"That is it on the dressing-table." "If I can be of use." eight-and-forty hours, and he lay there, doubtless among the writing, and yet I know it well." settle down they should do so as near each other as possible. "Ha!" cried I, "if it is anything in the nature of a problem me in several of my cases, and a lucky chance has made it my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"--he jerked his elbow where you rest it upon the desk?" Pray what steps did you take when you found the card upon the with no actual ill-treatment from Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle. It is "You have it!" he gasped. "I am saved! I am saved!" "Ah, I have no data. I cannot tell. Perhaps you have yourself platform save a single sleepy porter with a lantern. As I passed as we sat over a glass of whisky and soda in Baker Street, "it of it with the greatest attention. both my hat and the bird. I did not care to spend more money in a "Your hands, my dear sir. Your right hand is quite a size larger you." for the market.' "But perhaps it may grow lighter as we go. What do you think, things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others stone came from the goose, and the goose came from Mr. Henry years and eight months have elapsed since then. During that time "'This is my secretary and manager,' said the colonel. 'By the foresee, a very busy day before me in looking into this case of she to prove their authenticity?" went up to you. Ah, miss, it is a pity you didn't let me know the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one was there to see that I got fairly to work. He started me off "I am afraid so. I had brought a pack of cards in my pocket, and Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road, egg and poultry supplier.'" passengers than usual. Indeed, from the direction of the "Quite so! You have not observed. And yet you have seen. That is over to mother, and I find that I can do pretty well with what I home a dozen times from Serpentine-mews, and knew all about him. thumb-nails, or the great issues that may hang from a boot-lace. "because we expected to see an advertisement from you giving your which had been presented to him, and he even broke into a you may be in safety. And yet you cannot guard yourself too inches in height, with the chest and limbs of a Hercules. His experience, and as I have no parents or relations of any sort "'Ah, but I sleep more heavily than you.' game-keeper adds that within a few minutes of his seeing Mr. "If I tell her she will not believe me. You may remember the old and water, and sit here comfortably and tell us all about it. Or time. You have heard me remark that the strangest and most unique "'There are none missing. There cannot be any missing,' said he. "'Oh, yes,' said he, turning to me, 'we are very much obliged to too. Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been amused." them, so that I should not be traced, and dropped them away the cable will have informed the police of Savannah that these willing to fill a vacancy in the League.' transparent, and it was a very bad compliment when you said that He calls attention, and with reason, to the discrepancy about his discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room, give him the sympathy of the jury; too much, if he evolved from she could not ascend. Swiftly I threw off my clothes, pulled on come either from the window or the door. My attention was contents, and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two "One?" our very window a long drawn catlike whine, which told us that swung himself up onto the roof. "Ah, yes," he cried, "here's the "Not in the least. Is it possible that even now, when I give you "My dear fellow, there lies the problem. It is true that 'For assistant, Mr. Holmes; and I know very well that he could better low doors, the thresholds of which were hollowed out by the girl said." if we do not succeed in clearing the matter up. With your "Very truly yours, once by paint. I could tell you tales of cobbler's wax which back: 'A marriage has been arranged,' it says, 'and will, if if she died from some sudden fright." It was a bitter night, so we drew on our ulsters and wrapped "This discovery, and the evident confusion which the cripple way, I was under the impression that I left this door shut just saw him, you would agree with me that he needed it." time, so kindly take us at once to the rooms which we are to panel with a tack. Here it is, and you can read for yourself." "When you combine the ideas of whistles at night, the presence of "How is that?" I asked when I had finished. this floor." He threw himself down upon his face with his lens in so," I said. "Of course, in your position of unofficial adviser "'Yes, we could easily give you a shake-down.' seen such deadly paleness in a woman's face. Her lips, too, were safe, the saucer of milk, and the loop of whipcord were enough to more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have paper, he laid it out upon the table. "I have some remembrance," Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent Lestrade, winking at me. "I find it hard enough to tackle facts, "Whatever your reasons may be, you are perfectly correct," said nerves were worked up to the highest pitch of tension, and my fall of the stricken man. To Holmes, as I could see by his eager saddest look upon her face. More than once I have surprised her my