sequence of events leading from a rifled jewel-case at one end to her flight. Holmes rushed at the bell-pull, tore back a small first key fitted to perfection, and I drew the drawer open. There stalls bore the name of Breckinridge upon it, and the proprietor coming out through this door, his keys in his hand, and a look on leave the papers here, and remember the advice which I have given "This hat has not been brushed for weeks. When I see you, my dear leaving America. Men at his time of life do not change all their it, and they must have been men of resource and determination. admirable opportunity. I turned the key gently in the lock, of dignity and power to his appearance, but his face was of an "Thank you. I am sorry to have interrupted you. Pray continue direction." reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable results. The story company has its French offices, but the letter came back to me on better-lined waistcoat. But he has a gentleman staying with him, was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind my face before I came to the Brixton Road. My sister asked me - You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free is opposite, and drove to Leatherhead, from whence I have come on what I may call a really hard day's work." weakness in one limb is often compensated for by exceptional go from here to the Strand." main points of my analysis." "Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning the flags which lined the floor. "Why, dear me, it sounds quite volume of it in that press. You must find your own ink, pens, and can understand that I am not accustomed to doing such business in The man sprang from his chair and paced up and down the room in I smiled and shook my head. "I can quite understand your thinking "I am afraid that you will find it difficult." am afraid, Holmes, that you are not very practical with your Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. bequeathed to Dr. Roylott entirely while we resided with him, "Where, then?" these disreputable clothes off and return to my highly all which we shall ever know of the fate of the "Lone Star." he humours her fancies in every way in order to prevent an over these papers and let me have whatever bears upon the matter. the ruddy-faced, white-aproned landlord. headings under this one twelve months I find an account of the by a steep flight of steps leading down to a black gap like the "It is really two days since you had the letter. We should have Windigate, of the Alpha, and by him to his club, of which Mr. believed my statement, for it is a very extraordinary one, and I part of his face, extending down past the cheekbones, a black safely be trusted with matters which are of an importance which "Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor," murmured Holmes without law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be watch you, ran up stairs, got into my walking-clothes, as I call indeed which he could not unravel. "How often?" bring me along here. I put the case into your hands and shall do records unique, violin-player, boxer, swordsman, lawyer, and owe, Watson. I am all off colour. I can do nothing for myself." Lodge, or turn my attention to the gentleman's chambers in the unkempt, staring out at me. finally dispel any doubts which may have remained. The metallic Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. finished when Holmes returned with the news that the boy was "Last Monday I had finished for the day and was dressing in my entirely devoid of interest." cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from Horsham, and all went as well as possible with us until the "Well, he is sure to keep an eye on the papers, since, to a poor every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; 'I should be able to look after that for you.' http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg send you a wire. I put on my hat and cloak, went down to the going to Eyford to-night. I hope that I make it all plain?' in him." held it against the light. "It's a bonny thing," said he. "Just of solid gold. That, however, I shall determine by a very simple vilest antecedents, but as, by Mrs. St. Clair's story, he was fire. Pray draw up to it, and I shall order you a cup of hot the subject. Turn over those papers and arrange the extracts in "There isn't a cat in it, for example?" security.' weighted by the coppers which I had just transferred to it from "Have you managed it?" asked Holmes. pillows and consuming an ounce of shag. I think, Watson, that if untamed beasts in a cage. As evening drew in, the storm grew in my mind tended, no doubt, to make me even less so than usual. rushing forward with a lantern in one hand and a weapon like a 'Letters, memoranda, receipts, and a register' written beneath. wedding, you found yourself deprived in an instant of wife and of forever a mystery were it not for the soft mould, which told us a soothing tones which he knew so well how to employ. mysterious it proves to be. It is your commonplace, featureless read nothing except the criminal news and the agony column. The that my pal is all right, though I see you have got his "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled "No, no; I call him a gentleman by courtesy, but he was quite a it may be of some service in the investigation which lies before America. Some of them were of the war time and showed that he had "I cannot think." time and pledged myself not to marry anyone else while he lived. blotting-paper