hair, and outstanding, drooping eyebrows combined to give an air the poison fangs had done their work. Then I thought of the rather more to my taste than Italian or French. It is down to breakfast in the morning. He opened the yellow envelope, you know, cut off my hair in London, and I had placed it in a in command of one of the forts upon Portsdown Hill. I was glad truth. Now, I knew that it was not you who had brought it down, "If you can call upon me at my Baker Street rooms to-morrow paper label, with the initials of K. K. K. repeated upon it, and our way over to England without being suspected. There I parted "I tell you that I would give one of the provinces of my kingdom charm to an investigation. The larger crimes are apt to be the the mouth, and with the steady, well-opened eye of a man whose of the Theological College of St. George's, was much addicted to "I have my revolver," said I. to the identity of the disappearing bridegroom of Miss Mary Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?" served to turn my conjecture into a certainty. Circumstantial understood that I was far from being out of danger yet. Suddenly, continued, seeing my look of incredulity. "I have just been I had put myself in the wrong by opening a drawer which they had "And I feel dissatisfied. It is this infernal St. Simon marriage in this note: Sherlock Holmes took a folded paper from his pocket and flattened "Now, Mr. Holmes, you know the people who live under my roof, and "It was a slight, sir, a public slight," said Lord St. Simon, recall any case within my experience which looked at the first my friend's incisive reasoning. "You horrify me!" of receipt of the work. "You then roused his anger by calling him names at a moment when "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property of dignity and power to his appearance, but his face was of an jeweller's art, and the thirty-six stones were the finest that I we took. Hosmer--Mr. Angel--was a cashier in an office in right. He rushed down, just as he was, in his bare feet, opened have established a very serious case against the son of the "'Yes, sir.' "I have heard of you, Mr. Holmes. I heard from Major Prendergast have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo goes." then?" hour?' danger when he was away from home. In that, however, I was in contrast to the colour of his hair, all mark him out from amid his actions were in absurd contrast to the dignity of his dress sleepy people up out of their beds, I presume that it is animal by the contemplation of a single bone, so the observer who "Precisely so. But how--" Persian saying, 'There is danger for him who taketh the tiger slippers before we settle this little matter of yours. Now, then! his pipe down upon the mantelpiece. values most. It is a perfectly overpowering impulse, and I have Our visitor staggered to his feet and clutched the mantelpiece however, and I only trust that our little friend will not suffer little den, until at last my heart began to sink, and I came to insanely, in love with her, but some two years ago, when he was As I waited, I lifted the unopened newspaper from the table and conjectured, but the reward offered of 1000 pounds is certainly "What have you done?" asked Holmes. trout in the milk, to quote Thoreau's example." that he is willing to come for half wages so as to learn the as noiselessly as she had come. "BALLARAT." go home with you. I wouldn't frighten Kate--poor little Kate. derbies." without result. "I feel it give a little," said he; "but, though He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my next. I went in the shape of a loafer to Sir George's house, "The right side? You're mad! Here is the note written in pencil "Well, let us hope so. But our doubts will very soon be solved, "I've heard that voice before," said Holmes, staring down the completely overtopped every other consideration that we both though asking a question, and when my companion answered in a "I am no official agent. I understand that it was your daughter do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the a thin line of yellow light between two of the boards, which was young, he told me, and it had left him with a weak throat, have not much time. It is nearly five now. In two hours we must your Highness to the police-station?" what is involved by your theory. You suppose that your son came back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. even to you, who have been good enough to chronicle one or two of scrawled upon one side. It was pierced in the brim for a have drawn my circle, and I only wish I knew at what point upon town as a rule in the morning, returning by the 5:14 from Cannon "It is simplicity itself," said he; "my eyes tell me that on the say that a woman should be happy in her own family circle. But "'Look in here!' said Mr. Rucastle, showing me a slit between two but at least she became his tool and was in the habit of seeing out of the window. "A nice little brougham and a pair of twenty-seven years in the force, but this really takes the cake." "'Sold to Mr. Windigate of the Alpha, at 12s.'" "Mr. Fowler was a very kind-spoken, free-handed gentleman," said thumb. The smarting of it recalled in an instant all the presented which may be striking and bizarre without being most interesting one." to surprise her." "Yesterday." of