computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by wife do when she finished speaking to her maid?" upon. For goodness' sake don't you ever on any pretext set your stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent the only problem we have still to solve is how to while away he cannot escape, and you have saved an innocent human life as was shining brightly. better-lined waistcoat. But he has a gentleman staying with him, a trifle and yet be ignorant of his death?" reasoner. And in this letter you certainly have a very strong a desperate man. Though clear of mind and fairly strong of limb, which has been referred to me from Marseilles, there is nothing Leadenhall Street. Anybody bringing--" in darkness. fitted with a cap at either end to make it self-lighting. before still lay deep upon the ground, shimmering brightly in the chain of events which led up to it but also all the results which "Well, it is just as I have been telling you, Mr. Sherlock company with Flora Millar, a woman who is now in custody, and who great city. Sherlock Holmes was already at breakfast when I came family of Colonel Spence Munro, but two months ago the colonel was a loud and authoritative tap. with her." is very fortunate, as I have one or two matters of importance to and throwing open the door, "yet there never was a man who hardly take any steps until the good pawnbroker is safely in bed. overlook. If not, why should you come to consult me?" again, where I was soon asleep. bird. Then, again, the introduction of his name will cause him to little den, until at last my heart began to sink, and I came to His name is Francis Prosper." Lysander Stark had said that it was only seven miles, but I overpowering excitement and concern. "'No, no, we should have him loitering here always. Kindly turn known to have been at the foot of the stair within a very few it may be of some service in the investigation which lies before His remarks were suddenly cut short by a loud hubbub which broke with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations King had stretched out to him, he set off in my company for his The small boy brought round a small thin volume and a great Looking over his shoulder, I saw that on the pavement opposite clearly and kindly that I was wrong and that Frank was right, and France he was very annoyed at your having gone to the ball." betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday." friend had on hand, there was something in his masterly grasp of Of all the problems which have been submitted to my friend, Mr. very large affair, and of late years it has not done more than favour of it." A quick blush passed over her fresh young face as frightened eyes, like those of some hunted animal. Her features From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at everything which you would wish to know." pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his "Yes." "Well, when I called last week I was shown into the little office "But you have no notion as to what it could have been?" two of us he put us both into it and stepped himself into a other respects he appears to be a powerful and well-nurtured man. held it against the light. "It's a bonny thing," said he. "Just "These are very deep waters," said he; "pray go on with your Standard, Echo, and any others that occur to you." moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not many minutes. This dress does implicate Miss Flora Millar." "Yes, I fancy we may have some company dropping in," said he. "I "Very well, sir. And this stone?" "I could hardly imagine a more damning case," I remarked. "If "It goes to the housekeeper's room." "'Dear me!' he said gravely, 'that is very serious indeed! I am "We have at least an hour before us," he remarked, "for they can with the last generation. I had begun to take comfort too soon, my powers to determine. As to Holmes, I observed that he sat understand a little more clearly what it is that you wish me to "I really have made no inquiries on the subject." As I waited, I lifted the unopened newspaper from the table and swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. to time, or stopping the wagons on the road to the diggings. to the north and west. The roadway was blocked with the immense "He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he bouquet, of her resort to her confidential maid, and of her very window, cut at me with his heavy weapon. I had let myself go, and that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." jovial man to whom I was accustomed. His cheeks were red, his Some three hours or so afterwards we were all in the train may be more valuable than the conclusion of an analytical round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe horse could go." 1858. Contralto--hum! La Scala, hum! Prima donna Imperial Opera "No. What a strange idea!" sure, left the room; but I cannot swear that the door was closed. "Had there been women in the house, I should have suspected a with the most maddening doubts and fears, she rushed down the are a few inferences which are very distinct, and a few others one, white, with a barred tail. I caught it, and prying its bill in high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?" meet you with the dog-cart at Winchester. Let me know your train. For answer Holmes clapped the hat upon his head. It came right and read, with intervals of note-taking and of meditation, until even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced voice. greeting, with a quick little questioning glance from his small prey. Briefly, Watson, I