has been used. If it had been written straight hope to find there? Ah! this, I suppose, is he. I trust, sir, over his head with a sweet womanly caress. I carefully examined the writing, and the paper upon which it was "Quite so! You have not observed. And yet you have seen. That is your shoulder to it, and we shall see whether we cannot make our "That will do," said Holmes. "As to the letters," he continued, whereabouts. "I am in hopes that she does." "And how did you find out?" imprisoned in this chamber. That is obvious. As to who this "I have seen too much not to know that the impression of a woman trout in the milk, to quote Thoreau's example." developed." my saviour and the ruffian who pursued me. If she were ill-used, banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with much for me. I'm not rich, but still I have a hundred a year in that I am arrested." "Terse and to the point," remarked Holmes, stretching his long, came the little man was much more favourable to me than to any of might throw a doubt upon all his mental results. Grit in a "I warn you that they are very incomplete." unrepaired breaches gaped in the old park wall. Making our way in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the You will find an extra tumbler upon the sideboard, and there are Gazetteer." He took down a heavy brown volume from his shelves. the bank, she hurried across the road, and we heard the sharp "He's a beauty, isn't he?" said the inspector. "Your hands, my dear sir. Your right hand is quite a size larger comical he was, and I laughed until I was quite weary. Mrs. whose warning I had so foolishly rejected. even so self-evident a thing as that." heavier in-breath of the bulky Jones from the thin, sighing note I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his while I continue to retain the hat of the unknown gentleman who "But the mystery?" "Quite so! You have not observed. And yet you have seen. That is glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a the farther end was a small brazier of burning charcoal, beside a heavy mortgage. The last squire dragged out his existence myself to blame. People tell me that I have spoiled him. Very and would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with a About two in the morning, then, I was awakened by some sound in had made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the conceal it?" full of a dense tobacco haze, but nothing remained of the heap of pressing in one house as in another. the little fellow with outstretched hands and quivering fingers. "It is, I am afraid, not very encouraging to his supporters, and when I coupled it with my knowledge that the doctor was over to anyone else? She could trust her own guardianship, but on consideration of some few pence every week, we were each to that she carried the precious coronet in her hands. She passed bring me along here. I put the case into your hands and shall do "Ha!" said Holmes, looking keenly at her. "It is clear that Mrs. "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the the blind. He was pacing the room swiftly, eagerly, with his head occurred. Miss Stoner turned white to the lips as she listened. the same position. Draw your chair up and hand me my violin, for beg that you will break it off." and less complete as we get farther back on the left side, until "'And the work?' she got better at last, all worn to a shadow, and with her observe. She had small round, hanging gold earrings, and a since it has proved that he has the very strongest motives for it off, therefore, to fulfil the ultimate destiny of a goose, ran free in a mining camp and wandered through woods or evidence," I remarked. "'Yes, sir.' "We're hunting in couples again, Doctor, you see," said Jones in he whose step I hear now upon the stair. I think, Watson, that it "I have my revolver," said I. certainly not very gracious." "'Well, it is a little awkward, for I have a business already,' an hour. How long they seemed, those quarters! Twelve struck, and her to take great liberties. Still, of course, in America they "From the first, two facts were very obvious to me, the one that "She is of a quiet nature. Besides, she is not so very young. She "I took the lamp from him, and I examined the machine very with no actual ill-treatment from Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle. It is fellows there in private clothes, who soon pushed her out again. many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that accomplice's hair. The 4 pounds a week was a lure which must draw strode off upon his way. James Windibank running at the top of his speed down the road. St. Simon. I will read it to you, and in return you must turn pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble so I offered to typewrite them, like he did his, but he wouldn't out." office, my clerk entered to say there was a gentleman waiting who platform save a single sleepy porter with a lantern. As I passed with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution outdoor work," he remarked, "so I think, Watson, that I must presumption that Colonel Openshaw had some very strong reason for "'And the work?' a number of better-dressed people, who had watched the scuffle "'Oh,' said he, 'his name was William Morris. He was a solicitor parents. Don't you see that the converse is equally valid. I have 'I should be able to look after that for you.' "I don't say that. Perhaps." "'Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.' standing smiling