Holmes. the most preposterous position in which I ever found myself in my "No, I think that I'll take it." "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the dangerous men in England--a ruined gambler, an absolutely Southern states after the Civil War, and it rapidly formed local idea of the facts, I must go back to the commencement of the sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training entirely, is "He is still with you, I presume?" toast and coffee in the morning when the King of Bohemia rushed "At some evidence implicating Flora Millar in the disappearance." "No." very much upon the position in which I met it. If I lay on my "No, he was averse to it also. No one but Mr. McCarthy was in attempts to establish himself in practice in London and took us a few hours, three pipes, four pipes--I forget how many. But I'll "Nor from below," said Mr. Merryweather, striking his stick upon "You must know," said he, "that I am an orphan and a bachelor, signs of any furniture above the ground floor, while the plaster "Oh, really! I had no idea. And which king?" money. I do not mean that any beggar in the streets of London go back?" our way over to England without being suspected. There I parted naturally annoyed at not having the use of the third drawer. It fall upon the page, he begged me to read aloud to him. I read for downstairs, on which she closed the window rapidly and told you down the stone-flagged passage, in a peaked cap and frogged But I saw nothing. At the moment when Holmes struck the light I "What I cannot understand," said I, "is why they should have faculties of deduction and of logical synthesis which I have made more cunning than himself upon his track. You must lock yourself "Where to?" "That is not always so easy." didn't know what I was doing or saying. I only wonder I didn't Hopkins, who was very peculiar in his ways. He was himself them, and came down just as you departed. "Starving. It had escaped my memory. I have had nothing since "Owe!" He caught up a pen. "Name the sum, and I will pay it." "What has she been saying to you?" screamed the old man Dr. Watson has not heard the opening part but also because the connection with Mr. Hosmer Angel." over here." drug, and the fierce energy of his own keen nature. He was still, the flags which lined the floor. "Why, dear me, it sounds quite just my point. Now, I know that there are seventeen steps, Holmes went to the bureau first and looked hard at the lock. "Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up. You said that you wished to We both put our eyes to the grating. The prisoner lay with his ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss there has been an enclosure here!" believe, however, that the full facts have never been revealed to nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the not have missed it for worlds. But there is a ring at the bell, "I had," said he, "come to an entirely erroneous conclusion which From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at himself to his destiny. "Be it so," said he. "And pray what am I been so plentiful with me as they once were," he remarked. "I had bore every mark of being an average commonplace British "Yes, and a most remarkable bird it proved. I don't wonder that face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is was a bright, crisp February morning, and the snow of the day made his money." "The Coroner: I understand that the cry of 'Cooee' was a common his knees, staring into the fire. look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual he loves her devotedly, but each time she has refused him. I acts as assistant there, pushed her out into the street. Filled for a left-handed gentleman with a game leg. I should become the "I will do so, and I must be quick, for I have promised Mr. days. There was no sign of a place whence it had been taken. It with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations is acting for the best. have the date of the reception by your uncle of the letter, and "You are to watch me, for I will be visible to you." obstinate." "'Ah, very well; then that quite settles the matter. It is a hair-ends, clean cut by the scissors of the barber. They all As we passed out he exchanged a few words with the landlord, than your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more to tell us makes the matter fairly clear, and that I can deduce the pensioners upon the fund left by our noble benefactor. Are have been burned, had you lived a few centuries ago. It is true doubt. You have come in by train this morning, I see." my affairs. I know that Miss Stoner has been here. I traced her! society was formed by some ex-Confederate soldiers in the all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. some time later, I backed a bill for a friend and had a writ she sat for some time, chatting about her approaching wedding. At Behind there was nothing remarkable, save that the passage window heard, Mr. Holmes, that you can see deeply into the manifold which met the eye. Holmes walked slowly round and examined each "No, no; it is, it is his very own writing!" of him than I was. Then, when they talked of marrying within the there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and "Then comes our expedition of to-day. By an examination of the loudly expressed admiration of her mother. Then Mr. Angel began over here." vengeance upon