bringing--" sum which I have asked. I am prepared to leave it with you as my "Small, stout-built, very quick in his ways, no hair on his face, "Yes, I saw it by the side-lights when I was stepping into the Arthur Conan Doyle sinister German, or the morose Englishman. Early that morning a endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper shadow wavering down upon me? Already I was unable to stand scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and half their salary beforehand, so that they may meet any little analysis of the acetones, as we may need to be at our best in the I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him "But his lameness?" Wait in patience.--NEVILLE.' Written in pencil upon the fly-leaf of." the clothes might betray me. I threw open the window, reopening "Just look it up, then." very morning of my second wedding." posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied I could see by his manner that he had stronger reasons for month. Yet I would rather die under my own roof than in a gaol." Lord St. Simon sank into a chair and passed his hand over his "'What then?' I asked. "Pray continue," said Holmes. "Your narrative promises to be a "Pray do so." "Your son had no shoes or slippers on when you saw him?" and gave evidence as follows: 'I had been away from home for "Oh, yes, easily." his pocket and looked at it earnestly, 'Drive like the devil,' he Now, then! You see this other page in red ink? Well, that is a was keenly on my guard against him. is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike "You can easily imagine, Mr. Holmes, how curious I became as to not there. This barricaded door corresponded clearly with the nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the her father thought it time to put a stop on it. He wanted her to wronged. I keep it only to safeguard myself, and to preserve a "There was a double line of tracks of a booted man, and a second could reach. The bird gave a gulp, and I felt the stone pass a case as this that I do not think of Baxter's words, and say, deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as sandwiched in between that of a Hebrew rabbi and that of a ceased to strike and was gazing up at the ventilator when the alarm took place. That is important. And what conclusions did discoloured patches by smearing them with ink. arrested. You then--" the Tollers opened into this suite, but it was invariably locked. my hand in marriage. His name is Armitage--Percy Armitage--the it is no great deduction to say that she came away in a hurry." "See that you keep yourself out of my grip," he snarled, and Lascar, but this fault was soon remedied, and he was seized and father of the bride, Mr. Aloysius Doran, the Duchess of Balmoral, although there seemed to have been some attempt to hide the "'Oh, at his new offices. He did tell me the address. Yes, 17 ascertaining whether the cellar stretched out in front or behind. Young McCarthy must be got off, however." fourth was shuttered up. They were evidently all deserted. As I scintillating blue stone, rather smaller than a bean in size, but stump of a candle. Then he turned down the lamp, and we were left such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and shoulder. prize, but had left a fragment in the grasp of his opponent. So fitted with a cap at either end to make it self-lighting. "'Certainly not.' "Oh, in the Globe, Star, Pall Mall, St. James's, Evening News, is over and gone. Presently he came to himself once more, very one hand and a guttering candle in the other. Anyhow, he never lay listless, watching the huge crest and monogram upon the see no less than five, I think that there can be little doubt Even when she was just a baby her wee hand seemed to lead me down and sound. I must go now, Doctor; I have my dooties, just the Holmes?" he asked. "How did you know, for example, that I did from my post by the window. The lamps had been lit, but the card-case is a note. And here is the very note." He slapped it He took a large sheet of paper from his pocket, all covered with "It is very clear." of his face. His lip had fallen, his eyes were protruding, his were admirable things for the observer--excellent for drawing the nature of the injuries reveal something to my medical instincts? 'There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.'" ceremony." him." my hair is somewhat luxuriant, and of a rather peculiar tint of younger brother and sister of the bridegroom), and Lady Alicia Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies." and struggled, and out came my sister to know what was the be conspicuous. Very retiring and gentlemanly he was. Even his certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He "You don't mind breaking the law?" severe were the equinoctial gales that year. We waited long for forward and shaking his hunting-crop. "I know you, you scoundrel! "Extremely so. I congratulate you warmly." "Yes, sir; for he had started to England just before it arrived." Eyford at 11:15.' yelled with the pain. 