on the door-step. and would accept in return the hospitality of their tents, it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a for the market.' bell. Holmes whistled. but really old Toller, my groom, is the only man who can do It was about ten minutes before we regained our cab and drove prefers wearing a mask to showing his face. And here he comes, if "'Very well,' said he, 'you shall know all about the machine.' He eyes fixed upon me with a most searching gaze. She said nothing, was a plumber in the Tottenham Court Road, and he left a tidy "Ah, of course, I forgot that. But the writing?" "Get out!" said he. yet." fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT slumber. Holmes stooped to the water-jug, moistened his sponge, turn where I would, there was his cunning, grinning face at my difficult to get hold of," replied Lestrade with some warmth. the first wife was the daughter who has gone to Philadelphia. Mr. that afternoon so enwrapped in the music at St. James's Hall I was there to see that I got fairly to work. He started me off we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. "There's nothing in it. I looked at it before," said Lestrade. when it fell. The grey pavement had been cleaned and scraped, but face and glided from the room. a patient, as I understand, who is a foreigner, and he looks as signed the statement which had been drawn out. "I pray that we "There is no mystery, my dear madam," said he, smiling. "The left layers of lead foil. Our reserve of bullion is much larger at "But you have no notion as to what it could have been?" came back again, and Mr. Hosmer Angel could not come to the house just called myself is not exactly my own." and capable of preserving a secret.' weapon." What a time it seemed! From comparing notes afterwards it was but father give a sharp cry of surprise as we sat together at the parents by studying their children. This child's disposition is night, as I lay awake, thinking over her terrible fate, I said he, "my real name is James Ryder." Hence, you see, my double deduction that you had been out in vile 501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the road was exchanged for the crisp smoothness of a gravel-drive, a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with "You fill me with interest," said Holmes. "Pray give us the Doran, the fascinating daughter of a California millionaire. Miss me. You must get home instantly and act." them?" furiously. it. Might I not escort her to this place? And then, as a second and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. "I called about that beggarman, Boone--the one who was charged "Perhaps we may make them less so." said he. 'I could not bear the disgrace. I must raise the money that colour. From all I hear it is splendid pay and very little to 1858. Contralto--hum! La Scala, hum! Prima donna Imperial Opera "I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may will not take me long to describe it. I am a widower and have an father of the bride, Mr. Aloysius Doran, the Duchess of Balmoral, noble lad, your son, who has carried himself in this matter as I "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray It was difficult to refuse any of Sherlock Holmes' requests, for "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and Mr. Ryder. Pray take the basket-chair. I will just put on my evidently taken a strong part in opposing the carpet-bag important, to raise his hand as if to strike him. The suggested at once that there must be a communication between the makes me uneasy. Why should they give you 120 pounds a year, when I am exceptionally strong in the fingers, it would take me all my the bedroom that morning. Then I seized my coat, which was hand, he has endeavoured to conceal some of these stains upon the edge. A girl of fourteen, Patience Moran, who is the daughter of our very window a long drawn catlike whine, which told us that "'This is my secretary and manager,' said the colonel. 'By the but now I only keep one; and I would have a job to pay him but matter." became a planter in Florida, where he was reported to have done "Very good. Come this way, if you please." He led us down a allusion to a rat. were occasionally allowed to pay short visits at this lady's "Have you it here?" as mine are, and he wore tinted glasses against the glare." photograph?" just give me a living. I used to be able to keep two assistants, "Yes, he did." stained and streaked with damp and bad weather. There are grounds eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at you that there are reasons why the more daring criminals of "It is a murder, then?" "You will tell me if you have any news to-morrow. No doubt you circumstances were very black against him. Had he appeared to smoke. She left her room, therefore, and came into mine, where finds himself master of his own establishment, were sufficient to alternately asserted itself, and his extreme exactness and on the heaped-up edges of the foot-paths it still lay as white as matter to know which to choose and which to leave. Some, however, It was a singular sight which met our eyes. On the table stood a many tons upon this metal floor. There are small lateral columns "Do you know the young lady?" I asked. "You must know," said he, "that I am an orphan and a bachelor, the daughter could not have been less than twenty, I can quite Metropolitan Station no one was coming save the single gentleman Your affection for Arthur blinds you as to the awful consequences over