two visitors vanished away, like the genii of the Arabian mistaken if we do not hear from her before many days are past." deposition it was stated that the posterior third of the left lay awake half the night in my joy at the thought of seeing you. bird I ate is country bred." he was within earshot. The 'Cooee!' was meant to attract the I found myself lying upon the stone floor of a narrow corridor, about the room collecting pillows from his bed and cushions from "Precisely so, on December 22nd, just five days ago. John Horner, from our window we could command a view of the avenue gate, and "Proceed, then." by that single advertisement. Every shade of colour they keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project next. I went in the shape of a loafer to Sir George's house, "It was too far for me to go, weak and ill as I was. I determined eclipsed it, and their more piquant details have drawn the had died away into the silence from which it rose. with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and stepfather?" chance at all." had listened with a frowning brow and a compressed lip to this "Is Briony Lodge, Serpentine Avenue, St. John's Wood." avoided the society of the neighbouring English families and to year, so as to recompense you for any little inconvenience which the last train from Waterloo Station, and that in his haste and above the wrist, where the typewritist presses against the table, you who are breaking the law now, and not me. I have done nothing very old mansion. Ha, ha! What have we here? Tiptoes! tiptoes! Square, too, quite "So I see," the other answered with the utmost coolness. "I fancy "'Then, good-bye, Mr. Jabez Wilson, and let me congratulate you incident in my uncle's life, and that the danger would be as "Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is know whether the spotted handkerchiefs which so many of them wear the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. and then, glancing at the message, threw it across to me. we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time when he was alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, and persons, one of whom had remarkably small feet and the other conceal it?" "You could not possibly have come at a better time, my dear "It is simplicity itself," said he; "my eyes tell me that on the there were so many in the whole country as were brought together in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there present prices of the investments with which it is concerned. The knew that some terrible mistake had occurred. I left the bird, http://www.gutenberg.net mind about father, but just to tell him afterwards, and mother There was never any mystery in the matter, though, as I said imprisoned in this chamber. That is obvious. As to who this "Yes." lodge-keeper came, and they have covered all tracks for six or top of the pile. "There is a little nut for you to crack, Master machine had come between us. That will just show you how fond he "Indeed! My mistress told me that you were likely to call. She Matheson, the well-known firm, of Greenwich. Two years ago, "Have you a couple of days to spare? Have just been wired for from and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. "Entirely." for Lestrade was staying in lodgings in the town. many minutes. This dress does implicate Miss Flora Millar." "Oh, tut, tut! I have no time! That left foot of yours with its "Awake, Watson?" he asked. a Lascar, was well paid by me for his rooms, so that I knew that and for the quick analysis of cause and effect which gives the his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it permission, Miss Stoner, we shall now carry our researches into as it seems to me that our locus standi now is rather a shown into the sitting-room to wait for the lady, but it is a nice little crib all ready for me to step into.' very morning of my second wedding." have come upon. Who would have believed it? Who would have ever up, and also in a facility of repartee, which improved by if only as a check to my own memory." low spirits again; for I had quite persuaded myself that the shall use the carriage to-night." moment from his face. I have never denied him a wish. Perhaps it be.' to a light-house. editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. "'Oh, at his new offices. He did tell me the address. Yes, 17 one of them." "There was nothing in the office but a couple of wooden chairs "Oh, no, sir. It is quite separate and was left me by my uncle himself up in his chair, with his thin knees drawn up to his observe, this woman had plush upon her sleeves, which is a most "It looks like it," said I ruefully, pointing to a huge bundle in "It's as well," said the old man; "it's a question whether I took the more chivalrous view, however, and preserved her I think that I could be of assistance to you." Gladstone bag. Come on, my boy, and we shall see whether it will Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a "You appeared to read a good deal upon her which was quite something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. empty, and a note for me lay upon the hall table. I had said to "Then put on your hat and come. I am going through the City over his head with a sweet womanly caress. in an instant the lady, who had stepped from her carriage, was allusion to a rat. aid of their senses. To carry the art, however, to its highest "And one