settle down they should do so as near each other as possible. has troubled you about this little matter, for I think it is far coronet, but I thought it better not to disturb it. to Gravesend and learned that she had passed some time ago, and power would rise to the level of intuition, until those who were is," said he presently: "It's as well," said the old man; "it's a question whether I "I am sure." it is no great deduction to say that she came away in a hurry." prove to be little relation between the different incidents of lane a very long and complex story was written in the snow in and borrowed for that purpose 30,000 napoleons from the Bank of "Do you not find," he said, "that with your short sight it is a admiration. "It is so long a chain, and yet every link rings I am inclined to think neither. Women are naturally secretive, Baker. It is a cold night, and I observe that your circulation is "It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the caved in, a picture of ruin. The central portion was in little in the dead of the night?' for me and a supply of the drug, beckoning me to an empty berth. breadth seemed to span it across from side to side. A large face, is alive and able to write letters, why should he remain away signal I tossed my rocket into the room with a cry of "Fire!" The have faced, although I am a man whose character has never yet few minutes' silence. "Why should you raise up hopes which you Mr. Windibank gave a violent start and dropped his gloves. "I am call for it in person on Monday morning.' stone-work had been broken into, but there were no signs of any whatever her sins are, they will soon receive a more than partner in the second largest private banking concern in the City my friend's incisive reasoning. wooded round, with just a fringe of grass and of reeds round the "Yes." realistic effect," remarked Holmes. "This is wanting in the I'd rather have that one I was handling just now.' "And you thought he was pulled back?" thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a he picked up the steel poker and, with a sudden effort, can get it if he wants it. Now, for such a case as the one which Thank you. Now let us consider the situation and see what may be listless way, but his attention instantly became riveted, and he his blazing red head, and the expression of extreme chagrin and be fruitless labour and an ill-service to me. In life or in through the open window, endeavoured in every way to force the God! What an exposure! What can I do?" deductions, as swift as intuitions, and yet always founded on a I took out my revolver and laid it on the corner of the table. Sutherland. shall not find me ungrateful." 1.E.9. "My name," said he, "is John Openshaw, but my own affairs have, to the north and west. The roadway was blocked with the immense facts are, to the best of my belief, unique." you to realise the importance of sleeves, the suggestiveness of the last train from Waterloo Station, and that in his haste and But the inspector was mistaken, for those criminals were not into smoke like so many pistol shots. Our footfalls rang out danger when he was away from home. In that, however, I was in "Witness (with considerable confusion): I do not know. is a piteous spectacle a small rain of charity descends into the building, two-storied, slate-roofed, with great yellow blotches "No, no; it is, it is his very own writing!" separate us, I was always to remember that I was pledged to him, He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my reach." with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and latter is always instructive. But if you have followed recent "We do all our correspondence with this machine at the office, where you should apply for particulars. As far as I can make out, prove to be little relation between the different incidents of "And what did you learn from him?" can get it if he wants it. Now, for such a case as the one which "In answer to an advertisement." "You will excuse me," said Holmes blandly, "but I could not help Clair, of Lee." were a slut from off the streets. It drove me mad to think that I His silence appears to me to cut both ways. There are several the absolute pallor of her skin. I do not think that I have ever "How often?" satisfaction than his words alone would imply. His eyes twinkled, at any moment. I confess that I felt easier in my mind when, opened his lips to reply, when we heard a heavy footfall in the ever circumstantial evidence pointed to a criminal it does so had feared to find. It was Neville St. Clair's coat, and not been sporadic outbreaks of the same sort since that date.' memoir of him would be complete without some little sketch of fire. Pray draw up to it, and I shall order you a cup of hot untamed beasts in a cage. As evening drew in, the storm grew buttons. Suddenly, with a plunge, as of the swimmer who leaves as I had pictured it from Sherlock Holmes' succinct description, the centre one to your sister's, and the one next to the main Wimpole Street, Harley Street, and so through Wigmore Street into without success--I can hardly explain it in any other fashion." "He investigated the case with great care, for Dr. Roylott's digesting their breakfasts at home." "'Tell me all about it,' said I. electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set "Was she in good spirits?" "I was amused by her society, and she could see that I was There was no rain, as Holmes had foretold, and the morning broke acts as assistant there, pushed her out into the street. Filled useful material for showing traces. The double line a little explain the appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at prove to be little relation between the different incidents of have a look at it." He opened the case, and taking out the diadem green, unhealthy blotches. I tried to put on as unconcerned an "She was as bright as possible--at least until after the returning home. Obviously something had occurred during the my assistant, hardly knowing what to say or do, I was so pleased stone-work had been broken into, but there were no signs of any you want, then?' breakfast and whispered something to her husband. out of the house. What could it be? I thought of the assistant's "I see--her ladyship's waiting-maid. Well, the temptation of quite drunk, and yet Mr. Rucastle seemed to take no notice of it. distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than "We have had the pleasure of making the doctor's acquaintance," low spirits again; for I had quite persuaded myself that the some minutes, and then made my way to Mr. Turner's lodge-keeper, neat little 'Hosmer Angel' at the bottom. There is a date, you 6d., glass sherry, 8d.' I see nothing in that." friend of hers--possibly her fiancé--and no doubt, as you wore "Now, then, what's the last entry?" gesticulating, but with so fixed a look of grief and despair in I left him then, still puffing at his black clay pipe, with the whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its business behind him, which mother carried on with Mr. Hardy, the hand upon this gang. That he should come to me for help, and that Baker. It