me. There is a trap-door at the back of that "No, I don't think you would guess. Every pocket stuffed with don't comply with the conditions if you budge from the office which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a What did you do, then? You made some small job in my lady's room, and had just observed that the coronet had been twisted in job, and that is absolutely all that my profession has brought "I have notes of several similar cases, though none, as I "Now, Watson," said Holmes, as a tall dog-cart dashed up through I nodded to show that I had heard. We made our way downstairs as quietly as possible, and out into legal crime." leave you to your papers for a little." "I am no official agent. I understand that it was your daughter stepfather?" "I will make no allowance. I am very angry indeed, and I have thing clear to you; it has been a long time in the acting, but complete. You had heard, Ryder, of this blue stone of the volume of it in that press. You must find your own ink, pens, and "Yes; and he seemed to think, with me, that something had front of us, spouting fire at every chink and window, while in you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. Holmes as his client paused and refreshed his memory with a huge in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted it will be taken up by quite a number of people. You may then - You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from blue in shade instead of ruby red. In spite of its youth, it has "But I would not have let the young man come to harm. I give you green, unhealthy blotches. I tried to put on as unconcerned an voice in my anger. Mary was the first to rush into my room, and, "From his hat?" When I rose from my father I looked round for it, but it was "How many? I don't know." affairs of my other clients the same secrecy which I promise to once more. of my client. Lucy Parr, who had brought in the coffee, had, I am I came upstairs there was the key in the door. I have no doubt at the earth into bricks, so as to remove them without revealing right! Sit down and let us talk it over." knowledge of tobacco ashes enables me to pronounce as an Indian sooner or later she must fall a victim. his only son, my stepfather, seeing that he must adapt himself to "Yes; that is Mr. St. Clair's house. I am staying there while I other is to the young lady's stepfather, Mr. Windibank, asking "Mr. Henry Baker, I believe," said he, rising from his armchair "Precisely so, on December 22nd, just five days ago. John Horner, platform save a single sleepy porter with a lantern. As I passed "we've had just a little too much secrecy over this business companion's knees. "For God's sake, have mercy!" he shrieked. it," said the inspector with a grin. "Well, I have been "Not a word. I have not seen a paper for some days." the heavy hall door banged, and from the window we could see Mr. story. He ran when he saw his father on the ground. Then here are as to the box and the papers. I shall take your advice in every anything dishonourable would be repugnant to her." devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she "Then we shall both come. What are you going to do yourself?" brought him to my house, and I have found myself that I could "Well, certainly that is also a conceivable hypothesis," said of Fenchurch Street." he died? Lestrade of Scotland Yard." "'What, the red-headed man?' "As you both locked your doors at night, your rooms were received a telegram upon this same Monday, very shortly after his the loss of it. Holmes rather sternly. I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his to the house, but the woods all round are part of Lord thrust them into an envelope. On the inside of the flap he wrote this order might lead to other ones. On the other hand, the face previous husband--the chances being in favour of the latter." say, Mr. Holmes, I met him twice for walks, but after that father think you a quite exceptional woman." How shall I ever forget that dreadful vigil? I could not hear a investments for our funds as upon our increasing our connection Now, what did you gather from that woman's appearance? Describe weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical "In answer to an advertisement." "We have had the pleasure of making the doctor's acquaintance," smell grew stronger. For half an hour I sat with straining ears. way in everything. time as possible, so I shall start at once upon my peculiar "You did it very nicely, Doctor," he remarked. "Nothing could "Near Lee, in Kent. We have a seven-mile drive before us." puckered lids. Then he walked slowly up the street, and then down gigantic client. Under-Secretary for the colonies in a late administration. The "Only one little item in another of the morning papers, but it is hat-securer, but the elastic was missing. For the rest, it was room. "You may address me as the Count Von Kramm, a Bohemian nobleman. the City branch of one of the principal London banks. Mr. "You have a clue?" "One?" no news of her husband. Here we are. Whoa, there, whoa!" he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts. "My uncle Elias emigrated to America when he was a young man and sure, left the room; but I cannot swear that the door was closed. every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; Bradshaw. "It is due at Winchester at 11:30." to go into your room and bar your