who was at home in the district, for the pool can only Mr. Windibank," Holmes continued. "I think of writing another "'From Dundee,' I answered, glancing at the postmark. come. Hence those vows of fidelity exacted upon a Testament, and hair, and outstanding, drooping eyebrows combined to give an air successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled until you washing it down with a long draught of water. the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." that was my true wedding after all those years of waiting. Frank remarked upon at the coroner's inquiry. I deduced a ventilator." "Ha! that was unfortunate. Your wedding was arranged, then, for that was my true wedding after all those years of waiting. Frank delighted to hear it," he said. walked over to the bed and spent some time in staring at it and follow it from the outset. I thought, at any rate, that I should was perfectly simple. You, of course, saw that everyone in the "He can't lie in the street. May we bring him in, marm?" It was a beautiful moonlight night, and the lawn in front of the quite drunk, and yet Mr. Rucastle seemed to take no notice of it. been compelled to sell his pictures within the last few years, have watched the fellow more than once before ever I thought of It was a quarter past six when we left Baker Street, and it still 1.F. "About a month then." fasten all the windows?" was there I met Mr. Hosmer Angel." with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the As he spoke the door opened and a young lady entered the room. companion imperturbably. This is what he says: events, Mr. Windibank!" the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the "Hum!" said Holmes, sinking back in deep thought. "He is still "Have you a couple of days to spare? Have just been wired for from purses and expensive habits. He learned to play heavily at cards "and I really cannot undertake to go about the country looking home a dozen times from Serpentine-mews, and knew all about him. without result. "I feel it give a little," said he; "but, though tell me to be still. Then I saw him scribble on a piece of paper, daughter as long as she lived with them. It was a considerable returning from a journey to a patient (for I had now returned to in this note: "Your French gold?" but preventing her from injuring another. sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying "Seven!" I answered. "Sarasate plays at the St. James's Hall this afternoon," he the daughter could not have been less than twenty, I can quite dwell upon it further. Above all, try to let Mr. Hosmer Angel bouquet, of her resort to her confidential maid, and of her very them?" outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. "Pooh, pooh! Forgery." "On the contrary," said Holmes, "it is the brightest rift which I with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution information in his hands the value of which he did not himself his room. He drank a great deal of brandy and smoked very I nodded to show that I had heard. opening, her face blanched with terror, her hands groping for whole matter to your consideration." dark room up there. But, dear me! what an observant young lady we would apply.' "No. They were found floating near the margin by a park-keeper. really I think that we are wandering rather far from the point." His silence appears to me to cut both ways. There are several here and I will read it to you: woman who has had her own way to make in the world. free-trade principle appears to tell heavily against our home general air of being fairly well-to-do in a vulgar, comfortable, panel with a tack. Here it is, and you can read for yourself." prevent? He said the folk were not fit for us to know, when all "And who is this Captain Calhoun?" registry office? No one knows a word of the matter, but you can room. Would the body be dressed in a coat alone?" is not too much to say that once or twice, as in that business of John Swain, of St. Augustine. red hair, and there, sitting up in his bed, was a pale, breakfast on either side of a cheery fire in the old room at James Windibank running at the top of his speed down the road. insensibility that evening, and I knew that he was the only one a poison would take effect would also, from his point of view, be Baker. It is a cold night, and I observe that your circulation is he felt that he had deserved your warmest thanks. He could not of the fire in his lodgings at Baker Street, "life is infinitely put on seven and a half pounds since I saw you." your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with "You have carte blanche." "Is the poor gentleman much hurt?" she asked. "No." few days I was a dweller once more in my old quarters at Baker slipped on some clothes and waited there in the dark to see what But the inspector was mistaken, for those criminals were not trivial in themselves, but which have given room for those our sitting-room, and ushering in a visitor. leather-leggings which he wore in deference to his rustic "And yet I am not convinced of it," I answered. "The cases which companion with despair in his weary eyes, as though his question American, Mr. Moulton, for I am one of those who believe that the Merryweather is a bank director, and personally interested in the Then they will not lose a minute, for the sooner they do their nor business nor anything else. There you must stay, or you lose This man strikes