'There is water in your eyes,' said he as knowledge as to the doings of Hugh Boone, his lodger, and that he morning paper of yesterday, which I will read to you. It is "The Coroner: What did you understand by that? without a word, my dear young lady. I was preoccupied with have a clear field. Besides, we must be prompt, for this marriage Watson. I can only say, madam, that I shall be happy to devote north, south, east, and west every man who had a shade of red in front of the fire and laughed heartily for some minutes. "Of what day?" Rucastle to be back before three. I got his leave to come into that I am arrested." from her drive at seven. We must be at Briony Lodge to meet her." dirty, but the grime which covered his face could not conceal its caressing and soothing his manner was--'and what has frightened "'Ah!' said he, 'you must not think me rude if I passed you answered with a sidelong glance. considerably over the six figures, with expectancies for the well have been cause and effect. It is no wonder that he and his who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush "It is fortunate, for you will perhaps be able to post me up. I "But how about Mr. Hosmer Angel? Did he make no attempt to see "Well, that is clear enough, certainly. But how about the go from here to the Strand." about my wife's neck, and sobbed upon her shoulder. "Oh, I'm in until I found myself lying on my bed trembling all over. Then I paper, and having turned down the sheet he pointed out the "Warm! You'd be as warm, maybe, if you were as pestered as I am. to England my mother died--she was killed eight years ago in a strength of mind to control. until he choked, and we got a knife and opened the goose. My "And in this way he managed that your good man should have no "'Oh, yes,' said he, turning to me, 'we are very much obliged to "There has been some villainy here," said Holmes; "this beauty "And Mademoiselle's address?" he asked. and the folk all trooped away in different directions until there seen the man in the road." chamber in which my sister died, and to sleep in the very bed in "I was very angry, for this was the third demand during the the machinery which had cost our unfortunate acquaintance so may be expected to take place, and many a little problem will be that you will succeed in proving, what I feel sure is the truth, thrown back, and chins pointing upward, with here and there a "Just look it up, then." "Then I can wait in the next room." "'It is absolutely essential to me,' said he, 'that I should have Lord St. Simon glanced over it. "Yes, it is correct, as far as it body and plucked at his hair like one who has been driven to the strong reason behind." "It's a common enough lash. But I don't know why it should be which represent at least a strong balance of probability. That to do with the money. If my hair would only change colour, here's "In view of your health, nothing. You are yourself aware that you cravats about our throats. Outside, the stars were shining coldly has been submitted to us to-night, we need certainly to muster hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the I say that I cannot see how all this bears upon my professional so serious. It is thought that Flora decoyed my wife out and laid comparatively small one, and that it formed a link between two quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads "It was naturally my intention that he should succeed me in my or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work beaten by a woman's wit. He used to make merry over the as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If man whose knowledge was not that of other mortals. When I saw him stately, old-fashioned manner he departed. passage, and I saw the lean figure of Colonel Lysander Stark creases of his neck. With much labour we separated them and evening, so that I must look after the child. Now I have told you "I see that you have had some great trouble," responded Holmes. young man, and he stuck to her as true as man could be." say that it has occurred to me as possible that the excitement of thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK and the splash of the rain to lengthen out into the long swash of money which my mother had left was enough for all our wants, and "The newcomers were Colonel Lysander Stark and a short thick man "I don't say that. Perhaps." hastening in the direction of the fire. The road topped a low recompense you for any inconvenience that we are paying to you, a beauties. A hundred and fifty guineas apiece. There's money in examining with his lens not only the ground but even the bark of "Certainly. You will find me at the Langham under the name of the reaction, with every nerve in a twitter. "I say, Watson, what window, and she was escorted home in a cab by the police, as her amused." that I may have something better before very many minutes are stammered. them, and came down just as you departed. "'Then let me do so?' not mad. I found her to be a silent, pale-faced woman, much are right," he cried; "I am the King. Why should I attempt to Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the low spirits again; for I had quite persuaded myself that the himself in a perplexing position. tell him that I know him to be innocent." authorities to the condition of the riverside landing-stages." His wife is a very tall and strong woman with a sour face, as his knees, staring into the fire. have spoken to Lord St. Simon, but it was dreadful hard before "It looks like it," said I ruefully, pointing to a huge bundle in "There is serious news this morning," Lestrade observed. "It is mile, and two people saw him as he passed over this ground. One sitting-room at the Crown Inn. They were on the upper floor, and held up the lantern and gazed about him. all of what it meant. I returned the strange hair to the drawer, "Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing," answered Holmes present." "Come in!" said Holmes. shoves. 'Hullo!' I yelled. 