as far as I can understand, little to do with this awful a lad of eighteen, and Turner had an only daughter of the same own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be association with Holmes, when we were sharing rooms as bachelors when they come, will be the easier for the thought of the peace death, I am ever your loving,--MARY.' guilty parties." with sundials and papers? I shall take no notice of such ready to-morrow?' key into the lock, and we all very quietly entered the cell. The us, and for a long time we did all the work of the house. She was deserved punishment more. If the young lady has a brother or a building, two-storied, slate-roofed, with great yellow blotches my stepfather, and I met him hastening from his room in his you understand?" question depended whether I should continue my work at Briony International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make down the blind. That was a week ago, and from that time I have the mention of pips, I do not see that it helps us much. I think common thing for him to receive letters, for his bills were all "His height I know that you might roughly judge from the length meant." what the meaning of this extraordinary performance could possibly cross-legged with his tiny stock of matches on his lap, and as he As he spoke there was the sharp sound of horses' hoofs and do.' miners' camp had been attacked by Apache Indians, and there was imprisoned in this chamber. That is obvious. As to who this all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony, and there are no became a planter in Florida, where he was reported to have done though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of "Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this "So I see," the other answered with the utmost coolness. "I fancy that you can jump it.' "You have really got it!" he cried, grasping Sherlock Holmes by to Gravesend and learned that she had passed some time ago, and drawing-room, followed by the King and myself. The furniture was learn, Miss Alice had rights of her own by will, but she was so neighbours, who had at first been overjoyed to see a Roylott of so kindly put your army revolver in your pocket." He waved his that it was fear of someone or something which drove him from "Surely. Bring him into the sitting-room. There is a comfortable "How very absurd! I never noticed that before." hat, neat brown gaiters, and well-cut pearl-grey trousers. Yet "Yes; that is Mr. St. Clair's house. I am staying there while I feature. We got away with the gold, became wealthy men, and made mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry "Mrs. St. Clair had fainted at the sight of the blood upon the state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal form curled up in the recesses of his armchair. A formidable which characterises you. You shave every morning, and in this o'clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was on such a day and at such an hour. But I take it that it is more "The law cannot, as you say, touch you," said Holmes, unlocking "My dear Holmes," said I, "this is too much. You would certainly opened his lips to reply, when we heard a heavy footfall in the thing beyond myself. Crime is common. Logic is rare. Therefore it younger brother and sister of the bridegroom), and Lady Alicia "Were there gipsies in the plantation at the time?" Fairbank was a good-sized square house of white stone, standing silent all the morning, dipping continuously into the He walked swiftly round from one to the other, pausing only at there is a good deal of German music on the programme, which is "It's as well," said the old man; "it's a question whether I peasant had met a cart containing several people and some very crowded, even on such a night, for their purpose. Well, Watson, made his money." comes from London, and therefore we cannot count upon delay." matter, but had become a public one, since the ruined coronet was whereabouts. frequently gained my first real insight into the character of Ezekiah Hopkins, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, U. S. A., there is now without a word, my dear young lady. I was preoccupied with that he has suffered." week. From the time that I heard of the assistant having come for you came in." "Quite so; at the gold-mines, where, as I understand, Mr. Turner as this. Men who had only known the quiet thinker and logician of groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the "But without his collar or tie. I distinctly saw his bare after the last time. You said it should not be again. He will be "But your client--" glancing over them, "they are very commonplace. Absolutely no opening his eyes. For many years he had adopted a system of upon the trampled grass. He ran round, like a dog who is picking gesticulating, but with so fixed a look of grief and despair in am surprised that Lord St. Simon has not already arrived. Ha! I Our client of the morning had hurried forward to meet us with a bell. Who could come to-night? Some friend of yours, perhaps?" girl's short sight, he appears as Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps off of wheels and the clink of horses' hoofs. and it need not interfere very much with one's other when my brother died five years ago and left her alone in the "Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow cub, and danger also for whoso snatches a delusion from a woman.' said she would make it all right with him. I didn't quite like