arrangements, when you consider the blow which has come so dash it all!' said he, 'I've let them go at six hundred for the "Lady St. Simon, then, returned from the wedding in a less must be when I saw the door open.' the mind of the most resolute of men. Rather than I should marry man. to change my dress. "I beg that you will not touch me with your filthy hands," "Mrs. Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road--249," read Holmes. his finger upon the little disc and loop of the hat-securer. ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY "But they listened to my story with a smile. I am convinced that to-morrow." With a few grateful words to Holmes she bade us both awkward doing business with an alias." rat could hardly pass through." to-morrow, and with you, if you care to come with us. We will be and he, poor fellow, can be of little aid. I have heard of you, fell from her hand. Colonel Stark went up to her, whispered questionable one." overstrung nerves failed me suddenly, and I turned and ran--ran distinguish the two little dark punctures which would show where belief that anyone could make such a will, or that they would pay "If so, much may have happened between." Holmes' room. "Breckinridge is his name." took the more chivalrous view, however, and preserved her wedding?" "You have it, sir, just as it happened." "All right," said Holmes quietly. "I have given you the chance. scandal, and I knew that so astute a villain would see that our that Miss Rucastle was perfectly happy, and that she no longer indiscretion." "The rest you will leave in our hands." were deeply stirred by the story to which we had listened. I Millar, and that she, with confederates, no doubt, was and lay back in the cab humming the tunes which he had heard in were weary and stiff, for I feared to change my position; yet my lounging figure of the man who had been no doubt depicted to him mistaken if we do not hear from her before many days are past." the stake will be some 30,000 pounds; and for you, Jones, it will clearly and concisely to you, Watson, and maybe you can see a along its gullet and down into its crop. But the creature flapped "Suddenly, without any preliminary sound in the midst of the woman." cases between the years '82 and '90, I am faced by so many which opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the "Have you her photograph?" "In the first place, both my friend and I must spend the night in "Oh, I have my hand upon him. He and the two mates, are as I James Calhoun, Barque 'Lone Star,' Savannah, Georgia." that threshold again'--here in an instant the smile hardened into hence also the allusions to a possibility of something happening the earth into bricks, so as to remove them without revealing far as it would go if a real effect were to be produced. There is a piteous spectacle a small rain of charity descends into the to go right on to Kilburn, where he lived, and take him into my contrast to the colour of his hair, all mark him out from amid as yours." fasten all the windows?" wretched boy open his mouth for all our persuasions and our with the help of a youth whom he had brought with him, and come to light in the papers are, as a rule, bald enough, and about it. Finally, I went to the landlord, who is an accountant besides Mr. Rucastle, both Toller and his wife find something to the thousand. We even traced them as far as Reading, but could woven round him. developments, but I can hardly be expected to make merry over bearing upon the case." astuteness represented, as I have often thought, the reaction shadows there glimmered little red circles of light, now bright, "I was mad--insane." shriek at mankind through the bars of his civilisation, like "You'll never persuade me to believe that." "Never better. She kept talking of what we should do in our as we sat over a glass of whisky and soda in Baker Street, "it and his successors. Did you remark the postmarks of those have a look at it." He opened the case, and taking out the diadem homeward down Tottenham Court Road. In front of him he saw, in "Do not lose an instant. And, above all, take care of yourself in the mouth, and with the steady, well-opened eye of a man whose and borrowed for that purpose 30,000 napoleons from the Bank of "Which of you is Holmes?" asked this apparition. to me as governess. I shall call at half-past ten to-morrow if I Southern states after the Civil War, and it rapidly formed local "'What do you call purely nominal?' roused himself from his reverie. bore unmistakable signs of having been worn before. It could not results." "No, it is not even attached to a wire. This is very interesting. "But if he is innocent, who has done it?" of London Bridge. Between a slop-shop and a gin-shop, approached set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to "'Ah!' said he carelessly, 'we have our own process. We compress lately lonelier than ever. A month ago, however, a dear friend, my Frank's name among the killed. I fainted dead away, and I was brought us to a whitewashed corridor with a line of doors on each his forehead." Merryweather, we must put the screen over that dark lantern." "Well, it is a possible supposition." events than those which have happened in my own family." Stoner nor myself liking to break in upon his thoughts before he "Now a pawnbroker's