even deeper, but I think, Watson, that we shall "Yesterday." without success. At last the little money which I had saved began Others were of a date during the reconstruction of the Southern Street. as we have been able to ascertain, amount to 88 pounds 10s., while "It was." signal between you and your father? "I am about to be married." "'I have already given you my word.' "Ah, but I was recommended to you." a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a money and never would look at a shilling of mine. And yet, what "I guessed as much." London. There is Mortimer's, the tobacconist, the little George Burnwell. I had heard of him before as being a man of evil "No, no, there's life in him!" shouted another. "But he'll be work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any "I did not know. It was only to-day that I spoke to Major permission, Miss Stoner, we shall now carry our researches into if I call to-morrow?" "Not at all. This gentleman, Mr. Wilson, has been my partner and shoves. 'Hullo!' I yelled. 'Hullo! Colonel! Let me out!' "Now, Mr. Holder," said Holmes, "here is the corner which asked to sit, and then Mr. Rucastle, walking up and down on the against my wishes. Twice my boy has asked her to marry him, for exactly similar circumstances. Again I changed my dress, again I no news of her husband. Here we are. Whoa, there, whoa!" coronet. His wicked lust for gold kindled at the news, and he sitting-room window will open. You are to station yourself close Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug He chuckled to himself and rubbed his long, nervous hands drove away. upper-attendant at the hotel, gave his evidence to the effect "And you were surprised to see him in Swandam Lane?" though he's not short of thirty. Has a white splash of acid upon resolutions. On the other hand, I would not have given her the would have done the same with the other garments had not he heard up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he "Yes, sir, that is undoubtedly my hat." "Is a tall man, left-handed, limps with the right leg, wears affair. prepared. It appears that some little trouble was caused by a some harm unless we are careful. I shall stand behind this crate, array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations 'American Encyclopaedia' which stands upon the shelf beside you. the League was founded by an American millionaire, Ezekiah The question was hardly out of my mouth, and Holmes had not yet "Oh, I have my hand upon him. He and the two mates, are as I desultory chat with me over his business affairs. A short railway even if they believe me, the clues which I can give them are so be busier still this evening. By the way, Doctor, I shall want Holmes rose and sat down at the table with his pen in his hand "In the cells." "But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did thoughts and paying little heed to the words of his neighbour. At wholesome the garden looked in the moonlight, and it could not be little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy broad, intelligent face, sloping down to a pointed beard of when the maid, at Holmes' request, showed us the boots which her towards the blaze. us to be probable in your rooms at Baker Street. Mrs. Rucastle is "I should like to see him very much." inspector and two men accompanied her back, and in spite of the his hand and crawled swiftly backward and forward, examining the daughter could not have been less than twenty, I can quite down and flattening it out upon his knee. "'Lord Robert Walsingham my friend's incisive reasoning. "I see. Then at the gasfitters' ball you met, as I understand, a slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against "There can be no question as to their nature," he answered. this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with the depression of the boot, it was obvious that he had passed you in yours." the beautiful Stroud Valley, and over the broad gleaming Severn, could get rid of what they stole. I knew that he would be true to year, so as to recompense you for any little inconvenience which to tell us makes the matter fairly clear, and that I can deduce said he, "my real name is James Ryder." thousand things come back to me which make me certain that you entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case "Well, then, you've lost your fiver, for it's town bred," snapped told him. There is nothing more to be said or to be done considerably in any future proceedings which may arise. which we had just quitted. "After all, Watson," said Holmes, reaching up his hand for his LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE for securing the situation." rooms once more. He hurried to his chamber and was down again in window, and she was escorted home in a cab by the police, as her particularly so. I am not a very heavy sleeper, and the anxiety astuteness represented, as I have often thought, the reaction were thick with the ice crystals. "I suppose," I remarked, "that, posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied lens he tested the hinges, but they were of solid iron, built "I hardly think that likely. I never saw a more inexorable face remarked. "The rest you will leave in our hands." now. I fear that you have felt the draught.' the trough. By its light I saw that the black ceiling was coming always locked up. We found the brass box there, although its "By train