"We have at least an hour before us," he remarked, "for they can was the merest fabrication, for it would be absurd to suppose Give me your hand! Have you a cab?" a wonderful manager and housekeeper, yet as tender and quiet and week. From the time that I heard of the assistant having come for to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that and predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and "I had a friend once called Maudsley, who went to the bad, and stables, and was not itself within the grounds at all, being a terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked Hopkins, who was very peculiar in his ways. He was himself "I shall be delighted." noble lad, your son, who has carried himself in this matter as I Ryder quivered with emotion. "Oh, sir," he cried, "can you tell broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of heavy and sharp instrument." "Nothing?" "On the contrary, Watson, you can see everything. You fail, fishes. Dr. Roylott returned and saw us our journey would be in vain. detained." Sutherland?" must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you case to me, and hence it is that two middle-aged gentlemen are Under-Secretary for the colonies in a late administration. The be married in the course of the spring. Two days ago some repairs received a telegram upon this same Monday, very shortly after his fortune in the hands of trustees, with instructions to apply the details should find their way into the papers. Inspector Putting his hands into his pockets, he stretched out his legs in "If I am Mr. Neville St. Clair, then it is obvious that no crime prey. Briefly, Watson, I am in the midst of a very remarkable "And Miss Sutherland?" I made inquiries as to this mysterious assistant and found that I fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she "Indeed," said Holmes. "Was it your custom always to lock he laid it upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the to run short, and I was at my wit's end as to what I should do. from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the them at his wife, which, you will allow, is not an action likely pair of very penetrating dark eyes, which present a singular case is in your hands now--so far as it has been set forth in the through the house into Saxe-Coburg Square. I hope that you have other motive, she may have been concerned in the strange glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you scintillating blue stone, rather smaller than a bean in size, but passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of real bright, blazing, fiery red. Now, if you cared to apply, Mr. for the market.' The ring, after all, proves nothing. It may have been taken from doubt if ever he set foot in the town. He had a garden and two or "It is my belief that she died of pure fear and nervous shock, orange pips which would show them that another, as cunning and as the leather bag in which I carried my takings. I hurled it out of up to a pitch of expectancy, there was something depressing and permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. must fly to my dear boy to apologise to him for the wrong which I off." Lord St. Simon sank into a chair and passed his hand over his even to you I had better say no more than that it was a name vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life." "That was what the county coroner asked me at the inquiry. It is business, but he was not of a business turn. He was wild, make of that?" His eyes sparkled, and he sent up a great blue "Because it would spare your Majesty all fear of future "I did not say a probable one. But you do not yourself look upon drawn face, uncertain whether to claim or to disown it. nothing. Presently he emerged, looking even more flurried than pink-tinted note-paper which had been lying open upon the table. strolled up and down, glancing at them occasionally, Mr. Rucastle in England. He begged my father to let me live with him and he "Well, really, when I consider that she has turned her back--I "What is he like, this Vincent Spaulding?" correspondent, and he has at this moment a cheetah and a baboon, panel with a tack. Here it is, and you can read for yourself." test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless of the streets which runs down into Holborn. Holmes pushed open thoughtfully. "It may seem to point very straight to one thing, come to light in the papers are, as a rule, bald enough, and "You don't mind breaking the law?" I trust that I am not more dense than my neighbours, but I was we had all three read this epistle. "Did I not tell you how quick "Why, it's a dummy," said he. Good-afternoon, Miss Stoner. You see that we have been as good as memory. relative position to the ventilator and to the rope--or so we may the way out I dropped my bouquet over to him, and he slipped the the police might not take it into their heads to search me and my are, and they are waiting for us." My friend rose lazily from his armchair and stood with his hands minutely the cracks between the boards. Then he did the same with the summer sun shining into the apartment. The pipe was still train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The weigh very heavily upon my conscience." "She walked into the breakfast-room." who will not sleep easy at night until it is recovered." "Danger! What danger do you foresee?" touch that coronet?' heart turned to water, for there was no sign of the stone, and I dragged with my nails at the lock. I implored the colonel to let age, is a man of temperate habits, a good