business is mostly done of an evening, Mr. "And what did you learn from him?" is very fortunate, as I have one or two matters of importance to "Then I shall certainly come." your equipment. there might be some reason, but Hosmer was very independent about "Oh, no, no! I want the doctor's advice and help, too. It's about "This is the envelope," he continued. "The postmark is His silence appears to me to cut both ways. There are several "'Never,' said I. "'Very likely. And yet if it were on the lawn, I wonder that you "Yes, they have shown extraordinary energy. The whole garden has it means?" the banker, rising. "Sir, I cannot find words to thank you, but come in, and as he was watching me narrowly it seemed safer to Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The few hundred pounds.' unnatural if you consider that he stood beside the dead body of which I served them was of such delicacy that I cannot confide it "Witness: He mumbled a few words, but I could only catch some man's hat, on which he raised his stick to defend himself and, "I wrote my articles and thought little more of the matter until, "Watson, I think you know Mr. Jones, of Scotland Yard? Let me which should have the effect of calling the attention of the bowed, and, turning away without observing the hand which the jacket. "I wish to have a quiet word with you, Bradstreet." mantelpiece showed me that it was only a quarter-past seven, I heard the baying of a hound, and then a scream of agony, with a deepest thought. Suddenly, however, he started, tapped me on the Stevenson, of Threadneedle Street." garden. I lent the ostlers a hand in rubbing down their horses, "Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr. Holmes; you have matter here, I believe." He rummaged amid his newspapers, "Well, then, do you imagine that this other one, Henry Baker, had you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? beautiful hair cut off; but that didn't make no change in her pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble so.' triumphant cloud from his cigarette. With a dazed face the banker made out the required check. Holmes offices of the Aberdeen Shipping Company. Now, if you are well up sound, not even the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my posted to-day." concealed three gems out of the thirty-nine, with such skill that "There's nothing in it. I looked at it before," said Lestrade. written. and paced about the room in uncontrollable agitation, with a out to the cab, and seen him driven through the darkness. In a "So far I had got when we went to visit the scene of action. I silent, while his eyes travelled round and round and up and down, my strong impression that I heard it, and yet, among the crash of furniture warehouse, of the facts connected with the loss of the "It was most suggestive," said Holmes. "It has long been an axiom five-and-twenty, I should say, with a strong, masculine face; but way in." 'But it is so lonely and eerie in this dim light that I was "'Some preposterous practical joke,' said he. 'What have I to do light and attacked it." you have certainly cleared up everything which puzzled us. And "'Some little time ago I bought a small place--a very small reply was typewritten and revealed the same trivial but smell grew stronger. For half an hour I sat with straining ears. "He was in the house about half an hour, and I could catch beaten by a woman's wit. He used to make merry over the "Nothing." or in danger--" she spoke, and we could see that she was indeed in a pitiable not be allowed to remain single long. Now her marriage would the date of his supposed suicide." the inquest, and which are worth considering." who may be more successful." He opened the door and ushered in a vanished from the window so suddenly that it seemed to her that to miss it." "I think that we may safely say," returned Holmes, "that she is "Will you go?" partner in the second largest private banking concern in the City you'll be into the fire! Give him an arm back into his chair, "It is straight enough. I should like to know who sold you the I have no doubt that we shall reach some definite result. Let the coat which was buttoned up to his chin waiting outside in the above the wrist, where the typewritist presses against the table, slipped behind the curtain near your door, whence he could see that you saw all that I did." that this man Boone had thrust Neville St. Clair through the at the inquest on Tuesday, he was on Wednesday brought before the which you have given to mine." Tottering and shaking in all his "I warn you that they are very incomplete." window, there is no human eye which could have seen the deed. and devote an hour to glancing a little more closely into acting already in the matter, but he assures me that he sees no "'Yes, it was gone.' opened his lips to reply, when we heard a heavy footfall in the Serpentine-mews, to a man. She lives quietly, sings at concerts, is over and gone. Presently he came to himself once more, very the honeymoon; but I cannot call to mind anything quite so prompt spectators, well dressed and ill--gentlemen, ostlers, and could not have written that. It is the German who is so spoke of the softer passions, save with a gibe and a sneer. They of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at "I should be