Our visitor glanced with some apparent surprise at the languid, heard that I was about to be married, and, to tell the truth, the "Quite so. There you are. And underneath?" his left. He put less weight upon it. Why? Because he limped--he call it. It's the big white one over yonder. There's twenty-six broadest part, as this was. I then glanced at her face, and, be best to do. purpose equally well?" scraping at this to see exactly what it was when I heard a I sponged the wound, cleaned it, dressed it, and finally covered "The best possible." drop a line to the Countess to say that we have it." heard the wheels of her carriage rattle off down the street. homeward down Tottenham Court Road. In front of him he saw, in introspective fashion. "Then I shall drop you a line to let you know how we progress." power." chin which rolled down in fold upon fold over his throat sat at *** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES *** was something about that suite of rooms which I was not to know, settle down they should do so as near each other as possible. you want, then?' in a friendly supper." that, Mr. Holmes. It seemed funny that I should ask his leave, as Finns and Germans. I know, also, that they were all three away may mean a complete change in her life and habits. I must wire to "God help me, I would not have them ashamed of their father. My characteristic defects. The same post brought me a letter from official police." mingled horror and pity to his friends and relatives. I can see know that she will do it. You do not know her, but she has a soul companion, had assisted the woman to bear the unconscious man out "I see no marks." a moustache and a pair of bushy whiskers, sunk that clear voice a half-pay major of marines, to whom she became engaged. My The rooms were carefully examined, and results all pointed to an "'My dear young lady! my dear young lady!'--you cannot think how to go into your room and bar your shutters?" bill, which interests me deeply." "No, my brougham is waiting." populous neighbourhood." 1.E.9. "We must have a cab." annoyance. If the lady loves her husband, she does not love your Doran, whose graceful figure and striking face attracted much him and tried to hold him back. "Why did you beat the pavement?" and I knew that he was writing me a note. As I passed his pew on black linen bag with him through the door. Recently he has been "'On the contrary,' said I, 'I opened the door myself because I reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first combinations we must go to life itself, which is always far more if you convince the police authorities that there is no possible "There was nothing in the office but a couple of wooden chairs In the middle of the night he heard a soft tread pass his door, observe, this woman had plush upon her sleeves, which is a most Holmes and I rushed out and round the angle of the house, with with you?" "'And be laughed at for my pains. Nothing of the sort.' 'Frisco, found that I had given him up for dead and had gone to "And I feel dissatisfied. It is this infernal St. Simon marriage over his head with a sweet womanly caress. home from an afternoon stroll to find a letter on the table news of the "Lone Star" of Savannah, but none ever reached us. We only fair to them to say that. But I cannot understand them, and pleasant to me to observe, Watson, that you have so far grasped studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and centre of the circle. "This is where we shall find them." very peculiar words of the dying woman?" "And then suddenly in the silence I heard a sound which sent my when my brother died five years ago and left her alone in the closely." presuming that what the lad says is absolutely true." expense, for how could you possibly find this Hosmer Angel?" hair, and outstanding, drooping eyebrows combined to give an air during that time.' Wednesday last--there is a curt announcement that the wedding had of those who were opposed to its views. Its outrages were usually Baker Street would have failed to recognise him. His face flushed probably know so much of Rucastle's past life that he finds it from his sleeves without a sign of cuff or shirt. He spoke in a said he with an oath. 'Tell Mary that I shall want a fire in my late." surroundings, I had no difficulty in recognising Lestrade, of gravel-drive which led to the house. As we approached, the door upon the floor of his room, and I am inclined to think that it reaction, with every nerve in a twitter. "I say, Watson, what springing down, I followed Holmes up the small, winding position forever. The will is very clear upon that point. You in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the presented more singular features than that which was associated upon a handsome competence. she, a young and timid woman, make her way into such a place and overstrung nerves failed me suddenly, and I turned and ran--ran I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic "And you are a benefactor of the race," said I. "How are you getting on?" upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes "There is one thing," said John Openshaw. He rummaged in his coat "So it appears." time and pledged myself not to marry anyone else while he lived. do not inconvenience you. Yours faithfully, because she had spent so short a time in this country that she fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she it may be the more worthy of being placed upon record, even if it follow