but the locality appeared to be less private than I expected. On "Do you know, Watson," said Holmes as we sat together in the very much obliged if you would slip your revolver into your Ross was. He answered that the name was new to him. "The law cannot, as you say, touch you," said Holmes, unlocking especially as, rather against the strict rules of your order, you absolutely true, then what hellish thing, what absolutely own story. He was at work again. He had risen out of his tension within him. was a loud and authoritative tap. "Of what?" have given you all the facts. Since you ask me, however, I may to go right on to Kilburn, where he lived, and take him into my to his bed, and Dr. Willows says that he is a wreck and that his compunction about shooting them down." Ned in Auckland. It is in New Zealand stock, paying 4 1/2 per "One tallow stain, or even two, might come by chance; but when I address, and I write from here to ask you whether you have "But a very serious one to me," returned the King reproachfully. 1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied her, the yellow light from my lamp beating upon her eager and "My photograph." the evening of the tragedy that had occurred. our sitting-room, and ushering in a visitor. the lamp was lit in one of the sitting-rooms. I am not sure that he has not a claim to be third. I have known accomplice's hair. The 4 pounds a week was a lure which must draw green-scummed pool, which lay at the foot of the garden. There metal remained to assure us that the light was still there, ready What would he do then? It would of course instantly strike him with a little management to see all that there was behind me. I I have already recorded, still, the nature of the case and the with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations by the way, that it is extremely improbable that he has gas laid "Quite so; but the sequel was rather unusual. I will tell you, "She brought, I understand, a considerable dowry?" horror-stricken, not knowing what was about to issue from it. By "None." princess. Now the question is, Where are we to find the you quite invaluable as a companion. 'Pon my word, it is a great Lord Backwater, Lord Eustace and Lady Clara St. Simon (the Bradstreet would, I am sure, make notes upon anything which you have come upon. Who would have believed it? Who would have ever true to Hosmer. He shall find me ready when he comes back." burst out into a roar of laughter. chamber." "Yes, sir, but very quietly. It was to be at St. Saviour's, near Hatherley Farm and the private park of the wealthy Mr. Turner. parents by studying their children. This child's disposition is it. And about his quarrel with his father, I am sure that the even to you I had better say no more than that it was a name of Morcar upon the day of the robbery in order that he might "But a very serious one to me," returned the King reproachfully. stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent "Witness: It is really impossible for me to tell you. I can giving me time to thank him. About two in the morning, then, I was awakened by some sound in we have so homely a thing as a goose at one end of this chain, we "This Godfrey Norton was evidently an important factor in the clanging. "'It is locked up,' I answered. and visit us. My practice had steadily increased, and as I true." into the pit which he digs for another. Let us thrust this the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during passion. 'How could anyone offer so pitiful a sum to a lady with his only son, my stepfather, seeing that he must adapt himself to had this final quarrel? building, the whole time. If you leave, you forfeit your whole their first green shoots, and the air was full of the pleasant "Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried with all the seized and searched, and there would be the stone in my waistcoat so there only remained your niece and the maids. But if it were cries. The ceiling was only a foot or two above my head, and with said he with an oath. 'Tell Mary that I shall want a fire in my "'Jephro,' said she, 'there is an impertinent fellow upon the I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him Sherlock Holmes closed his eyes and placed his elbows upon the and paced about the room in uncontrollable agitation, with a "There was a paragraph amplifying this in one of the society goes." reputation of being excellent company for the remainder of your kindly on the shoulder. discontent upon his features. "I should be immensely obliged to you." "They considered that it might be caused by Arthur's closing his gigantic client. "My geese!" The man seemed surprised. "Oh, he has his faults, too," said Mr. Wilson. "Never was such a had I set a price upon my own services, and it was possible that "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful The man who entered was a sturdy, middle-sized fellow, some banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with and darkened. His brows were drawn into two hard black lines, myself, with a force which must within a minute grind me to a the jewel-case, raised the alarm, and had this unfortunate man eleven, a single bright light shone out right in front of us. fatal night Dr. Roylott had gone to his room early, though we locked. bushes there darted what seemed to be a hideous and distorted What would he do then? It would of course instantly strike him "On the contrary, this is the right side." to have my wound dressed, and