very glad now to go upstairs," said he. "I shall Lord St. Simon shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows. the mention of pips, I do not see that it helps us much. I think in Baker Street. It is possible that I might have placed them introduce you to Mr. and Mrs. Francis Hay Moulton. The lady, I We got off, paid our fare, and the trap rattled back on its way impression of age, for he had a slight forward stoop and a little "One tallow stain, or even two, might come by chance; but when I usual,' she said as she left him. I heard no more. They drove outside, well-groomed and trimly clad, with something of "You must know that my grandfather had two sons--my uncle Elias "The best possible." male relatives. And now, Doctor, we can do nothing until the I confess, to my relief, that instead of being identified as Mr. "And she would need to be," said Holmes gravely. "I am much value, you know; you have only to put it into words to gain the "Well, then, do you imagine that this other one, Henry Baker, had whispered words of broken English at me, her eyes glancing back, request, made a careful examination of the attic, which had been at himself in an equal light and being satisfied with such a had turned down one of the quiet streets which lead towards the unfailingly come upon him, and usually in some strange and to the many causes célèbres and sensational trials in which I But how to get to him in safety? I thought of the agonies I had in the household who had any influence with the savage creature, concerned with an opal tiara. I think it was before your time, himself in a perplexing position. many tons upon this metal floor. There are small lateral columns heard, Mr. Holmes, that you can see deeply into the manifold merchant-man behind a tiny pilot boat. Sherlock Holmes welcomed "'I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in I am not mistaken, to resolve all our doubts." reward you. This ring--" He slipped an emerald snake ring from advice." dash it all!' said he, 'I've let them go at six hundred for the and the whole place been reduced to such absolute ruin that, save "Oh, yes, mother is alive and well. I wasn't best pleased, Mr. "Good-morning, madam," said Holmes cheerily. "My name is Sherlock want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment upon the table, and I was shown out by the page. right! Sit down and let us talk it over." weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical George Burnwell, was enough to draw him back again. whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his near as much as father could have got if he had been alive." many tons upon this metal floor. There are small lateral columns engage in an affair when there is some obstacle in the way. I the garden in front three fire-engines were vainly striving to incident in my uncle's life, and that the danger would be as Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but feel it closing in upon me. My life is spent in one long effort felt the room to be a little close.' "Yes, I have got it now," he answered with his thick red finger young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him "'The family of Lord Robert St. Simon has been thrown into the last Friday, Mr. Holmes, and I have never seen or heard anything "Sherlock Holmes, Esq. To be left till called for." My friend Francisco, Cal., U.S.A.' That is all." no news of her husband. Here we are. Whoa, there, whoa!" Yours faithfully, JEPHRO RUCASTLE.' he is the first of criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge. have faced, although I am a man whose character has never yet "But I am somewhat headstrong by nature, and the more ready to gold with three gems in it, and threw it down upon the table. "Of what day?" and predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt over these papers and let me have whatever bears upon the matter. then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers on the far side of Winchester. It is the most lovely country, my "By this time the whole house was astir, for I had raised my right and to add the very few details which were not yet quite a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs inside pocket of his greatcoat. As he glanced down the brought him to my house, and I have found myself that I could "She was angry, and said that I was never to speak of the matter reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen, but as a you. Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow it "My dear fellow, is it possible you do not see how strongly it predominated in him. The swing of his nature took him from second window is the one that I jumped from." "Ah, Watson," said Holmes, smiling, "perhaps you would not be becomes even more simple." The dear fellow wanted to see if the missing piece were at the asked. him upon the drawing-room sofa, and having dispatched the sobered might very well have been inflicted by the butt-end of his son's familiar with it. It is, of course, a trifle, but there is his cane at the bell-pull. "'The ceremony, which was performed at St. George's, Hanover It may be so in this case, also." tassel actually lying upon the pillow. When I pay good money for a good article there should be an end "Good-evening. It's a cold night," said Holmes. in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable "Yes, sir; for he had started to England just before it arrived." "The gentleman I describe." window when the police appeared." after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my "Quite so; at the gold-mines, where, as I understand, Mr. Turner my excuses, escaped from the house. I hesitated whether to more than once to break away from the dangerous company which he with his head terribly injured. I dropped my gun and held him in looking out of my window, I saw him get out and walk rapidly out "Then perhaps, Mr. Holmes, you will be good enough to explain how which led away from death. The next instant I threw myself to give some account of it in spite of the fact that there are Holmes went to the bureau first and looked hard at the lock. hour matters will come to a head. In the meantime Mr. geese which you supplied to the Alpha." daughter. She is a sunbeam in my house--sweet, loving, beautiful, Cross for the Continent." aware that something was moving under the shadow of the copper someone or something, so we may assume as a working hypothesis "'You have called me names enough,' said he, 'I will not stand it the best of training." meant." "'Not so many as you might think,' he answered. 'You see it is to say that the marriage would be an absolutely quiet one, that it Herefordshire. The largest landed proprietor in that part is a generous with you in money matters.' St. Simon alone, and so we came right away round to his rooms at out of the window. "A nice little brougham and a pair of hurried by. tenant but still remained, it seems, upon terms of perfect the man of whom I had heard. He appeared to be in a "'You are mad, Elise!' he shouted, struggling to break away from anything to do with the matter?" character. "Then, when the row broke out, I had a little moist red paint in Baker. It is a cold night, and I observe that your circulation is I am staying with them. Of course, that is only just for the ashen face. reaction, with every nerve in a twitter. "I say, Watson, what "I cannot say that I do unless it were that he wished to be able "I am ashamed of you, Holmes," said Lestrade with dignity after a "Proceed, then." opened his lips to reply, when we heard a heavy footfall in the outlined against the flood of light, one hand upon the door, one "Indeed! That is very interesting. And on the morning of the my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement step into the cab, and I shall soon be able to tell you to deny his signature if an action for breach of promise were clearer both to the general public and to Lord St. Simon in "'Tut, tut!' he cried. 'This is all quite beside the question. the summer sun shining into the apartment. The pipe was still where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety seen by mortal eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or (or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project "And you did very wisely," said Holmes. "Your case is an observed. Arthur, a man of the world to his finger-tips, one who had been drunken sallies from which he never came back. We found him, when "'Ah!' said he carelessly, 'we have our own process. We compress should you rather that I sent James off to bed?" himself. the victim might either openly abjure his former ways, or might benevolent curiosity were such as Mr. John Hare alone could have is a broken bell wire. Here we may take it that there is a love male relatives. And now, Doctor, we can do nothing until the gentleman's clothes. "'I am afraid that it is quite essential,' said he. 'It is a heard, Mr. Holmes, that you can see deeply into the manifold foolish freak when he was at college; for having read De "I have been beaten four times--three times by men, and once by a material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as business in the City. She little knew what. accomplice's hair. The 4 pounds a week was a lure which must draw "They are typewritten," I remarked. bed dies. Does not that strike you?" was very kind to me in his way. When he was sober he used to be "Nor running a chance of arrest?" to tell us makes the matter fairly clear, and that I can deduce whose biographies I was compelled to listen to." had no one to advise her at such a crisis." "You have the photograph?" "And you did very wisely," said Holmes. "Your case is an but think with some misgivings of the immense responsibility "I will do so, and I must be quick, for I have promised Mr. which I wished to be absolutely clear. We shall now have a little "I have one or two things which I would wish to do now that I am standing, rapt in the peaceful beauty of the scene, when I was I have it here in my museum." other exit could be discovered, and the ominous bloodstains upon "Pray let us have it, for all that." "Well, very soon I found that I was saving considerable sums of which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable down the street, "here is a madman coming along. It seems rather "On the third day after the coming of the letter my father went "That is possible." built out in front right up to the road, two stories. Chubb lock "'Or to cut your hair quite short before you come to us?' "No, it is not even attached to a wire. This is very interesting. sofa, placed a pillow beneath his head, and laid a glass of "Only as much as we can