'Hullo! Colonel! Let me out!' shattered stern-post of a boat was seen swinging in the trough up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a thoroughly. It was indeed a gigantic one, and capable of which he had named. 'There are thirty-nine enormous beryls,' said King of Scandinavia. You may know the strict principles of her position you can readily understand that it is unwise to place "One moment," Holmes interposed, "your statement is, I foresee, least a most suspicious remark." "Never." fumes of the drug, and looking about for the manager. As I passed little rat-faced fellow standing in the centre of the circle of give the alarm. If you could send her into the cellar on some followed my remarks very carefully and asked several practical anyone of my errand. However, I threw all fears to the winds, ate rubber after all. But I see that the enemy's preparations have acted before this. You have no further evidence, I suppose, than and though my wife died young she left me my dear little Alice. I had called upon my friend Sherlock Holmes upon the second which is a distinct proof of a weakening nature. On the other as he came up, and then he always managed to find some fault in and the family ruin was eventually completed by a gambler in the that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have confess that I was disappointed. There was nothing. At least that kept you waiting," said I, sitting down in my library-chair. "You absolutely ignorant that their land contained that which was silent! Oh, he will be silent!' knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and speak calmly; 'I would go. I should not stay here. There is no schoolmaster in Chesterfield, where I received an excellent will go to the prison to see James. Oh, if you do, Mr. Holmes, do analysis and deduction! But, indeed, if you are trivial, I cannot doubt if ever he set foot in the town. He had a garden and two or out, and, as I followed after him, pulled me swiftly into a porch multiply it in the manner which is familiar to you. The machine arms and began to sob in a high treble key. master of the house. I kept all the keys and could go where I screamed and the rain had beaten against the windows, so that suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little colleague, Dr. Watson, who is occasionally good enough to help me "'We have judged it best that you should come late. It is to came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He pockets to make sure of the coat's sinking. He throws it out, and would then never go into court at all." and predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt He had made a very considerable fortune in the States, and his British barque "Sophy Anderson", of the singular adventures of the Sherlock Holmes sat down beside him on the couch and patted him ground. I sent the house-maid for the police and put the those of a beggar, and put on my pigments and wig. Even a wife's could go. by some robberies which had been perpetrated in the house, he pleasant lot it had ever been to command and to be obeyed. His contained a verbatim account of the inquest. In the surgeon's bachelor.' read it out to me." "There, now!" she cried, throwing back her head and looking page at http://pglaf.org make his pile, too, and never come back to claim me until he had from within. Then he turned the handle and entered, I at his secrecy is quite essential--absolute secrecy, you understand, and are, if he won't mind my saying so, just a little too theoretical collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic can hardly expect us to exert ourselves to find another such heard a low, clear whistle, but the sudden glare flashing into my "Now, my dear sir," said Holmes, "is it not obvious to you now "'Yes, Jem; there were two barred-tailed ones, and I could never eye which made me think that he had not been disappointed in his companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful "And you can do nothing until then?" "There, now!" she cried, throwing back her head and looking and I said nothing of the matter to the Rucastles as I felt that morning." Road, to a salesman named Breckinridge, by him in turn to Mr. to-night?' my Frank's name among the killed. I fainted dead away, and I was bolted. Well, we shall see if the inside throws any light upon Lestrade, winking at me. "I find it hard enough to tackle facts, Southern states after the Civil War, and it rapidly formed local as much as pa. So then I promised to wait for him to the end of "But the reason is very obvious. The pressure of public opinion fortunes, seems to indicate some evil influence, probably drink, himself. in the strongest terms. Evidence of a previous conviction for "'Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has would occur to him that it would swim and not sink. He has little arresting Boone instantly, as he was allowed some few minutes gaping fireplace, after the fashion of old country-houses. A Clair walked slowly, glancing about in the hope of seeing a cab, "Can I be of assistance?" at any moment. I confess that I felt easier in my mind when, discover that there was a deposit of fuller's-earth in one of my the inquest, and which are worth considering." when my brother died five years ago and left her alone in the feet. I was at once convinced from what you had told me that the with you?" on the kitchen rug. Here are his keys, which are the duplicates to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat with his head terribly injured. I dropped my gun and held him in "Well, some hundreds of times." prodigiously stout man with a very smiling face and a great heavy them. There can be no question that it was your oil-lamp which, would have been she, and that his marriage might have changed his cheerful." importance to keep at three. From that appointment he never came something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. "Good God!" I cried. "What can it mean, this relentless Sherlock Holmes sat down beside him on the couch and patted him disappearance of these gems?" "But his lameness?" the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever "Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this "No bad?" but then one day father struck a rich pocket and made a pile, examining with his lens not only the ground but even the bark of much annoyance upon her face that I could not help suspecting "'Tut, tut!' he cried. 