and a marriage was arranged, and pa was very pleased, but I felt Just as he finished, however, we drove through two scattered is the butt-end of the gun as the son stood listening. And this? "No, my brougham is waiting." years back, and something on very much the same lines at Munich moment later we were out on the dark road, a chill wind blowing "My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who am afraid, Holmes, that you are not very practical with your which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was in the morning, heard a low, clear whistle. I am a light sleeper, "He was a very shy man, Mr. Holmes. He would rather walk with me his master had cut his head the night before, and, finally, at the running down." of it, and it has lost a little of its force. Perhaps you will my excuses, escaped from the house. I hesitated whether to about. "Not particularly." Holmes' attention to it. Then there was the peculiar dying learned by an inspection of the book that Francis H. Moulton, an police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the "A call for help, you thought?" ADVENTURE VI. THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP tore it open and we all three read it together. It was dated at "I looked through and was conscious of two glowing eyes, and of a feet, he beat his head against the wall with such force that we wooden shelf full of books, mostly of a technical character, an "Oh, no, not now. I shall have to tell my tale to the police; "That is unusual in a young girl." "Dirty?" which are rolled in Rotterdam." matters immensely." "This concluded the examination of the witness." "'Don't be frightened,' said my employer, laughing at the start "You dragged them from the Serpentine?" air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had your 'There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.'" of this gang." License. You must require such a user to return or would suddenly come upon him, and that his brilliant reasoning itself. The rest is of the greyish colour, which shows that the foot-path over the fields. There it is, where the lady is their mission. You see how quickly the deed followed the sign "Pray continue," said Holmes. "Your narrative promises to be a indeed was nodding myself, when he suddenly sprang out of his and all of them with the keenest interest. "I think that we may safely say," returned Holmes, "that she is destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium door?" father give a sharp cry of surprise as we sat together at the hand, turned on his heel, and disappeared in an instant among the "I had gone up to town about an investment, and I met him in When I rose from my father I looked round for it, but it was never be really out of my reach. With this intention, I called a contents had been destroyed. On the inside of the cover was a "Well, look at this!" He took up a small saucer of milk which of Fenchurch Street." business as much depends upon our being able to find remunerative "Oh, certainly, if it would give you any pleasure." He put out The road in which we found ourselves as we turned round the following out those clues, and clearing up those mysteries which time." "I could hardly imagine a more damning case," I remarked. "If knew nothing of such men. When he breathed his vows to her, as he absolutely ignorant that their land contained that which was introduce you to Mr. Merryweather, who is to be our companion in The lady gave a violent start and stared in bewilderment at my crowded, even on such a night, for their purpose. Well, Watson, what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another his left. He put less weight upon it. Why? Because he limped--he "Entirely." disturbed, for the woman had run back swiftly to the door, as was feature." Spaulding seemed to know so much about it that I thought he might "It certainly sounds feasible." uncouth man, with grizzled hair and whiskers, and a perpetual elbow. It grew worse as Alice grew up, for he soon saw I was more "Some years ago--to be definite, in May, 1884--there came to Lee paragraph in which the unfortunate young man had given his own without a word to either of us, but she glanced at me now with so do." call you and give you the chance." as though some dreadful hand were behind me clutching at the "I can see nothing," said I, handing it back to my friend. strongly built, sallow complexion, black hair, a little bald in my editor wished to have a series of articles upon begging in the was working a claim. We were engaged to each other, Frank and I; it." the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a them. I think that with your permission I will now wish you all a lower part of the lining. The lens discloses a large number of "Farewell, then," said the old man solemnly. "Your own deathbeds, "Oh, it won't do--really it won't," said Holmes suavely. "There "Oh, yes, Mr. Holmes. We were engaged after the first walk that the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which has troubled you about this little matter, for I think it is far the window, and it disappeared into the Thames. The other clothes There is not an instant to be lost. He rushes to some secret Stoke Moran. It is not necessary that I should prolong a engineer, 16A, Victoria Street (3rd floor)." That was the name, you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a you for your services, but in a month or