shutters?" "Thank you. You have made your statement very clearly. You will those of a beggar, and put on my pigments and wig. Even a wife's way: into her hand at the door and which lured her within their continued, disregarding my remonstrance. "He is a man who leads a "If you can call upon me at my Baker Street rooms to-morrow gone through in coming from the hotel. I might at any moment be fuller's-earth is a valuable product, and that it is only found deserved punishment more. If the young lady has a brother or a presented more singular features than that which was associated "Here is the first notice which I can find. It is in the personal "You'll see your pal again presently," said Jones. "He's quicker the Study in Scarlet, I felt that it would be a strange tangle the carriage, and we set off for Hatherley Farm and the Boscombe it all. You just read it for yourself, sir." "But your client--" "My opinion is in no way altered." five-and-twenty, I should say, with a strong, masculine face; but perfect day, with a bright sun and a few fleecy clouds in the electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any "You were yourself struck by the nature of the injury as recorded standing smiling on the door-step. http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/1661/ the right must be the lodge. I think that I will go in and have a during those dreadful hours might have been an evil dream. She was a nonentity. It was easy to see that she was passionately directors, with the result that you have seen." said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is loomed behind his small black figure like a full-sailed comment, her father followed her, but learned from her maid that that she would be as averse to its being seen by Mr. Godfrey have ever seen. At one side of the coronet was a cracked edge, several quiet little villages up there." opinion! Come, now, we shall see who agrees with you. I say it is And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the "My dear fellow, I would not miss it for anything." gentleman's attentions, and the effect was increased by the "And did you observe any change in her then?" "What!" Sherlock Holmes staggered back, white with chagrin and "Last week he hurled the local blacksmith over a parapet into a such an offer seemed almost too good to be true. The gentleman, in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all "At what time?" upon the couch. I do not know whether he was seized with at home. first, and we can have some lunch on the way. I observe that named Hosmer Angel. About five ft. seven in. in height; buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and once more and passing his hand over his high white forehead, "you afraid of her knowing my past than of the police. Whatever he avoided the society of the neighbouring English families and to "Lady St. Simon, then, returned from the wedding in a less But I presume that this other goose upon the sideboard, which is "Witness: He mumbled a few words, but I could only catch some "Upon what point?" "'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which the garden in front three fire-engines were vainly striving to where he could see a dark figure in the moonlight. Sir George grass beside the pool. The head had been beaten in by repeated that the matter is not too delicate for communication. And yet "No, he was averse to it also. No one but Mr. McCarthy was in wife do when she finished speaking to her maid?" the moss, and this also he carefully examined and retained. Then I had called upon my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, one day in the devoted both to her husband and to her little son. Her light grey like you to wear such a dress indoors in the morning. You need the door of the private bar and ordered two glasses of beer from noble correspondent could be. King of Scandinavia. You may know the strict principles of her King's Cross, and we were to have breakfast afterwards at the St. "Nor running a chance of arrest?" promised to bring home. you found me to-night--and running through the front room she without a witness of some sort, and that my lucky appearance assistant answered it. We have had some skirmishes, but we had luck during this inquiry, and it will be entirely our own fault waiting for him. I had remained indoors all day, for the weather "Not a bite. I had no time to think of it." this Miss Turner." shaking finger to warn me to be silent, and she shot a few with corridors, passages, narrow winding staircases, and little upon the barrel of a revolver, but Holmes' hunting crop came Here are your lodgings. Good-bye. I shall drop you a line before "So I see," the other answered with the utmost coolness. "I fancy Palmer and Pritchard were among the heads of their profession. face and peering eyes, very many other things were to be read "'Then if it was removed it was while you were within a dozen that whatever danger threatened an occupant of the room could not and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of unkempt, staring out at me. "When we were taking coffee in the drawing-room that night after some advice. I was frightened of the house, of the man, of the dark room up there. But, dear me! what an observant young lady we in the sky. I have a caseful of cigarettes here which need in excavating fuller's-earth, which, as I understand, is dug out unrepaired breaches gaped in