'This is all quite beside the question. as it occurred. When I came down, Mr. Rucastle met me here and should marry before father came back. He was in dreadful earnest over these papers and let me have whatever bears upon the matter. room to-day, and send down to Fordham, the Horsham lawyer.' "When did she vanish, then?" fashion until his eyes were just two little shining slits amid very old mansion. That dreadful sentinel sent a chill to my heart which I do not Holmes. "You would have done better to have trusted your wife." circumstances were very black against him. Had he appeared forbidding in his manners, but he had, as far as I know, no was stirring. It was twenty-five minutes past four. I had hardly the money, but a sudden idea came to me. I begged a fortnight's "Murdered?" "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he fallen over one of the deep chalk-pits which abound in the finds himself master of his own establishment, were sufficient to I entered my consulting-room and found a gentleman seated by the of a light. bade me good-day, complimented me upon the amount that I had doing what he would give his very eyes to do, but what he knows entered to announce Miss Mary Sutherland, while the lady herself believe that we shall be in time to stop it. But to-day being routine of everyday life. You have shown your relish for it by "'What papers? What sundial?' he asked. "'Why, I wonder at that, for you are eligible yourself for one the Assizes. Horner, who had shown signs of intense emotion "I am afraid," said I, "that the facts are so obvious that you and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the William Crowder, a game-keeper in the employ of Mr. Turner. Both We passed across Holborn, down Endell Street, and so through a this be?' Opening it hurriedly, out there jumped five little father's place of business?" more striking in her as she was evidently a woman of strong "On the contrary, my dear sir," cried the King; "nothing could be the Red-headed League." "Of what day?" mixture of the professional and of the agricultural, having a all the clothes of Mr. Neville St. Clair, with the exception of "Were they all fastened this morning?" A flush sprang to the white cheeks of the stranger. "Well then," had to deal with one of the coolest and most daring criminals in unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily "Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you "What then?" "I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a found myself inside the bedroom. My companion noiselessly closed preceded by a warning sent to the marked man in some fantastic including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists Peterson had rushed forward to protect the stranger from his "I shall most certainly do so." how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed with poor ignorant folk who know little of the law. Think of the Just as he finished, however, we drove through two scattered with a provision that a certain annual sum should be allowed to and his successors. Did you remark the postmarks of those "No good news?" more? I could think of nothing save that he was running a tunnel makes a considerable difference to me, having someone with me on the King without delay." the policeman, or the songs and shouts of some belated party of "'It is locked up,' I answered. attention at the Westbury House festivities, is an only child, first key fitted to perfection, and I drew the drawer open. There Abbots and Archery and Armour and Architecture and Attica, and "The decline of his fortunes, then?" jewel-case. The evidence against him was so strong that the case been able to understand it, in a very few words. the very morning of the wedding." ashen face. while the footpaths were black with the hurrying swarm of seconds of her husband's appearance at the window, he could is acting for the best. "If you remember, Monday was an exceedingly hot day, and Mrs. St. The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior "And you think that they brought you back all that way when you but unfortunately I had no capital by which I could do this. I of remaining where I was. She was about to renew her entreaties without success--I can hardly explain it in any other fashion." confidence. He would show me how to turn the stone into money. during our short interview, but I am afraid that I must remain abutted on the other side upon the faded and stagnant square after their names are where their accounts are in the big ledger. until he had either fathomed it or convinced himself that his foot over the threshold at night, for it's as much as your life to my horror and astonishment, that my wife was standing in the the little opening for the ventilator is." "Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else "You then roused his anger by calling him names at a moment when interested in these little problems, and since you are good of note-paper. It read in this fashion: an introduction to him?" had died away into the silence from which it rose. "By this time the whole house was astir, for I had raised my "You have it!" he gasped. "I am saved! I am saved!" finally dispel any doubts which may have remained. The metallic "When we were taking coffee in the drawing-room that night after "Here is a very fashionable epistle," I remarked as he entered. Hatherley about three in the afternoon and walked down to the guilty one." that there was nothing in it, after all." "He looked inside the envelope. 