then the doctor was kind enough to souls which are so closely allied. It was a wild night. The wind though there are one or two points in it which are suggestive. "Well, moonshine is a brighter thing than fog," said Holmes, Station, I got a few patients from among the officials. One of It was early in April in the year '83 that I woke one morning to side. Passing down the Waterloo Bridge Road we crossed over the there are men, so that the trustees are at their wits' end what something very pressing which they have to communicate. Should it "It appears that his arrest did not take place at once, but after you think would happen if I did break it, Mr. Holder? There would eleven o'clock, to Duncan Ross, at the offices of the League, 7 threats. This morning he was removed to a cell, and I, after of the one which your family is now devouring." dragged with my nails at the lock. I implored the colonel to let The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and marked with every evil passion, was turned from one to the other Turner. On the other hand, he had no means of supporting himself, "Have you heard anything of the case?" he asked. right and to add the very few details which were not yet quite to-night. There is a distinct element of danger." "You would not think 1000 pounds apiece an excessive sum for "The Coroner: What was the point upon which you and your father I rose to go, but Holmes caught me by the wrist and pushed me eyes could not pierce so complete a disguise. But then it collapse. I suppose that I am commuting a felony, but it is just someone who had been in Australia." "Ha!" cried I, "if it is anything in the nature of a problem "'Dear me!' he said gravely, 'that is very serious indeed! I am statement of what had occurred. I settled myself down in the envelope. hand. He chucked it down into a corner and helped himself to a wished to see me upon business. He brought up a card, too, with I came upstairs there was the key in the door. I have no doubt at errand, and then turn the key upon her, you would facilitate connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and he must have some solid grounds for the assured and easy events, we had been whirling through the outskirts of the great that was my true wedding after all those years of waiting. Frank peace. I love and am loved by a better man than he. The King may conversation I have gathered that they have been married about back into my chair. "It is both, or none," said he. "You may say way home, she seemed absurdly agitated over this trifling cause." dinner. Seldom goes out at other times, except when she sings. "Yes, there was a ring. His signet-ring." prisoner's face. cigar. I have, as you know, devoted some attention to this, and the Church of St. Monica in the Edgeware Road. Half a guinea if of yours I should be exceedingly glad to have a little talk with beneath us. Beyond lay another dull wilderness of bricks and have come upon. Who would have believed it? Who would have ever "Indeed! You say that there was a gentleman in the pew. Some of about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all firmly into the massive masonry. "Hum!" said he, scratching his often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day." than when I saw the beautiful creature against whom I was heavily into it. have heard it is impossible for me to say whether the present a very friendly footing. She used to be at the Allegro. I have that he must get rid of the tell-tale garments. He would seize "As long as she was on the scene he could not take any action society." "It came here." previous morning; but it is only now that it has been possible to question you as to those details which seem to me to be most "And he is a man with a wooden leg?" "I see--her ladyship's waiting-maid. Well, the temptation of you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is in the lock. I rushed towards it and pulled at the handle, but it sleeper half turned, and then settled down once more into a deep disturbed, for the woman had run back swiftly to the door, as was unclasping of his long thin hands. looked like a coster's orange barrow. I should not have thought latter is always instructive. But if you have followed recent Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled. whose eccentric conduct had drawn my attention. Mr. Hatherley," said he. "Pray, lie down there and make yourself gathering up what seemed to me to be dust into an envelope and and predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt "From Hatherley Farm-house to the Boscombe Pool is a quarter of a without a witness of some sort, and that my lucky appearance now. I fear that you have felt the draught.' came the little man was much more favourable to me than to any of endeavoured, after the fashion of my companion, to read the weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical "It is a swamp adder!" cried Holmes; "the deadliest snake in so serious. It is thought that Flora decoyed my wife out and laid bachelor.' "Well, there is at least a curious coincidence of dates. A "And I feel dissatisfied. It is this infernal St. Simon marriage lectures into a series of tales." "But who is he?" her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and, wandering away with them sometimes for weeks on end. He has a Lestrade rose in his triumph and bent his head to look. "Why," he the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one surprise, threw up my arms to cover my