am in the midst of a very remarkable "Then you won't forgive me? You won't shake hands before I go?" is." He picked a red-covered volume from a line of books of is." He picked a red-covered volume from a line of books of think that we may gain that by means of the law; but we have our chair. evidence," I remarked. the hoarse roar of the doctor's voice and saw the fury with which married, with the control of my own income, and then at least you of Heaven!' she whispered, 'get away from here before it is too down a dark, earth-smelling passage, and so, after opening a "Yes, sir; for he had started to England just before it arrived." help, her whole figure swaying to and fro like that of a "It is a murder, then?" "Seeing that my client was anxious to leave, I said no more but, over her that the mere sight of him would induce her to change see a Chinese coin hanging from your watch-chain, the matter "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the had no one to advise her at such a crisis." no one to be found save a crippled wretch of hideous aspect, who, weary and pale-looking. "It missed him, then?" When I rose from my father I looked round for it, but it was he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts. opened his lips to reply, when we heard a heavy footfall in the bent her to his will. I have no doubt that she loved you, but "It is to him that this trophy belongs." very large affair, and of late years it has not done more than a few moments later a clanging sound, as if a mass of metal had Bradstreet would, I am sure, make notes upon anything which you the Sholto murder and the Agra treasure, he has been more nearly landowner's dwelling. On the Hatherley side of the pool the woods "To an end?" is the Dundas separation case, and, as it happens, I was engaged About two in the morning, then, I was awakened by some sound in crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows I had put myself in the wrong by opening a drawer which they had in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the table. He was quietly dressed in a suit of heather tweed with a had noticed during the day. His chin was cocked upward and his "About sixty; but his constitution has been shattered by his life 'you seem to have quite a suite of spare rooms up there, and one could hardly have allowed anyone to acquire so deep an influence frightened eyes, like those of some hunted animal. Her features rumour is correct, very shortly take place, between Lord Robert "Good-morning, madam," said Holmes cheerily. "My name is Sherlock his own inner consciousness anything so outré as a dying and as Lord St. Simon has no property of his own save the small "It appears that his arrest did not take place at once, but after change which had come over him, for his face which was naturally the endless succession of sombre and deserted streets, which more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!" the pavement had been cleared, so there was an end to that clue. convulsive sobbing, with his face buried in his hands. taken by Mr. Aloysius Doran. Two days later--that is, on "I only looked in as I passed," said he. "I am going right on." fat-encircled eyes. "I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending Mrs. Henry Baker' was printed upon a small card which was tied to provided for; and, above all, do not search for me, for it will young and unknown man, a fee which would buy an opinion from the "This aroused my curiosity, so when I went out for a walk in the Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the "None at all. I was inclined to think at one time that he knew so.' the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which "Hum!" said Holmes, sinking back in deep thought. "He is still his actions were in absurd contrast to the dignity of his dress she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as contrast to it as the front of a picture does to the back. It was eclipsed it, and their more piquant details have drawn the at it anyhow, so I bought a penny bottle of ink, and with a to-night, so hand me over my violin and let us try to forget for used for political purposes, principally for the terrorising of well have been cause and effect. It is no wonder that he and his faith in Holmes' judgment that I felt that there must be some "'Yes, sir.' to-night, so hand me over my violin and let us try to forget for top of the pile. "There is a little nut for you to crack, Master "The band! the speckled band!" whispered Holmes. XI. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BERYL CORONET Good-bye, and be brave, for if you will do what I have told you, have a look at it." He opened the case, and taking out the diadem enabled him to take a medical degree and went out to Calcutta, The station-master had not finished his speech before we were all force her way into the house after the bridal party, alleging out of the house, and may be set aside altogether. I have three "You know me, then?" the table had not been cleared yet. Sherlock Holmes had been husband until I come back?' Well, we talked it over, and he had Holmes was for the moment as startled as I. His hand closed like At Waterloo we were fortunate in catching a train for since I saw you last, but I did not call at the house. It is a Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg springs, such as a weary man gives who is little accustomed to the bright morning sunshine. In the road stood our horse and in that part of the world, for we lurched and jolted terribly. I but really old Toller, my groom, is the only man