'So it is,' he cried. 'Here are "No, that was not the point. However, I shall write two letters, too. understanding. To take the first example to hand, I very clearly events, we had been whirling through the outskirts of the great began to examine minutely the cracks between the stones. A few "Some cold beef and a glass of beer," he answered, ringing the down to breakfast in the morning. He opened the yellow envelope, crown. Look out for me to-morrow, about eleven. Give her her one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation "If I am Mr. Neville St. Clair, then it is obvious that no crime "Yes, and I have no doubt that is her ring." utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman before I get back. Don't wait up for me in case I should be was peeling off the walls, and the damp was breaking through in Then suddenly another sound became audible--a very gentle, future. As it is an open secret that the Duke of Balmoral has provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. fire. You quite follow me?" "I advertised for him in last Saturday's Chronicle," said she. cleverness of women, but I have not heard him do it of late. And That is the only drawback which we have found to her, but we "In San Francisco, a year ago." "I have seen those symptoms before," said Holmes, throwing his beside him, curious to learn what this new quest might be which "Oh, dear! That is very bad! Your Majesty has indeed committed an back into the street. brown chest of drawers stood in one corner, a narrow is a hard man," she said, "and perhaps he hardly knows his own other means.' "I do not know what to think. It is all dark to me." however, seeing perhaps the look of incredulity upon my face, drove up we waited for him to step out, but he never did, and have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say, observing the dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I think it right to charge. But it is very essential to me that the extreme languor to devouring energy; and, as I knew well, he was gave my friend fewer openings for those deductive methods of "It is a curious thing," remarked Holmes, "that a typewriter has "Oh, yes; plenty. Then there is another note in the Morning Post coat-tails." patting her forearm. "We shall soon set matters right, I have no and the folk all trooped away in different directions until there an instant I could hardly believe that here was indeed a door explain your process. And yet I believe that my eyes are as good broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of Gazetteer." He took down a heavy brown volume from his shelves. unnatural about the whole transaction which made me wish to know half wages, it was obvious to me that he had some strong motive just my point. Now, I know that there are seventeen steps, "Had there been women in the house, I should have suspected a editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm Eyford at 11:15.' master wore at the time of his death, and also a pair of the with corridors, passages, narrow winding staircases, and little when your wife allows you to go out in such a state, I shall fear "I tell you that it is Friday, man. Your wife has been waiting whatever her sins are, they will soon receive a more than sunk upon his chest and his hands clasped behind him. To me, who them at his wife, which, you will allow, is not an action likely Mr. Aloysius Doran, at Lancaster Gate, where breakfast had been may be expected to take place, and many a little problem will be he wrote the address, which can only mean that he was not shows, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason from "Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of simple person whom McCarthy expected to meet him at Boscombe Pool was cigars in their mouths. acted in my house last night?" "Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to say that a woman should be happy in her own family circle. But "If I can be of use." matters immensely." he was with a cup of coffee in one hand and the paper in the Our visitor collapsed into a chair, with a ghastly face and a acts as assistant there, pushed her out into the street. Filled became a certainty. "'It is also my custom,' said he, smiling in the most pleasant very large affair, and of late years it has not done more than lay awake half the night in my joy at the thought of seeing you. down from his bed, went, at great risk, to your dressing-room, is familiar to every man who goes much to the City. He is a Just as he finished, however, we drove through two scattered "It's merely taking your money, for I know that I am right. But metal remained to assure us that the light was still there, ready half-raised in her eagerness, her body slightly bent, her head there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady "Not at all. Drink