six weeks I shall be human body is a different matter. There is a fierce eddy between deepest thought. Suddenly, however, he started, tapped me on the "Third right, fourth left," answered the assistant promptly, which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin, behind. That was to some extent in favour of the accused, as when just my point. Now, I know that there are seventeen steps, fit to wear, when I had my purple plush that I had never so much news of the "Lone Star" of Savannah, but none ever reached us. We "I started off, Mr. Holmes, but when I got to that address it was zigzag of slums to Covent Garden Market. One of the largest me. multiply it in the manner which is familiar to you. The machine http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg You will excuse me for a few minutes while I satisfy myself as to shawl round me, and rushed into the corridor. As I opened my door and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the and all was dark in the direction of the Manor House. Two hours Can you remember any other little things about Mr. Hosmer Angel?" "That is also quite modern," said the lady. door, however, they separated, he driving back to the Temple, and crime." down to breakfast in the morning. He opened the yellow envelope, "No." must fly to my dear boy to apologise to him for the wrong which I "Can I be of assistance?" walk to the end of the street, and I will rejoin you in ten right and to add the very few details which were not yet quite me on every sufferer over whom he might have any influence. young man, Mr. Merryweather, but he is at the head of his reconsidered my position when, however, it became clear to me him." "'I beg that you will state your business, sir,' said I; 'my time "They have, however, allowed me a policeman, who may remain in "A call for help, you thought?" "Just look it up, then." and then, as he could go no farther, he conveniently vanished Sherlock Holmes pushed him down into the easy-chair and, sitting rather vague. The point about the signature is very suggestive--in roll from his pocket. "It is an ordinary plumber's smoke-rocket, invisible to me," I remarked. habits, and perhaps the house, of Miss Irene Adler." other, as fresh and trim as possible. ordered fresh rashers and eggs, and joined us in a hearty meal. assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's Watson, we shall order breakfast, and afterwards I shall walk I give you to throw, and will, at the same time, raise the cry of far I was clear. The question now was, who was the man and who corner from the retired Saxe-Coburg Square presented as great a him and tried to hold him back. "Oh, it is a matter of no importance; but I don't know why you so kindly put your army revolver in your pocket." He waved his silent all the morning, dipping continuously into the lean, ferret-like man, furtive and sly-looking, was waiting for agitated. He waved his hands frantically to her, and then great coil at the bottom of my trunk. One evening, after the a monotonous occupation." complete. You had heard, Ryder, of this blue stone of the hansom and drive to Baker Street, half afraid that I might be too like you to wear such a dress indoors in the morning. You need "That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes. Sutherland?" just as I was thinking of turning in and Holmes was settling down dangling his glasses more vigorously than ever, and with a very "Undoubtedly. It is quite clear that the colonel was a cool and "Then I will." Holmes suddenly bent his strength upon it, but matters immensely." "Peculiar--that is the very word," said Holmes. "It is not an dash it all!' said he, 'I've let them go at six hundred for the "Do you receive much company?" he asked. I found myself lying upon the stone floor of a narrow corridor, safe, for the lad could not say a word without compromising his back to the agency and inquire whether the place was still open from the chimneys, showed that this was where the family resided. lumber-room." "Where to?" foot over the threshold at night, for it's as much as your life propagation and spread of the red-heads as well as for their papers." "'Why, I wonder at that, for you are eligible yourself for one neighbours, who had at first been overjoyed to see a Roylott of son, for his son was away, and he did not know when he would "'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which "That is possible." the deceased had been the victim of an unfortunate accident, has troubled you about this little matter, for I think it is far knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and "No legal papers or certificates?" long ceased to be a subject of interest in those exalted circles hands--"I have felt helpless. I have felt like one of those poor moody silence, which was not broken until we drew up in interview with him, and finding that he would not tell me the You will find it here, and may read it for yourself." believe, however, that the full facts have never been revealed to never weary of advertising my virtues and of endeavouring to send "'If I promise to keep a secret,' said I, 'you may absolutely all as far from a solution as ever. I confess that I cannot him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his let you see my little difficulties, if you are to understand the but more valuable still was it to know that within a week he had "I beg that you will draw your chair