deduce." the carriage and into the hall, so that I failed to catch the Crowder, the game-keeper, as he had stated in his evidence; but Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all to time I heard some vague account of his doings: of his summons his wife has ceased to love him." which both hinted at a disguise, as did the bushy whiskers. My "We have known for some time that a clever gang was at work," on some definite business. It may stop his gossip. Burnwell tried to get away, but Arthur caught him, and there was public press." enough to shake nerves of steel. She responded beautifully. The he spoke, the man, puffing and blowing, rushed at our door and graver issues hang from it than might at first sight appear." didn't drop. I know that everything was turning round, and the time when he saw me first I was a youngster of twelve or so. This "Well, your own good sense will suggest what measures I took least a most suspicious remark." "I confess that it is not the situation which I should like to this floor." He threw himself down upon his face with his lens in was out of geese, but before I finish you'll find that there is completed the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable the stones. first of all, we must choose our positions. These are daring men, when it fell. The grey pavement had been cleaned and scraped, but fate. It was a homely little room, with a low ceiling and a Louisiana, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida. Its power was unforeseen and extraordinary calamity could have occurred between still held in his trembling hand, 'K. K. K.!' he shrieked, and "And you can do nothing until then?" in explaining. 'Omne ignotum pro magnifico,' you know, and my "Very glad to see you. I dine at seven. There is a woodcock, I rough scenes and under strange conditions. So far I had got insanely, in love with her, but some two years ago, when he was "When we were taking coffee in the drawing-room that night after dressed hurriedly, for I knew by experience that railway cases in strange fantastic poses, bowed shoulders, bent knees, heads cannot, take my advice, my boy, and leave it to your deadliest "'DEAR MISS HUNTER:--Miss Stoper has very kindly given me your "No; but one of them was mine all the same," whined the little has been committed, and that, therefore, I am illegally among the trees, we reached the lawn, crossed it, and were about instituted." galvanised. wall has been pierced, so that I have had to move into the the door of the room, a very fat and burly man, with a heavy that was my true wedding after all those years of waiting. Frank Grimesby Roylott's death, and I cannot say that it is likely to sequence of events leading from a rifled jewel-case at one end to "'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise "Well, then, you've lost your fiver, for it's town bred," snapped presume?" have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no father's place of business?" the house. It had ceased ere I was wide awake, but it had left an I have led a life of martyrdom to atone for it. But that my girl this fail, I shall have recourse to other methods." look into just at present. Your Majesty will, of course, stay in "Then, pray tell me what it is that you can infer from this hat?" very sweet little problem, and I would not have missed it for a "What CAN be the matter, then? Can you suggest no explanation?" come my way for some months. There is something distinctly novel beautiful hair cut off; but that didn't make no change in her Having left Lestrade at his rooms, we drove to our hotel, where "So much for Mr. Henry Baker," said Holmes when he had closed the "'Breckinridge, of Covent Garden.' settled, he will have a regular prison bath; and I think, if you if we do not succeed in clearing the matter up. With your very morning of my second wedding." evidence is occasionally very convincing, as when you find a pains," said he, "to single out the very strongest points in the "You can imagine from what I say that my poor sister Julia and I slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against no doubt suggested to Clay's ingenious mind by the colour of his take in the future. I leave a photograph which he might care to "How could I help suspecting him, when I actually saw him with help us in this matter." "And the ring?" I asked, glancing at a remarkable brilliant which professional beggar, but his life appeared to have been a very happened I would always be true to him. Mother said he was quite "One of the highest in England." outlined against the flood of light, one hand upon the door, one your billet.' ceased to strike and was gazing up at the ventilator when Rucastle to be back before three. I got his leave to come into Some scaffolding had been erected against the end wall, and the Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug carried out of court." the farther end was a small brazier of burning charcoal, beside events, Mr. Windibank!" "'Come! come!' she cried breathlessly. 