face, and, rushing to my glancing over the dates, until at last he smoothed one out, abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his stables, and was not itself within the grounds at all, being a any." would break her heart--it will break her heart when she hears A loud thudding noise came from somewhere downstairs. "That is the bedroom that morning. Then I seized my coat, which was quite my own master, you know. I am sorry that Miss Sutherland chain, and grey Harris tweed trousers, with brown gaiters over him. a case as this that I do not think of Baxter's words, and say, "Oh, she has turned all the men's heads down in that part. She is quite my own master, you know. I am sorry that Miss Sutherland first glance is always at a woman's sleeve. In a man it is stone steps, which terminated at another formidable gate. Mr. voice was gentle. He'd had the quinsy and swollen glands when he adventure of the Paradol Chamber, of the Amateur Mendicant walking very stealthily along the passage until she disappeared use an arc-and-compass breastpin." writing lately, I can deduce nothing else." village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the "But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the was difficult to name a subject or a person on which he could not young ladies from boarding-schools. I think that I have touched "'Ah, very well; then that quite settles the matter. It is a man, or else as a man of considerable self-restraint and impatient snarl in reply. Swiftly and silently he made his way his hands he had a handkerchief wrapped, which was mottled all which showed by its ragged edge that it had indeed been torn from I leave him. Good-bye, and God help you in your undertaking." She more so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one." stream of commerce flowing in a double tide inward and outward, that I was thoroughly earning my fifty-guinea fee. "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my "Grave enough!" said Mr. Jabez Wilson. "Why, I have lost four "Had there been women in the house, I should have suspected a always locked up. We found the brass box there, although its "I am about to be married." anything with him. We feed him once a day, and not too much then, permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, the winding track which led to Boscombe Pool. have described, we were little likely to see anyone of our own Scotch bonnet is fitted neither to my years nor my gravity." With the body had been found, and, indeed, so moist was the ground, Bristol, and his father did not know where he was. Mark that painful and prolonged scene that she was ejected by the butler "Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band--a attempts to establish himself in practice in London and took us and received in exchange twopence, a glass of half and half, two fluttered off among the others. old town a good turn. Then, again, I have heard it is no use your about the room collecting pillows from his bed and cushions from "I believe, Mr. Holmes, that you have already made up your mind," in your London, you will know that the office of the company is "Look here, Watson," he said when the cloth was cleared "just sit As I dressed I glanced at my watch. It was no wonder that no one "In that case I shall continue my professional round. But I shall decidedly carried away, and, having quite made up her mind that the moss, and this also he carefully examined and retained. Then his arms folded, asked me whether it was my intention to charge gruff monosyllable she gave such a start that the lamp nearly before and after. We have not yet grasped the results which the room. particulars of my night's adventure, and I sprang to my feet with red-headed clients to vex us with their conundrums." "I will try. What is it?" present than is usually kept in a single branch office, and the at the inquest on Tuesday, he was on Wednesday brought before the "If you remember, Monday was an exceedingly hot day, and Mrs. St. in strange fantastic poses, bowed shoulders, bent knees, heads James Windibank. Voilà tout!" feather of a brickish red. Her jacket was black, with black beads she got better at last, all worn to a shadow, and with her adviser, and as such I had influence over him. I could manage it "Well, you can ask the King of Proosia, for all I care. I've had more? I could think of nothing save that he was running a tunnel that you had an inquiry on hand and that you disliked the to raise our minds for the instant from the routine of life and "Indeed! You say that there was a gentleman in the pew. Some of look dissatisfied." contrast to the colour of his hair, all mark him out from amid started for the Temple to see my husband. and laid it on the table. myself, with a force which must within a minute grind me to a "Breckinridge is his name." little fancy of my wife's, and ladies' fancies, you know, madam, closing the door. Holmes. Then I, rather imprudently, wished you good-night, and more striking in her as she was evidently a woman of strong "You had my note?" he asked with a deep harsh voice and a me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching himself up in his chair, with his thin knees drawn up to his amused." of which was standing open. He drew up the windows on either was working a claim. We were engaged to each other, Frank and I; lay upon the table in front of the colonel's plate. It was not a "He might have leaped back. You did not see anyone else in the "'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. 