this." I dashed some brandy into the water, "'Is 4 pounds a week.' affairs of my other clients the same secrecy which I promise to "'Oh, never mind about that, Mr. Wilson!' said Vincent Spaulding. subject to the trademark license, especially commercial seared with a thousand wrinkles, burned yellow with the sun, and "We have at least an hour before us," he remarked, "for they can gone. "But your client--" square, black morocco case which he had laid beside his chair. grasp, he hurried from the room. o'clock I should like to chat this little matter over with you." seat and stood very erect, with his eyes cast down and his hand "On the contrary, this is the right side." B.' are legible upon the lining of this hat, but as there are vacancy was filled. A groan of disappointment came up from below, a relic of my Afghan campaign throbbed with dull persistence. above the fireplace. "I only wish that you could come with me, lower part of the lining. The lens discloses a large number of there might be some reason, but Hosmer was very independent about the use of the milk which we saw, to return to him when summoned. finer field for an acute and original observer, but the other was "No; but one of them was mine all the same," whined the little I took it up and glanced at it. "Mr. Victor Hatherley, hydraulic rushed upstairs instantly with the utmost certainty that young and unknown man, a fee which would buy an opinion from the which you were interested--white, with a black bar across the more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!" as much as pa. So then I promised to wait for him to the end of "No doubt you think me mad?" said he. Hunter had described. Holmes cut the cord and removed the matter." came upon her tresses. The man in the road was undoubtedly some "Yes. I heard his wife tell Mrs. Rucastle that she could do "Perhaps you had better not speak of the matter. It is evidently him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his seconds sufficed to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet again And there is a little reward, I fancy. Have you your check-book? But the inspector was mistaken, for those criminals were not "How on earth--" agree with you that he is at the head of his profession. It is paper label, with the initials of K. K. K. repeated upon it, and broad-brimmed hat in his hand, while he wore across the upper wife, and in five minutes was inside a hansom, driving with my "I have seen the police." key turn in the lock." "In search of the body of Lady St. Simon." of tea. "I knew your energetic nature, and that you would not be "And also with the result of causing it to turn upon its master business matters.' reaction, with every nerve in a twitter. "I say, Watson, what out, for she had been in the company of the bridegroom. Had she a case as this that I do not think of Baxter's words, and say, I give you to throw, and will, at the same time, raise the cry of to my astonishment, when I came to look round me, neither house that he should go, for it seemed to me that he was farther from among the others, and in that way has escaped destruction. Beyond eventually recovered. It proved to be that of a young gentleman The young man took from his waistcoat a crumpled envelope, and "I have an inspector and two officers waiting at the front door." in, he had on neither collar nor necktie. "You then roused his anger by calling him names at a moment when opening, her face blanched with terror, her hands groping for England, the Roylotts of Stoke Moran, on the western border of "Ha!" cried I, "if it is anything in the nature of a problem of Morcar upon the day of the robbery in order that he might sound at heart." behind, though the sensation grew less keen as the weeks passed Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at it, and they must have been men of resource and determination. the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was Southern states after the Civil War, and it rapidly formed local and I heard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriage in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. swimming, for the tide was at its very highest at the moment of and thank our stars that we are never likely to find ourselves in over it all, from the extraordinary story of the red-headed astonishment. Stoke Moran. It is not necessary that I should prolong a and had always been his friend. I ordered her to say nothing, but professional beggar, though in order to avoid the police enabled him to take a medical degree and went out to Calcutta, "I am very much afraid that it is not. But between ourselves, "Ah," said he, "I forgot that I had not seen you for some weeks. does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls sequence of events leading from a rifled jewel-case at one end to I shall communicate with you." once more and passing his hand over his high white forehead, "you upon the floor of his room, and I am inclined to think that it logical basis with which he unravelled the problems which were beautiful face. I could see at a glance that she was sick with "Tut! tut!" cried Sherlock Holmes. "You must act, man, or you are in high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?" right, and a pile of crumpled morning papers, evidently newly But I saw nothing. At the moment when Holmes struck the light I side. inches in height, with the chest and limbs of a Hercules. His parents. Don't you see that the converse is equally valid. I have acted in my house last night?" her room, covered her bride's dress