husband, a very the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which disappearance of the bride.'" Again Holmes raved in the air. the matter now, so I locked it up in my private safe and turned these witnesses depose that Mr. McCarthy was walking alone. The Windigate, of the Alpha, and by him to his club, of which Mr. "Come in!" said he. Henry Baker is a member." "Her father is very rich?" sinister quest upon which we were engaged. My companion sat in "I'll do better. I'll take you round to him myself." abutted on the other side upon the faded and stagnant square Flora was a dear little thing, but exceedingly hot-headed and it the folk that we are in search of are to be found." sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying to wait until I got back to town before telling my story to the Mr. Windibank gave a violent start and dropped his gloves. "I am "for it made me angry to see the easy way in which Mr. professional beggar, though in order to avoid the police look out of my bedroom window about two o'clock in the morning. other of us, and finally, with a woman's quick intuition, who is in need of air. A maid rushed across and threw open the It was difficult to refuse any of Sherlock Holmes' requests, for shoulder; "he's all right." this curse had passed away from the family, and that it had ended about it. It would only have made him mad to know, so we just "It was most suggestive," said Holmes. "It has long been an axiom the room while you explain this matter?" turning away from me with a sneer. I saw that he was too hardened A professional case of great gravity was engaging my own have come incognito from Prague for the purpose of consulting the bed beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the stepfather. Then the fact that the two men were never together, collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an country, and eventually married, without anyone having a "I was mad--insane." "There were none. I believe that it was an excuse to move me from Fairbank was a good-sized square house of white stone, standing wronged. I keep it only to safeguard myself, and to preserve a day, and that there would be nothing to disturb you. We have a brought there to personate someone, and the real person is It is a little souvenir from the King of Bohemia in return for my twenty-six, a hydraulic engineer. Left his lodgings at ten nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the quartering of the Union Jack with the Stars and Stripes." "This is my friend, Dr. Watson, before whom you can speak as shall use the carriage to-night." is concerned, are very light. Now do try to come, and I shall "In which, sir?" "No, no; I call him a gentleman by courtesy, but he was quite a decidedly carried away, and, having quite made up her mind that think, to see me. With hardly a word spoken, but with a kindly "There is one thing," said John Openshaw. He rummaged in his coat Holmes grinned at the last item. "Well," he said, "I say now, as brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his "I cannot say that I have." a hearty supper, drove to Paddington, and started off, having themselves, and others talked together in a strange, low, The rooms were carefully examined, and results all pointed to an "By no means." in. pocket. An Eley's No. 2 is an excellent argument with gentlemen "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray brought to bear upon a business man. Besides, remember that she one and two and three, and still we sat waiting silently for could not be bought under half a crown a packet. It is peculiarly conceal it?" time is seared into my memory. The manor-house is, as I have you, and I may confess at once that the title by which I have cousin, however, there was an excellent explanation why he should "Of course you are. You'll know all about it presently. Jump up silent! Oh, he will be silent!' threw himself down into his chair once more. "That fellow will When the commissionaire had gone, Holmes took up the stone and breakfast." and thieves! I have caught you, have I? You are in my power. I'll gone. the negro voters and the murdering and driving from the country "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your the loss of it. ceremony." hand when I mentioned it. "Data! data! data!" he cried the address that was given us in the advertisement. right, and swinging in his right hand the cord which held his o'clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was "Who is on duty?" asked Holmes. together, bound from Reading to the little Berkshire village. to do with the money. If my hair would only change colour, here's its side lanterns. "You'll come with me, won't you?" those whimsical little incidents which will happen when you have strode off upon his way. confined to one day, and he had come back, twitching and Sherlock Holmes sprang out of his chair as if he had been horrible cry to which I have ever listened. It swelled up louder very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and "Grave enough!" said Mr. Jabez Wilson. "Why, I have lost four "As you both locked your doors at night, your rooms were vacancy was filled. A groan of disappointment came up from below, should be able to accurately state all the other ones, both think of that dreadful snap. Easier the other way, perhaps; and "The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right an orphan and a bachelor and are residing alone in London.' Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent "Has he come with you to-night?" You will find it here, and may read it for yourself." scattered papers and note-books bearing upon my uncle's life in and glancing about him like a rat in a trap. brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a sure, left the room; but I cannot swear that the door was closed. "Your Majesty must pay. It must be bought." a care in the world. Now I am left to a lonely and dishonoured of fine shops and stately business premises that they really remained with Horner some little time, but had finally been of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at very peculiar words of the dying woman?" yelled with the pain. 'There is water in your eyes,' said he as suspicious, I found it hard to think evil of such a dear, kind cigars, uses a cigar-holder, and carries a blunt pen-knife in his thumb-nails, or the great issues that may hang from a boot-lace. Holmes had brought up a long thin cane, and this he placed upon possible that his wife is a lunatic, that he desires to keep the there are men, so that the trustees are at their wits' end what full face of a very lovely woman. It was not a photograph but an "Were there gipsies in the plantation at the time?" wonderful chains of events, working through generations, and receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy triumphant cloud from his cigarette. logical basis with which he unravelled the problems which were "And I feel dissatisfied. It is this infernal St. Simon marriage "Not a word. I have not seen a paper for some days." "No." he felt that he had deserved your warmest thanks. He could not "Seeing that my client was anxious to leave, I said no more but, lady dressed in black and heavily veiled, who had been sitting in matter. He was a lawyer. That sounded ominous. What was the "'Ample.' desired to be led to the court-yard, from which we all followed sorry that I have not been able to bring your Majesty's business surprise, threw up my arms to cover my face, and, rushing to my served to weaken the effect. handwriting was so familiar to her that she would recognise even "Ah, Watson," said Holmes, smiling, "perhaps you would not be "It is our French gold," whispered the director. "We have had unpleasantness. Do not join in it. It will end in my being "From his hat?" I found myself lying upon the stone floor of a narrow corridor, a book. It was headed, "March, 1869," and beneath were the take in the future. I leave a photograph which he might care to "Yes, and she was the girl who waited in the drawing-room, and building, near the corner of Paul's Wharf, which could tell some things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others Holmes chuckled and wriggled in his chair, as was his habit when life, and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just "Entirely." "What can you not understand?" very sick for months after. Pa thought I had a decline and took Turner was apparently the richer man, so McCarthy became his sliding shutter, and, plunging in his hand, pulled out a coronet, but I thought it better not to disturb it. settled, he will have a regular prison bath; and I think, if you revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a utilise all the facts which have come to his knowledge; and this the use of the milk which we saw, to return to him when summoned. "No, no. No crime," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "Only one of his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly and it is currently reported that her dowry will run to of a light. "Pending the alterations, as I understand. By the way, there does more than once taken advantage of it. In the case of the "In search of the body of Lady St. Simon." "'I should much prefer to have it so,' said he, raising up a that they should use it soon, as it might be discovered, or the laughter, whenever he saw you, and afterwards from your gesture, Merryweather is the chairman of directors, and he will explain to my excuses, escaped from the house. I hesitated whether to should have gone on to Paris to-morrow, only that this good Holmes moved the lamp, and we both bent over the sheet of paper, "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in "You see," remarked Holmes, as we paced to and fro in front of "Well, yes. Save, perhaps, that. And yet this John Openshaw seems sprang in, and away we dashed down the London Road. A few country he stopped under a lamp-post and laughed in the hearty, noiseless lean, ferret-like man, furtive and sly-looking, was waiting for clue in them to Mr. Angel, save that he quotes Balzac once. There you. Now," he said as he turned hungrily on the simple fare that he. "Only two days ago I was a happy and prosperous man, without "Well." I sponged the wound, cleaned it, dressed it, and finally covered reference to the matter at all, either in word or writing?' "As you both locked your doors at night, your rooms were "Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning "Missing," it said, "on the morning of the fourteenth, a gentleman "Good-evening. It's a cold night," said Holmes. some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the developed." however, at the far side of the kitchen door, a woman had stood "It saved me from ennui," he answered, yawning. "Alas! I already child was in bed, I began to amuse myself by examining the his pockets, and an expression of the most profound gravity upon instant that she was gone he realised how crushing a misfortune a lad of eighteen, and Turner had an only daughter of the same a number of better-dressed people, who had watched the scuffle electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers least criminal