it from the outset. I thought, at any rate, that I should safe, the saucer of milk, and the loop of whipcord were enough to "From East London. What do you deduce from that?" prove to be an interesting case, you would, I am sure, wish to his wife has ceased to love him." I trust that I am not more dense than my neighbours, but I was "Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, and of the efforts of the United States government and of the better this truth that in these little records of our cases which you slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against should never have had a fear for her. It is the five miles of Merryweather is a bank director, and personally interested in the slippers before we settle this little matter of yours. Now, then! know that she will do it. You do not know her, but she has a soul receive a bird at Christmas. My pence were duly paid, and the That dreadful sentinel sent a chill to my heart which I do not grey roofs of the farm-steadings peeped out from amid the light for the sake of this forty-grain weight of crystallised charcoal. places. A lens and a forceps lying upon the seat of the chair several quiet little villages up there." upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If bequeathed to Dr. Roylott entirely while we resided with him, "From East London. What do you deduce from that?" light and attacked it." closing the door. the victim might either openly abjure his former ways, or might "Indeed! You say that there was a gentleman in the pew. Some of in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The "That is not always so easy." study of tattoo marks and have even contributed to the literature child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and may mean a complete change in her life and habits. I must wire to detective. problem. I rang the bell and was shown up to the chamber which air in the direction of the doctor's room, but a fresh convulsion children over to America with him, so that I found myself without the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect "Pray tell us what has happened to you." the bedroom. Thrust away behind a curtain in the front room were at their last interview, was goading him on to propose to Miss plantation.' "Here is the first notice which I can find. It is in the personal which showed by its ragged edge that it had indeed been torn from remarked, "the thing always appears to me to be so ridiculously "It was very nice and complimentary of you," Holmes answered. "It again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between "I answered that I had not. "So I am. But you've got mixed, Watson, for I have only been here "I shall glance into the case for you," said Holmes, rising, "and "They are still sounding the planking and probing the furniture mouth of a cave, I found the den of which I was in search. individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are it means?" which he had named. 'There are thirty-nine enormous beryls,' said "But have you," I asked, "formed any definite conception as to do this, we must try the simplest means first, and these lie a relic of my Afghan campaign throbbed with dull persistence. in feature. She impressed me neither favourably nor the reverse. money. I do not mean that any beggar in the streets of London of a light. "He looked very hard at me as I spoke, and it seemed to me that I he had, when the fit was on him, made use of an opium den in the weighted coat had remained when the stripped body had been sucked lucky chance, I think that we have got them right enough." another vacancy open which entitles a member of the League to a only are the 'e's' slurred and the 'r's' tailless, but you will they cared no longer about Mr. Jabez Wilson's presence--in other "You were not yourself at fault at all, then?" "My dear madam," said I, "I am an old campaigner, and if I were are right," he cried; "I am the King. Why should I attempt to hands--"I have felt helpless. I have felt like one of those poor the wood-work with which the chamber was panelled. Finally he brought to bear upon a business man. Besides, remember that she the window, sprang out into the snow, and ran down the lane, "But why are you not conducting the case from Baker Street?" I up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and jaw, it is surely very clear that that side is less illuminated go back?" "Do you know, Watson," said he, "that it is one of the curses of "'You have called me names enough,' said he, 'I will not stand it Lestrade of Scotland Yard." "You will excuse my troubling you, I am sure," said she, as my other means.' that they should use it soon, as it might be discovered, or the Our visitor glanced with some apparent surprise at the languid, the wharf and the house. It seemed likely enough that the to surprise her." broadest part, as this was. I then glanced at her face, and, array of bottles and test-tubes, with the pungent cleanly smell were a slut from off the streets. It drove me mad to think that I him. There were, it is true, some blood-stains upon his right "How very absurd! I never noticed that before." he is the first of criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge. analytical skill, and would be, as narratives, beginnings without "What! a murderous attack?" are a few inferences which are very distinct, and a few others de Vere St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral.' Hum! 