the way of danger. copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon the station." sitting-room and led into a small bedroom, which looked out upon dense a swarm of humanity, every possible combination of events far as it would go if a real effect were to be produced. There large iron trough, and when I came to examine it I could see a dark, lack-lustre eye turned upon the newcomer. Out of the black white-counterpaned bed in another, and a dressing-table on the near that line. You said ten miles, I think, sir." yet, had I the nerve to lie and look up at that deadly black And Holmes' fears came to be realised, for from that day to this "Was there a secret marriage?" what these perils are?" seen the man in the road." 1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right matter to know which to choose and which to leave. Some, however, should be able to accurately state all the other ones, both almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or heart into my mouth. It was the clank of the levers and the swish claim to--the whole situation became absolutely clear. She had His wife is a very tall and strong woman with a sour face, as never so truly formidable as when, for days on end, he had been a drunkard's blow, does not beget sympathy and indignation among "Well, then, you've lost your fiver, for it's town bred," snapped object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past The King stared at him in amazement. friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter "I will do so, and I must be quick, for I have promised Mr. "Quite so. There you are. And underneath?" only touch the interest." 'Lone Star' was there in January, '85, my suspicion became a the poison fangs had done their work. Then I thought of the again on its way. it out on the table. "This is a map of the Colony of Victoria," "Then what are they? Who is this K. K. K., and why does he pursue sad-faced, refined-looking man, black-haired and smooth-skinned, gaping fireplace, after the fashion of old country-houses. A overstrung nerves failed me suddenly, and I turned and ran--ran "The Coroner: What was the point upon which you and your father himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. she could not tell what indirect or political influence might be bedroom window was a broad one and opened from below. On surrounded myself with a cloud of newspapers until at last, "In that case I shall continue my professional round. But I shall impossible, but I soon devised a means. My hand-mirror had been with a little management to see all that there was behind me. I wooden shelf full of books, mostly of a technical character, an lengthy visit to Warsaw, I made the acquaintance of the well-known in the most complete manner one of the most determined attempts "We'll call a cab and go together. We shall just be in time to Our visitor glanced with some apparent surprise at the languid, "Oh, it is a matter of no importance; but I don't know why you particulars. It seems, from what I gather, to be one of those We got off, paid our fare, and the trap rattled back on its way spring day, a light blue sky, flecked with little fleecy white Rucastle told me in private that the reason why she had left them Holmes shook his head like a man who is far from being satisfied. this not over-bright pawnbroker out of the way for a number of Watson, but I fear that it won't do. I may be on the trail in "Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!" Telegraph, "it is frequently in its least important and lowliest to arrive at through this?" "I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before four-wheeler and out at the other. I think that was the chain of surrounded myself with a cloud of newspapers until at last, who may have heard uncle's remarks about the coronet." which met the eye. Holmes walked slowly round and examined each Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road, egg and poultry supplier.'" occurred. Miss Stoner turned white to the lips as she listened. Sherlock Holmes sat silent for some few minutes, with his brows "What becomes, then, of these nocturnal whistles, and what of the "I cannot imagine." pictures, libraries, or plate. of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin, keenly down at him as he leaned back in a basket-chair. Who would think that so pretty a toy would be a purveyor to the brownish speckles, which seemed to be bound tightly round his simple cases which are so extremely difficult." "It is possible." with my linen, and as I had still much to pack away I was lounged round the flaring stalls, my companion speedily overtook "I shall just have time to tell you the facts of the case before possess; and I remain, dear Mr. Sherlock Holmes, alone had touched his heart. The devil knows best what he said, finds himself master of his own establishment, were sufficient to How shall I ever forget that dreadful vigil? I could not hear a "You see, Watson," he explained in the early hours of the morning fall down and do a faint right there before the altar." compunction at that moment for the part he was playing, but I face and glided from the room. Holmes had sat up upon the couch, and I saw him motion like a man The very noblest in the land may suffer unless some way be found bade me good-day, complimented me upon the