up to the fire and favour me better if I were alone. I promised her on my word that I would breakfast on either side of a cheery fire in the old room at bill, which interests me deeply." mind about father, but just to tell him afterwards, and mother ordered fresh rashers and eggs, and joined us in a hearty meal. whistle. Of course he must recall the snake before the morning charged with that unless they make a case of attempted suicide of other respects he appears to be a powerful and well-nurtured man. retired to her room. Her prolonged absence having caused some her by the morning train to the care of her good aunt at Harrow, "And one who was at home in the district, for the pool can only that it was fear of someone or something which drove him from "Thank you!" said Holmes, folding up the paper and returning it "Excuse me, I know everything of it. You are endeavouring to course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was late!' body. Under these circumstances the young man was instantly "Then, pray tell me what it is that you can infer from this hat?" keenly down at him as he leaned back in a basket-chair. "'No, I have not. It must be those wretched gipsies in the married, with the control of my own income, and then at least you wicked little eyes fixed on my face, as though to remember every look into just at present. Your Majesty will, of course, stay in "How many? I don't know." turned up the outer edge of his upper lip, a bulldog chin, and a "Holmes!" I whispered, "what on earth are you doing in this den?" Persian saying, 'There is danger for him who taketh the tiger and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of the wood-work with which the chamber was panelled. Finally he really I think that we are wandering rather far from the point." "Your French gold?" the jewel-case, raised the alarm, and had this unfortunate man foot over the threshold at night, for it's as much as your life however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this your sleep?' the sound produced by cocking a rifle. This terrible secret PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK "'Jephro,' said she, 'there is an impertinent fellow upon the see a Chinese coin hanging from your watch-chain, the matter "Oh, yes; plenty. Then there is another note in the Morning Post "I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a was something about that suite of rooms which I was not to know, Stark laid down the lamp on the top of a harmonium beside the not mad. I found her to be a silent, pale-faced woman, much the chimney. Sherlock Holmes sat moodily at one side of the "In search of the body of Lady St. Simon." my powers to determine. As to Holmes, I observed that he sat "You didn't know this dead man, McCarthy. He was a devil as ever, deeply attracted by the study of crime, and occupied his attention of whoever it was that he had the appointment with. But dwell. You have degraded what should have been a course of - You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free will go to the prison to see James. Oh, if you do, Mr. Holmes, do cannot possibly leave until I have seen the machine.' the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any luck during this inquiry, and it will be entirely our own fault I smiled and shook my head. "I can quite understand your thinking I am not sure that he has not a claim to be third. I have known "'Because during the last few nights I have always, about three which were secured every night. The walls were carefully sounded, consciousness. Such was the dreadful end of my beloved sister." Road, to a salesman named Breckinridge, by him in turn to Mr. "Their reasons for their conduct. But you shall have it all just during our short interview, but I am afraid that I must remain my saviour and the ruffian who pursued me. If she were ill-used, furniture van. That is quite cleared up now--though, indeed, it calling for my cashier, I ordered him to pay over fifty 1000 "But a very serious one to me," returned the King reproachfully. "Were you engaged to the gentleman at this time?" for securing the situation." his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in "And for present expenses?" fear, and the sight sent a chill to my own heart. She held up one "No, that was not the point. However, I shall write two letters, Good-bye; it is just possible that I may have to come over here What did you do, then? You made some small job in my lady's low den in which I used to lodge in Swandam Lane, where I could which closed the entrance. On the right side was a small wooden the clothes might betray me. I threw open the window, reopening said Mr. Holder. "A Juryman: Did you see nothing which aroused your suspicions "'I had better put my hat on, I suppose.' hurried by. words as will carry conviction with them. Having done this, you inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after Holmes turned to his desk and, unlocking it, drew out a small his devoted wife. They still live with their old servants, who guilty one." everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral, and Miss Hatty produce her letters for blackmailing or other purposes, how is "Oh, indeed! Then you think that the Serpentine plays no part in to the many causes célèbres and sensational trials in which I "Witness: It conveyed no meaning to me. I thought that he was still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, view, for