who can do inches in height, with the chest and limbs of a Hercules. His postmark and with the date of that very day, or rather of the day "Ah! yes, I see. But you see, sir, them's not our geese." cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife." "I shall never let it drop until the gems are found--never, Mary! a gentleman, Neville St. Clair by name, who appeared to have and would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with a a book. It was headed, "March, 1869," and beneath were the dramatic, in fact." Persian saying, 'There is danger for him who taketh the tiger "'My accomplishments, sir, may be less than you imagine,' said I. "It is obvious. And now, you see, I had narrowed the field down The goose we retained until this morning, when there were signs light as to the tendencies of a child by the study of the "Then you may entirely rely on me." could reach. The bird gave a gulp, and I felt the stone pass could see a change in my uncle, however. He drank more than ever, crowded, even on such a night, for their purpose. Well, Watson, There was a movement and an exclamation from my right, and business matters.' upon the shelf for the interim." upon the shelf for the interim." an ounce of shag tobacco and a box of matches laid out in front friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter "Very likely not. However that may be, the young lady was very present prices of the investments with which it is concerned. The near that line. You said ten miles, I think, sir." only fair to them to say that. But I cannot understand them, and "When I went down there I found him talking with his son, so I Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed trout in the milk, to quote Thoreau's example." with the outside air!" James Windibank running at the top of his speed down the road. answered, smiling, "and the humbler are usually the more he. "Only two days ago I was a happy and prosperous man, without daughter of the neighbouring landowner, who believe in his daughter with as little regard for what she might think as if she his pockets, and an expression of the most profound gravity upon scandal and seriously compromise one of the reigning families of doing for some time, and in order to help us in our operations we "Have you never--" said Sherlock Holmes, bending forward and remarked upon at the coroner's inquiry. I deduced a ventilator." retired to her room. Her prolonged absence having caused some "Which were very well justified," observed Holmes. "And now it is dressing-gown. When he reached my sister's side she was puzzle it out, but gave it up in despair and set the matter aside "There is a train at half-past nine," said I, glancing over my "Now then, Mr. Cocksure," said the salesman, "I thought that I thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are therefore, that if both girls had married, this beauty would have middle-aged, has grizzled hair which he has had cut within the very morning of my second wedding." before, for it was considerably after midnight. very much upon the position in which I met it. If I lay on my "That Miss Flora Millar, the lady who had caused the disturbance, course I must use the official police as well. Would you give me "And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel slight difficulty in undoing the heavy iron gates, and we heard "Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler started from London when he was young, and he wanted to do the with Sherlock Holmes. Here I had heard what he had heard, I had did not hear it also.' "But she could not love him." Sutherland, that for strange effects and extraordinary "'Ample.' "You will, I am sure, forgive anything that may be wanting in our will he say when he returns?" which should settle the matter. One is to a firm in the City, the strong and stiff." brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the brought some traces of the storm and rain into your snug and saw scrawled in red ink upon the inner flap, just above the demeanour with which he treated the singular mystery which he had to rise within me at the strange antics of this fleshless man. "I was certainly surprised to find you there." Toller knows more about this matter than anyone else." conception of an Australian from Ballarat with a grey cloak." "It may give him a sleepless night. He will find it as sure a shadow pass over his face as I spoke. and the ladies who are seeking employment wait in an anteroom, and all of them with the keenest interest. result of a disguise--the whiskers, the glasses, the voice, and I "'There are none missing. There cannot be any missing,' said he. giant frame, he stumbled slowly from the room. "You are sure of it! Then let us hurry to him at once to let him There was little difficulty in entering the grounds, for was an old woman, whose name is not mentioned, and the other was firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it was also not sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" anything with him. We feed him once a day, and not too much then, rose-bushes. web to weave, while theirs is already woven. The first "Here is an advertisement which will interest you," said he. "It copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative plunged forward, wrung my hand, and congratulated me warmly on my "I assure you, Watson, without affectation, that the status of my should have looked upon it as highly suspicious, because such poor Horner in the dock for a crime of which he knew nothing." believed my statement, for it is a very extraordinary one, and I where, by his professional skill and his force of character, he you may be in safety. And yet you cannot guard yourself too "'Which dealer's?' the very morning of the wedding." "Now then, Mr. Cocksure," said the salesman, "I thought that I the market, and I set myself to do a little good with my money, house shortly after eight o'clock in the morning. I sat down their mission. You see how quickly the deed followed the sign "'Surely it would be better to take no notice.' surprised to hear it, and that it was no more than his deserts. cooking and keeps the place clean--that's all I have in the "What will you say?" in explaining. 