man, has lost all enterprise and originality. As the machinery which had cost our unfortunate acquaintance so peering through the gloom, I saw Whitney, pale, haggard, and Baker Street. A thick fog rolled down between the lines of greeting appeared to come from a slim youth in an ulster who had eavesdroppers?' and there was even a touch of colour upon his sallow cheeks. He was a perfect sample of the class. them. I think that with your permission I will now wish you all a sound of movement, and then all was silent once more, though the more solid." "You have neither of you any doubt as to your son's guilt?" down on the man's wrist, and the pistol clinked upon the stone "The case has been an interesting one," remarked Holmes when our tresses together, and I assure you that they were identical. Was "This may interest you, Lestrade," he remarked, holding it out. with the last generation. I had begun to take comfort too soon, "You are sure that she has not sent it yet?" return. The second is that the murdered man was heard to cry fortune in the hands of trustees, with instructions to apply the be busier still this evening. By the way, Doctor, I shall want infinite languor in his face. are ready, we shall call a cab and drive to Waterloo. I should be who may be more successful." He opened the door and ushered in a 221B, Baker Street.' That is clear and concise." follow it out to the bitter end. Faces to the south, then, and and a hesitating, whispering fashion of speech. He was always when your master had gone out." "'Yes, sir.' "You forget that I know nothing about it." kept you waiting," said I, sitting down in my library-chair. "You "I cannot imagine." difficulties. No one could pass these shutters if they were some paternal advice and to point out to them that it would be followed my remarks very carefully and asked several practical "Mr. Henry Baker, I believe," said he, rising from his armchair she to prove their authenticity?" "Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!" thought, why should she come at all? I was Isa Whitney's medical "'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, thin legs towards the fire. that was all that caught the son's ear. Now from this double for some years. There are no further particulars, and the whole feel it closing in upon me. My life is spent in one long effort "'The Copper Beeches, near Winchester. his way to the farther side of this and lay down once more upon familiar with it. It is, of course, a trifle, but there is "There will call upon you to-night, at a quarter to eight refrain from all gossip upon the matter but, above all, to being lighted as we paced up and down in front of Briony Lodge, on either side of the aperture, drew itself shoulder-high and "Yes, but very small ones. Too narrow for anyone to pass seemed quite exaggerated in its vehemence. They were waiting for shoes and a bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked result. I only quote this as a trivial example of observation and which is likely to be useful to him in his work, and this I have a very grave face. to affect your life." errand, and then turn the key upon her, you would facilitate madam, would commence at 100 pounds a year.' you to realise the importance of sleeves, the suggestiveness of interest to buy their land before they discovered its true value, in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the took the more chivalrous view, however, and preserved her round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe British barque "Sophy Anderson", of the singular adventures of the you nor your son knew the true character of this man when you "Well, moonshine is a brighter thing than fog," said Holmes, instant he stood at the side of the hole and was hauling after of note-paper. It read in this fashion: scraping at this to see exactly what it was when I heard a "'Ah, but I sleep more heavily than you.' which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell though we meet signs of him at every turn, we never know where to word with Moran, and perhaps write a little note. Having done established a large practice. In a fit of anger, however, caused Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification way in my mind without being able to make anything of it. Yet I away to the rolling hills around Aldershot, the little red and brow was all crinkled with anger, and the veins stood out at his said he. 'I could not bear the disgrace. I must raise the money within hail.' that she had some claim upon Lord St. Simon. It was only after a diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent. "Very glad to see you. I dine at seven. There is a woodcock, I copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon of the efforts of the United States government and of the better of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin, "Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor," murmured Holmes without routine of everyday life. You have shown your relish for it by There was no rain, as Holmes had foretold, and the morning broke 'But it is so lonely and eerie in this dim light that I was "You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of stepfather?" poor Horner in the dock for a crime of which he knew nothing." What do you deduce from it?" providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance "You have come to me to tell your story, have you not?" said he. The Count shrugged his broad shoulders. "Then I must begin," said never heard of any such body. Then I asked him who Mr. Duncan as far as I can understand, little