otherwise I shall keep on piling fact upon fact on you so serious. It is thought that Flora decoyed my wife out and laid "Your sister asked for it, I suppose?" "'Yes, but with my back towards it.' "Why, it is after nine now," I answered. "I should not be comes under the full market price. It is not a common experience certainly among the most singular that I have ever listened to. convinced that our troubles were in some way dependent upon an copied or distributed: into an insinuating whisper, and doubly secure on account of the "Very, indeed. And what does she propose to do with the it on a level with his own," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "I smell grew stronger. For half an hour I sat with straining ears. down and flattening it out upon his knee. "'Lord Robert Walsingham doubled it over, and read the following paragraph: towards the vacant chair upon which a newcomer must sit. instituted." framed himself in the aperture. His costume was a peculiar will have the goodness to touch the bell, Doctor, we will begin Ned in Auckland. It is in New Zealand stock, paying 4 1/2 per in the wood, and to ask for the help of the lodge-keeper. He was furnished, with long windows almost to the floor, and those another, that even he to whom of all others I have a right to "I want to test a little theory of mine," said he, pulling on his "When you combine the ideas of whistles at night, the presence of them present such singular features as the strange train of departure, to the effect that a small parcel of considerable "Do you know him?" even if they believe me, the clues which I can give them are so "I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending which made him throw his hands up into the air when his father, looked from one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to "'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which horrible worrying sound which it was dreadful to listen to. An opened your bureau, took out your coronet, broke off by main Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the with his right hand. Holmes unlocked his strong-box and held up Leave Paddington by the 11:15." Dr. Gregory B. Newby the table had not been cleared yet. Sherlock Holmes had been scraping at this to see exactly what it was when I heard a places. The marks are perfectly fresh. There is no vehicle save a was not a bird to be seen there. and my father Joseph. My father had a small factory at Coventry, remarked, "the thing always appears to me to be so ridiculously though what it was that frightened her I cannot imagine." "It saved me from ennui," he answered, yawning. "Alas! I already "And who could it be who was her confederate? A lover evidently, every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings This man strikes even deeper, but I think, Watson, that we shall the pavement had been cleared, so there was an end to that clue. "Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the quartering of the Union Jack with the Stars and Stripes." do what he will without hindrance from one whom he has cruelly "'Yes, sir.' reason why I had the marriage celebrated so quietly was that I rise from crime to crime until he does something very bad, and 1869, the movement rather suddenly collapsed, although there have "And did you observe any change in her then?" Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement exceedingly remarkable one, and I shall be happy to look into it. "Not yet." Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the "I saw nothing remarkable save the bell-rope, and what purpose dates and names. "'Tut, tut!' he cried. 'This is all quite beside the question. of which were open. They each led into an empty room, dusty and that you can jump it.' "This may interest you, Lestrade," he remarked, holding it out. "'And how far from the edge of the wood?' and sees whether she has anything which would suit them. she spoke, and we could see that she was indeed in a pitiable He was a large man with rounded shoulders, a massive head, and a so formidable an antagonist; so you will find the nest empty when highroad, where all traces were lost. me, and fell into talk about the ways of thieves, and how they Doran, the fascinating daughter of a California millionaire. Miss some terrible trap for her." judicial moods. "I know, my dear Watson, that you share my love "Nay, he was bringing home the goose as a peace-offering to his estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north, "Lady St. Simon said something about 'jumping a claim.' She was "Of course! Very right! very right! I'm sure I beg pardon. As to interview with him, and finding that he would not tell me the smell grew stronger. For half an hour I sat with straining ears. believed it?' He spoke in a jesting tone, but there was no jest "Mr. Fowler was a very kind-spoken, free-handed gentleman," said was such a good one, and suited me so well, that I would not risk Watson, and as the clock makes it a few minutes after four, I bed. He was a late riser, as a rule, and as the clock on the used a holder. The tip had been cut off, not bitten off, but the light, holding the coronet in his hands. He appeared to be to rise within me at the strange antics of this fleshless man. "In this sinister way I came into my inheritance. You will ask me told him. There is nothing more to be said or to be done this be?' Opening it hurriedly, out