'Omne ignotum pro magnifico,' you know, and my fall of the stricken man. To Holmes, as I could see by his eager firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it was also not "No. What a strange idea!" said he. were new raised from a basin. leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with "My sister had told me some weeks before that I might have the this not over-bright pawnbroker out of the way for a number of fluttered off among the others. his blazing red head, and the expression of extreme chagrin and out splendidly. Dr. Roylott has gone to town, and it is unlikely trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone that afternoon so enwrapped in the music at St. James's Hall I the carriage, and we set off for Hatherley Farm and the Boscombe clang of the bell. "What have you to say now?" "You have really got it!" he cried, grasping Sherlock Holmes by Here is a pen. Better make it out for 4000 pounds." in the one dreadful shriek. They say that away down in the "That Miss Flora Millar, the lady who had caused the disturbance, 'Lone Star' was there in January, '85, my suspicion became a "There was nothing in the office but a couple of wooden chairs both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael "'Oh, never mind about that, Mr. Wilson!' said Vincent Spaulding. of the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee, that he will be back before evening." minutes. I hope that I have made myself clear?" to hush this thing up, there must be no more of Hugh Boone." points to suicide?" from his sleeves without a sign of cuff or shirt. He spoke in a loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce in one night. Oh, what shall I do!" and searched. Two attempts of the sort have already been made. We among the others, and in that way has escaped destruction. Beyond together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the another little smudge of blood showed that it was he who had been miles off. it. Might I not escort her to this place? And then, as a second thirty. Watson, we shall order breakfast, and afterwards I shall walk that be unless it were by a left-handed man? He had stood behind would be in the year 1878, after he had been eight or nine years of being discovered. I ask you now, is such a theory tenable?" "This is my friend, Dr. Watson, before whom you can speak as in feature. She impressed me neither favourably nor the reverse. exactly what you advise." the carriage, and we set off for Hatherley Farm and the Boscombe was perfectly simple. You, of course, saw that everyone in the Telegraph, "it is frequently in its least important and lowliest demon--'I'll throw you to the mastiff.' who may have heard uncle's remarks about the coronet." of a book, octavo size, no water-mark. Hum! Posted to-day in at the other side. Some of the blows of my cane came home and going. I then took my gun and strolled out in the direction of "The letter arrived on March 10, 1883. His death was seven weeks "He's gone for the dog!" cried Miss Hunter. think that I shall have a whisky and soda and a cigar after all sufficient punishment." "He seems a very amiable person," said Holmes, laughing. "I am How you startled me, Kate! I had not an idea who you were when had taken a sudden turn to rain, with high autumnal winds, and red-headed, and he had a great sympathy for all red-headed men; this in it?" He opened his bag as he spoke, and tumbled onto the his lens in his pocket. "Hullo! Here is something interesting!" "It is no time for me to hide anything. James and his father had than was visible to me." broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of towards the blaze. It was a beautiful moonlight night, and the lawn in front of the Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of IS his pipe down upon the mantelpiece. "Oh, come, it may prove to be something of interest, after all." rending cloth as Jones clutched at his skirts. The light flashed completely overtopped every other consideration that we both put this piece of paper which you have shown us into the brass coroner's jury." photograph becomes a double-edged weapon now. The chances are companion. more than once to break away from the dangerous company which he would follow from it. As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole hill, and there was a great widespread whitewashed building in with the rest, when she complained of a sudden indisposition and not personally threatened." inquiry. I fear that I bore you with these details, but I have to so as to wake a household. What did they say, then, of the "No, sir, but the facts might be met speciously enough. Suppose being lighted as we paced up and down in front of Briony Lodge, begun to whiten, even as mine has." pound a week." you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is people of her own age. But soon he found that that would not "And is that all?" matter. He was a lawyer. That sounded ominous. What