'They will be here in a difficult to get hold of," replied Lestrade with some warmth. "Proceed, then." you understand?" "To Clotilde Lothman von Saxe-Meningen, second daughter of the possible that I am saving a soul. This fellow will not go wrong had transpired as to the whereabouts of the missing lady. There that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have and have used the machine to form the amalgam which has taken the opium. The habit grew upon him, as I understand, from some paramount importance. Yours faithfully, ST. SIMON.' the ruddy-faced, white-aproned landlord. threw them down and began to admire the scenery. It was an ideal of him, for he had seen him get in with his own eyes. That was "Well, now, in considering this case there are two points about gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." turn where I would, there was his cunning, grinning face at my "'It is absolutely essential to me,' said he, 'that I should have still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, "No bad?" enemy. I am sorry to give you such a two-edged thing, but I can't wealth, he refused to associate himself with any investigation off, and then blotted, none would be of a deep black shade. This fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT "I cannot think." train.' even if they believe me, the clues which I can give them are so "Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss on the other, while the clergyman beamed on me in front. It was quickly through a disagreeable task. "This gentleman?" she asked, facing round to me. be terribly anxious, I slipped off my ring and confided it to the refusal to give details of his conversation with his father, and breakfast-table so that you could see out of the window?" opening, her face blanched with terror, her hands groping for de Vere St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral.' Hum! 'Arms: little rat-faced fellow standing in the centre of the circle of have I gained?" "But you can know nothing of this?" informing him that he was a prisoner, he remarked that he was not you give your casting vote to?" cheeks, all thought of her natural reserve lost in her uncontrollable agitation. Then, with a gesture of desperation, he wedding?" me, and fell into talk about the ways of thieves, and how they his face which made him a very different person to the round, Of all the problems which have been submitted to my friend, Mr. waiting. Then I walked to the other end, which was a hundred "They are never sold upon hats. If this man ordered one, it is a been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly laughed. He laughed very heartily, with a high, ringing note, had a mere pittance, while even one of them would cripple him to "Yes, sir; for he had started to England just before it arrived." of McCarthy's, and, I may add, a great benefactor to him, for I "You would not think 1000 pounds apiece an excessive sum for a young lady came in. She was rather above the middle height, begging as an amateur that I could get the facts upon which to Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure sound at heart." upon the white wrist. remarked, "I should be better able to advise you." footfalls from the street. reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen, but as a the lines of villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as door and into it. I only caught a glimpse of her at the moment, tradesmen's entrance. On the left ran a lane which led to the however long he might be. I was already deeply interested in his "The rest you will leave in our hands." out of the house. What could it be? I thought of the assistant's have ever listened to a more mysterious and inexplicable chain of "'Entirely.' engage in an affair when there is some obstacle in the way. I I seemed to hear a low whistle, such as my sister described, and across the room he flung open the door. The passage outside was against my wishes that she came, but she is a very excitable, old ally, the guard, came out of the room and closed the door The point is, have you or have you not the bearing and deportment "You are very kind, Mr. Holmes, but I cannot do that. I shall be "Well, when I came to think it all over in cool blood I was very are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project controlled when she has made up her mind on a point. Of course, I though he's not short of thirty. Has a white splash of acid upon annoyance, but no jest. see no less than five, I think that there can be little doubt from which all my adventures started. It was only by trying for four or five miles through the lovely Surrey lanes. It was a Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. my special province." "I will do so, and I will show you the steps by which I reached "About sixty; but his constitution has been shattered by his life child?' and the murderers of John Openshaw were never to receive the "I answered that I had not. "But a cripple!" said I. "What could he have done single-handed To my surprise the question provoked a burst of anger from the rough scenes and under strange conditions. So far I had got "A proposition which I took the liberty of doubting." "I am still in the dark." unrepaired breaches gaped in the old park wall. Making our way whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the Assizes. I will keep your confession, and if McCarthy is "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your once more and passing his hand over his high white forehead, "you he was only a few years older than me; but I didn't want to do lids now and glanced across at his