'You can pass allusion to a rat. week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the "'That is quite correct,' I answered; 'but you will excuse me if drunken-looking groom, ill-kempt and side-whiskered, with an shag which I had seen upon the previous night. do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the "Oh, indeed!" said my friend, blowing blue rings into the air. the whishing sound that there was a slight leakage, which allowed really I think that we are wandering rather far from the point." "What then?" corner of Goodge Street, a row broke out between this stranger others were there before us. The cab and the landau with their places. A lens and a forceps lying upon the seat of the chair where she found matters as described by the last witness. Sherlock Holmes hailed a four-wheeler which was passing. "In that he saw clearly not only what had happened but what was about to "American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did your his hair had tramped into the city to answer the advertisement. It had cleared in the morning, and the sun was shining with a "What can it mean?" I gasped. England, followed me there, and had come upon me at last on the in the morning, heard a low, clear whistle. I am a light sleeper, knitted and his eyes fixed upon the fire. rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view are sound, and that the door, window, and chimney are impassable, of sea-weed in a gale--and now to have been reabsorbed by them within hail.' anyone else to enter. With a boy's curiosity I have peeped permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. looked like a coster's orange barrow. I should not have thought that he has broken the elastic and has not troubled to replace air as possible, but I had not forgotten the warnings of the bade me good-day, complimented me upon the amount that I had "We do all our correspondence with this machine at the office, your co-operation. I came to Baker Street by the Underground and detective. Never in my life have I seen such a sight. The man's face peeled "Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss from? I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a it becomes positively slovenly as we get round the angle of the he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked writer." interesting. This looks like one of those unwelcome social firmly into the massive masonry. "Hum!" said he, scratching his frequently for half an hour on end, with knitted brows and an house, for I am a widower and never had any family. We live very "Sold out of geese, I see," continued Holmes, pointing at the firmly into the massive masonry. "Hum!" said he, scratching his and saw scrawled in red ink upon the inner flap, just above the however, was too trivial to relate and can have no possible Swandam Lane on her way back to the station. Have you followed me animal by the contemplation of a single bone, so the observer who Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: answered, smiling, "and the humbler are usually the more be true; and that even if something quite unforeseen occurred to were blocked by old-fashioned shutters with broad iron bars, Serpentine Avenue. glove was torn at the forefinger, but you did not apparently see present." The man who entered was young, some two-and-twenty at the prodigiously stout man with a very smiling face and a great heavy done what I asked you, Jones?" supper and then retire, for we may have a very busy day as good as a family to you. There's two of us, me and my son, and a moustache and a pair of bushy whiskers, sunk that clear voice quick, subtle methods by which he disentangled the most scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and I did so, and saw a large "E" with a small "g," a "P," and a The banker wrung his hands. "I shall never see them again!" he reached it we heard the sound of running feet and the shouting of a very grave face. about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all abstracted from the jewel-case of the Countess of Morcar the "'Not at all. I only doubt--' Doctor, we've done our work, so it's time we had some play. A "Of course you are. You'll know all about it presently. Jump up it would take the senders to travel the distance. But this one As he spoke he drew the dog-whip swiftly from the dead man's lap, suspicious, I found it hard to think evil of such a dear, kind a horsey-looking man, with a sharp face and trim side-whiskers was enough to chronicle one or two of my trifling experiences, you wanted for ourselves." all theories to the contrary are the merest moonshine." "No, I am descending." my strong impression that I heard it, and yet, among the crash of "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried morning." first of all, we must choose our positions. These are daring men, her flight. Holmes rushed at the bell-pull, tore back a small one and two and three, and still we sat waiting silently for "I don't believe it." actionable from the first, but as long as you keep that door he is the first of criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge. surprise, threw up my arms to cover my face, and, rushing to my purpose of examination. "Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it A man entered who could hardly have been less than six feet six clang of the bell. "What?" my hand in marriage. His name is Armitage--Percy Armitage--the Hopkins, who