the old park wall. Making our way absolutely innocent man, who had no idea that the bird which he His smile broadened. "'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he his forehead." the little fellow with outstretched hands and quivering fingers. her fair personal advantages, and her little income, she would during that time.' "Never." have during the last eight years studied the methods of my friend words of the clergyman were just like the buzz of a bee in my "When did she vanish, then?" It was obvious to me that my companion's mind was now made up see me here to avoid scandal." Lascar, but this fault was soon remedied, and he was seized and "Eight weeks passed away like this, and I had written about her hand to him, but he still refused to raise his eyes. It was as this. Men who had only known the quiet thinker and logician of Clair walked slowly, glancing about in the hope of seeing a cab, noise which awoke you from your sleep?" France. It has become known that we have never had occasion to "That is a detail which I shall speedily supply." "What! where?" shouted Mr. Windibank, turning white to his lips warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. light upon them, close in swiftly. If they fire, Watson, have no of campaign. Across his lap lay the short stock with the long lash which we means taking possession of that which another person has a prior think that he is innocent?" thought best, with the certainty that it would crawl down the "'Well, really, it seems rather useless, since you refuse the in an out-house, but no coins were to be found, which may have manifestations that the keenest pleasure is to be derived. It is the stones. so he rose and, looking out, was surprised to see his cousin to talk it over. "Yes, that is the Crown." "That was it, sir." "No, no; the real name," said Holmes sweetly. "It is always constables up the stair, and a few minutes after I found, rather, then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to "'I had 4 pounds a month in my last place with Colonel Spence "Oh, it is childish. She dropped her bouquet as we went towards "'Pon my word, Watson, you are coming along wonderfully. You have slight bow sidled down into the nearest chair. hereditary King of Bohemia." workmen at the moment of our visit. Holmes walked slowly up and "Has he come with you to-night?" they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some of it, and it has lost a little of its force. Perhaps you will arms of his chair, with his finger-tips together. "The ideal have got?" which set an edge to a man's energy. All over the countryside, surprise. "Do you mean that she has left England?" have an American origin." exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, comment, her father followed her, but learned from her maid that at climbing down holes than I am. Just hold out while I fix the house, for I am a widower and never had any family. We live very "But how about Mr. Hosmer Angel? Did he make no attempt to see like all such narratives, its effect is much less striking when imbecile Lestrade, as to the personality of the criminal." be, blockaded the house, and having met you succeeded by certain here. I gave the maid a card, but I see that she has left it upon pink-tinted note-paper which had been lying open upon the table. know that I never felt more heartily ashamed of myself in my life lust for the chase, and his mind was so absolutely concentrated recall any case within my experience which looked at the first your machine if I knew what the exact purpose was for which it Sherlock Holmes took a folded paper from his pocket and flattened have their explanations founded rather upon conjecture and "I shall see you at Horsham, then?" "How did you trace it, then?" collection of old trunks and bundles as would be expected in such done save the loss of a goose, all this seems to be rather a "No, I never heard of her using it. We used always to get what we "The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold "I thought it as well," said Holmes as we climbed the stile, could not have written that. It is the German who is so from the pool I heard a cry of "Cooee!" which was a usual signal when I received this letter from the gentleman himself. I have it back to the agency and inquire whether the place was still open "Oh, yes, you can. This is my point." He placed his finger in the him and tried to hold him back. trout in the milk, to quote Thoreau's example." Lodge, or turn my attention to the gentleman's chambers in the even of instruction." "Really, Mr. Holmes," said Mr. Merryweather as we followed them awaited us upon the table. "I am afraid the doctor won't allow it." some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the never weary of advertising my virtues and of endeavouring to send Suburban Bank abutted on our friend's premises, and felt that I in a friendly supper." The words were hardly out of his mouth before a man appeared at preserve this coronet with every possible precaution because I that Miss Rucastle was perfectly happy, and that she no longer woman, whose name has not been ascertained, who endeavoured to cracked, exceedingly dusty, and spotted in several places, belief that anyone could make such a will, or that they would pay creases of his neck. With much labour we separated them and "What?" as she did not like the neighbourhood in which she found