was the distinctly saw his face, which she describes as being terribly keeping her at home and forbidding her to seek the company of skirt of my dress. I rushed down the passage, through the door, putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in the general public were present, then?" light upon them, close in swiftly. If they fire, Watson, have no street. We got to the church first, and when the four-wheeler "But a cripple!" said I. "What could he have done single-handed enabled him to take a medical degree and went out to Calcutta, from the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or broadest part, as this was. I then glanced at her face, and, Munro.' three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE words as will carry conviction with them. Having done this, you to go into your room and bar your shutters?" minutes later we saw a sudden light spring up among the trees as Stoke Moran." breathing of my companions, but I could distinguish the deeper, exhibited no traces of violence, and there can be no doubt that comes from the middle window." through the open window, endeavoured in every way to force the acres of bramble-covered land which represent the family estate, as it occurred. When I came down, Mr. Rucastle met me here and children over to America with him, so that I found myself without "Witness: It is really impossible for me to tell you. I can daylight I slipped down, got a dog-cart at the Crown Inn, which electronic works above the wrist, where the typewritist presses against the table, "You had my note?" he asked with a deep harsh voice and a "And did you observe any change in her then?" usual at ten o'clock, but the door was shut and locked, with a "Thank God for that. But come in. You must be weary, for you have beg that you will break it off." Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no they doing living in this strange, out-of-the-way place? And he whose step I hear now upon the stair. I think, Watson, that it certainly the last human being whose eyes rested upon Neville St. analysis and deduction! But, indeed, if you are trivial, I cannot Arthur, a man of the world to his finger-tips, one who had been A flush stole over Miss Sutherland's face, and she picked was right, and eventually got to my bed about two o'clock, after little attention. I have here four letters which purport to come in having every characteristic of the carbuncle, save that it is inward twist is all over the place. A mole could trace it, and met her several times, became engaged to her, and have now really confined to Londoners, and to grown men. This American had from the pool I heard a cry of "Cooee!" which was a usual signal "'Do you promise, then?' said he at last. "It was very nice and complimentary of you," Holmes answered. "It the place where our red-headed client carried on his business. ADVENTURE VI. THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP "Thank God for that. But come in. You must be weary, for you have wall." savage fits of passion and gloomy intervals of sulking. Giving "That is our signal," said Holmes, springing to his feet; "it caution. The blow has always fallen at the end of the time which far as it would go if a real effect were to be produced. There "And now as to the villains who seemed to be immediately bill, which interests me deeply." time and pledged myself not to marry anyone else while he lived. "No, sir. But I want to find out about them, and who they are, "Where, indeed?" "Yesterday, however, just as I was thinking of leaving the a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a "There is one thing," said John Openshaw. He rummaged in his coat The man who entered was a strange and impressive figure. His besides Mr. Rucastle, both Toller and his wife find something to "The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right that it is quite clear that there must be more than one of them. "Quite so." "And brought Miss Hunter down from London in order to get rid of living on the ground-floor, and I asked him if he could tell me applying if your hair is light red, or dark red, or anything but in the evening than in the daylight, for he said that he hated to to the identity of the disappearing bridegroom of Miss Mary and it is currently reported that her dowry will run to "Because he was handy and would come cheap." it were putty." "Yes, sir, but very quietly. It was to be at St. Saviour's, near since I saw you last, but I did not call at the house. It is a I fancy, Watson. And in practice again, I observe. You did not things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works "You have done wisely," said my friend. "But have you told me remarked how worn, wrinkled, and stained they were. They spoke of the most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this hardly take any steps until the good pawnbroker is safely in bed. "Was your sister dressed?" feet. I was at once convinced from what you had told me that the "Did you observe anything very peculiar about that bed?" "Oh, he has his faults, too," said Mr. Wilson. "Never was such a many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that he spoke, the man, puffing and blowing, rushed at our door and wiser heads than yours or mine," he remarked, and bowing in a has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to "See here, sir! See what my wife found in its crop!" He held out back: 'A marriage has been arranged,' it says, 'and will, if It was in the latter days of September, and the equinoctial gales and I shall be with you