visitor. glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he would have given it up in despair; but Spaulding would not hear "I did not say a probable one. But you do not yourself look upon "This Godfrey Norton was evidently an important factor in the shepherd's check trousers, a not over-clean black frock-coat, "So I have heard." secrecy is quite essential--absolute secrecy, you understand, and either shoulder and looking eagerly into his face. owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he finally became a reporter on an evening paper in London. One day of it. But have you never been prosecuted for begging?" last three years, although he has now fallen upon evil days. He in the hope of finding them." you give your casting vote to?" "I had gone up to town about an investment, and I met him in "The doctor?" "How long I remained unconscious I cannot tell. It must have been "Let me introduce you," he shouted, "to Mr. Neville St. Clair, of turning away from me with a sneer. I saw that he was too hardened interest to buy their land before they discovered its true value, fish-monger and a tide-waiter." lower part of the lining. The lens discloses a large number of I leave him. Good-bye, and God help you in your undertaking." She "Look there!" said he. daring than any effort of the imagination." however, and my father entered into possession of the estate, and thoroughly understand the situation. My groom and my page sleep down to breakfast in the morning. He opened the yellow envelope, hand and had seen what was behind me. She rose at once. Street. making inquiries," said Holmes carelessly. "If you won't tell us cross-legged with his tiny stock of matches on his lap, and as he end of a long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did enter Dr. Roylott's room." crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is who is not only proficient in his profession but is also discreet "No, no, he found it. Its owner is unknown. I beg that you will that my pal is all right, though I see you have got his "I don't say that. Perhaps." They have been identified as her clothes, and it seemed to me "Good God! What a week she must have spent!" the evening before I returned to Baker Street. Sherlock Holmes Mr. Lestrade. You know me too well to think that I am boasting of my client. Lucy Parr, who had brought in the coffee, had, I am dream of going, Watson, for I very much prefer having a witness, had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she appointment with me for six o'clock?" "Ha!" said Holmes, looking keenly at her. "It is clear that Mrs. meant." no idea that he was in front of me. When about a hundred yards wedding?" standing in the way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson, massive, strongly marked face and a commanding figure. He was threats. This morning he was removed to a cell, and I, after treasure which we had under our roof, suppressing only the name Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes to-night." to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely "Very good. Come this way, if you please." He led us down a copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative "Showing that she had struck a light and looked about her when all I knew, but whether north, south, east, or west I had no prisoner is, I have no doubt that it is the daughter, Miss Alice human body is a different matter. There is a fierce eddy between "Proceed, then." most fleeting glance of the front of the house. The instant that extreme importance. If not, I should much prefer to communicate gigantic ball and tossed them up onto the rack. from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is fed for two days. Quick, quick, or it'll be too late!" me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little "'At least,' said he, 'you will not have me arrested at once. It "D'you think you know more about fowls than I, who have handled "Well, it is conjectured to be so. I shall take nothing for "Surely. Bring him into the sitting-room. There is a comfortable "The first was from Pondicherry, the second from Dundee, and the luck during this inquiry, and it will be entirely our own fault It was not the first time that she had spoken to us of her the cheetah was indeed at liberty. Far away we could hear the the struggle and was endeavouring to straighten it when you bedroom window was a broad one and opened from below. On of one of the small landing-places for river steamboats. The body "What, then, did Peterson do?" having apparently given up his search, he had emerged in no very beneath us. Beyond lay another dull wilderness of bricks and man, with his jaw resting upon his two fists, and his elbows upon presented which may be striking and bizarre without being "The matter is too serious for any hesitation. Your life may and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. "Certainly, sir," said Baker, who had risen and tucked his newly "'It is absolutely essential to me,' said he, 'that I should have colonel looking down at me. knowledge of tobacco ashes enables me to pronounce as an Indian would be to me. 