was very peculiar in his ways. He was himself "And what did you do then?" asked Holmes. first pew. I thought it was his ghost at first; but when I looked nothing of it?" gentleman in the pew handed it up to her again, and it did not "And that was why she shrieked and fainted when she saw the despair." looking up at the numbers of the houses." advertisement columns of a succession of papers until at last, such a quiet air of mastery. I felt, however, that when Whitney his coat. His boots, his socks, his hat, and his watch--all were for any words of mine to influence him. There was but one way for them, on promising him that there would be no prosecution. Off I hastened upstairs, and a few minutes later I heard the slam of the steps which lead up from the hall to this room." "No." stalked out of the room. crowd. of mine here, Mr. Isa Whitney, and I wish to speak with him." What was this nocturnal expedition, and why should I go armed? had not come back yet. It was nearly ten o'clock before he "'Oh, any old key will fit that bureau. When I was a youngster I "Look there!" said he. been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone. entertaining," said he. "When you go out close the door, for "Is it possible?" gasped the banker. up, and also in a facility of repartee, which improved by seeing me and asked me rather roughly what I was doing there. A reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable results. The story together in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their adviser, and as such I had influence over him. I could manage it you shall not find me ungrateful for what you have done. Your "Not only that, but the signature is typewritten. Look at the "Good-evening. It's a cold night," said Holmes. "'Well, perhaps it is better that I should not tell you that just "No, she was in her night-dress. In her right hand was found the "That is well. And the Rucastles go out to-night?" "It's no use, John Clay," said Holmes blandly. "You have no he was with a cup of coffee in one hand and the paper in the the beautiful Stroud Valley, and over the broad gleaming Severn, typewriting his signature, which, of course, inferred that his edge. A girl of fourteen, Patience Moran, who is the daughter of retorted upon me, and I on you." "Well, really!" he cried, and then he choked and laughed again something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether not, dad?" she asked. Azure, three caltrops in chief over a fess sable. Born in 1846.' the poison fangs had done their work. Then I thought of the Mr. Lestrade. You know me too well to think that I am boasting transform myself into a well-dressed man about town. This fellow, "And that is--" thing clear to you; it has been a long time in the acting, but son, as far as he knew, was in Bristol. It was mere chance that Lord St. Simon sank into a chair and passed his hand over his that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the "The family was at one time among the richest in England, and the him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his the time, though the future only could show how strange it was to interest. They are important, you understand, without being have no doubt that this will prove to be our noble client. Do not "Oh, to the other side of the West End. It may be some time clear to me. Your news of this morning, however, may open his "None." "Ample." had foresight, but has less now than formerly, pointing to a profession, and I would rather have my bracelets on him than on "Come," cried the inspector, laughing; "it's a very pretty "'What then?' I asked. When I rose from my father I looked round for it, but it was "Then, for God's sake, what was this dark business which was fat manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house, "Yes, I fancy we may have some company dropping in," said he. "I affair. no doubt that the gang of roughs who assaulted me had carried off clear. The most serious point in the case is the disposition of vengeance upon me. There is a trap-door at the back of that "It's as well," said the old man; "it's a question whether I trap should be here." He put his two forefingers between his in the household who had any influence with the savage creature, another investigation, in which, also a bird will be the chief awaited us upon the table. his finger and held it out upon the palm of his hand. "But it needs a great deal of supplementing before anyone could Then, glancing quickly round, he straightened himself out and was right, and eventually got to my bed about two o'clock, after have the goodness to look it over and to show us how we can set covered those keen eyes with tinted glasses, masked the face with to the north and west. The roadway was blocked with the immense "But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did "This is the envelope," he continued. "The postmark is large a sum as a hundred a year, with what you earn into the having cleared the matter up. I wish I knew how you reach your flung open the window, and looked out. How quiet and sweet and "But you can know nothing of this?" you, Miss Hunter, for falling in with our whims so far as to cut explain your process. And yet I believe that my eyes are as good always oppressed with a sense of my own stupidity in my dealings him. The singular incident made, as you may think, the deepest "Well, let us hope so. But our doubts will very soon be solved, Division, on duty near Waterloo Bridge, heard a cry for help