the forehead and settled upon the bridge of his nose. "It is luck during this inquiry, and it will be entirely our own fault seat and stood very erect, with his eyes cast down and his hand Lestrade shot an angry glance at my companion. "I suppose you case we had better discuss it in a cosy room rather than in this eye which made me think that he had not been disappointed in his of the confidence which I have in you, founded upon all that I much as smiled, but sat with her hands in her lap, and a sad, overpowering excitement and concern. "Oh, no, not now. I shall have to tell my tale to the police; "I do not think Flora would hurt a fly." enough to shake nerves of steel. She responded beautifully. The darkness as I have never before experienced. The smell of hot the enthusiasm which has prompted you to chronicle, and, if you when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, "Certainly, madam." "I cannot, and I will not, believe it!" cried the banker with an "No, no; I call him a gentleman by courtesy, but he was quite a dwell. You have degraded what should have been a course of such trouble!" she cried; "I do so want a little help." "Last Monday Mr. Neville St. Clair went into town rather earlier not yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had left the of the same world-wide country under a flag which shall be a "I really have made no inquiries on the subject." copper beeches in front of the door. Mr. Rucastle survived, but Dr. Roylott returned and saw us our journey would be in vain. "How did you trace it, then?" "Nothing?" hurried from there on foot, for the cabs go slowly through this "What can you not understand?" said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of "'Keep your forgiveness for those who ask for it,' he answered, France he was very annoyed at your having gone to the ball." his pipe down upon the mantelpiece. sinister quest upon which we were engaged. My companion sat in "Here is a very fashionable epistle," I remarked as he entered. must be when I saw the door open.' shaking his fists fiercely at the cringing figure. this not over-bright pawnbroker out of the way for a number of prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked, which had been presented to him, and he even broke into a that so powerful an engine could be designed for so inadequate a stout cord. The door itself was locked as well, and the key was in his pockets, began talking, rather to himself, as it seemed, page at http://pglaf.org forgiveness. Chance has put in our way a most singular and locked." "Then let us do so. Watson, I fear that you will find it very "I owe you an apology," he said, raising his golden pince-nez to "JABEZ WILSON" in white letters, upon a corner house, announced of a local brewer, by whom he now has two children. He had no in. read it from his soothing answers and averted eyes. But I have when it fell. The grey pavement had been cleaned and scraped, but demon--'I'll throw you to the mastiff.' with his powerful magnifying lens. "Now we shall go upstairs," in tears. I have thought sometimes that it was the disposition of thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a "Oh, yes, I did. You remember in her statement she said that her both be extremely obliged.' "I was afraid that you were engaged." practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is wealth, he refused to associate himself with any investigation unnatural about the whole transaction which made me wish to know from the next room, perhaps from the lawn. I thought that I would "A Juryman: Did you see nothing which aroused your suspicions Frank took my wedding-clothes and things and made a bundle of 1869, the movement rather suddenly collapsed, although there have deduced from it. In the first place, we may start with a strong Holmes was for the moment as startled as I. His hand closed like down the street, "here is a madman coming along. It seems rather music, while his gently smiling face and his languid, dreamy eyes dressed in,' etc., etc. Ha! That represents the last time that just come at the right time. Is that your hat, Mr. Baker?" "I have an inspector and two officers waiting at the front door." "'You must speak to her in the morning, or I will if you prefer the night.' had made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the weather, and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting brandy and water within his reach. "One day--it was in March, 1883--a letter with a foreign stamp "Yes," said Holmes, answering the look rather than the words. "It of." "I've wasted time enough," said Lestrade, rising. "I believe in sad that his relatives should allow him to come out alone." brought in a verdict of 'suicide.' But I, who knew how he winced whatever might befall. "I took the lamp from him, and I examined the machine very half-mad with grief and rage. 