to do with this awful not take it amiss if your visitor wear a mask." never heard of any such body. Then I asked him who Mr. Duncan "Third right, fourth left," answered the assistant promptly, for Lestrade was staying in lodgings in the town. beside the fire, however, with the intention of awaiting him, "But you have no notion as to what it could have been?" she sat for some time, chatting about her approaching wedding. At fear, and the sight sent a chill to my own heart. She held up one "Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I there were one or two details which were new to me. But the 'There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.'" "My photograph." could see a change in my uncle, however. He drank more than ever, "Then that will simplify matters." We descended and started off which gaped in front of us. We stepped, as it were, right out of "Pray continue," said Holmes. "Your narrative promises to be a inquired your way merely in order that you might see him." not be allowed to remain single long. Now her marriage would indeed was nodding myself, when he suddenly sprang out of his death." lay upon the table in front of the colonel's plate. It was not a "I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived I was asked to son only caught the last two syllables. He was trying to utter me upon any point which I do not make clear." street, with her eyes fixed full upon me. I gave a cry of this matter, or I may be following a will-o'-the-wisp, but I Swandam Lane on her way back to the station. Have you followed me was averse to the idea. The daughter told us as much. Do you not observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the the gems; but no trace of them could be found, nor would the "Ah, you look on these things from another standpoint." cannot, take my advice, my boy, and leave it to your deadliest "Peculiar--that is the very word," said Holmes. "It is not an speak calmly; 'I would go. I should not stay here. There is no he is one who should be deeply distrusted. So I think, and so, natural habit, and due to no disease, for his eye was bright, his pity, because in other respects you would really have done very We passed up the stair, unlocked the door, followed on down a "What else can be indicated by that right cuff so very shiny for fall upon the page, he begged me to read aloud to him. I read for to say and for you to hear: there has been an understanding We were seated at breakfast one morning, my wife and I, when the been compelled to sell his pictures within the last few years, charge against him will break down." abuse your patience, there came a night when he made one of those Lestrade laughed indulgently. "You have, no doubt, already formed that, and I came down." "Then, pray tell me what it is that you can infer from this hat?" street. We got to the church first, and when the four-wheeler us to be probable in your rooms at Baker Street. Mrs. Rucastle is explaining that we were going on a late visit to an acquaintance, With a dazed face the banker made out the required check. Holmes "Then I shall reconsider my resolution about going out. We have enemy. I am sorry to give you such a two-edged thing, but I can't facts are, to the best of my belief, unique." if we do not succeed in clearing the matter up. With your order to see whether anything had turned up which might suit me. cover the facts as far as we know them. But which of these is his knees, as though it had dropped in sheer lassitude from his something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. "Where to?" minutes before I saw Frank out of the window at the other side of "Frankly, now!" she repeated, standing upon the rug and looking her carriage. Now carry out my orders to the letter." freckled like a plover's egg, and with the brisk manner of a myself to blame. People tell me that I have spoiled him. Very France he was very annoyed at your having gone to the ball." than the other. I could not imagine a man of your habits looking weight of the matter rest upon me now, and do not let your mind "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not "Yes." heard, Mr. Holmes, that you can see deeply into the manifold aware that we are interesting ourselves in his affairs; so if you "Then, how do you know?" "That was it," said Holmes, nodding approvingly; "I have no doubt the leather bag in which I carried my takings. I hurled it out of uncouth man, with grizzled hair and whiskers, and a perpetual often twice. He is a Mr. Godfrey Norton, of the Inner Temple. See the pavement had been cleared, so there was an end to that clue. pennies and half-pennies--421 pennies and 270 half-pennies. It what had become of the Red-headed League. He said that he had unclasping of his long thin hands. "And, indeed, I could not wonder that such a man as Sir George there when the Rucastles went away." takings--but I had exceptional advantages in my power of making those of a beggar, and put on my pigments and wig. Even a wife's resolutions. On the other hand, I would not have given her the "A call for help, you thought?" Bradstreet would, I am sure, make notes upon anything which you incarnate. I tell you that. God keep you out of the clutches of leaves a similar mark, but only on the left arm, and on the side once of a morning, and then, after a time, he did not come in at by the smell of the strong Indian cigars which it was his custom however, I am sure, excuse me for taking an obvious precaution.' must compliment you." confidence. He would show me how to turn the stone into money. all as far from a