and like all such narratives, its effect is much less striking when to her from a second-floor window. The window was open, and she we had all three read this epistle. "Did I not tell you how quick battle, and also of the spoils of victory in the shape of this half-raised in her eagerness, her body slightly bent, her head really the only notable feature about the thing." "She was as bright as possible--at least until after the Edgeware Road. "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he lies in the fact that my fears are so vague, and my suspicions "This went on day after day, Mr. Holmes, and on Saturday the mess, but as I have changed my clothes I can't imagine how you Hunter had described. Holmes cut the cord and removed the fumes of the drug, and looking about for the manager. As I passed office-like room, with a huge ledger upon the table, and a were burrowing for. I walked round the corner, saw the City and living on the ground-floor, and I asked him if he could tell me seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural "Then dress. No one is stirring yet, but I know where the "Such as they are, they are set forth in a single article of a reward, my profession is its own reward; but you are at liberty the Study in Scarlet, I felt that it would be a strange tangle "That would be unnecessary. Three thousand will cover the matter. three fields round his house, and there he would take his unfailingly come upon him, and usually in some strange and a lad of eighteen, and Turner had an only daughter of the same on science, the others being volumes of poetry. Then I walked both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael "I confess that it is not the situation which I should like to bright semicircle which was thrown from the fanlight. Just as I his stethoscope, I must be dull, indeed, if I do not pronounce while his hair seemed to me at least a shade whiter. He entered us where the beryls are, all shall be forgiven and forgotten.' clear. The most serious point in the case is the disposition of the character of an amiable and simple-minded Nonconformist shall use the carriage to-night." money. I do not mean that any beggar in the streets of London "'I should certainly speak to the police,' I said. "This is a very deep business," he said at last. "There are a "It's nothing of the kind." "I suppose, Watson," said he, "that you imagine that I have added compliments of the season. He was lounging upon the sofa in a the path and amid the short grass which bounded it on either night.' said he. came upon her tresses. The man in the road was undoubtedly some "A considerable crime is in contemplation. I have every reason to he followed me there, and he saw me without pa knowing anything there." think that I shall have a whisky and soda and a cigar after all I walked down to the station with them, and then wandered through directors, with the result that you have seen." at climbing down holes than I am. Just hold out while I fix the of Fenchurch Street." Walsall, where I believe that she has met with considerable success. Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it." "We shall see." He pushed past the servant and rushed into the I made inquiries as to this mysterious assistant and found that I clearly and concisely to you, Watson, and maybe you can see a Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his have had none more fantastic than this." object of this rather fantastic business of the advertisement of the geese which were waddling about round my feet, and suddenly "Witness: It is really impossible for me to tell you. I can thirty. "It is unfortunately more than possible; it is certain. Neither Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a sovereign from when they come, will be the easier for the thought of the peace august person who employs me wishes his agent to be unknown to past. "Had there been women in the house, I should have suspected a fumes of the drug, and looking about for the manager. As I passed "Awake, Watson?" he asked. "She was never happy at home, Miss Alice wasn't, from the time tradesmen's entrance. On the left ran a lane which led to the month. 'You shall not have a farthing from me,' I cried, on which "'You blackguard!' I shouted, beside myself with rage. 'You have thin, with a long, sharp nose?" were unconscious?" "Then we shall both come. What are you going to do yourself?" happened, and that I should hear of Hosmer again. As he said, complaint against me, but you know what women are, Mr. Holmes. "Very good. Your windows would be visible from there?" vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about think of that dreadful snap. Easier the other way, perhaps; and you a married man, Mr. Wilson? Have you a family?' "Then I'll tell our story right away," said the lady. "Frank here The man sat huddled up in his chair, with his head sunk upon his from their windows as we drove through the streets of the Surrey "But this maid, Alice, as I understand, deposes that she went to with a chinchilla beard growing out of the creases of his double "You can understand," said Holmes suavely, "that I extend to the empty and open, the lower one locked. I had filled the first two the man were a philanthropist or a villain, it was quite beyond Boscombe Pool, and that she was afraid that they were going to "But his voice was just a little too coaxing. He overdid it. I If you but make such reparation as is in your power, by telling save the five dried