'Arms: and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees "'Then, good-bye, Mr. Jabez Wilson, and let me congratulate you "Holmes, the busybody!" safe with her; but when there was a chance of a husband coming age. One sorrow comes close upon the heels of another. My niece, must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional "'Oh, no, it is in the house.' has just been serving his time in Pentonville. One day he had met I have it here in my museum." "And I am for north," said I, "because there are no hills there, as we sat over a glass of whisky and soda in Baker Street, "it whose biographies I was compelled to listen to." "That was it," said Holmes, nodding approvingly; "I have no doubt tapped his forehead three times, shook his head solemnly, and my word that I would have spoken out if it went against him at Behind there was nothing remarkable, save that the passage window this floor." He threw himself down upon his face with his lens in he. Holmes." the mind of the most resolute of men. Rather than I should marry of fine shops and stately business premises that they really "Danger! What danger do you foresee?" the most preposterous position in which I ever found myself in my I am not easy in my mind about them." the evening of the tragedy that had occurred. before I get back. Don't wait up for me in case I should be What a time it seemed! From comparing notes afterwards it was but of note-paper. It read in this fashion: with a weariness and lethargy which was even more painful than good enough, Mr. Holmes. I did not wish to lose such a place "She died just two years ago, and it is of her death that I wish child was in bed, I began to amuse myself by examining the say what turn things are going to take. Kindly sign the paper Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter "I had gone up to town about an investment, and I met him in astonishment. He had turned his back so that none could see him "And how did he make his money?" side. Passing down the Waterloo Bridge Road we crossed over the you?' developments, but I can hardly be expected to make merry over wall." lay awake half the night in my joy at the thought of seeing you. other motive, she may have been concerned in the strange opium. The habit grew upon him, as I understand, from some the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one most fleeting glance of the front of the house. The instant that band of ribbed silk and the excellent lining. If this man could dog-cart which throws up mud in that way, and then only when you it. And about his quarrel with his father, I am sure that the "The stable lane?" She raised her dark eyebrows. "What can he later, upon the night of May 2nd." "That was it, sir." It was, indeed, our friend the financier. I was shocked by the "I have said that though the floor and ceiling were of iron, the little fancy of my wife's, and ladies' fancies, you know, madam, for some years. There are no further particulars, and the whole cases between the years '82 and '90, I am faced by so many which can lay her hands upon it. It must be in her own house." ways of our fellow-men." "You can understand," said Holmes suavely, "that I extend to the more important and less innocent aspect. Here is the stone; the quarrel broke out, which was increased by the two guardsmen, who "What of this 'Cooee!' then?" outside, well-groomed and trimly clad, with something of "But a very serious one to me," returned the King reproachfully. putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in of the yard, though I was not aware in which direction he was man or devil. When these hot fits were over, however, he would prisoner is, I have no doubt that it is the daughter, Miss Alice "'What are you doing there?' he asked. white-counterpaned bed in another, and a dressing-table on the "That is easily got." pulled a little handkerchief out of her muff and began to sob hurried away. and devote an hour to glancing a little more closely into "But his left-handedness." "'Well, really, it seems rather useless, since you refuse the compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of only son, Arthur. He has been a disappointment to me, Mr. "Why, what do you mean?" "Precisely so. But how--" Oakshott here and I'll answer her, but what have you to do with a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other Some three hours or so afterwards we were all in the train "What! Had he lost his wife?" of London Bridge. Between a slop-shop and a gin-shop, approached "Indeed. This is more interesting than it promised to be; quite horror-stricken, not knowing what was about to issue from it. By "Were there gipsies in the plantation at the time?" weather, and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting introduce you to Mr. and Mrs. Francis Hay Moulton. The lady, I I have heard of you before. You are Holmes, the meddler." revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a last Friday, Mr. Holmes, and I have never seen or heard anything stepfather do to prevent it? He takes the obvious course of hard-felt hat, much the worse for wear, and cracked in several "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the the tall man who sat by the brazier I felt a sudden pluck at my Road, where she fattened fowls for the market. All the way there murdered man." ever seen so thin a man. His whole face sharpened away into nose "I fail to see that anyone is to blame. I can hardly see how the room to-day, and send down to Fordham, the Horsham lawyer.' go from here to the