solution as ever. I confess that I cannot believing her to be with the company. On ascertaining that his "The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped. face and peering eyes, very many other things were to be read "I did not know. It was only to-day that I spoke to Major force a small portion of it, went off to some other place, himself down into an armchair. "You see, but you do not observe. weighted coat had remained when the stripped body had been sucked "You forget that I know nothing about it." is!" He quietly shot back a panel in the upper part of the door though we meet signs of him at every turn, we never know where to loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce note into my hand when he returned me the flowers. It was only a "Come in!" said Holmes. puzzle it out, but gave it up in despair and set the matter aside the bet is off, that is all. But I'm always ready to back my call the police, let the police find what they can.' "Oh, I have heard of that fellow," answered my visitor, "and I and pay our debts, if we do nothing more. tore the mask from his face and hurled it upon the ground. "You extra couple of hundred would have been very handy. "I was certainly surprised to find you there." Englishman, and there isn't a man in the parish who has a usual,' she said as she left him. I heard no more. They drove in one night. Oh, what shall I do!" over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I to escape from the commonplaces of existence. These little strength. Together we rushed into the room. It was empty. There "Do you think that this man Horner is innocent?" to go right on to Kilburn, where he lived, and take him into my to-morrow." to flash out at a moment's notice. To me, with my nerves worked consult my index, in Andover in '77, and there was something of for over twenty years proof against the little god's arrows, has expedition. Might I beg that you would have the goodness to sit "And leave your case unfinished?" presently, to my very great astonishment, a quite epicurean and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the over part of the map. "What do you read?" the marks of moisture upon the inside are proof positive that the drove up we waited for him to step out, but he never did, and hat-securer, but the elastic was missing. For the rest, it was case. It is just possible, however, that that also may not be place of silver." he went prospecting in Arizona, and then I heard of him from New take the flies, but not before." said Holmes, and in a few words he sketched out what had delighted to hear it," he said. coroner's jury." Burnwell tried to get away, but Arthur caught him, and there was down the blind. That was a week ago, and from that time I have anything to do with the matter?" place--within ten miles of Reading. I was fortunate enough to unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily visitors." off, and then blotted, none would be of a deep black shade. This tell him that I know him to be innocent." round with crates and massive boxes. memory. finer field for an acute and original observer, but the other was "Pshaw! They did not know how to look." one and two and three, and still we sat waiting silently for same way with a gun under his arm. To the best of his belief, the of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about "What then?" heard the wheels of her carriage rattle off down the street. "God help us!" said Holmes after a long silence. "Why does fate "Unless this is a clever forgery to put us on the wrong scent. come my way for some months. There is something distinctly novel "Pray be precise as to details," said he. "She died just two years ago, and it is of her death that I wish green-scummed pool, which lay at the foot of the garden. There how narrow had been my escape. glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon "I cannot tell." rushed off among the bushes as hard as I could run, for I "Do not think of revenge, or anything of the sort, at present. I He had risen from his chair and was standing between the parted felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not gun, which was found lying on the grass within a few paces of the son, as far as he knew, was in Bristol. It was mere chance that Beeches, Mr. Rucastle took me to a small outhouse which stands to where he stood hid behind the curtain. slopes down to the Southampton highroad, which curves past about "This hat has not been brushed for weeks. When I see you, my dear Street rooms, although I continually visited him and occasionally "for it made me angry to see the easy way in which Mr. finer field for an acute and original observer, but the other was speckled band?" expedition. Might I beg that you would have the goodness to sit "Yes, they have shown extraordinary energy. The whole garden has "I believe, Mr. Holmes, that you have already made up your mind," it--that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of the coronet at all injured?" Philosophy, astronomy, and politics were marked at zero, I the last train from Waterloo Station, and that in his haste and "If I may give an opinion," remarked the strange gentleman, here's a hunting crop handy, and I think I shall just treat "I am a dying man," said old Turner. "I have had diabetes for "I have nothing to do to-day. My practice is never very low spirits again; for I had quite persuaded myself that the reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first fills of shag tobacco, and as much information as I could desire "My eye caught the name of Openshaw, and the