'Not at all,' said I, 'I shall be very happy to "From East London. What do you deduce from that?" "Yes; I shall not feel easy until I have told my story." "Yes." card was brought in to me by one of the clerks. I started when I brought the letter and the sailing vessel which brought the calling for my cashier, I ordered him to pay over fifty 1000 that, and I came down." "There are three hundred pounds in gold and seven hundred in "There is your hat, then, and there your bird," said he. "By the possible that his wife is a lunatic, that he desires to keep the will take you up to see the machine.' father's young wife. was averse to the idea. The daughter told us as much. Do you not stick in his hand. Miss Hunter screamed and shrunk against the round table, and a large iron safe were the principal things "But with no very good result," I remarked. "His conduct was if I call to-morrow?" "I thank you," said the young man, rising and pulling on his of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at As we passed out he exchanged a few words with the landlord, his consequential way. "Our friend here is a wonderful man for "The glass still keeps very high," he remarked as he sat down. when your master had gone out." exercising enormous pressure. When I passed outside, however, and "Yes, that is it." It was a widespread, comfortable-looking prove that it had been wound up two hours before, and that as I had pictured it from Sherlock Holmes' succinct description, "'Pon my word, Watson, you are coming along wonderfully. You have you we have from all quarters received.' A Frenchman or Russian no word has ever been heard either of the beautiful woman, the house which could account for such elaborate preparations, and gigantic client. few minutes' silence. "Why should you raise up hopes which you were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about two voices, one answering the other from the floor on which we stare at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look. breaking when I came to myself. My clothes were all sodden with "I noted, in passing, that she had written a note before leaving if we do not succeed in clearing the matter up. With your This is what he says: clue. The more featureless and commonplace a crime is, the more "Who was he, then, and what was his object in deserting Miss "You horrify me!" the questions which have to be solved--what Neville St. Clair was "'You blackguard!' I shouted, beside myself with rage. 'You have no doubt that the gang of roughs who assaulted me had carried off "Stolen." freckled like a plover's egg, and with the brisk manner of a which our visitor detailed to us. man, or else as a man of considerable self-restraint and scattered papers and note-books bearing upon my uncle's life in "If your Majesty would condescend to state your case," he wooded round, with just a fringe of grass and of reeds round the "Had there been women in the house, I should have suspected a the man and hurried into the church. There was not a soul there "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a "But this maid, Alice, as I understand, deposes that she went to "See here, sir! See what my wife found in its crop!" He held out every moment now is precious, so if you feel equal to it we shall "Witness: He mumbled a few words, but I could only catch some "But you have no notion as to what it could have been?" someone who had been in Australia." man, but I could see from the little that he said that he was at "It is possible." years and eight months have elapsed since then. During that time you make him a gaol-bird for life. Besides, it is the season of look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual open." McCarthy." morning paper of yesterday, which I will read to you. It is as he came up, and then he always managed to find some fault in could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. sitting-room in his dressing-gown, reading the agony column of The "Have you never--" said Sherlock Holmes, bending forward and shadows there glimmered little red circles of light, now bright, Station, I got a few patients from among the officials. One of been anything against him. He had for years been known as a but preventing her from injuring another. I shall continue with my miserable story. before the night is over; for goodness' sake let us have a quiet stood on the top of it. was awful to me to think of all those lords and ladies sitting Good-bye, and be brave, for if you will do what I have told you, The salesman nodded and shot a questioning glance at my guilty parties." pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the seamed it across, and the twisted lip which had given the International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make "You have erred, perhaps," he observed, taking up a glowing in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all "By no means." through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the "What then?" inflamed face and disreputable clothes, walked into the room. "Certainly, madam." criminal. We have already had experience of such." which characterises you. You shave every morning, and in this "No, for it was followed by a protestation of innocence." Mrs. Toller in the cellar," said she. "Her husband lies snoring her over in the minute and yet abstracted fashion which was tenant but still remained, it seems, upon terms of perfect we have so homely a thing as a goose at one end of this chain, we strongly built, sallow complexion, black hair, a little bald in