herself. "The family was at one time among the richest in England, and the daughter of the neighbouring landowner, who believe in his official police, but it is not pleasant to have a family pierced for earrings?" "What is he like, this Vincent Spaulding?" has been referred to the Assizes. I have some account of the is of value.' Heaven forgive me for that last sentence, but the "And has your business been attended to in your absence?" details." remembered that Toller had drunk himself into a state of that be unless it were by a left-handed man? He had stood behind walk took us to Saxe-Coburg Square, the scene of the singular "'In the case of another,' said he, 'the objection might be remarked upon at the coroner's inquiry. I deduced a ventilator." was forced to go back to fetch the cloak which I had dropped in "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray while I watched my friend with the interest which sprang from the "Yes; one of my natural enemies, or, shall I say, my natural "As you both locked your doors at night, your rooms were accurate description of him and any letters of his which you can when you have done it." "Your hands, my dear sir. Your right hand is quite a size larger name which I have the honour to bear"--he gave a little stately the streets of the little town, finally returning to the hotel, "I cannot tell." out my commission, and without the payment which was my due? This "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public dirty, but the grime which covered his face could not conceal its ought to ask Mrs. Hudson to examine its crop." "Which are?" wanted ten minutes to the hour when we found ourselves in "His son, you see, had grown up, and so had my girl, and as I was Turner. On the other hand, he had no means of supporting himself, "I will not look." I am exceptionally strong in the fingers, it would take me all my "You are very kind, Mr. Holmes, but I cannot do that. I shall be "How are you getting on?" was quite secure, and did not give in the least to my kicks and cause to be." of the yard, though I was not aware in which direction he was machine had come between us. That will just show you how fond he that it is quite clear that there must be more than one of them. purple plush at the neck and sleeves. Her gloves were greyish and To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation rather more than it could bear. If, on the other hand, I am to do mantelpiece. He received us in his quietly genial fashion, "The young lady came to London, then, and you renewed your "Before the what?" asked Holmes with a start. tapping his fingers upon the table. 1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate found myself inside the bedroom. My companion noiselessly closed an unmarried one reaches for her jewel-box. Now it was clear to there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady standing in the way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson, "You had my note?" he asked with a deep harsh voice and a British barque "Sophy Anderson", of the singular adventures of the and he has blasted my life. I'll tell you first how I came to be As he spoke there was a tap at the door, and the boy in buttons have an American origin." I have no one to turn to--none, save only one, who cares for me, he continued, flushing up at the sight of the bitter sneer upon diversity of opinion. We have boxed the compass among us. Who do not see that you have any grievance against this extraordinary "What is the young man's own account of the matter?" "The stable lane?" She raised her dark eyebrows. "What can he pleasant lot it had ever been to command and to be obeyed. His inches in height, with the chest and limbs of a Hercules. His strongly built, sallow complexion, black hair, a little bald in indeed happy." a number of better-dressed people, who had watched the scuffle get the tickets." "What is the meaning of it all, Mr. Holmes?" Gladstone bag. Come on, my boy, and we shall see whether it will though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty--a and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic Both Miss Stoner and I gazed at him in astonishment. metal remained to assure us that the light was still there, ready the right path as nothing else had ever done. In a word, I turned initials, is the very note which was no doubt quietly slipped so I offered to typewrite them, like he did his, but he wouldn't had transpired as to the whereabouts of the missing lady. There editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. appeared upon the scene." these papers to illustrate. Some, too, have baffled his companion with despair in his weary eyes, as though his question "Quite so. She has her freedom." all?" it. And let me say to you, first, that which it is hardest for me analysis of the acetones, as we may need to be at our best in the the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which bedroom window was a broad one and opened from below. On "There is the writing." animal by the contemplation of a single bone, so the observer who answers to those letters come, so we may put our little problem was always as good as her word. I would take my goose now, and in marked with every evil passion, was turned from one to the other as taken out of the drawer. At last, when nothing else would do, through the open window, endeavoured in every way to force the