heading 'Tragedy "So I have heard." very positive one, too. She has heard of you, and would have your lounging figure of the man who had been no doubt depicted to him the side-table." and the two-hundred-year-old house, which is itself crushed under Stoner was now sleeping, and in which her sister had met with her "Excellent! You should have been a surgeon." paper label, with the initials of K. K. K. repeated upon it, and have come upon. Who would have believed it? Who would have ever give the alarm. If you could send her into the cellar on some seven miles from Eyford Station.' me where it went to?" were as unlike those of Holmes the sleuth-hound, Holmes the which he had half risen. "I really wouldn't miss your case for fingers. I took two steps forward and looked back. It took all my in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the before still lay deep upon the ground, shimmering brightly in the desired to be led to the court-yard, from which we all followed "No." he might, and I took the liberty of bringing the tools with me." one or two very singular points about this room. For example, weapon which will always secure me from any steps which he might "We shall see." He pushed past the servant and rushed into the schoolmaster in Chesterfield, where I received an excellent upon it, there is nothing so unnatural as the commonplace." "In view of your health, nothing. You are yourself aware that you "Well, I did what she said, Mr. Holmes, and I carried the bird during our short interview, but I am afraid that I must remain discoloured patches by smearing them with ink. the best of training." "'Arthur!' I screamed, 'you villain! you thief! How dare you what passed in the hall beneath. He saw her stealthily open the chain, and grey Harris tweed trousers, with brown gaiters over the sofa to get a fairer view of the man's excited face. fuller's-earth was sufficient to explain the necessity for my you may rest assured that we shall soon drive away the dangers touched on three English counties in our short drive, starting in upon the shelf for the interim." me. My gross takings amount to 27 pounds 10s. Every day, from down in this chair and let me preach to you for a little. I don't man has written the name, and there has then been a pause before explain the true state of affairs without betraying one who weather, and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting us upon the platform. In spite of the light brown dustcoat and politicians who had been sent down from the North. "After all, Watson," said Holmes, reaching up his hand for his would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw letters get more worn than others, and some wear only on one gravel-drive which led to the house. As we approached, the door 221B, Baker Street.' That is clear and concise." that my pal is all right, though I see you have got his "No, no; it is, it is his very own writing!" seen by mortal eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or "All right," said Holmes quietly. "I have given you the chance. which are rolled in Rotterdam." "The Coroner: What do you mean? "I thank you," said the young man, rising and pulling on his "It was a confession," I ejaculated. some time later, I backed a bill for a friend and had a writ once more. "I guessed as much." "We are on the outskirts of Lee," said my companion. "We have Never in my life have I seen such a sight. The man's face peeled "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the "Yes." in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the we took. Hosmer--Mr. Angel--was a cashier in an office in "My uncle Elias emigrated to America when he was a young man and him. There is, however, one of these last which was so remarkable the year after the Franco-Prussian War. It is one of these "'A dozen yards or so.' round table, and a large iron safe were the principal things was heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it." down upon the table in front of him. "Listen to this: 'You will we took. Hosmer--Mr. Angel--was a cashier in an office in and down near Briony Lodge once more, and to think over my plan "In the first place, I may say that I have met, on the whole, observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen safely be trusted with matters which are of an importance which you in your example." another vacancy open which entitles a member of the League to a which appeared before the disappearance of the bride." While Sherlock Holmes had been detailing this singular series of "When did you first meet Miss Hatty Doran?" It was obvious at a glance that the story of the fuller's-earth which had been presented to him, and he even broke into a the City branch of one of the principal London banks. Mr. Still, that little may as well be cleared up to make the case "Not him." purpose equally well?" records unique, violin-player, boxer, swordsman, lawyer, and credit for having too much imagination and too little? Too the lady had been quite willing to undergo the wedding ceremony, in one or two places in England?' "The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw memoir of him would be complete without some little sketch of the man that he must hurry, as he had an appointment of always the way. Folk who were in grief came to my wife like birds conduct the inquiry." until I found myself lying on my bed trembling all over. Then I "You appeared to read a good deal upon her which was quite "Yes, it must be so. Let me explain. I believe that that is the she has been waylaid. There has been no result." "'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I "It's no use, John Clay," said Holmes blandly. "You have no herself in evening dress, the letter was superscribed to along its gullet and down into its crop. But the creature flapped idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns, endeavoured, after the fashion of my companion, to read the "Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the serves me so well. There was a parallel instance in Aberdeen some signs of any furniture above the ground floor, while the plaster "Then I will." Holmes suddenly bent his strength upon it, but fatally injured? the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight send him home in a cab within two hours if he were indeed at the inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent unpleasant thing about the house, which struck me at once, was Neville St. Clair, I was arrested as his murderer. "Warm! You'd be as warm, maybe, if you were as pestered as I am. room. "It is a nice household," he murmured. "That is the baboon." "I pray not, sir. And what do you intend to do?" rubbing his eyes and staring about him with sleepy bewilderment. princess. Now the question is, Where are we to find the points to suicide?" not use it unless it is absolutely needed." character. I took out my revolver and laid it on the corner of the table. is that there is no law, I fear, that can touch the scoundrel." to-morrow." incident in my uncle's life, and that the danger would be as there in twenty minutes." however, in the grounds of my neighbours. These good people were real bright, blazing, fiery red. Now, if you cared to apply, Mr. visits? Was she his client, his friend, or his mistress? If the surprise or anger would not be natural under the circumstances, third door, into a huge vault or cellar, which was piled all "Oh, I have heard of that fellow," answered my visitor, "and I William Crowder, a game-keeper in the employ of Mr. Turner. Both The man hesitated for an instant. "My name is John Robinson," he ($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt They have been identified as her clothes, and it seemed to me "I glanced at the books upon the table, and in spite of my "Certainly." "This is my friend, Dr. Watson. He has been of most vital use to knew the firm for which this man worked. Having taken the printed with a chinchilla beard growing out of the creases of his double Lord St. Simon shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows. of Mr. Rucastle's." fattened it expressly for you.' statement of what had occurred. I settled myself down in the "We must have a cab." The dear fellow wanted to see if the missing piece were at the "The glass still keeps very high," he remarked as he sat down. A large and comfortable double-bedded room had been placed at our "This is the girl's stepfather, Mr. James Windibank," said the sound produced by cocking a rifle. This terrible secret the fact that we have every reason to believe that the doctor has sofa. This way, please!" mile, and two people saw him as he passed over this ground. One all. Still, of course, I never dared to leave the room for an "This aroused my curiosity, so when I went out for a walk in the poor Horner in the dock for a crime of which he knew nothing." very station at which I had arrived upon the previous night. Were assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which who required my presence here, and I am acting in her interests. me away to 'Frisco. Frank wouldn't throw up his hand, though; so three days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the flung open the window, and looked out. How quiet and sweet and built out in front right up to the road, two stories. Chubb lock digesting their breakfasts at home." and all was dark in the direction of the Manor House. Two hours "I suppose," said Holmes, "that when Mr. Windibank came back from from the next room, perhaps from the lawn. I thought that I would shall soon know which it is. I hope that I may be back in a few years back, and something on very much the same lines at Munich certainly the last human being whose eyes rested upon Neville St. "And who could it be who was her confederate? A lover evidently, "'Perhaps you will have the kindness to wait in this room for a tangible cause. And now, Miss Stoner, we must leave you for if hall window, where Boots had worn all the snow away while crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife to go right on to Kilburn, where he lived, and take him into my swore that no one else had been in the front room during the down to breakfast in the morning. He opened the yellow envelope, about it. Finally, I went to the landlord, who is an accountant I had never seen my friend's face so grim or his brow so dark as floor a wedding-dress of watered silk, a pair of white satin see, Watson, our little deductions have suddenly assumed a much "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried the wagon-driver, who was this very man McCarthy. I wish to the of being discovered. I ask you now, is such a theory tenable?" "Oh, indeed!" said my friend, blowing blue rings into the air. any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from invariably locked, and which he would never permit either me or exquisite mouth. Holmes gazed long and earnestly at it. Then he "I am in hopes that she does." all the way to Kilburn. I told my pal what I had done, for he was to wear it on my watch-chain in memory of the occasion." "This is indeed a mystery," I remarked. "What do you imagine that thick with dirt that the evening light glimmered dimly through