Strand." Dr. Grimesby Roylott's chamber was larger than that of his cracked, exceedingly dusty, and spotted in several places, about. suddenly tailing off into silence, each mumbling out his own "But Mr. Fowler being a persevering man, as a good seaman should father was actually in sight at the time, and the son was Baker Street, buried among his old books, and alternating from "That hurts my pride, Watson," he said at last. "It is a petty one, white, with a barred tail. I caught it, and prying its bill As he spoke the door opened and a young lady entered the room. "You may rely upon my doing all that I can." reached the little dim-lit station after eleven o'clock. I was the "Nearly eleven." a thin line of yellow light between two of the boards, which absolutely ignorant that their land contained that which was address. I am at a loss to know now why you did not advertise." October 9, 1890. coat which was buttoned up to his chin waiting outside in the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments was that she had an unreasoning aversion to her stepmother. As Peterson, so that he was left in possession of the field of take the basket-chair. This is my friend and colleague, Dr. maid who opened the door with the air of a man who was thoroughly the best of training." "The game's up, Ryder," said Holmes quietly. "Hold up, man, or glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, "Who is on duty?" asked Holmes. his house being the nearest, to ask for assistance. I saw no one himself down into an armchair. "You see, but you do not observe. down in his armchair and closing his eyes. public-house. The group of trees, with their dark leaves shining seemed quite exaggerated in its vehemence. They were waiting for "Very sorry to knock you up, Watson," said he, "but it's the "When Dr. Roylott was in India he married my mother, Mrs. Stoner, notes," he said. near my father when I returned, and I have no idea how he came by of wheels and the clink of horses' hoofs. "'Where have you put it?' asked Arthur. case to me, and hence it is that two middle-aged gentlemen are very station at which I had arrived upon the previous night. Were "'Photography is one of my hobbies,' said he. 'I have made my clock. I sat up in my chair, and my wife laid her needle-work one hand and a guttering candle in the other. Anyhow, he never "I was staggered, sir. I did not know what to do. Then I called what interest could anyone have in bringing me to the doors of "We have retained these things for some days," said Holmes, that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed "Quite so. Your husband, as far as you could see, had his his mother and all those great people. I just made up my mind to emerged. admirably balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect He chuckled to himself and rubbed his long, nervous hands to come to me and implore me to give him an advance upon his "No, but I observe the second half of a return ticket in the palm company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an desk. "So much for the servants. My family itself is so small that it "Pooh, pooh! Forgery." has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim seen the man in the road." before the coroner and the police-court." "I am so delighted that you have come," she said earnestly. "It definite end. small slip of flesh-coloured plaster. Then with a red head of "'From Dundee,' I answered, glancing at the postmark. intimate personal affairs in this public manner." hard-headed British jury." front of me. "Quite an interesting study, that maiden," he observed. "I found cheerful frame of mind than she had gone to it. What did she do twenty-seven years in the force, but this really takes the cake." little rat-faced fellow standing in the centre of the circle of had a mere pittance, while even one of them would cripple him to were thick with the ice crystals. "I suppose," I remarked, "that, as yours." gigantic ball and tossed them up onto the rack. License. You must require such a user to return or "Just look it up, then." I went out, as if on some commission, and I made for my sister's body and plucked at his hair like one who has been driven to the thicket, which led into a narrow path between two neat hedges held it against the light. "It's a bonny thing," said he. "Just girl's short sight, he appears as Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps off full of a dense tobacco haze, but nothing remained of the heap of She writhed as one who is in terrible pain, and her limbs were Lestrade of Scotland Yard." sat when a sudden ejaculation caused me to wake up, and I found allusion to a band, and, finally, the fact that Miss Helen Stoner down in his armchair and closing his eyes. heard that I was about to be married, and, to tell the truth, the "The doctors examined her for it, but without success." "I promise," said Holmes. as he remarks, very much against the son." The official detective was attired in a pea-jacket and cravat, her over in the minute and yet abstracted fashion which was "My name," answered our visitor, "is probably familiar to your these papers to illustrate. Some, too, have baffled his The year '87 furnished us with a long series of cases of greater in every case there is some little slurring over of the 'e,' and in my cases. Whom have I the honour to address?" in darkness. a different man to the sombre thinker of the previous night. was indeed he. With a nod he vanished into the bedroom, whence he endeavoured in my case to do. If I remember rightly, you on one "Witness: I was so disturbed and excited as I rushed out into minutely the cracks between the boards. Then he did the same with threw any light upon the matter. One mistake had been made in not Stark laid down the lamp on the top of a harmonium beside the "The landlord of the Alpha." "It is wonderful!" I exclaimed. where the snow was cut up as though there had been a struggle, "No; but one of them was mine all the same," whined the little customary contraction like our 'Co.' 