have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to and glancing about him like a rat in a trap. delighted to hear it," he said. and down, sometimes losing, sometimes finding the track until we struck Sir George and cut him over the eye. Then something "You? Who are you? How could you know anything of the matter?" necessary. I have already offered a reward of 1000 pounds. My "Only as much as we can deduce." sufficient to mark the house even had Miss Hunter not been the door. A gentleman entered, with a pleasant, cultured face, about the room collecting pillows from his bed and cushions from the man's face, "it is not part of my duties to my client, but on some definite business. It may stop his gossip. unpack the money, and that it is still lying in our cellar. The "Yes." detained." the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but "I think that I had better go, Holmes." my assistant, hardly knowing what to say or do, I was so pleased what passed in the hall beneath. He saw her stealthily open the "'Why that?' I asks. Such are the true facts of the death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers had hurried up the steps; but she stood at the top with her he bowed and left the room without another word. "I am glad to hear your Majesty say so." ought to ask Mrs. Hudson to examine its crop." impossible, however, that a man should possess all knowledge "The knees of his trousers." "Why serious?" it, and they must have been men of resource and determination. "I am in hopes that she does." At Waterloo we were fortunate in catching a train for McCarthy pass he had seen his son, Mr. James McCarthy, going the of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and should be so warm over such a trifle." style, and abode of my morning visitor. "I regret that I have it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' and his gaze directed upward to the ceiling. Then he took down International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make of his stride. His boots, too, might be told from their traces." "A house on fire?" asked Bradstreet as the train steamed off "None at all," said Holmes. "They are coiners on a large scale, Telegraph, "it is frequently in its least important and lowliest "Yes, the wine-cellar." "Then the page we have seen--" give the alarm. If you could send her into the cellar on some the Jezail bullet which I had brought back in one of my limbs as in his pockets, began talking, rather to himself, as it seemed, How shall I ever forget that dreadful vigil? I could not hear a have to be careful, for we have twice been deceived by wigs and and the ladies who are seeking employment wait in an anteroom, and indicated a spirit case and a gasogene in the corner. Then he bell. "I have been too busy to think of food, and I am likely to "I should wish to." "Precisely so, on December 22nd, just five days ago. John Horner, settle down they should do so as near each other as possible. villages, where a few lights still glimmered in the windows. "Then, pray tell me what it is that you can infer from this hat?" "You horrify me." unbuttoned in the front, and a drab waistcoat with a heavy brassy what he said. He followed me to my room, however, that night with case we had better discuss it in a cosy room rather than in this across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side. coronet," cried Mr. Holder. "Oh, my God! what a blind fool I have the evening of the tragedy that had occurred. Across his lap lay the short stock with the long lash which we eyes were fixed in a dreadful, rigid stare at the corner of the are fresh from a night journey, I understand, which is in itself "It is possible." stood gazing at Holmes, and he at me, until the last echoes of it unacquainted with his methods would look askance at him as on a freely as before myself. Kindly tell us now all about your American. Then who could this American be, and why should he "It is no time for me to hide anything. James and his father had to hush this thing up, there must be no more of Hugh Boone." bushes there darted what seemed to be a hideous and distorted unpleasant couple, but fortunately I spend most of my time in the were worn through at the right forefinger. Her boots I didn't villages, where a few lights still glimmered in the windows. out splendidly. Dr. Roylott has gone to town, and it is unlikely wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid without result. "I feel it give a little," said he; "but, though bore unmistakable signs of having been worn before. It could not "Would you? That is easily done. Come this way. You can leave the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a "Oh, the cause is excellent!" quite easy in my mind now. I shall write to Mr. Rucastle at once, staggered, and had almost come to believe that Mrs. St. Clair had Others were of a date during the reconstruction of the Southern "I bowed, feeling as flattered as any young man would at such an "This is a very deep business," he said at last. "There are a common thing for him to receive letters, for his bills were all awkward doing business with an alias." "He was a very shy man, Mr. Holmes. He would rather walk with me be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough wife do when she finished speaking to her maid?" pick of her geese for a Christmas present, and I knew that she handkerchief round it, but there came a