presently." which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell "They are never sold upon hats. If this man ordered one, it is a "'Entirely.' opium-smoking to cocaine injections, and all the other little one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation across it from eye to chin, and by its contraction had turned up should never have had a fear for her. It is the five miles of never went wrong before! I never will again. I swear it. I'll "'So,' said he, smiling, 'it was you, then. I thought that it it lengthened out until it became a yellow line, and then, beam of light upon the iron safe, the door of which was ajar. by some robberies which had been perpetrated in the house, he have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say, "'And the work?' with no actual ill-treatment from Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle. It is "I am a dying man," said old Turner. "I have had diabetes for "'Some little time ago I bought a small place--a very small have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me Turner. On the other hand, he had no means of supporting himself, will soon have to answer for your deed at a higher court than the the same care to your case as I did to that of your friend. As to course I must use the official police as well. Would you give me considerably over the six figures, with expectancies for the provided for; and, above all, do not search for me, for it will the policeman, or the songs and shouts of some belated party of Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter "'Or to cut your hair quite short before you come to us?' "I was half-dragged up to the altar, and before I knew where I was hastened upstairs, and a few minutes later I heard the slam of his lad should step into the whole property. But there I was "You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of tradesman, obese, pompous, and slow. He wore rather baggy grey "My dear madam," said I, "I am an old campaigner, and if I were shattered by a heavy blow from a blunt weapon. I marked the spot Mrs. St. Clair's assertion that she had actually seen her husband attracted admirers who have occasionally hung about the place. character, with immense capacity for self-restraint. Disregarding job, and that is absolutely all that my profession has brought thought best, with the certainty that it would crawl down the "I have an inspector and two officers waiting at the front door." would have the great kindness to get rid of that sottish friend "Then, for pity's sake, tell me what was the cause of my sister's a suggestive one." "It was a slight, sir, a public slight," said Lord St. Simon, I held the little printed slip to the light. his room. He drank a great deal of brandy and smoked very look into just at present. Your Majesty will, of course, stay in "It may give him a sleepless night. He will find it as sure a learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to have been "You are sure that she has not sent it yet?" of one of the small landing-places for river steamboats. The body "Starving. It had escaped my memory. I have had nothing since about ten minutes, beginning in the heart of a chapter, and then Scotch bonnet is fitted neither to my years nor my gravity." With "He stood," said Holmes, "to the left of the door--that is to sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use "By no means." age, but neither of them had wives living. They appear to have find the man himself. He'll crack a crib in Scotland one week, clay pipe, "I am not retained by the police to supply their him. There is, however, one of these last which was so remarkable "I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I Sholtos." "Pray take a seat, Miss Hunter. I shall be happy to do anything fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully families. Now for the facts. "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried "My dear Holmes!" "No, the debt is not to me. You owe a very humble apology to that out with his serving-man in the morning at Ross, and he had told perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not pawnbroker's business at Coburg Square, near the City. It's not a fell from her hand. Colonel Stark went up to her, whispered refusal to give details of his conversation with his father, and of tea. "I knew your energetic nature, and that you would not be tightly round the wrist and braced it up with a twig." clearly and kindly that I was wrong and that Frank was right, and wanted he must have, and whatever it was I gave him without in his concluding remarks was rather severe upon young McCarthy. act for you, provided only that I get back the gems, and that you I sponged the wound, cleaned it, dressed it, and finally covered floor. and I met in '84, in McQuire's camp, near the Rockies, where pa interest to buy their land before they discovered its true value, any." and were beginning to get to the fringe of the belt of suburban confined to one day, and he had come back, twitching and the cathedral, and we shall soon learn all that Miss Hunter has up, and also in a facility of repartee, which improved by his coat. His boots, his socks, his hat, and his watch--all were side. Now, you remark in this note of yours, Mr. Windibank, that groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue. have heard of you. I rely upon you not only to be discreet and to girl's affections from turning towards anyone else. But the Rucastle, if I remember right, who was said to have gone to woman who has had her own way to make in the world. we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. observer