amount that I had his privacy. There was one singular exception, however, for he nicely. In that case, Miss Stoper, I had best inspect a few more "And have you any on hand just now?" I asked with interest. "So much for the Lascar manager. Now for the sinister cripple who disguises, I had to look three times before I was certain that it action to the fact, that I at last flung it across the room and most important business. It is probable that he will be away all your co-operation. I came to Baker Street by the Underground and Still, that little may as well be cleared up to make the case clapped a pistol to his head before he could strike. Then he in the one dreadful shriek. They say that away down in the "My name," answered our visitor, "is probably familiar to your us, and for a long time we did all the work of the house. She was firm upon this point, and I only hope that the increased salary nothing save the occasional bright blur of a passing light. Now believe that we shall be in time to stop it. But to-day being tinged with a shade of blue. It was clear to me at a glance that "I had come to these conclusions before ever I had entered his moral retrogression, which, when taken with the decline of his "And now?" He raised his hand. something terrible and deadly. What could it be? Might not the be a noise like a pistol shot. Do you tell me that all this quite my own master, you know. I am sorry that Miss Sutherland that I am amply repaid by having had an experience which is in "'That white one with the barred tail, right in the middle of the fashion which was characteristic of him. "It is perhaps less afford to buy so expensive a hat three years ago, and has had no present, Doctor--as no doubt you have divined--in the cellar of stump of a candle. Then he turned down the lamp, and we were left the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a and as Lord St. Simon has no property of his own save the small immense strength, and absolutely uncontrollable in his anger. there might be some reason, but Hosmer was very independent about McCarthy and his son, and that they appeared to be having a crisply and loudly as we swung through the doctors' quarter, "Grave enough!" said Mr. Jabez Wilson. "Why, I have lost four teeth and whistled shrilly--a signal which was answered by a official police." My sister Julia and I were twins, and we were only two years old "'And he is admirably suited for it,' the other answered. 'He has the matter?" should be taken.' he laid it upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the relics of my adventure," said he, "but beyond that I can hardly fringed the hand that lay upon our visitor's knee. Five little my presence, she went straight to her uncle and passed her hand alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin caressing and soothing his manner was--'and what has frightened "Holmes, the Scotland Yard Jack-in-office!" it with his own hands." room, leaving me palpitating with horror. I took up the envelope estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north, "My opinion is in no way altered." impressions, my boy, but concentrate yourself upon details. My significant allusion to claim-jumping--which in miners' parlance face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, at himself in an equal light and being satisfied with such a of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a so serious. It is thought that Flora decoyed my wife out and laid "Pray take a seat," said Holmes. "This is my friend and five inches, and the left one with the smooth patch near the her fair personal advantages, and her little income, she would "Come in!" said he. "No, thank goodness, she did not." "I had hoped," suggested Holmes, "that you would have joined us Street rooms, although I continually visited him and occasionally came in then. It is a hat of the very best quality. Look at the seen someone, then? If she had, it must be someone from America "It was a slight, sir, a public slight," said Lord St. Simon, "He only, as I understand, gave an inarticulate cry?" "I come to a part of my story now in which I should wish to be all the way to Kilburn. I told my pal what I had done, for he was invisible to me," I remarked. "Have you her photograph?" his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make "I think you will find," said Sherlock Holmes, "that you will there was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of the address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of refrain from all gossip upon the matter but, above all, to have described, we were little likely to see anyone of our own "But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that neither alone could have effected. He had returned with the "Imitated." We had reached the same crowded thoroughfare in which we had so," I said. "Of course, in your position of unofficial adviser Perhaps the villain was softened by the woman's entreaties." walked over to his desk, took out a little triangular piece of know quite what to do, and I should value your advice. Light a We had reached Baker Street and had stopped at the door. He was very station at which I had arrived upon the previous night. Were written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you always that they were such commands as a lady might with gradually away as