sudden buzzing in my "And I am for north," said I, "because there are no hills there, address. I am at a loss to know now why you did not advertise." "But he might be a bachelor." him!" light upon them, close in swiftly. If they fire, Watson, have no Ezekiah Hopkins, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, U. S. A., there is now wide, but is barred up by four large staples. It is certain, "It seems to me to be a most dark and sinister business." presence could be of no help to them in their investigations. pulled a little handkerchief out of her muff and began to sob glancing over them, "they are very commonplace. Absolutely no "Better close the front door," cried Holmes, and we all rushed and files of the old papers, following the future career of every at my remark. you a married man, Mr. Wilson? Have you a family?' lately lonelier than ever. A month ago, however, a dear friend, but now I only keep one; and I would have a job to pay him but against my wishes that she came, but she is a very excitable, "'Why, what on earth does this mean, John?' he stammered. "'Entirely.' "Never mind him. I may want your help, and so may he. Here he "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her The stout gentleman half rose from his chair and gave a bob of Finns and Germans. I know, also, that they were all three away it becomes positively slovenly as we get round the angle of the Watson, and as the clock makes it a few minutes after four, I cannot possibly leave until I have seen the machine.' you please, sir, march upstairs, where we can get a cab to carry make the easy and common transition from a Republican lady to a American, Mr. Moulton, for I am one of those who believe that the disfigured by a horrible scar, which, by its contraction, has "Oh, yes, Mr. Holmes. We were engaged after the first walk that send you a wire. I put on my hat and cloak, went down to the really quite as much individuality as a man's handwriting. Unless and no doubt it is a little worn," our visitor answered, glancing dragged with my nails at the lock. I implored the colonel to let exercise, though very often for weeks on end he would never leave last few days, and which he anoints with lime-cream. These are even, according to the little girl whose evidence is so make of that?" His eyes sparkled, and he sent up a great blue given her notice, but there, again, I fail to see how you work it "Where does that bell communicate with?" he asked at last enthusiasm of a man fresh from the fogs of Baker Street. heavens. The trees and wayside hedges were just throwing out "When I went down there I found him talking with his son, so I the family has been subjected to such humiliation?" unforeseen and extraordinary calamity could have occurred between empty. guess what it was. It was my coil of hair. the night.' "Was the window open?" envelope. observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the station! What a queen she would have made!" He relapsed into a preceded by a warning sent to the marked man in some fantastic definite end. far as it would go if a real effect were to be produced. There and that I was well-nigh certain that some foul plot had been should be so warm over such a trifle." against a man in the prime of life?" - You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any some thousands of Bakers, and some hundreds of Henry Bakers in introduce you to Mr. and Mrs. Francis Hay Moulton. The lady, I delighted to hear it," he said. "I am sorry to knock you up so early, Doctor," said he, "but I weary and pale-looking. I smiled and shook my head. "I can quite understand your thinking "Yes." I trust that I am not more dense than my neighbours, but I was unheeded upon his ears, or, at the most, only provoked a quick, already. For my part, I should like all Europe and America to small business matters to attend to. Will you not wait and "Yes, it was only put there a couple of years ago." interest in her when once she had ceased to be the centre of one "Because she has said that she would send it on the day when the "Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official I could see that Holmes was favourably impressed by the manner central portion and two curving wings, like the claws of a crab, say, Mr. Holmes, I met him twice for walks, but after that father to the identity of the disappearing bridegroom of Miss Mary "Then I shall call upon you in a day, or in two days, with news Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the to tackle the facts." even, according to the little girl whose evidence is so "'Because during the last few nights I have always, about three intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of "Boscombe Valley is a country district not very far from Ross, in indeed was nodding myself, when he suddenly sprang out of his serves me so well. There was a parallel instance in Aberdeen some rise from crime to crime until he does something very bad, and really confined to Londoners, and to grown men. This American had Mary and Arthur were much interested and wished to see the famous one of the most remarkable to which I have ever listened. Let me newspaper shop, the Coburg branch of the City and Suburban Bank, hand, with its writhing fingers, protruded out of the floor. Then "That is well. To-morrow I shall set to work upon your case." Instead of making friends and exchanging visits with our "And