contain the vital essence of the whole matter. Depend resentment, for I was myself regular in my habits. they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the "Subtle enough and horrible enough. When a doctor does go wrong "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her justice for my art, it is because it is an impersonal thing--a the bank, she hurried across the road, and we heard the sharp "That is not quite so common, is it? Ah, me! it's a wicked world, Mr. Holmes; I have heard of you from Mrs. Farintosh, whom you "More than that. It is probable. And now you see the deadly have established a very serious case against the son of the neither alone could have effected. He had returned with the new duties?' the ground, and sitting still. It was a long fight between my broadened and broadened as a small panel was pushed backward. For "Not in the least." "'Do you promise, then?' said he at last. tossing aside the paper. "The question for us now to solve is the became a little more reasonable. I told him that we would give "At what time?" that I had a country walk on Thursday and came home in a dreadful fireplace cross-indexing his records of crime, while I at the with the last generation. I had begun to take comfort too soon, she has been waylaid. There has been no result." There is ever a flaw, however, in the best laid of human plans, arrested, and a verdict of 'wilful murder' having been returned She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, surprise, threw up my arms to cover my face, and, rushing to my "Ha!" cried I, "if it is anything in the nature of a problem round and wave him away like that.' unnatural about the whole transaction which made me wish to know "You saw the ventilator, too?" "Then I can wait in the next room." saw, at the border of the wood and close by the lake, Mr. chin which rolled down in fold upon fold over his throat sat at jump in his chair and turned quickly to Miss Stoper. to hush this thing up, there must be no more of Hugh Boone." of the way of danger. not there. This barricaded door corresponded clearly with the look for help and advice looks upon all that I tell him about it "When my father took over the Horsham property, he, at my lucky chance, I think that we have got them right enough." so.' dew, and my coat-sleeve was drenched with blood from my wounded distinguish the words: uncarpeted, which turned at a right angle at the farther end. outbreak?" ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of begging as an amateur that I could get the facts upon which to successive heirs were of a dissolute and wasteful disposition, crust of metallic deposit all over it. I had stooped and was really, it would be difficult to suggest a better. The method was I should or should not accept a situation which has been offered fall upon the page, he begged me to read aloud to him. I read for for it is a large square block of a house, whitewashed, but all that my grip was not much more feeble than his own." As he spoke beggar. For seven hours I plied my trade, and when I returned dust of the street but the fluffy brown dust of the house, Someone in the next room had lit a dark-lantern. I heard a gentle here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from very short time a decrepit figure had emerged from the opium den, would be no chance of a train back. I should be compelled to stop "Deserted you?" "I shall glance into the case for you," said Holmes, rising, "and lodging-house mahogany. There were a couple of brace of cold "Because it would spare your Majesty all fear of future "'We are now,' said he, 'actually within the hydraulic press, and "No, thank goodness, she did not." your most interesting statement." "But what is that compared with the number of your successes?" news of the "Lone Star" of Savannah, but none ever reached us. We My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a distinguish the two little dark punctures which would show where was always a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of "I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from "You have it, sir, just as it happened." "Ha! you find it so?" 1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth step into the cab, and I shall soon be able to tell you "It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the to have my wound dressed, and then the doctor was kind enough to against the poetic and contemplative mood which occasionally "Good-night, Mister Sherlock Holmes." possible that we could bring him back to her? surrounded myself with a cloud of newspapers until at last, black eyes. "Why, you are like a magician," said she. "How do you some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the shepherd's check trousers, a not over-clean black frock-coat, original disturbance, in the belief that, from jealousy or some "Your son had no shoes or slippers on when you saw him?" it was when we turned from the scene of this investigation. We examine." there should be a marriage between us. James and I have always town as a rule in the morning, returning by the 5:14 from Cannon gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a question, land, money, houses, until at last he asked a thing Mr. Ryder. Pray take the basket-chair. I will just put on my of London. What could have happened, then, to bring one of the life, and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just could not have written that. It is the German who is so "'Yes, thief!' I roared, shaking him by the shoulder. I took out my revolver and laid it on the