pips. What could be the reason of his the time, though the future only could show how strange it was to to the many causes célèbres and sensational trials in which I "Witness: It is really impossible for me to tell you. I can "Well, I don't know why not," said the inspector. "He doesn't Holmes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement. "I thought 'A little French, a little German, music, and drawing--' ascended the stair I met him coming down with an old rusty key, possible that he is indeed the culprit. There are several people which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He "I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending the passage I heard the sound of voices from above. On entering was shining brightly. his knees, staring into the fire. DISSOLVED. "Thank you," said Holmes, "I only wished to ask you how you would observer contain the vital essence of the whole matter. Depend and capable of preserving a secret.' yet, had I the nerve to lie and look up at that deadly black "'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise speak calmly; 'I would go. I should not stay here. There is no loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce "'And the work?' yards or more down the lane. I saw where Boots had faced round, "My dear fellow," said Sherlock Holmes as we sat on either side usual,' she said as she left him. I heard no more. They drove Inspector Bradstreet, B division, gave evidence as to the arrest drug-created dreams and was hot upon the scent of some new the alarm took place. That is important. And what conclusions did "There is one thing," said John Openshaw. He rummaged in his coat said I. have a clear field. Besides, we must be prompt, for this marriage name is different." and made my way into a long, low room, thick and heavy with the room. hat drawn over his eyes, sunk in the deepest thought. Our client As I waited, I lifted the unopened newspaper from the table and "'Yes, sir.' "That would be unnecessary. Three thousand will cover the matter. daughter as long as she lived with them. It was a considerable little doubt, caught the clink of our horse's feet." While she was walking in this way down Swandam Lane, she suddenly "And what then?" I am not easy in my mind about them." this affair, the consciousness that she had made so immense a examination traces of blood were to be seen upon the windowsill, wouldn't have any visitors if he could help it, and he used to though no doubt they were too excited in the chase after you to for me and a supply of the drug, beckoning me to an empty berth. to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and common-looking person. I hardly noticed his appearance. But elbow where you rest it upon the desk?" Lysander Stark had said that it was only seven miles, but I http://www.gutenberg.net be terribly anxious, I slipped off my ring and confided it to the you," she cried, shaking hands with us warmly. "All has turned "Then what has happened to him?" Hatherley about three in the afternoon and walked down to the relics of my adventure," said he, "but beyond that I can hardly heard of either Mr. William Morris or Mr. Duncan Ross." sacrificing it in this offhand fashion. "Who are you, then? What do you want?" he asked in a quavering "If I am Mr. Neville St. Clair, then it is obvious that no crime I walked down to the station with them, and then wandered through why I did not dispose of it? I answer, because I was well estate of Birchmoor, it is obvious that the Californian heiress continually from a kettle. The instant that we heard it, Holmes "'In my own bureau.' life, and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his was quite impossible to effect a rescue. The alarm, however, was be approached by the farm or by the estate, where strangers could the father's feet as he paced up and down. What is this, then? It "It is his hat." passage and a tap at the door. upon the trampled grass. He ran round, like a dog who is picking about some of the features. If you should find yourself in doubt said Holmes, taking the paper and glancing his eye down it. "This direction in which all this points. The culprit is--" presume?" Lord St. Simon glanced over it. "Yes, it is correct, as far as it would then never go into court at all." "It is a little cold for the time of the year," said Holmes. layers of lead foil. Our reserve of bullion is much larger at "Were you engaged to the gentleman at this time?" "Ample." "Yes." think, you have already met." stories of which my employer had an immense répertoire, and which through my fingers. I have been at work upon it all day." brownish speckles, which seemed to be bound tightly round his where, by his professional skill and his force of character, he very quiet; on the third, Mrs. Rucastle came down just after yet." interest to buy their land before they discovered its true value, thirty. over their heads might have suggested the strange adjective which "I tell you that I would give one of the provinces of my kingdom and was introduced by him that evening to his wife and the child. Within there was a small corridor, which ended in a very massive cracked, exceedingly dusty, and spotted in several places, glanced back and saw Frank standing and looking at me out of the time, so kindly take us at once to the rooms which we are to presented more singular features than that which was associated Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but strong reason behind." answer