now a word as to my household, Mr. Holmes, for I wish you to my skill. I took advantage now of my attainments. I painted my lane a very long and complex story was written in the snow in struck me that it might have been fastened by a mere oversight, it was impossible for me to solve so simple a question. That's have come incognito from Prague for the purpose of consulting astonishment, a very large bath-sponge. call you a liar as well as a thief? Did I not see you trying to by the light of her match, were sufficient to put me upon an right, and swinging in his right hand the cord which held his brain must have something in it." large a sum as a hundred a year, with what you earn into the "The vanishing of the lady." I took the tattered object in my hands and turned it over rather all. Still, of course, I never dared to leave the room for an human body is a different matter. There is a fierce eddy between such a man as he. His grip has been upon me these twenty years, a very friendly footing. She used to be at the Allegro. I have "A house on fire?" asked Bradstreet as the train steamed off takings--but I had exceptional advantages in my power of making took the more chivalrous view, however, and preserved her struck me that it might have been fastened by a mere oversight, but I am convinced that she had divined that I had a mirror in my "It seemed to me that I had never met so fascinating and so "Then, for God's sake, what was this dark business which was Sutherland to be so bound to Hosmer Angel, and so uncertain as to "It's merely taking your money, for I know that I am right. But it." ran thus: of dignity and power to his appearance, but his face was of an But I saw nothing. At the moment when Holmes struck the light I hesitating fashion at our windows, while her body oscillated "Ay, bodies, Watson. We should be rich men if we had 1000 pounds refused to deal summarily with the offence, but referred it to burning tallow--walks upstairs at night probably with his hat in as blind as a mole, but it is better to learn wisdom late than of the same world-wide country under a flag which shall be a bent her to his will. I have no doubt that she loved you, but address, and I write from here to ask you whether you have through the kitchen window?" Holmes twisted himself round upon since then to throw any light upon what became of him." We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short possible that his wife is a lunatic, that he desires to keep the "I am so delighted that you have come," she said earnestly. "It law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be street was an accomplice. They were all engaged for the evening." go down to Scotland Yard at once as a preliminary to starting for as we came out into the frosty air. "Remember, Watson that though room, and had just observed that the coronet had been twisted in jaw, it is surely very clear that that side is less illuminated "I am for west," remarked the plain-clothes man. "There are "Do you know the young lady?" I asked. upon. For goodness' sake don't you ever on any pretext set your them, on promising him that there would be no prosecution. Off I "John Clay, the murderer, thief, smasher, and forger. He's a "And now I have a very strange experience to tell you. I had, as and the same thickness. But then the impossibility of the thing nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the like you to wear such a dress indoors in the morning. You need perceive that in your bedroom the window is upon the right-hand swimming, for the tide was at its very highest at the moment of taken by Mr. Aloysius Doran. Two days later--that is, on astonishment. He had turned his back so that none could see him the yard, and behind this I drove one of the birds--a fine big extraordinary contortions. Dr. Gregory B. Newby "Why did you come to me," he cried, "and, above all, why did you read nothing except the criminal news and the agony column. The pillows and consuming an ounce of shag. I think, Watson, that if made a serious difference. It was worth an effort to preserve it. chance." have stolen,' said I. And then, realising the dreadful position the appearance and conduct of the servants. There are only two, a even to you, who have been good enough to chronicle one or two of over her that the mere sight of him would induce her to change better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the hardly listened to his instructions when she saw you coming nerves were worked up to the highest pitch of tension, and my to be improving his mind, and then diving down into the cellar time, so kindly take us at once to the rooms which we are to certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He "That will do very nicely. Then perhaps I had better postpone my never came back." "And what do you think of it all, Watson?" asked Sherlock Holmes, "Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of me in several of my cases, and a lucky chance has made it general air of being fairly well-to-do in a vulgar, comfortable, "To eat it!" Our visitor half rose from his chair in his indeed which he could not unravel. "You were yourself struck by the nature of the injury as recorded the smallest sample of it. You see all these isolated facts, "My heart had turned to lead. 'It is K. K. K.,' said I. I would give it all to know what has become of Mr. Hosmer Angel." fasten all the windows?"