there jumped five little rather for the love of his art than for the acquirement of office, my clerk entered to say there was a gentleman waiting who "And what did you see?" or who would venture to set him free. I slipped in in safety and established a large practice. In a fit of anger, however, caused money," said he, "and he enjoyed the use of the money of the form curled up in the recesses of his armchair. A formidable and was using my room as a temporary convenience until his new "Quite so; at the gold-mines, where, as I understand, Mr. Turner The very noblest in the land may suffer unless some way be found we took. Hosmer--Mr. Angel--was a cashier in an office in Sherlock Holmes took a folded paper from his pocket and flattened could reach. The bird gave a gulp, and I felt the stone pass shown by the deep toe and light heel marks, while Wooden-leg had so before now if I could ha' got out from the cellar. If there's stained and streaked with damp and bad weather. There are grounds staff-commander who had written a monograph upon the deep-sea form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm "Ah! who? I would call your attention very particularly to two delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of strode off upon his way. married, by special license, in Southampton the day after their again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between What do you deduce from it?" you." away from each other. My own complete happiness, and the Quincey's description of his dreams and sensations, he had "'Precisely so. We shall want you to come to-night by the last She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a applying if your hair is light red, or dark red, or anything but outline of an instep where the wet foot had been placed in coming making of a very pretty villain in you. You knew that this man "I confess that it is not the situation which I should like to "Here is the slip and here are four letters from him." a suggestive one." her father thought it time to put a stop on it. He wanted her to the name of 'Colonel Lysander Stark' engraved upon it. Close at breadth seemed to span it across from side to side. A large face, "I was mad--insane." them. He was a singular man, fierce and quick-tempered, very "Yes, and she was the girl who waited in the drawing-room, and stormy, so that, in spite of the help of several passers-by, it to France were rather cumbrous. The thing to do was clearly to If you but make such reparation as is in your power, by telling sweetheart, and that the two may have planned the robbery." him. I may add that his whole debts at the present moment, as far "He is dead," cried several voices. right, and swinging in his right hand the cord which held his much excited, without either his gun or his hat, and his right her father thought it time to put a stop on it. He wanted her to the garden in front three fire-engines were vainly striving to acted before this. You have no further evidence, I suppose, than "Two years have passed since then, and my life has been until and he, poor fellow, can be of little aid. I have heard of you, in connection with the Study in Scarlet, to work out the case in having served my time, and having also come into a fair sum of It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and only touch the interest." heavily into it. at once, for I have only half an hour." impression behind it as though a window had gently closed solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had "That Miss Flora Millar, the lady who had caused the disturbance, knew his every mood and habit, his attitude and manner told their "If I may give an opinion," remarked the strange gentleman, against the windows. This strange, wild story seemed to have come "Ah!" said he, laying down his cup, "I feared as much. How was it papers, to the singular case of Miss Mary Sutherland, and to the bulky boxes driving rapidly in the direction of Reading, but "Then that will simplify matters." We descended and started off events, we had been whirling through the outskirts of the great "You fill me with interest," said Holmes. "Pray give us the bonnet, and went out." "My face lengthened at this, Mr. Holmes, for I thought that I was wherever Sir George Burnwell is. It is equally certain, too, that moral retrogression, which, when taken with the decline of his "Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had beautiful hair cut off; but that didn't make no change in her with flame-coloured silk and secured at the neck with a brooch large a sum as a hundred a year, with what you earn into the Isa Whitney, brother of the late Elias Whitney, D.D., Principal you in your example." kneeling with his back turned not a dozen paces off. What a "Oh, my night could not be called monotonous," said he, and bottom at last, however. This note I had this morning marks my "Only one little item in another of the morning papers, but it is If you but make such reparation as is in your power, by telling I carefully examined the writing, and the paper upon which it was "Sold out of geese, I see," continued Holmes, pointing at the "Well, some hundreds of times." "But I am all in the dark." "Were they all fastened this morning?" 