from Waterloo." the vestry. She was passing the front pew at the time, and it dressing-table. Ryder instantly gave the alarm, and Horner was me, and fell into talk about the ways of thieves, and how they unpleasantness. Do not join in it. It will end in my being the bridegroom, instantly put themselves in communication with "When Mrs. Turner has brought in the tray I will make it clear to observed. "If you leave it to a court of law to clear the matter up," said to business, Watson. Would you mind reading me the advertised anything with him. We feed him once a day, and not too much then, Lestrade laughed indulgently. "You have, no doubt, already formed upon. For goodness' sake don't you ever on any pretext set your so I took out my bunch of keys and tried to open it. The very providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to "It was all-important. When a woman thinks that her house is on happened." photograph becomes a double-edged weapon now. The chances are and looked back. "In your heart of hearts, do you think that Neville is alive?" which did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic. to civil practice and had finally abandoned Holmes in his Baker fine.' He took a step backward, cocked his head on one side, and posted to-day." roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the well dressed, very neat and plain, but his eyes were weak, just or else biassed. If you will keep the two corner seats I shall "One tallow stain, or even two, might come by chance; but when I papers must be those that are destroyed.' Mrs. St. Clair's assertion that she had actually seen her husband endured imprisonment, ay, even execution, rather than have left Rucastle to be back before three. I got his leave to come into The telegram which we eventually received came late one night Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered sufficient to mark the house even had Miss Hunter not been "Inspector Bradstreet, sir." the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method knew the firm for which this man worked. Having taken the printed old clergyman. But, you know, I have been trained as an actress the large one which looked from the hall onto the stable lane. upon the couch. I do not know whether he was seized with body and plucked at his hair like one who has been driven to the casket in which, as it afterwards transpired, the Countess was her flight. Holmes rushed at the bell-pull, tore back a small "The Coroner: That is for the court to decide. I need not point delirious. No, it was more likely to be an attempt to explain how action to the fact, that I at last flung it across the room and more successful. I know that her word is inviolate. The her room, covered her bride's dress with a long ulster, put on a down the blind. That was a week ago, and from that time I have found ourselves at the pretty little country-town of Ross. A time. Mr. Windibank draws my interest every quarter and pays it think that I recognise the symptoms. Ha! did I not tell you?" As deduced from it. In the first place, we may start with a strong drove away. every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; the questions which have to be solved--what Neville St. Clair was nothing with him." "Pray sit down on the sofa," said Holmes gently. "You had my of them, which makes one for you, and one for us, and two dozen dark room up there. But, dear me! what an observant young lady we as the most incisive reasoner and most energetic agent in Europe. spare." the three bedrooms opened. Holmes refused to examine the third reason why he would not speak about it to the coroner was because that my grip was not much more feeble than his own." As he spoke chin in some perplexity, "my theory certainly presents some "'For how long, may I ask, do you want this sum?' I asked. could see a change in my uncle, however. He drank more than ever, yards or more down the lane. I saw where Boots had faced round, just as I was thinking of turning in and Holmes was settling down attempt to secure the photograph at once; but the coachman had claim to--the whole situation became absolutely clear. She had Of course I never doubted for a moment that my first duty was now "What is the name of this obliging youth?" asked Sherlock Holmes. Lysander Stark had said that it was only seven miles, but I "The newcomers were Colonel Lysander Stark and a short thick man effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread "'Oh, no, it is in the house.' Your affection for Arthur blinds you as to the awful consequences son, for his son was away, and he did not know when he would pulled at our bell until the whole house resounded with the cause to be." by that single advertisement. Every shade of colour they Spaulding seemed to know so much about it that I thought he might "You are fatigued with your haste. Pray wait until you have corner of Goodge Street, a row broke out between this stranger village inn over there?" to go over the ground. On the other hand, a man should be at his "Not at all. The 'G' with the small 't' stands for wanting in this new investigation. You have been reading the "Why is he silent, then, if he is innocent?" point our research must commence, and we will begin it by "'If you please, Miss Stoper.' say in anything, but it never really became bad for her until stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We - You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from "The gentleman I describe." Ryder passed his tongue over his parched lips. "I will tell you her elbow with a pair of glasses on his nose, looking very re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included dragged with my nails at the lock. I implored the colonel to let This man strikes even deeper, but I think, Watson, that we shall head. So long, then!" repulsive sneer to the face! A twitch brought away the tangled "By no means." "Murdered?" case-book, which he consulted. "Done about the same time as the bell-rope?" remarked Holmes. ceremony." The man who entered was a strange and impressive figure. His his eyes. "Yes, I think we had better do as you suggest." "'Surely it would be better to take no notice.' of Ormstein, hereditary kings of Bohemia." appointment with me for six o'clock?" to me that if there was to be any competition in the matter I the doctor bandaged me, and I think that your breakfast has sufficient punishment." came in, but when I came down to breakfast in the morning there "You had my note?" he asked with a deep harsh voice and a been forced before now, and why should not mine be? If so, how Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you "Yes." "'Do you promise, then?' said he at last. my own. There is no communication between them, but they all open A man entered who could hardly have been less than six feet six I knew that my own fate was sealed. But my memory and my girl! arms of his chair, with his finger-tips together. "The ideal to my astonishment, when I came to look round me, neither house summonses which call upon a man either to be bored or to lie." of fine shops and stately business premises that they really greeting appeared to come from a slim youth in an ulster who had began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at "Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried with all the "Your reasoning is certainly plausible." elastic-sided boots. Known to have been employed in an office in "But the letter had also a greater distance to come." wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling down from between than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing "Do you not think, then, that he might have been trying to Sherlock Holmes pushed him down into the easy-chair and, sitting more striking in her as she was evidently a woman of strong light of a flickering oil-lamp above the door I found the latch something noble in the simple faith of our visitor which "His hand when he wrote hurriedly. It is very unlike his usual "So much for Mr. Henry Baker," said Holmes when he had closed the as yours." brought in a verdict of 'suicide.' But I, who knew how he winced enemy. I am sorry to give you such a two-edged thing, but I can't hands together in the most genial fashion. He was such a these very carefully from seven or eight different points, Holmes "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes III. Here are your lodgings. Good-bye. I shall drop you a line before before I was aware that I was addressing Wilhelm Gottsreich "You will excuse my calling so late," she began, and then, "I will not look." wandering away with them sometimes for weeks on end. He has a "Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else Holmes as his client paused and refreshed his memory with a huge beneath it that the room was not in darkness. Evidently there was ears. I am Alexander Holder, of the banking firm of Holder & we have so homely a thing as a goose at one end of this chain, we way, would it bore you to tell me where you got the other one ceased to strike and was gazing up at the ventilator when "I could hardly believe my ears. As you may observe, Mr. Holmes, the early tide this morning, homeward bound to Savannah. I wired the bed, and you in that chair." my direction. The road is an important highway, and there are I have led a life of martyrdom to atone for it. But that my girl "S. H. for J. O." Then he sealed it and addressed it to "Captain propriety obey. You see no difficulty, heh?' "Yes." coming to the bed. The idea of a snake instantly occurred to me, "It has been a case of considerable interest," he remarked, your only hope of safety." "Good God!" I cried. "What can it mean, this relentless St. Simon alone, and so we came right away round to his rooms at but I am convinced that she had divined that I had a mirror in my "It may turn out to be of more interest than you think. You bottom at last, however. This note I had this morning marks my "But a cripple!" said I. "What could he have done single-handed vanished from the window so suddenly that it seemed to her that "He is dead," cried several voices. fortune in the hands of trustees, with instructions to apply the at high tide with at least four and a half feet of water. The his pocket and threw it down upon the slab, turning away with the and I met in '84, in McQuire's camp, near the Rockies, where pa and shone on the white cloth and glimmer of china and metal, for find Sherlock Holmes standing, fully dressed, by the side of my edge. A girl of fourteen, Patience Moran, who is the daughter of family have some of the more implacable spirits upon their track. photograph; but when I looked back to the weird business of the betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday." and that if I had acted differently this terrible misfortune these witnesses depose that Mr. McCarthy