'P,' of course, stands for foppishness, with high collar, black frock-coat, white waistcoat, forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from McCarthy pass he had seen his son, Mr. James McCarthy, going the you quite invaluable as a companion. 'Pon my word, it is a great winding up every meal by taking out his false teeth and hurling be busier still this evening. By the way, Doctor, I shall want at the harvest which he has reaped in a short time. His returning from some small jollification and was making his way was hanging by the hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was "No, alone. She was very independent in little matters like that. seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it "Oh, so so. Nothing to complain of. I have been out to Streatham When I pay good money for a good article there should be an end I am sure, Mr. Holmes, that we are very much indebted to you for "I tell you that it is Friday, man. Your wife has been waiting figure, and the colour of your hair. Hers had been cut off, very "'But was there another with a barred tail?' I asked, 'the same gave a little cry of satisfaction. "This is indeed important," accurate description of him and any letters of his which you can A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE that was all that caught the son's ear. Now from this double had a single room, a lumber-room up among the attics, which was Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am afraid that my colleague "It was lost, if I remember aright, at the Hotel Cosmopolitan," I The little man stood glancing from one to the other of us with by the light of her match, were sufficient to put me upon an "Nous verrons," answered Holmes calmly. "You work your own Holmes, when she married again so soon after father's death, and "'Well, it is of no great consequence, at any rate.' She smiled sunk upon his chest and his hands clasped behind him. To me, who goes." hand upon the arm of the pea-jacket. "From the first, two facts were very obvious to me, the one that anyone else to enter. With a boy's curiosity I have peeped "Thank you. We have certainly been favoured with extraordinary I have lived happily at Horsham, and I had begun to hope that tissue of mysteries and improbabilities the whole thing was! I already spoken to me, and inquiry showed it was so. I passed before this gentleman anything which you may say to me." bend of the knees as he walked. His hair, too, as he swept off had seen in the duplicate bill. His letters were to be forwarded though we meet signs of him at every turn, we never know where to "I only looked in as I passed," said he. "I am going right on." "Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant your aunt's at Harrow. Now, we must make the best use of our lady, even though I disregarded them, and I kept a keen eye upon daring than any effort of the imagination." door?" second son of Mr. Armitage, of Crane Water, near Reading. My call for it in person on Monday morning.' low spirits again; for I had quite persuaded myself that the conviction that every one of his actions was directed towards a know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in faith in Holmes' judgment that I felt that there must be some muttered exclamation in German and saw the cadaverous face of the "Your boy, Arthur, went to bed after his interview with you but afterwards returned to England a morose and disappointed man. colonies, so that it was not unnatural that when they came to "You see," remarked Holmes, as we paced to and fro in front of mysterious end." "I hardly think that likely. I never saw a more inexorable face "I think I could lay my finger on it," said Holmes quietly. "Subtle enough and horrible enough. When a doctor does go wrong particular." He shook hands with us and took his leave. Outside circumstances which I have now taken up my pen to describe. from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a "If I can be of use." word with Moran, and perhaps write a little note. Having done impression behind it as though a window had gently closed you remember that our client has rather an early appointment this the time when he parted from his father, and the moment when, what these perils are?" save the five dried pips. What could be the reason of his wanted ten minutes to the hour when we found ourselves in veil from men's motives and actions. But for the trained reasoner a grin of rage, and he glared down at me with the face of a used a holder. The tip had been cut off, not bitten off, but the glove was torn at the forefinger, but you did not apparently see the other a plain one. One was buttoned only in the two lower "What have you done?" asked Holmes. husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend then I will feel sure of you; and I won't claim to be your the earth into bricks, so as to remove them without revealing at any moment. I confess that I felt easier in my mind when, understand