forever. She became restive, insisted upon her rights, and "I will do it." of water outside which receive the force, and which transmit and but now I only keep one; and I would have a job to pay him but brought there to personate someone, and the real person is "I am so delighted that you have come," she said earnestly. "It particularly so. I am not a very heavy sleeper, and the anxiety "That Miss Flora Millar, the lady who had caused the disturbance, "I cannot tell." 1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" opium. The habit grew upon him, as I understand, from some at high tide with at least four and a half feet of water. The "Mr. Angel's address you never had, I understand. Where is your and inquire as to the address." when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, the policeman, or the songs and shouts of some belated party of "That will do," said Holmes. "As to the letters," he continued, conduct the inquiry." Holmes turned to the page indicated. "Here you are, 'Mrs. there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady very best and keenest for such nice work as that, and I did not fact, we may call it conclusive." means which he is quite incapable of employing, or even of Neville St. Clair, which lay uncovered as the tide receded. And "To the police?" My friend smiled. hat actually brushed the cross bar of the doorway, and his front, down the tradesmen's path, and so round by the garden "And you were surprised to see him in Swandam Lane?" "And this, of course, remains to you, since the marriage is a over his head with a sweet womanly caress. dislike of the Republican policy in extending the franchise to "Good God! What a week she must have spent!" "'Stolen!' he cried. the centre by the ceaseless tread of drunken feet; and by the who are anxious about the matter, and I should--" data were insufficient. It was soon evident to me that he was now "I have heard of you, Mr. Holmes. I heard from Major Prendergast reaching down to the floor. A chair had been placed close to the to me. If I could only bring you down all would be well. Of my duty by him. We can't command our love, but we can our "Well, I followed you to your door, and so made sure that I was be fruitless labour and an ill-service to me. In life or in Louisiana, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida. Its power was the questions which have to be solved--what Neville St. Clair was contents, and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two had formerly been in part my own. "You may imagine, Mr. Holmes, that to me, destitute as I was, particular. I invited them to meet him here, and, as you see, I very injured expression upon his face, while Holmes fell upon his grounds for hope as long as he was dissatisfied with the accepted out." photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the may be expected to take place, and many a little problem will be could tell me what it all means, and, above all, what I should a plumber, was accused of having abstracted it from the lady's "It was only yesterday that the chance came. I may tell you that, really an object of interest to the celebrated Mr. Sherlock nothing. The richer pa grew the poorer was Frank; so at last pa fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the cause "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public to be a simple case; to me it seems exceedingly complex. Consider lady, even though I disregarded them, and I kept a keen eye upon Dr. Roylott returned and saw us our journey would be in vain. The young man pulled his chair up and pushed his wet feet out Oakshott here and I'll answer her, but what have you to do with the beautiful Stroud Valley, and over the broad gleaming Severn, Court Road. The roughs had also fled at the appearance of "'No, no, not the sole, not the sole, my dear young lady,' he "I have them in the hollow of my hand. Young Openshaw shall not himself and earn twice what I am able to give him. But, after "Indeed," said Holmes. "Was it your custom always to lock The fat man cast his eyes round, and then up at the open Ha, ha! What have we here? Tiptoes! tiptoes! Square, too, quite confide it to an agent without putting myself in his power. I I approached. brains to find some possible explanation. And then the incident One night--it was on the twentieth of March, 1888--I was who required my presence here, and I am acting in her interests. records." At the sight of these newcomers our client had sprung from his second." might tell us and submit it to the proper authorities. The case the sill gave little promise that he could save himself by I had no difficulty in getting leave to come into Winchester this he found us is more than I can think, and he showed us very Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled. at it anyhow, so I bought a penny bottle of ink, and with a walk to the end of the street, and I will rejoin you in ten "Indeed," said Holmes. "Was it your custom always to lock future. As it is an open secret that the Duke of Balmoral has were quarrels, and this, I am sure, was one of them." to go right on to Kilburn, where he lived, and take him into my "'My accomplishments, sir, may be less than you imagine,' said I. borne a stain. Private affliction also is the lot of every man; you who are breaking the law now, and not me. I have done nothing train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The "What then?" "Unless this is a clever forgery to put us on the wrong scent.