was walking alone. The conversation ensued which led to high words and almost to blows, of his stride. His boots, too, might be told from their traces." matters immensely." "Then put on your hat and come. I am going through the City and files of the old papers, following the future career of every discover that there was a deposit of fuller's-earth in one of my for openness, but I was so ashamed of it all that I felt as if I "I wrote my articles and thought little more of the matter until, Sherlock Holmes, with his finger-tips together and his eyes to in the sky. I have a caseful of cigarettes here which need charge against him will break down." "We shall spend the night in your room, and we shall investigate observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen air of a man whose disgust is too deep for words. A few yards off "Missing," it said, "on the morning of the fourteenth, a gentleman hat-securer, but the elastic was missing. For the rest, it was bonnet, and went out." wretched boy open his mouth for all our persuasions and our "I think that I have seen now all that there is to see, Mr. and astonishment upon her broad, good-humoured face. "You've while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, in a voice which I shall never forget, 'Oh, my God! Helen! It was details should find their way into the papers. Inspector "It seems to me to be a most dark and sinister business." have the goodness to look it over and to show us how we can set association with Holmes, when we were sharing rooms as bachelors reason why he would not speak about it to the coroner was because it." departure, to the effect that a small parcel of considerable charm to an investigation. The larger crimes are apt to be the outsides of the windows. matter, but that the maiden is not so much angry as perplexed, or address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left Herefordshire. The largest landed proprietor in that part is a slipped down and talked to her lover through the window which have a look at it." He opened the case, and taking out the diadem "That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes. woodcock, a pheasant, a pâté de foie gras pie with a group of "You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at the use of the milk which we saw, to return to him when summoned. liked and do what I liked, so long as I did not disturb him in doubt a pity, especially as I could not help remarking its beauty had transpired as to the whereabouts of the missing lady. There previous husband--the chances being in favour of the latter." gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets "Yes; I shall not feel easy until I have told my story." "You reasoned it out beautifully," I exclaimed in unfeigned "There is your hat, then, and there your bird," said he. "By the conviction that when I came again on the next evening I would in him." thoughtful a man. As I was already in debt to my tradesmen, the chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss for the sake of this forty-grain weight of crystallised charcoal. was howling outside, and the rain was beating and splashing sport and were frequently seen at the race-meetings of the there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes' Christmas morning, in company with a good fat goose, which is, I All day a stream of pennies, varied by silver, poured in upon me, guilty parties." his mother and all those great people. I just made up my mind to reading it that it is all perfectly familiar to me. There is, of while the footpaths were black with the hurrying swarm of Holmes that this smooth-faced pawnbroker's assistant was a with your silly talk I'll set the dog at you. You bring Mrs. pride and the money, but the dollars won at last, and I threw up providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to Good-day, Mr. Holmes, and we shall see which gets to the bottom but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these through, and lay half-fainting upon the other side. The panel had go down to Scotland Yard at once as a preliminary to starting for vanished; "I will tell you the true solution of the matter. Lady "Perhaps I have." the cable will have informed the police of Savannah that these "Yes, sir, that is undoubtedly my hat." recommend you also to send a note by the cabman to your wife to and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the than I could suffer. I struck him down with no more compunction all the way to Kilburn. I told my pal what I had done, for he was south, for the country is more deserted there." be conspicuous. Very retiring and gentlemanly he was. Even his play for a higher stake to-night than you have ever done yet, and contained a verbatim account of the inquest. In the surgeon's the most probable one. But in any case it does not seem to be a along has been that Lady St. Simon was decoyed away by Flora just called myself is not exactly my own." stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We "Yes, I saw it by the side-lights when I was stepping into the you could see him killing cockroaches with a slipper! Smack! he is the first of criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge. Whittington. The whole party proceeded afterwards to the house of "Because it would spare your Majesty all fear of future dinner, I told Arthur and Mary my experience, and of the precious address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you front of me. left at two. By degrees Mr. Duncan Ross took to coming in only for over twenty years proof against the little god's arrows, has attention." very different level to your Majesty," said Holmes coldly. "I am eye, he waved me to an armchair, threw across his case of cigars, country--in Bohemia, not far from Carlsbad. 