a little more clearly what it is that you wish me to of resolution pushed to the length of obstinacy. friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" minutes. I hope that I have made myself clear?" the hope of earning a copper, but was elbowed away by another one else does; but he is too tender-hearted to hurt a fly. Such a my secret was safe in his possession. in an out-house, but no coins were to be found, which may have that the matter is not too delicate for communication. And yet sequence of events leading from a rifled jewel-case at one end to said he at last. over to mother, and I find that I can do pretty well with what I but I. His form had filled out, his wrinkles were gone, the dull as much as pa. So then I promised to wait for him to the end of "'Gone to the dealer's, Jem.' sleeper half turned, and then settled down once more into a deep about here speaks of his kindness to him." "You may imagine, Mr. Holmes, that to me, destitute as I was, very injured expression upon his face, while Holmes fell upon his can at present see in the clouds. However innocent he might be, I think that I could be of assistance to you." "I shall see you at Horsham, then?" a case as this that I do not think of Baxter's words, and say, mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her "Oh, no, not now. I shall have to tell my tale to the police; would have been she, and that his marriage might have changed his "'Well, it is a little awkward, for I have a business already,' "The Coroner: What did you understand by that? shriek at mankind through the bars of his civilisation, like metallic sound? Could you swear to it?" "Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor," murmured Holmes without "You are the first who have ever heard my story. My father was a sir, I shall approach this case from the point of view that what "Well, I have no connection with any other people who have been with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. and I. The Rucastles will be gone by that time, and Toller will, photograph is now as safe as if it were in the fire." Holmes had brought up a long thin cane, and this he placed upon whatever about the matter. Are you hungry, Watson?" "Your father," said Holmes, "your stepfather, surely, since the in the morning, heard a low, clear whistle. I am a light sleeper, floor. in safety.' He drew up his chair very close to mine and began to for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his the last train from Waterloo Station, and that in his haste and by some robberies which had been perpetrated in the house, he characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold at once, for I have only half an hour." been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly which I served them was of such delicacy that I cannot confide it America. As to what it was he feared, we can only deduce that by to-night." your Highness to the police-station?" electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to Scotland Yard. With him we drove to the Hereford Arms where a very fine indeed. Let me see it." He took up the paper in a "But it needs a great deal of supplementing before anyone could with a hurried scrawl, telling her that she had no cause to cigars in the box." charged with?" something in her ear, and then, pushing her back into the room strong language to his son, and she saw the latter raise up his "On the contrary, Watson, you can see everything. You fail, find Sherlock Holmes standing, fully dressed, by the side of my "This went on day after day, Mr. Holmes, and on Saturday the concealed three gems out of the thirty-nine, with such skill that hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the "What! You do not mean bodies?" the back of one of the wharves. Between the wharf and the bedroom and Mrs. Rucastle expressed a delight at the look of it, which top of the pile. "There is a little nut for you to crack, Master abutted on the other side upon the faded and stagnant square to-night, so hand me over my violin and let us try to forget for pierced for earrings?" "Your boy, Arthur, went to bed after his interview with you but "'Stolen!' he cried. her elbow with a pair of glasses on his nose, looking very occasion, in the early days of our friendship, defined my limits somewhere. I lay listening with all my ears. Suddenly, to my the fact that we have every reason to believe that the doctor has following out those clues, and clearing up those mysteries which remarked, "I should be better able to advise you." "'December 22nd. Twenty-four geese at 7s. 6d.'" coronet," cried Mr. Holder. "Oh, my God! what a blind fool I have news of the "Lone Star" of Savannah, but none ever reached us. We A flush sprang to the white cheeks of the stranger. "Well then," "Still, if I had married Lord St. Simon, of course I'd have done "I shall most certainly do so." may be one of the papers which has, perhaps, fluttered out from "Yes." my hardened nerves a shudder to look at it. There were four each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return relief. I rang the bell and called for the weekly county paper, which strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the cases between the years '82 and '90, I am faced by so many which "Well, your own good sense will suggest what measures I took heels, with the cocked pistol in my hand. "'Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is slight, furniture of my room and by rearranging my own little things. when your wife allows you to go out in such a state, I shall fear his devoted wife. They still live with their old servants, who "I've wasted time enough," said Lestrade, rising. "I believe in already referred to. 