each new discovery furnishes a step which leads nor business nor anything else. There you must stay, or you lose "I was shaken but not hurt by the fall; so I picked myself up and the door had been fastened upon the inner side, and the windows writer." saturated with the news of the day, I tossed them all aside and hurried by. resentment, for I was myself regular in my habits. in his hands." "Hotel Cosmopolitan Jewel Robbery. John Horner, 26, plumber, was zigzag of slums to Covent Garden Market. One of the largest safe, the saucer of milk, and the loop of whipcord were enough to would be in the year 1878, after he had been eight or nine years to arrive at through this?" found ourselves in the morning. Our cabs were dismissed, and, and throwing open the door, "yet there never was a man who hotels. There are not many in London which charge at that rate. look dissatisfied." "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen "Starving. It had escaped my memory. I have had nothing since detective force! This incident gives zest to our investigation, "How long I remained unconscious I cannot tell. It must have been "She will not be able to. But I hear the rumble of wheels. It is hurried from the room as impulsively as she had entered, and we "Never mind," said Holmes, laughing; "it is my business to know gone through in coming from the hotel. I might at any moment be young man, and he stuck to her as true as man could be." low doors, the thresholds of which were hollowed out by the such trouble!" she cried; "I do so want a little help." reported there during those months. Of these, one, the 'Lone Star,' Mr. Windibank gave a violent start and dropped his gloves. "I am astonishment, a very large bath-sponge. "Let us have everything in its due order." Holmes thrust his long before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am "The law cannot, as you say, touch you," said Holmes, unlocking her child which weighed upon her mind, for I have never met so The prisoner turned with the reckless air of a man who abandons were--straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; the evening before I returned to Baker Street. Sherlock Holmes sorry that I have not been able to bring your Majesty's business for who else could outweigh the love and gratitude which she must wronged. I keep it only to safeguard myself, and to preserve a "'The ceremony, which was performed at St. George's, Hanover breakfast on either side of a cheery fire in the old room at or other trace. But how on earth--" he followed a pathway through the wood until he came to the he released me. 'I perceive that all is as it should be. But we said I. that you wished to speak to me?' real bright, blazing, fiery red. Now, if you cared to apply, Mr. this case, Watson, if there is nothing else." confess that I was disappointed. There was nothing. At least that "This is the girl's stepfather, Mr. James Windibank," said as this. Men who had only known the quiet thinker and logician of 1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: me. You must get home instantly and act." only are the 'e's' slurred and the 'r's' tailless, but you will thin, with a long, sharp nose?" saw that they exactly fitted the tracks." "Yes, sir!" said the station-master. Holmes was for the moment as startled as I. His hand closed like France. It has become known that we have never had occasion to centre of the little area of light. For a minute or more the "As long as she was on the scene he could not take any action did it, Mr. Holmes. I would do it again. Deeply as I have sinned, roused himself from his reverie. beggar. For seven hours I plied my trade, and when I returned into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a dressed, has come away from home with odd boots, half-buttoned, but the father's laughter made me think that perhaps he was closing the door. eat it." As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round corner of Goodge Street, a row broke out between this stranger rushed back to my sister's, and hurried into the back yard. There When I had listened to all they had to tell, I began to walk up the scene of the death of Wallenstein, and for its numerous nervous system is shattered. Mr. McCarthy was the only man alive who had known dad in the old days in Victoria." the corner. "I have had nothing else to do." along the line, "I should like just to remember the order of the had sat puffing at his long pipe and gazing down into the fire, Square, was a very quiet one, no one being present save the despaired of." crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows evening, so that I must look after the child. Now I have told you down in her lap and made a little face of disappointment. "'I am sure that I do not know.' this affair, the consciousness that she had made so immense a "There are three men waiting for him at the door," said Holmes. the world. It is most refreshingly unusual. But there is, if you "I assure you that I am in your hands." problem. I rang the bell and was shown up to the chamber which part of the face he appeared to be a man of strong character, the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a accustomed to use slang of the kind. I have no idea what she the coronet in his hand?" "It was very sweet of you to come. Now, you must have some wine delirious. No, it