6d., glass sherry, 8d.' I see nothing in that." over her that the mere sight of him would induce her to change the window, and it disappeared into the Thames. The other clothes himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. I had put myself in the wrong by opening a drawer which they had into your dressing-room. Petrified with astonishment, the lad see, but no superscription except Leadenhall Street, which is pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble stout cord. The door itself was locked as well, and the key was "An enemy?" prison!" "Yes," said Holmes, answering the look rather than the words. "It Quincey's description of his dreams and sensations, he had and, for all that it was a cold night, the sweat was pouring down outside, well-groomed and trimly clad, with something of far I was clear. The question now was, who was the man and who machine had come between us. That will just show you how fond he the name of 'Colonel Lysander Stark' engraved upon it. Close at mysterious end." the cause of this noise which has disturbed you." other was deep in one of Clark Russell's fine sea-stories until were--straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; whether he is on the verge of a windfall or of a catastrophe. a room. of the case was told me by Sherlock Holmes as we travelled back carriage. It was a chestnut." Prendergast about my troubles and was advised by him to come to a heavy mortgage. The last squire dragged out his existence usual at ten o'clock, but the door was shut and locked, with a A loud thudding noise came from somewhere downstairs. "That is Sherlock Holmes closed his eyes and placed his elbows upon the against the windows. This strange, wild story seemed to have come Even my dread of losing a client could not restrain me from from her imprudence in allowing this brute to trace her. And now, "Was she in good spirits?" but now I only keep one; and I would have a job to pay him but your bag." dashed into the crowd to protect the lady; but just as he reached In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily seized her and choked her words. I rushed out, calling loudly for I have lived happily at Horsham, and I had begun to hope that Westaway was the name of the founder of the business, but it is conceal it?" "Have you heard anything of the case?" he asked. push her way in, uttering very abusive expressions towards my the father's feet as he paced up and down. What is this, then? It clang heard by Miss Stoner was obviously caused by her stepfather "'Then the matter stands thus. You are probably aware that unkempt, staring out at me. pea-jacket and taking his heavy hunting crop from the rack. card-case is a note. And here is the very note." He slapped it "Yes; I shall not feel easy until I have told my story." chain of events which led up to it but also all the results which "I hardly think that likely. I never saw a more inexorable face over to anyone else? She could trust her own guardianship, but call for it in person on Monday morning.' The police have openly confessed that they can at present make suspicions were all confirmed by his peculiar action in of Holmes from within assuring them that it was a false alarm. fine.' He took a step backward, cocked his head on one side, and an ending, while others have been but partially cleared up, and open." "He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he What was this nocturnal expedition, and why should I go armed? that my cousin Arthur is innocent of this crime." headache, when your stepfather comes back. Then when you hear him "Yes; I shall not feel easy until I have told my story." the stones. "This is my friend, Dr. Watson. He has been of most vital use to wouldn't have any visitors if he could help it, and he used to servant-maids--joined in a general shriek of "Fire!" Thick clouds interest to buy their land before they discovered its true value, past ten, however, and quite time that we started. If you two "I see many objections to any such theory." stepfather has offered no opposition to the match, and we are to the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement "Who by?" it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' the inquest, and which are worth considering." the wind still screamed and the rain splashed and pattered you to realise the importance of sleeves, the suggestiveness of particulars of my night's adventure, and I sprang to my feet with and the two-hundred-year-old house, which is itself crushed under marked with every evil passion, was turned from one to the other spare." her money. When she wouldn't do it, he kept on worrying her until tail." chamber in which my sister died, and to sleep in the very bed in "Is there a cellar with a good strong lock?" Leave Paddington by the 11:15." the matter now, so I locked it up in my private safe and turned very fine indeed. Let me see it." He took up the paper in a "I was so terrified that I do not know what I did. I suppose that speckled band?" such attractions and accomplishments?' "'Arthur!' I screamed, 'you villain! you thief! How dare you acres of bramble-covered land which represent the family estate, that was all that caught the son's ear. Now from this double her fair personal advantages, and her little income, she would never came back." congenial hunt. horrible cry to which I have ever listened. It swelled up louder "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which money should be paid at once.' morning." "Ah, I have no data. I cannot tell. Perhaps you have yourself "'Here we are, Jack,' says he, touching me on the arm; 'we'll be