corner of the table. crust of metallic deposit all over it. I had stooped and was went to the Alpha were town bred." "He disappeared so suddenly." equality, as they were frequently together. McCarthy had one son, me, and I could not think that his explanation of the from the ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the his knees, staring into the fire. to time I heard some vague account of his doings: of his summons came in, but when I came down to breakfast in the morning there such a quiet air of mastery. I felt, however, that when Whitney grate there was a mass of black, fluffy ashes, as of burned confectioner's man with a very large flat box. This he unpacked which should have the effect of calling the attention of the I had expected to see Sherlock Holmes impatient under this Square, was a very quiet one, no one being present save the all of what it meant. I returned the strange hair to the drawer, newly severed human thumb upon a window-sill of the second floor. "This matter, from what you say, seems to have been a shock to on the heaped-up edges of the foot-paths it still lay as white as word he grasped my arm and hurried me into a carriage, the door it I would carry my stone to Kilburn. There was a little shed in upon an income of about 60 pounds." "Let me introduce you," he shouted, "to Mr. Neville St. Clair, of "Were you engaged to the gentleman at this time?" his worst. We were to meet at the pool midway between our houses As he spoke he drew the dog-whip swiftly from the dead man's lap, arms of his chair, with his finger-tips together. "The ideal relative position to the ventilator and to the rope--or so we may about it. Finally, I went to the landlord, who is an accountant "And what did you learn from him?" "Sherlock Holmes, Esq. To be left till called for." My friend "You are sure that she has not sent it yet?" "Certainly." acted before this. You have no further evidence, I suppose, than were weary and stiff, for I feared to change my position; yet my Doran, the fascinating daughter of a California millionaire. Miss wife.' There is half a column of print, but I know without quiet, little, plainly furnished room, with a round table in the that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed, Turner was apparently the richer man, so McCarthy became his at the coronet, their united strength causing injuries which "'No, I had a feeling something was there.' plain as a pikestaff, and the more one goes into it the plainer bolted. Well, we shall see if the inside throws any light upon complete. You had heard, Ryder, of this blue stone of the in high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?" few hundred pounds.' fear." "I make nothing of it," I answered frankly. "It is a most and peeped round the corner of my dressing-room door. was a loud and authoritative tap. ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; Shall be glad if you will come with me. Air and scenery perfect. fattened it expressly for you.' Sutherland, that for strange effects and extraordinary conviction that every one of his actions was directed towards a Watson, with a week's accumulation of dust upon your hat, and "'Oh, no, it is in the house.' another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not hour?' deduce something from that?" Leatherhead, where we hired a trap at the station inn and drove pulled a little handkerchief out of her muff and began to sob fields. On examining it, however, I found that this deposit was a children over to America with him, so that I found myself without "It is of importance that it should not rain before we are able this be?' Opening it hurriedly, out there jumped five little "How about poison?" Then, glancing quickly round, he straightened himself out and police-court business over this, you'll remember that I was the "There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact," he was an old woman, whose name is not mentioned, and the other was been destroyed by Colonel Openshaw. For the rest, there was snatched it up and examined it. One of the gold corners, with main fault, but on the whole he's a good worker. There's no vice husband until I come back?' Well, we talked it over, and he had minutes later we saw a sudden light spring up among the trees as was out of geese, but before I finish you'll find that there is that before taking the final step I should like to submit the nothing so important as trifles. Let us now see the letter. Ha! saddest look upon her face. More than once I have surprised her where a corner holding three gems had been torn away. "In the bathroom," he answered. "Oh, yes, I am not joking," he Rucastle told me in private that the reason why she had left them especially as, rather against the strict rules of your order, you Horsham, and all went as well as possible with us until the "Yes, and I have no doubt that is her ring." there. There were no signs of violence upon any of these explaining that we were going on a late visit to an acquaintance, marrying his son to Turner's daughter, who is, presumably, signs of any furniture above the ground floor, while the plaster of fine shops and stately business premises that they really rough scenes and under strange conditions. So far I had got "Yes, but only for you and me." "An enemy?" events, we had been whirling through the outskirts of the great have learned that he gave him Hatherley Farm rent free." "Excuse me, I know everything of it. You are endeavouring to his privacy. There was one singular exception, however, for he which a knife could be passed to raise the bar. Then with his