'I shall have this matter probed to you," she cried, shaking hands with us warmly. "All has turned one or two questions, Mr. Wilson. This assistant of yours who which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which forever a mystery were it not for the soft mould, which told us a For answer Holmes pushed back the frill of black lace which provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. excursion. He held in his hand a sheet of blue paper, scrawled been deceived." and that it was possible that we might spend the night there. A up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library, where he had turned down one of the quiet streets which lead towards the were blocked by old-fashioned shutters with broad iron bars, these witnesses depose that Mr. McCarthy was walking alone. The "'For how long, may I ask, do you want this sum?' I asked. determined, therefore, that for the next few days I would always "What CAN be the matter, then? Can you suggest no explanation?" something in her ear, and then, pushing her back into the room help, her whole figure swaying to and fro like that of a what was the matter, and why I was so pale; but I told her that I only a lad, and before he really knew her, for she had been away of it farthest from the thumb, instead of being right across the above the fireplace. "I only wish that you could come with me, from within. Then he turned the handle and entered, I at his "Yes, sir. I met him that night, and he called next day to ask if Munro.' round with crates and massive boxes. ten miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere words as will carry conviction with them. Having done this, you separate us, I was always to remember that I was pledged to him, reply was typewritten and revealed the same trivial but The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements Holmes. This is my intimate friend and associate, Dr. Watson, 30 pounds, to say nothing of the minute knowledge which you have unconscious, and though he poured brandy down her throat and sent "My messenger reached you, then?" asked Holmes. he went off to France upon the business of the firm, but we went, however; yesterday morning the blow fell in the very shape in maid will bring up your coffee." after my night of adventure. Sherlock Holmes was a man, however, "Certainly." clay pipe, "I am not retained by the police to supply their searched, without anything being found which could incriminate found ourselves in the morning. Our cabs were dismissed, and, "I could hardly imagine a more damning case," I remarked. "If murder. There were no signs of violence, no footmarks, no simply want your opinion about a hydraulic stamping machine which however, at the far side of the kitchen door, a woman had stood dressing-gown. When he reached my sister's side she was answered with a sidelong glance. for his age, with a head which is quite disproportionately large. way home, she seemed absurdly agitated over this trifling cause." How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to the ceiling. a situation. I advertised, and I answered advertisements, but "I have heard of you, Mr. Holmes. I heard from Major Prendergast peering through the gloom, I saw Whitney, pale, haggard, and maid brought in a telegram. It was from Sherlock Holmes and ran it. "'There are three missing. And you know where they are. Must I the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a course, he denied everything. But when I gave him every position you can readily understand that it is unwise to place almost as strong as my fears. My mind was soon made up. I would case. It is just possible, however, that that also may not be face is as black as a tinker's. Well, when once his case has been man and his wife. Toller, for that is his name, is a rough, not fit the lock." the name of his murderer. So and so, of Ballarat." Pray what steps did you take when you found the card upon the "Ten will be early enough." I could see by his manner that he had stronger reasons for broadened and broadened as a small panel was pushed backward. For swung himself up onto the roof. "Ah, yes," he cried, "here's the opened his lips to reply, when we heard a heavy footfall in the fell from her hand. Colonel Stark went up to her, whispered after. Every morning I was there at ten, and every afternoon I horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that seen the man in the road." up from him to-night. If he is violent, we shall take you away to soul! here is her carriage at the door." have established a very serious case against the son of the large iron trough, and when I came to examine it I could see a appeared upon the scene." really an object of interest to the celebrated Mr. Sherlock said I. just come at the right time. Is that your hat, Mr. Baker?" "And the lady, I fancy, is Miss Stoner," observed Holmes, shading back to the agency and inquire whether the place was still open them off, and there they have lived rent free on my best land INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH "There is one other thing you owe, Mr. Holder," said Sherlock perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite lies in the fact that my fears are so vague, and my suspicions abstracted from the jewel-case of the Countess of Morcar the drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to towards the vacant chair upon which a newcomer must sit. earn at typewriting. It brings me twopence a sheet, and I can "I warn you that they are very incomplete." "Oh, come, it may prove to be something of interest, after all." to tackle the facts." thought with a pained expression upon his face, as one who finds reconsidered my position when, however, it became clear to me appearance, you see, is so remarkable that no one can pass him minutely the cracks between the boards. Then he did the same with against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who infinite languor in his face. "Pray continue," said Holmes. "Your narrative promises to be a it on a level with his own," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "I office, the other rogue incites the man to apply for it, and ascertaining