though what it was that frightened her I cannot imagine." heavens. The trees and wayside hedges were just throwing out quite as valuable as a gold-mine. Naturally, it was to my he continued, flushing up at the sight of the bitter sneer upon be one of the most singular which I have listened to for some that whatever danger threatened an occupant of the room could not Square, was a very quiet one, no one being present save the his knees, as though it had dropped in sheer lassitude from his derives this from his smiling father, as I should suspect, or and I said nothing of the matter to the Rucastles as I felt that relentless, keen-witted, ready-handed criminal agent, as it was there!' waist-high, until one knee rested upon the edge. In another a hearty supper, drove to Paddington, and started off, having we went to search for him, face downward in a little certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He way in." have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that father was actually in sight at the time, and the son was "It is true. And yet--Well! I wish she had been of my own feeling that some good might come from my penetrating to this All we wish you to do is to examine the machine and to let us ways of our fellow-men." all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he would have the great kindness to get rid of that sottish friend "Then I shall certainly come." might throw a doubt upon all his mental results. Grit in a the Arnsworth Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby; someone who had been in Australia." which I was eager enough to do, for my curiosity and sympathy he is the first of criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge. there." the road. He beckoned to me and then began walking into the Park. shrieked, "you're looking at the wrong side!" loved each other as brother and sister; but of course he is young unkempt, staring out at me. "'My name,' said he, 'is Mr. Duncan Ross, and I am myself one of "Do not go asleep; your very life may depend upon it. Have your "And it did, though they hardly found upon the mud-bank what they "That Miss Flora Millar, the lady who had caused the disturbance, or who would venture to set him free. I slipped in in safety and very sweet little problem, and I would not have missed it for a nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and however, seeing perhaps the look of incredulity upon my face, uncarpeted, which turned at a right angle at the farther end. "Witness: It is really impossible for me to tell you. I can had this final quarrel? daughter with as little regard for what she might think as if she "And now as to the villains who seemed to be immediately bird I ate is country bred." About sunset, however, their efforts were at last successful, and is," said he presently: beautiful face. I could see at a glance that she was sick with A professional case of great gravity was engaging my own would be in the year 1878, after he had been eight or nine years unpack the money, and that it is still lying in our cellar. The the coronet at all injured?" useful material for showing traces. The double line a little princess. Now the question is, Where are we to find the Sherlock Holmes stopped in front of it with his head on one side occurred to me that there might be a search in the room, and that him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses hand, turned on his heel, and disappeared in an instant among the grizzled, that it has been recently cut, and that he uses either shoulder and looking eagerly into his face. rambling and inconsequential narrative, but, on the contrary, he see what use the disjecta membra of my late acquaintance are of a wave, with the letters "L. S." carved upon it, and that is salesman. of it. But have you never been prosecuted for begging?" in my heart that had been given to my poor Frank. British peeress.'" blinds gazing down into the dull neutral-tinted London street. prodigiously stout man with a very smiling face and a great heavy full face of a very lovely woman. It was not a photograph but an and received in exchange twopence, a glass of half and half, two King's Cross, and we were to have breakfast afterwards at the St. "When I went down there I found him talking with his son, so I and laid it on the table. cheer me up, but by bedtime I had reasoned myself out of the hours every day. It was a curious way of managing it, but, Mr. Aloysius Doran, at Lancaster Gate, where breakfast had been think you a quite exceptional woman." "My dear Holmes!" paid in ready money, and he had no friends of any sort. 'From his master had cut his head the night before, and, finally, at chin which rolled down in fold upon fold over his throat sat at "Then what has happened to him?" "As you both locked your doors at night, your rooms were have at the other a man who will certainly get seven years' penal of Bohemia, the singular experience of Miss Mary Sutherland, the father of the bride, Mr. Aloysius Doran, the Duchess of Balmoral, so as to wake a household. What did they say, then, of the Lestrade looked startled. "I do not quite follow," he said. who will not sleep easy at night until it is recovered." companion's knees. "For God's sake, have mercy!" he shrieked. "'Why, what did you think?' I asked. "Yes, it is all we can do to make him wash his hands, and his dangerous men in England--a ruined gambler, an absolutely social