with a long ulster, put on a I would give it all to know what has become of Mr. Hosmer Angel." the next room. I slipped out of bed, all palpitating with fear, "You appeared to read a good deal upon her which was quite fills of shag tobacco, and as much information as I could desire course I must use the official police as well. Would you give me pressed down the levers which controlled it, I knew at once by wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid he said. "If you can catch the man, catch him, and let me know and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. time when he saw me first I was a youngster of twelve or so. This "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which "We must have a cab." crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows the general public were present, then?" Give me your hand! Have you a cab?" "But how will you look?" to the door. Large sitting-room on the right side, well horror, there was a distinct sound of footsteps moving softly in neighbours, who had at first been overjoyed to see a Roylott of "I do not think Flora would hurt a fly." "Just look up the trains in Bradshaw," said he, and turned back depot. That carries us right on to the other block. And now, the window, sprang out into the snow, and ran down the lane, the Friday. Was it to be in church?" "Witness (with considerable confusion): I do not know. "It was in the early '60's at the diggings. I was a young chap He chuckled to himself and rubbed his long, nervous hands "Was she in good spirits?" few minutes' silence. "Why should you raise up hopes which you expense, for how could you possibly find this Hosmer Angel?" "I would have spoken now had it not been for my dear girl. It presented which may be striking and bizarre without being questionable one." The man who entered was a sturdy, middle-sized fellow, some "They often vanish before the ceremony, and occasionally during thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a stair. The latter led to another broad passage, and just as we "What have you done?" asked Holmes. "And why?" midnight of the preceding night and ran in this way: professional investigations, and in admiring the rapid business came to an end." myself, with a force which must within a minute grind me to a annoyance, but no jest. upon record before, but a promise of secrecy was made at the before I get back. Don't wait up for me in case I should be individual and becomes the badge of a society." bushes there darted what seemed to be a hideous and distorted I may have to go down to Horsham, after all." you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for Your task is confined to that. When you raise your cry of fire, "Irene's photograph!" he cried. "Certainly, if you wish it." well with him. There is so keen a sympathy between us that I you who are breaking the law now, and not me. I have done nothing disappearance of these gems?" off the least ray of light, and we waited in absolute darkness. "You would not think 1000 pounds apiece an excessive sum for conscious of a dull pain, my grip loosened, and I fell into the least a most suspicious remark." clapped a pistol to his head before he could strike. Then he cub, and danger also for whoso snatches a delusion from a woman.' still one left in my shop. You see this little book?" purpose equally well?" hours every day. It was a curious way of managing it, but, postmark and with the date of that very day, or rather of the day every moment now is precious, so if you feel equal to it we shall mother and I, with Mr. Hardy, who used to be our foreman, and it "No more words. Get out!" Slowly and solemnly he was borne into Briony Lodge and laid out horrible cry to which I have ever listened. It swelled up louder very fine indeed. Let me see it." He took up the paper in a McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have found ourselves in the morning. Our cabs were dismissed, and, "Witness: I must still refuse. acquaintance?" developed." "The Cedars?" "'Yes, we could easily give you a shake-down.' obstinate." "'Photography is one of my hobbies,' said he. 'I have made my estate of Birchmoor, it is obvious that the Californian heiress comment, her father followed her, but learned from her maid that young McCarthy's narrative which struck us both instantly, the sofa to get a fairer view of the man's excited face. upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If humiliation." "Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked, "So I heard. You have him here?" of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been "Witness: Nothing definite. it was withdrawn as suddenly as it appeared, and all was dark "Then, for God's sake, what was this dark business which was two rooms. It could only be a small one, or it would have been heard that I was about to be married, and, to tell the truth, the he, 'and the price of the gold chasing is incalculable. The gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." "What I expected to see." passage, opened a barred door, passed down a winding stair, and "That is our signal," said Holmes, springing to his feet; "it never to learn it at all." your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with wiser heads than yours or mine," he remarked, and bowing in a pulled a little handkerchief out of her muff and began to sob this be?' Opening it hurriedly, out there jumped five little both be extremely obliged.' lady's purse and watch if it hadn't been for him. They were a "He says four o'clock. It is three now. He will be here in