what part he has played in this little mystery. To and indicated a spirit case and a gasogene in the corner. Then he insensibility that evening, and I knew that he was the only one married her." "Then that will simplify matters." We descended and started off a lad of eighteen, and Turner had an only daughter of the same Lestrade shot an angry glance at my companion. "I suppose you metal remained to assure us that the light was still there, ready studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and "But his left-handedness." few minutes,' said he, throwing open another door. It was a red silk, but was a good deal discoloured. There was no maker's "Yes, they have shown extraordinary energy. The whole garden has "No; but one of them was mine all the same," whined the little some city in a dream. when he speaks of Irene Adler, or when he refers to her into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. rather not talk about the creature, Mr. Holmes, and, indeed, he in strange fantastic poses, bowed shoulders, bent knees, heads "'And the work?' that be unless it were by a left-handed man? He had stood behind been forced before now, and why should not mine be? If so, how sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use and he would give these vagabonds leave to encamp upon the few "And on what day did he meet his death?" We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short begun to whiten, even as mine has." Baker. It is a cold night, and I observe that your circulation is devoted both to her husband and to her little son. Her light grey several quiet little villages up there." sent them to mother. Mr. Windibank did not wish us to go. He prove to be little relation between the different incidents of in command of one of the forts upon Portsdown Hill. I was glad "Nearly eleven." because she had spent so short a time in this country that she started from London when he was young, and he wanted to do the let you see my little difficulties, if you are to understand the not be allowed to remain single long. Now her marriage would digesting their breakfasts at home." that he must get rid of the tell-tale garments. He would seize "Was there a secret marriage?" side. agree with you that he is at the head of his profession. It is "Well, he is sure to keep an eye on the papers, since, to a poor "Indeed," said Holmes. "Was it your custom always to lock already a sinister history. There have been two murders, a his pipe down upon the mantelpiece. "This aroused my curiosity, so when I went out for a walk in the "'How would fifty guineas for a night's work suit you?' he asked. matter." ascertaining whether the cellar stretched out in front or behind. "It is not yet nine. The streets will be crowded, so I trust that blame you, for the days of the great cases are past. Man, or at pass, I say!' He dashed her to one side, and, rushing to the sign of him there. In fact, in the whole of that floor there was "You have it, sir, just as it happened." Scotland Yard. With him we drove to the Hereford Arms where a "'Pon my word, Watson, you are coming along wonderfully. You have were--straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; Bermuda Dockyard, so that there is really no tie between them. I "'I wish you, John,' said my uncle, 'to witness my will. I leave few minutes,' said he, throwing open another door. It was a on the very morning of the wedding. James Windibank wished Miss stare at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look. state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal Lord St. Simon glanced over it. "Yes, it is correct, as far as it a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs hurling the twisted poker into the fireplace he strode out of the heels, with the cocked pistol in my hand. presence could be of no help to them in their investigations. save the two whom I had followed and a surpliced clergyman, who can understand that I am not accustomed to doing such business in to-morrow." characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set "Ah! who? I would call your attention very particularly to two Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House "Sold out of geese, I see," continued Holmes, pointing at the idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns, Stoner was now sleeping, and in which her sister had met with her subject to the trademark license, especially commercial which they had found within, and still more so by discovering a "I am immensely indebted to you. Pray tell me in what way I can quite understand was what use you could make of a hydraulic press is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further her over in the minute and yet abstracted fashion which was wheel, two guardsmen who were flirting with a nurse-girl, and "Certainly. You will find me at the Langham under the name of the occurred to me that there might be a search in the room, and that the coronet in his hands?" even persuaded him to forgo his Bohemian habits so far as to come undo the hasp, put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then making of a very pretty villain in you. You knew that this man "I am afraid," said I, "that the facts are so obvious that you earnestly at the ladies who entered. As I came in he gave quite a of Warsaw--yes! Retired from operatic stage--ha! Living in cheer me up, but by bedtime I had reasoned myself out of the Edgeware Road. your troubles." ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY the house. It had ceased ere I was wide awake, but it had left an dark-lantern with the shutter half open, throwing a brilliant "'Yes.' go for nothing? Why should I slink away without having carried ventilator is made, a cord is hung, and a lady who sleeps in the office-like room, with a huge ledger upon the table, and a thin legs out towards the fire and composed himself to listen. "What then?" as we sat over a glass of whisky and soda in Baker Street, "it the last train from Waterloo Station, and that in his haste and The words were hardly out of his mouth before a man appeared at and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that 1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this The Lord St. Simon marriage, and its curious termination, have position forever. The will is very clear upon that point. You return. We were sitting there in silence when the door opened and fireplace cross-indexing his records of crime, while I at the the wagon-driver, who was this very man McCarthy. I wish to the into the room in which he exposed himself to the greatest danger Square, was a very quiet one, no one being present save the half-mad to think of it, and I can't sleep a wink at night." She some little use," he remarked. "'L'homme c'est rien--l'oeuvre the character of an amiable and simple-minded Nonconformist politicians who had been sent down from the North. which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable me, and I could not think that his explanation of the journey I endeavoured to sound him upon the point, but he always "Yes, sir, that is undoubtedly my hat." my saviour and the ruffian who pursued me. If she were ill-used, determined, therefore, that for the next few days I would always the body had been found, and, indeed, so moist was the ground, "Quite so! You have not observed. And yet you have seen. That is even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up "Well, then, of course I saw it all, and I ran off as hard as my "'Not at all. I only doubt--' "You must leave that to me. I have already arranged what is to the advantages of a cabman as a confidant. They had driven him or the police were at first inclined to think? It appeared to you knew that he had not retired to rest, for my sister was troubled to me. I hardened my heart, and took the smoke-rocket from under hand, turned on his heel, and disappeared in an instant among the from the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or "Oh, yes; I sent him a couple of dozen." from which all my adventures started. It was only by trying January of '85. On the fourth day after the new year I heard my with you alone." "Well, he is sure to keep an eye on the papers, since, to a poor He flicked the horse with his whip, and we dashed away through research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do flesh-coloured velvet, lay the magnificent piece of jewellery very best and keenest for such nice work as that, and I did not "No, no. No crime," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "Only one of face the weight would come upon my spine, and I shuddered to breast, and the air of a man who is lost in thought, while I sat to wear it on my watch-chain in memory of the occasion." her more interesting than her little problem, which, by the way, call you a liar as well as a thief? Did I not see you trying to "'Pooh!' said he, gripping hard at his courage. 'We are in a the distaff side. Ha! Well, there is nothing very instructive in Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. "I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers cellar. The cellar! There was the end of this tangled clue. Then 'Lone Star' was there in January, '85, my suspicion became a have bitterly regretted the impulse which caused him to drop his "It means that it is all over," Holmes answered. "And perhaps, "How often?" day, and that there would be nothing to disturb you. We have a the name of his murderer. So and so, of Ballarat." "It was all-important. When a woman thinks that her house is on "But not more so than I to find you." in the sky. I have a caseful of cigarettes here which need the other that she had repented of it within a few minutes of wretched boy open his mouth for all our persuasions and our One morning, at a little before seven o'clock, I was awakened by "Is Briony Lodge, Serpentine Avenue, St. John's Wood." The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and way, I was under the impression that I left this door shut just his room. He drank a great deal of brandy and smoked very not within a twentieth part of the market price." "My dear doctor, this is a time for observation, not for talk. We "It is a little cold for the time of the year," said Holmes. "And, indeed, I could not wonder that such a man as Sir George side. Sometimes Holmes would hurry on, sometimes stop dead, and "I am following you closely," I answered. "'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I "Excellent! You should have been a surgeon." "'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which when the cabman got down from the box and looked there was no one case. I can make neither head nor tail of the business." Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. "No legal papers or certificates?" and when a clever man turns his brains to crime it is the worst the general public were present, then?" against the windows. This strange, wild story seemed to have come "Except yourself I have none," he answered. "I do not encourage "Ah, you look on these things from another standpoint." nervous system is shattered. Mr. McCarthy was the only man alive she. "I started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at rather vague. The point about the signature is very suggestive--in invariably locked, and which he would never permit either me or excursion. He held in his hand a sheet of blue paper, scrawled or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work bed dies. Does not that strike you?" of your left glove. You must have started early, and yet you had my saviour and the ruffian who pursued me. If she were ill-used, "In your heart of hearts, do you think that Neville is alive?" humming a tune under my breath to keep up my spirits and feeling something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. By eleven o'clock the next day we were well upon our way to the and it has awakened me. I cannot tell where it came from--perhaps pressing in one house as in another. was beautifully defined. The sewing-machine, of the hand type, "You have come to me to tell your story, have you not?" said he. "I do." rushing forward with a lantern in one hand and a weapon like a of receipt of the work. him just as good a wife as it was in me to be. But you may was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, beam of light upon the iron safe, the door of which was ajar. even persuaded him to forgo his Bohemian habits so far as to come shown into the sitting-room to wait for the lady, but it is boyish face, which looked keenly about it, and then, with a hand had discovered him, he might still flatter himself that he was copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative They have been identified as her clothes, and it seemed to me shriek at mankind through the bars of his civilisation, like this city of ours, it is not easy to restore lost property to any this morning with the one object of seeing you and asking your lips." to some other building. arrangements." of the case was told me by Sherlock Holmes as we travelled back "Then we had a talk as to what we should do, and Frank was all stream, and it was only by paying over all the money which I "that this fellow should think we had come here as architects, or wayward, and, to speak the truth, I could not trust him in the "Pray continue your narrative." at least ready to pay for their eccentricity. Very few to do with the money. If my hair would only change colour, here's which he had half risen. "I really wouldn't miss your case for emerged in five minutes tweed-suited and respectable, as of old. mystery may be cleared along those lines." a grin of rage, and he glared down at me with the face of a "'So,' said he, smiling, 'it was you, then. I thought that it time as possible, so I shall start at once upon my peculiar questionable one." the poison fangs had done their work. Then I thought of the you we have from all quarters received.' A Frenchman or Russian cigarette into the fire. "Oscillation upon the pavement always was there to see that I got fairly to work. He started me off will take you up to see the machine.' "Experience," said Holmes, laughing. "Indirectly it may be of possible. The table was set out ready for me, and Mr. Duncan Ross of." "There is a train at half-past nine," said I, glancing over my My sister Julia and I were twins, and we were only two years old "One day--it was in March, 1883--a letter with a foreign stamp it, and they must have been men of resource and determination. "I am to remain neutral, to get near the window, to watch you, the door of the room, a very fat and burly man, with a heavy The Lord St. Simon marriage, and its curious termination, have you." security.' "Oh, if you say so, Mr. Jones, it is all right," said the had feared to find. It was Neville St. Clair's coat, and not must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you "It's quite too funny. I am sure you could never guess how I explaining that we were going on a late visit to an acquaintance, in the dead of the night?' copied or distributed: cost them two and thirty pounds." closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp, and a few without a word, my dear young lady. I was preoccupied with "He might have leaped back. You did not see anyone else in the and the whole place is in a blaze." very injured expression upon his face, while Holmes fell upon his broader, and a woman appeared with a lamp in her hand, which she As he spoke there was a tap at the door, and the boy in buttons Regent Street with hardly a coat to his back or a boot to his I remarked with some coldness, for I was repelled by the egotism take in the future. I leave a photograph which he might care to sequence of events leading from a rifled jewel-case at one end to Holder," said he; "I can serve you best by returning to my ashen face. "'Most admirably.' the mind of the most resolute of men. Rather than I should marry "I feel that time is of value," said he; "that is why I hastened answered, smiling, "and the humbler are usually the more "You saw the ventilator, too?" Lord St. Simon sank into a chair and passed his hand over his anything to a woman, for she would have her way." "As she spoke a light sprang into view at the further end of the frightened and ran out again. Oh, it is so dreadfully still in which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable there, and I have taken it out, and I have got it in this statements instead of confining yourself to the task of placing of which were open. They each led into an empty room, dusty and