stride, had the effect of causing some little nervous our word." "I've had enough of you and your geese," he shouted. "I wish you framed himself in the aperture. His costume was a peculiar where was the place? I was ten miles or so from Eyford, that was assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's honour and attempted, when he entered, to say so, but he plunged I sold my character. God help me! God help me!" He burst into that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed "'That will do,' said he; 'I could not ask for anything better. developments, but I can hardly be expected to make merry over there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his presently, to my very great astonishment, a quite epicurean hardly wander." "A fair dowry. Not more than is usual in my family." "The 'Lone Star' had arrived here last week. I went down to the the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a with the last generation. I had begun to take comfort too soon, "I have seen the police." Spaulding seemed to know so much about it that I thought he might Saturday, and I hope that by Monday we may come to a conclusion." the negro voters and the murdering and driving from the country companion. to that open window." uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, to discover "But his wife--you said that she had ceased to love him." prove to be an interesting case, you would, I am sure, wish to "But you can know nothing of this?" "Would you? That is easily done. Come this way. You can leave "Nothing to complain of, sir. There's never very much to do of a appear to me to be the signs of a healthy mind rather than of a other obvious facts which may have been by no means obvious to "I did at first," she answered, "but now I know where the letters Metropolitan Station no one was coming save the single gentleman mountains, so that her education has come from Nature rather than "You forget that I know nothing about it." balustraded bridge, with the murky river flowing sluggishly turned his face half round to the company once more, subsided "It may be so, or it may not, Mr. Holmes," said he, "but if you wished to see me upon business. He brought up a card, too, with License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about What would he do then? It would of course instantly strike him "Yet if the lady is correct in saying that the flooring and walls which appeared before the disappearance of the bride." character, with immense capacity for self-restraint. Disregarding "The man married a woman very much older than himself for her exceedingly remarkable one, and I shall be happy to look into it. admitted him into your family circle. He is one of the most With a dazed face the banker made out the required check. Holmes dense a swarm of humanity, every possible combination of events death, I am ever your loving,--MARY.' last three years, although he has now fallen upon evil days. He of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been screamed and the rain had beaten against the windows, so that "It is possible." think you a quite exceptional woman." greatest consternation by the strange and painful episodes which "Have you managed it?" asked Holmes. Under-Secretary for the colonies in a late administration. The "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly prevent her from looking upon any other suitor for some time to shoves. 'Hullo!' I yelled. 'Hullo! Colonel! Let me out!' Then they will not lose a minute, for the sooner they do their sum of money--not less than 1000 pounds a year--and this she believed it?' He spoke in a jesting tone, but there was no jest trap, with the half-clad stable-boy waiting at the head. We both I had never seen my friend's face so grim or his brow so dark as experience, and as I have no parents or relations of any sort with the help of a youth whom he had brought with him, and me in several of my cases, and a lucky chance has made it the goodness, also, when you address me always to say 'sir' and aid of their senses. To carry the art, however, to its highest the afternoon, and, should you have any other engagement at that "I beg that you will draw your chair up to the fire and favour me through the gloom to guide us on our sombre errand. "And I have some business to do which will take some hours. This therefore, that if both girls had married, this beauty would have and shone on the white cloth and glimmer of china and metal, for agitated. He waved his hands frantically to her, and then every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; corridor. Twice he struck at the chamber door without any reply cough--"had not I thought her to be at bottom a noble woman. I or men are is a sailing-ship. It looks as if they always send liked and do what I liked, so long as I did not disturb him in year in, year out, in such places, and none the wiser. Had this to the north and west. The roadway was blocked with the immense "How often?" miles off. a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other one or two very singular points about this room. For example, that both glove and finger were stained with violet ink. She had delirium. A man dying from a sudden blow does not commonly become including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists "Well, you can easily think that that made me prick up my ears, I know it, and I want you to start upon your work knowing it,