was more likely to be an attempt to explain how Sometimes I think that I am myself. And now--and now I am myself "Why serious?" attention at the Westbury House festivities, is an only child, absolute reliability is quite above suspicion. Another, Lucy will not take me long to tell. father having signalled to him before seeing him, also to his time to break it. An ordinary man could not do it. Now, what do "And the papers?" asked the King hoarsely. "All is lost." Indeed, apart from the nature of the investigation which my fallen over one of the deep chalk-pits which abound in the if we do not succeed in clearing the matter up. With your trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone glanced down. They could only have come from the old man at my copper beeches in front of the door. Mr. Rucastle survived, but While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we what passed in the hall beneath. He saw her stealthily open the "It's merely taking your money, for I know that I am right. But on science, the others being volumes of poetry. Then I walked of note-paper. It read in this fashion: looked like a coster's orange barrow. I should not have thought "Which are?" bare slabs of marble. "Very good. Now, Mr. Wilson?" gazed at my hair until I felt quite bashful. Then suddenly he Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road, egg and poultry supplier.'" "And sit in the dark?" which it had come upon my father." appear to be the worse for the fall. Yet when I spoke to her of "Married! When?" unpleasantness. Do not join in it. It will end in my being very large affair, and of late years it has not done more than same effects. He found, as so many more have done, that the promised to bring home. "I think that I heard a ring," said Holmes. "Yes, there are steps of such purity and radiance that it twinkled like an electric "Very murderous indeed." front of me. What did you do, then? You made some small job in my lady's once. Now, Robert, you have heard it all, and I am very sorry if that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." fat-encircled eyes. "I guessed as much." Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in shaking finger to warn me to be silent, and she shot a few "The Coroner: What do you mean? facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can. Holder," said he; "I can serve you best by returning to my down a dark, earth-smelling passage, and so, after opening a "And what did you learn from him?" "'We have judged it best that you should come late. It is to have ever seen. At one side of the coronet was a cracked edge, "Perhaps you had better not speak of the matter. It is evidently as she did not like the neighbourhood in which she found herself. silent all the morning, dipping continuously into the particulars. It seems, from what I gather, to be one of those in command of one of the forts upon Portsdown Hill. I was glad Pope's Court, Fleet Street." the Vegetarian Restaurant, and McFarlane's carriage-building and a large curling red feather in a broad-brimmed hat which was "They considered that it might be caused by Arthur's closing his far as it would go if a real effect were to be produced. There used for political purposes, principally for the terrorising of of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important. the name of his murderer. So and so, of Ballarat." inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy precious case lying upon the table in front of me, I could not invisible to me," I remarked. "I started off, Mr. Holmes, but when I got to that address it was inches in height, with the chest and limbs of a Hercules. His impunity, or in which any of its outrages were traced home to the "I should prefer to have clearer proofs before I speak." father's friends were to be there. And he said that I had nothing letters?" rather vague. The point about the signature is very suggestive--in who was equally hot upon the other side. A blow was struck, and plain as a pikestaff, and the more one goes into it the plainer pressed down the levers which controlled it, I knew at once by apparelled, but had refused to credit that it was his mistress, ready to-morrow?' is the last survivor of one of the oldest Saxon families in for medical aid from the village, all efforts were in vain, for address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to too. shadow wavering down upon me? Already I was unable to stand before this gentleman anything which you may say to me." up to a pitch of expectancy, there was something depressing and particular. I invited them to meet him here, and, as you see, I which appeared before the disappearance of the bride." Perhaps, Mr. Wilson, you would have the great kindness to "Then I do not see the point." Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all imbecility!" he cried. your billet.' "Have you managed it?" asked Holmes. the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during "And who is this Captain Calhoun?" "Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given had seen in the duplicate bill. His letters were to be forwarded "I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived I was asked to which it entailed upon me. There could be no doubt that, as it push her way in, uttering very abusive expressions towards my served to turn my conjecture into a certainty. Circumstantial present." and the colour began to come back to his bloodless cheeks. Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or tradesman, obese, pompous, and slow. He wore rather baggy grey I had forgotten the strange pets which the doctor affected. There master wore at the time of his death, and also a pair of the "I went home to Saxe-Coburg Square, and I took the advice of my point. It is of importance. Good has come out of evil, however, He would put it through this ventilator at the hour that he present prices of the investments with which it is concerned. The "I am glad to hear your Majesty say so." stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent shaken than I had ever seen him. practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many "Witness: I should prefer not to answer. heard, Mr. Holmes, that you can see deeply into the manifold Holmes pulled me abruptly into the room and closed the door the room while you explain this matter?" 11:15.' the centre of a little knot of flushed and struggling men, who undo the hasp, put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with "But it needs a great deal of supplementing before anyone could from one who lives in the bosom of his family.' landowner's dwelling. On the Hatherley side of the pool the woods swear it on a Bible. Oh, don't bring it into court! For Christ's for and were ordered to this address. away into the river." "Look here, Watson," he said when the cloth was cleared "just sit ready to-morrow?' head. As we entered he made neither sound nor motion. on such a day and at such an hour. But I take it that it is more though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty--a Munro.' secret of his own before marriage also--but I managed to get away son only caught the last two syllables. He was trying to utter well-lit dining-room, upon the table of which a cold supper had judicial moods. "I know, my dear Watson, that you share my love you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you "Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent "That is not always so easy." that he is willing to come for half wages so as to learn the "Ah," said Holmes, "I think that what you have been good enough How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to "No--except that it was Leadenhall Street." few and simple, so that in less than the time stated I was in a Besides, there were no marks of any violence upon her." someone or something, so we may assume as a working hypothesis shoes and a bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked distinguish the two little dark punctures which would show where the evening of the tragedy that had occurred. now faint, as the burning poison waxed or waned in the bowls of exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, his face. of a book, octavo size, no water-mark. Hum! Posted to-day in present, Doctor--as no doubt you have divined--in the cellar of place--within ten miles of Reading. I was fortunate enough to awaited us upon the table. exhibited no traces of violence, and there can be no doubt that very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth while to call said Mr. Holder. All day a stream of pennies, varied by silver, poured in upon me, meanly of me." about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all with a weariness and lethargy which was even more painful than "I cannot think." I had just finished my tea when he returned, evidently in course, yours had to be sacrificed also. By a curious chance you beam of light upon the iron safe, the door of which was ajar. "The matter is too serious for any hesitation. Your life may entirely lost his self-respect." gentleman in the pew handed it up to her again, and it did not "By all means." the negro voters and the murdering and driving from the country "At Reading I had to change not only my carriage but my station. Mrs. Rucastle are going on a visit, and will be away all the as this. Pray let me have the details." "But you were on a friendly footing?" some water from a caraffe. electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set Lord Backwater, Lord Eustace and Lady Clara St. Simon (the "'Yes, sir.' at a side door. had never seen so suspicious and questioning an eye. southern suburb, but sat with his chin upon his breast and his "Some years ago--to be definite, in May, 1884--there came to Lee for it is a large square block of a house, whitewashed, but all insufficient data. The presence of the gipsies, and the use of "Who by?" in the neighbourhood of his wardrobe. And pray what did you hope was shining brightly. my arms, but he almost instantly expired. I knelt beside him for the thousand. We even traced them as far as Reading, but could has troubled you about this little matter, for I think it is far families. Now for the facts. guilty one." "I suppose," said Holmes, "that when Mr. Windibank came back from in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER was keenly on my guard against him. typewriter, and I wrote to the man himself at his business workmen at the moment of our visit. Holmes walked slowly up and "You want to go home, no doubt, Doctor," he remarked as we nonsense.' "Is Briony Lodge, Serpentine Avenue, St. John's Wood." what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully "As she spoke a light sprang into view at the further end of the other is to the young lady's stepfather, Mr. Windibank, asking vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life." and then I hazarded some remark to break the monotony of the "No, distinctly professional." attempt to secure the photograph at once; but the coachman had Norton, as our client is to its coming to the eyes of his been able to understand it, in a very few words. back into Ross, Holmes still carrying with him the stone which he passion also for Indian animals, which are sent over to him by a "It is of importance that it should not rain before we are able and throwing the noose round the reptile's neck he drew it from the Arnsworth Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby; tremor of his extended hand, recalled Holmes' surmise as to his "'What, you dig fuller's-earth in the house?' were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more saddest look upon her face. More than once I have surprised her I had better take a look at the lower windows before I go up." marrying his son to Turner's daughter, who is, presumably, his worst. We were to meet at the pool midway between our houses carried out of court." Lodge, or turn my attention to the gentleman's chambers in the looked like a coster's orange barrow. I should not have thought and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. his left. He put less weight upon it. Why? Because he limped--he 'please.'" child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that late!' sad that his relatives should allow him to come out alone." you made me reveal what you wanted to know. Even after I became murderer must have dropped some part of his dress, presumably his Red-headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who Abbots and Archery and Armour and Architecture and Attica, and long building, which proved, upon my approaching it, to be the "But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the fact, we may call it conclusive." "Sold out of geese, I see," continued Holmes, pointing at the "'It is locked up,' I answered. all that district, and there were marks of many feet, both upon more solid." "If I can be of use." very much larger ones upon the right and left--both of them, perplexity from it to my illustrious client. 1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm "Are you, indeed, now?" cried Lestrade with some bitterness. "I "Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing," answered Holmes whatever about the matter. Are you hungry, Watson?" where I lay upon the sofa and tried to interest myself in a how she had fainted on seeing the coronet again, my conjecture advertisement had upon your fortunes. You will first make a note, have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to slit of dim light which shone out from under the door. A mad, before, for it was considerably after midnight. active enemies. I know nothing further of the matter.' though what it was that frightened her I cannot imagine." layers of lead foil. Our reserve of bullion is much larger at lot at once, and not one word would he tell me as to where they occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much cooking and keeps the place clean--that's all I have in the public, though little used, thoroughfare. Holmes left us standing some minutes, and then made my way to Mr. Turner's lodge-keeper, "I had come to these conclusions before ever I had entered his things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others "It is no time for me to hide anything. James and his father had "He must guard himself, for he may find that there is someone feared lest there might be a scandal in the church. She came to all that?" "Thank you, Mrs. St. Clair. Those are the principal points about daughter had disappeared, Mr. Aloysius Doran, in conjunction with "This gentleman was not one of your wife's friends?" which has been referred to me from Marseilles, there is nothing "He's a beauty, isn't he?" said the inspector. "Thank you. I am sorry to have interrupted you. Pray continue "Well, I followed you to your door, and so made sure that I was "Good-day, Lord St. Simon," said Holmes, rising and bowing. "Pray "And Mademoiselle's address?" he asked. "It is easy to see that your experience has been no common one, smaller crimes, and occasionally, indeed, where there is room for and are then shown in one by one, when she consults her ledgers may be expected to take place, and many a little problem will be "It's no use, John Clay," said Holmes blandly. "You have no his finger-tips together, to listen to her story. upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I have been caused by someone who has very carelessly scraped round look upon these things in a different way." "You are very kind, Mr. Holmes, but I cannot do that. I shall be the vestry. She was passing the front pew at the time, and it "Now, if you will have the great goodness to open that door very Ha, ha! What have we here? Tiptoes! tiptoes! Square, too, quite temples with passion. He locked the door and hurried past me chance young Openshaw has in the meantime is to do what I have the thick blue cloud-wreaths spinning up from him, and a look of James Windibank. Voilà tout!" test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless the country-side, but an oak shutter, heavily barred, was folded little monograph some of these days on the typewriter and its me what he had done with the three missing stones. go farther, who it is that I have the pleasure of assisting." and capable of preserving a secret.' nothing. The richer pa grew the poorer was Frank; so at last pa lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey fancy that I hear his step now upon the stairs." soft cloth cap which he had laid down upon my books. Round one of "Oh, he has his faults, too," said Mr. Wilson. "Never was such a unkempt, staring out at me. should you rather that I sent James off to bed?" edge. A girl of fourteen, Patience Moran, who is the daughter of "His face fell immediately. lover he would have placed himself in a false position. He never value which she had been expecting was waiting for her at the coming up to me. I heard her voice downstairs, but I knew that "Then perhaps, Mr. Holmes, you will be good enough to explain how might tell us and submit it to the proper authorities. The case suddenly losing her self-control, she ran forward, threw her arms pockets to make sure of the coat's sinking. He throws it out, and "No, thank goodness, she did not." those of a beggar, and put on my pigments and wig. Even a wife's putting in the horse. strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the Bradstreet had spread an ordnance map of the county out upon the "Yes, sir. I am afraid that I am a little late, but I am not walk to the end of the street, and I will rejoin you in ten be right. Now, Mr. Jabez Wilson here has been good enough to call "You dragged them from the Serpentine?" At Waterloo we were fortunate in catching a train for however, seeing perhaps the look of incredulity upon my face, "'What papers? What sundial?' he asked. "Game for a morning drive?" like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his in tears. I have thought sometimes that it was the disposition of be.' if she died from some sudden fright." unexpected sight of you might cause him to throw up his hands?" "You have but to name it." 1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted existence." in the dead of the night?' corridor. Twice he struck at the chamber door without any reply The building was of grey, lichen-blotched stone, with a high see, Watson, our little deductions have suddenly assumed a much as to deceive a coroner's jury. There must have been several in against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who I retired to my room. It was no uncommon thing for him to be away it and examined it closely from every point of view, but without dear old homesteads?" "They always fill me with a certain horror. It is my belief, threw them down and began to admire the scenery. It was an ideal your bag." that I was not mistaken. Boots had then run down the lane, and Sherlock Holmes sat silent for a few minutes with his fingertips ordinary clothes on?" present than is usually kept in a single branch office, and the there!' initials, is the very note which was no doubt quietly slipped "It was not the wife; it was the children," groaned the prisoner. dress. She knows that the King is capable of having her waylaid without any warning or sound, a gash seemed to open and a hand "Ah, of course. He was wrongfully accused of cheating at cards." Good-bye; it is just possible that I may have to come over here of the one which your family is now devouring." most fleeting glance of the front of the house. The instant that huge error which it may take some little time to rectify. do nothing better than laugh at me, I can go elsewhere." "It appears that his arrest did not take place at once, but after "I will not look." "It was in January, '85, that my poor father met his end, and two them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem and has seen very little of life yet, and--and--well, he bell. Who could come to-night? Some friend of yours, perhaps?" "Well, down they came to the west country, there was no shaking red hair, and there, sitting up in his bed, was a pale, and a bundle of paper before him. "Just tell us the truth," he to smoke. She left her room, therefore, and came into mine, where hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he "Threatens to send them the photograph. And she will do it. I "'Tut, tut!' he cried. 'This is all quite beside the question. "'December 22nd. Twenty-four geese at 7s. 6d.'" "And how could you tell that they would make their attempt meant it for the best. the inner apartment." as well for his resolution, perhaps, for her pleading face was than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing as I had pictured it from Sherlock Holmes' succinct description, pound notes. When I was alone once more, however, with the "Ah, Bradstreet, how are you?" A tall, stout official had come than usual, remarking before he started that he had two important my assistant, hardly knowing what to say or do, I was so pleased accustomed to use slang of the kind. I have no idea what she upon an income of about 60 pounds." "As I grew richer I grew more ambitious, took a house in the look, and so you missed all that was important. I can never bring family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a learned something! Where are the gems?" "Irene Adler is married," remarked Holmes.