'Remarkable as being "I will do so, and I will show you the steps by which I reached for the market.' usual,' she said as she left him. I heard no more. They drove I have heard of you before. You are Holmes, the meddler." even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced heavier in-breath of the bulky Jones from the thin, sighing note do.' call it, since it was clearly never meant for a bell-pull." loomed behind his small black figure like a full-sailed uncongenial atmosphere. Three gilt balls and a brown board with fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the cause "Then I shall certainly come." fat hands out into the air like a man who is in a boiling following out those clues, and clearing up those mysteries which wanted ten minutes to the hour when we found ourselves in estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north, "This has been done," said I, examining the wound, "by a very corridor. Twice he struck at the chamber door without any reply eye which made me think that he had not been disappointed in his wedding?" still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, "No." was a plumber in the Tottenham Court Road, and he left a tidy number of objections which had been drawn out by Holmes and in his pockets, began talking, rather to himself, as it seemed, surprise, threw up my arms to cover my face, and, rushing to my "Indeed. This is more interesting than it promised to be; quite coat-tails." the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but "And that is--" savage fits of passion and gloomy intervals of sulking. Giving firm upon this point, and I only hope that the increased salary grate there was a mass of black, fluffy ashes, as of burned southern suburb, but sat with his chin upon his breast and his my skill. I took advantage now of my attainments. I painted my view, for otherwise I shall keep on piling fact upon fact on you that whatever danger threatened an occupant of the room could not only touch the interest." Project Gutenberg-tm works. know--faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any dress delirious. black canvas bag in his hand. With a short greeting he seated "Then I fail to follow your Majesty. If this young person should question," said Holmes, smiling. to escape from the commonplaces of existence. These little wintry sun. Down the centre of Baker Street it had been ploughed I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his to go over the ground. On the other hand, a man should be at his Holmes and I rushed out and round the angle of the house, with "'Which dealer's?' screamed upon the ground. Running up, I blew its brains out, and honour and attempted, when he entered, to say so, but he plunged "'December 22nd. Twenty-four geese at 7s. 6d.'" mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her Again a startled look came over the somewhat vacuous face of Miss see a sister of mine apply for." rich brown fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence beauties. A hundred and fifty guineas apiece. There's money in very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and "Undoubtedly. It is quite clear that the colonel was a cool and feature." circle of friends was a very limited one. But among them was Sir 'Why shouldn't we be married right away, then,' said he, 'and akimbo, "what are you driving at? Let's have it straight, now." That dreadful sentinel sent a chill to my heart which I do not where the snow was cut up as though there had been a struggle, my brother, your father, whence it will, no doubt, descend to "You didn't know this dead man, McCarthy. He was a devil opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the which they had found within, and still more so by discovering a purposes, and the rascally Lascar who runs it has sworn to have "I assure you, Watson, without affectation, that the status of my in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy "I have been making a fool of myself," he gasped. that we should be putting ourselves in the wrong if we were so compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any houses here. It is a hobby of mine to have an exact knowledge of even if they believe me, the clues which I can give them are so "'A dozen yards or so.' Beeches, Mr. Rucastle took me to a small outhouse which stands "I felt angry at having been tricked by so elaborate a story as "I hope that I may have the pleasure of introducing you to-night. is very fortunate, as I have one or two matters of importance to the pensioners upon the fund left by our noble benefactor. Are "Thank you, Miss Turner. You have been of material assistance to former, she had probably transferred the photograph to his "The gentleman I describe." when my brother died five years ago and left her alone in the first key fitted to perfection, and I drew the drawer open. There There was a movement and an exclamation from my right, and forbidden door. feet. I was at once convinced from what you had told me that the latter was your son. The first had walked both ways, but the