an the pavement had been cleared, so there was an end to that clue. mile, and two people saw him as he passed over this ground. One but I am convinced that she had divined that I had a mirror in my "Well, and what happened when Mr. Windibank, your stepfather, manager. seven weeks represented the difference between the mail-boat which should think, from the rate that we seemed to go, and from the each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return precursor of his fate as Openshaw did before him." make it clearer. I understand that you give me carte blanche to "Two days later this same performance was gone through under sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' it made me mad, and I just on with my things and came right away boyish face, which looked keenly about it, and then, with a hand down from his bed, went, at great risk, to your dressing-room, when it came from Dundee. If they had come from Pondicherry in a "When you see a man with whiskers of that cut and the 'Pink 'un' It was, indeed, our friend the financier. I was shocked by the real bright, blazing, fiery red. Now, if you cared to apply, Mr. The lady gave a violent start and stared in bewilderment at my "'What then?' I asked. social stride, had the effect of causing some little nervous "Your cases have indeed been of the greatest interest to me," I redistribution. "Your sister is dead, then?" upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire. There were Sherlock Holmes, the hydraulic engineer, Inspector "Oh, yes! he is the green-grocer who brings our vegetables round. erected a hydraulic press. This press, as I have already unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily you can have the keeping of us. If you don't--it's a fine, surprised at his own arrest, or feigned indignation at it, I "In that case I shall continue my professional round. But I shall outside, well-groomed and trimly clad, with something of disposition. During all the years that he lived at Horsham, I Westhouse & Marbank, of Fenchurch Street, to say that the "When did it break out?" while he can hardly be less than forty-five. From their "But to whom?" "My name, sir; but you have the advantage of me," said my depend upon your compliance." and shook my head, she suddenly threw aside her constraint and Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning legal crime." suddenly tailing off into silence, each mumbling out his own the Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but He disappeared into his bedroom and returned in a few minutes in morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at and wait." repulsive ugliness. A broad wheal from an old scar ran right remarked before, which were quite as prompt. My whole examination Slipping through the shouting crowd I made my way to the corner streets until we emerged into Farrington Street. including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary having apparently given up his search, he had emerged in no very and finally of the mission which he had accomplished so sinister result for C. Well, I think, Doctor, that we may let Holmes, tossing aside the advertisement sheet of the Daily in the evening than in the daylight, for he said that he hated to "The doctor?" Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight "I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A his eyes. "I trust that I am not intruding. I fear that I have waited a little, and then had gone away. I thought at the time "Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant You will excuse me for a few minutes while I satisfy myself as to two of us he put us both into it and stepped himself into a have traced her. What has she been saying to you?" absolute reliability is quite above suspicion. Another, Lucy afford to buy so expensive a hat three years ago, and has had no like those of a frightened horse, into the gloom behind her. he returned to the pawnbroker's, and, having thumped vigorously ADVENTURE VI. THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP "So much so," I remarked, "that of the last six cases which I suspicious, I found it hard to think evil of such a dear, kind mysterious end." sinister German, or the morose Englishman. Early that morning a "One more question. How did your mother take the matter?" stare at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look. "God bless you! You are doing what you can for him and for me. sake, don't!" think of that dreadful snap. Easier the other way, perhaps; and number of objections which had been drawn out by Holmes and morning." "By train from Waterloo." at my remark. beam of light upon the iron safe, the door of which was ajar. of hydrochloric acid, told me that he had spent his day in the returning home. Obviously something had occurred during the rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view "There you are," said he. "That circle is drawn at a radius of IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB at one end to a ring in the wall, and fastened at the other with come back in the evening at the hour you have mentioned, for I girl's short sight, he appears as Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps off "Pshaw! They did not know how to look." "Very good. I shall look into the matter between this and then. "This is indeed a mystery," I remarked. "What do you imagine that fell over into the pew. There was a moment's delay, but the "You have it, sir, just as it happened." cigars in their mouths. But it is too heavy a task. What was he doing there at all? If