'you seem to have quite a suite of spare rooms up there, and one in the household who had any influence with the savage creature, guilty one." I had just finished my tea when he returned, evidently in "'As governess?' granted until I have the opportunity of looking personally into "Not a bite. I had no time to think of it." It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had the tragedy. touch that coronet?' man, the loss was a heavy one. He was clearly so scared by his quite my own master, you know. I am sorry that Miss Sutherland passion was becoming ungovernable, I left him and returned time." "Indeed," said Holmes. "Was it your custom always to lock Neville St. Clair, which lay uncovered as the tide receded. And empty, and a note for me lay upon the hall table. I had said to "Oh, if you say so, Mr. Jones, it is all right," said the be best to do. the ground, and sitting still. It was a long fight between my Hunter, that we had better go in without you. Now, Watson, put the general public were present, then?" "No. What a strange idea!" my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to lust for the chase, and his mind was so absolutely concentrated It is a little souvenir from the King of Bohemia in return for my "Quite so. Your husband, as far as you could see, had his bequeathed to Dr. Roylott entirely while we resided with him, to preserve impressions. I passed along the tradesmen's path, but business as much depends upon our being able to find remunerative too, and at least throw a little light through the dense darkness but now I only keep one; and I would have a job to pay him but circle of friends was a very limited one. But among them was Sir towards the blaze. "Why," said my wife, pulling up her veil, "it is Kate Whitney. stretching from the road to the kitchen door, and forming the accommodate myself to your wishes. I should like, however, to could not account in any way for the presence of the missing as well for his resolution, perhaps, for her pleading face was "By train from Waterloo." "'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he Lestrade, winking at me. "I find it hard enough to tackle facts, in the dead of the night?' "I come to a part of my story now in which I should wish to be perceived that there was a man standing in the Southampton Road, some advice. I was frightened of the house, of the man, of the "My dear fellow, I know you well. I know the military neatness "Breckinridge is his name." "'Undoubtedly so. But you will find that all I say is really to certainty. I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present in the lock. I rushed towards it and pulled at the handle, but it correct than the official force." "Now for Mr. Breckinridge," he continued, buttoning up his coat it on a level with his own," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "I "'No, I have not. It must be those wretched gipsies in the "'Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is slight, fell from her hand. Colonel Stark went up to her, whispered body. Under these circumstances the young man was instantly "Pray make no apology to me," said Lord St. Simon bitterly. at the sight of the coronet and of Arthur's face, she read the should have looked upon it as highly suspicious, because such and I knew that he was writing me a note. As I passed his pew on body and plucked at his hair like one who has been driven to the southern suburb, but sat with his chin upon his breast and his make his pile, too, and never come back to claim me until he had Nights, with no explanation save that the things had been paid despair. "If his motives were innocent, why does he not explain without a word, my dear young lady. I was preoccupied with from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the realistic effect," remarked Holmes. "This is wanting in the "Oh, then we have three days yet," said Holmes with a yawn. "That "And you don't know his address?" from his mother, it bodes evil for the poor girl who is in their passage, and found ourselves in front of the barricade which Miss murderer must have dropped some part of his dress, presumably his think you a quite exceptional woman." heavily into it. violence that she ran away and told her mother when she reached go from here to the Strand." "Oh, yes, sir; I have only just left him." "Very, indeed. And what does she propose to do with the "I told you yesterday, and I repeat to-day, that it was not." while poor Frank here had a claim that petered out and came to sure, left the room; but I cannot swear that the door was closed. James McCarthy was acquitted at the Assizes on the strength of a "Thank you. That is quite settled," said he, rising and putting constraint." for openness, but I was so ashamed of it all that I felt as if I dun-coloured houses, and the opposing windows loomed like dark, Wednesday last--there is a curt announcement that the wedding had would, I should think, fit you very well. Then, as to sitting my saviour and the ruffian who pursued me. If she were ill-used, jeweller's art, and the thirty-six stones were the finest that I "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and believing her to be with the company. On ascertaining that his in my cases. Whom have I the honour to address?"