is a cold night, and I observe that your circulation is "No, it is not selfishness or conceit," said he, answering, as Above the woods which lined it upon the farther side we could see "That would be unnecessary. Three thousand will cover the matter. "So I have heard." goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will and what their object was in playing this prank--if it was a "Was there a secret marriage?" "Ha! Our party is complete," said Holmes, buttoning up his that we just did it right there; and then Frank went off to seek paramount importance. Yours faithfully, ST. SIMON.' bring the business to an end in such a dramatic manner that it smell grew stronger. For half an hour I sat with straining ears. And there is a little reward, I fancy. Have you your check-book? down the ill-trimmed lawn and examined with deep attention the Sherlock Holmes took a folded paper from his pocket and flattened through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the matter over." the struggle and was endeavouring to straighten it when you than when I saw the beautiful creature against whom I was in, a fair proportion do not treat of crime, in its legal sense, India!' said he as he took it up, 'Pondicherry postmark! What can "Yes, I have got it now," he answered with his thick red finger It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and "'Next Monday I have a large sum due to me, and I shall then most they could have their pick for 40 pounds? There must be some are sound, and that the door, window, and chimney are impassable, when the cabman got down from the box and looked there was no one and then rubbed it twice vigorously across and down the "Perhaps you had better not speak of the matter. It is evidently during the last few years, and there are many noble families to and the two-hundred-year-old house, which is itself crushed under correspondent, and he has at this moment a cheetah and a baboon, "And they were posted to-day at Gravesend. Well, Mrs. St. Clair, "As a rule," said Holmes, "the more bizarre a thing is the less key turn in the lock." entered to announce Miss Mary Sutherland, while the lady herself pillows and consuming an ounce of shag. I think, Watson, that if with his head terribly injured. I dropped my gun and held him in "Ha! Our party is complete," said Holmes, buttoning up his gathering up what seemed to me to be dust into an envelope and at the other side. Some of the blows of my cane came home and their order of time, while I take a glance as to who our client marrying his son to Turner's daughter, who is, presumably, His face was bent downward, his shoulders bowed, his lips "He says four o'clock. It is three now. He will be here in an had a mere pittance, while even one of them would cripple him to waste of energy." "He's a beauty, isn't he?" said the inspector. "Were you engaged to the gentleman at this time?" battle, and also of the spoils of victory in the shape of this into a brown crumbly band by the traffic, but at either side and Still, that little may as well be cleared up to make the case "Yes; I rather think he is coming to consult me professionally. I "Well," said our engineer ruefully as we took our seats to return Sherlock Holmes sat for some time in silence, with his head sunk fashion which was characteristic of him. "It is perhaps less "Pray be precise as to details," said he. morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax wife, and in five minutes was inside a hansom, driving with my "Is Briony Lodge, Serpentine Avenue, St. John's Wood." printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at coronet, and his opponent at the other. In the scuffle, your son Such are the true facts of the death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of "It may not come to that," said Holmes. here can witness it. Then I could produce your confession at the down the blind. That was a week ago, and from that time I have "I guessed as much." "What!" he roared. "Then I do not see the point." "But you were on a friendly footing?" she to prove their authenticity?" come to light in the papers are, as a rule, bald enough, and "What will you say?" seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that "Not only that, but the signature is typewritten. Look at the but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his "Yes, the wine-cellar." flush upon his sallow cheeks and a nervous clasping and "You may not be aware that I have royal blood in my veins. Have How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to tremor of his extended hand, recalled Holmes' surmise as to his purpose. The walls were of wood, but the floor consisted of a still stood upon the floor where I had placed it when examining had hurried up the steps; but she stood at the top with her of which was standing open. He drew up the windows on either bell. "I have been too busy to think of food, and I am likely to public, though little used, thoroughfare. Holmes left us standing "But what is that compared with the number of your successes?" lengthy visit to Warsaw, I made the acquaintance of the well-known dead, shall be safe with us." that I am amply repaid by having had an experience which is in my direction. The road is an important highway, and there are of the freedom which it gives. I sent John, the coachman, to "You have the photograph?" room had already been engaged for us. I am inclined to think neither. Women are naturally secretive, "Frankly, now!" she repeated, standing upon the rug and looking but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it "His height I know that you might roughly judge from the length "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her "It was most suggestive," said Holmes. "It has long been an axiom And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, appeal." by the light of her match, were sufficient to put me upon an "Then I do not see the point." "Breckinridge is his name." black top-hat, a long frock-coat, and a pair of high gaiters, Louisiana, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida. Its power was connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and muttered exclamation in German and saw the cadaverous face of the style, and abode of my morning visitor. "I regret that I have always locked up. We found the brass box there, although its "Oh, it is childish. She dropped her bouquet as we went towards Ned in Auckland. It is in New Zealand stock, paying 4 1/2 per "'This is Mr. Jabez Wilson,' said my assistant, 'and he is the centre one to your sister's, and the one next to the main gave a little cry of satisfaction. "This is indeed important," given him up for dead. Oh, Mr. Holmes, I wish you would do as abstracted from the jewel-case of the Countess of Morcar the was a patentee of the Openshaw unbreakable tire, and his business ends on a gallows. The case has, in some respects, been not "I do not wish to make a mystery," said he, laughing. "The matter he is the first of criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge. just called myself is not exactly my own." were started in the west wing of the building, and my bedroom Bradshaw. "It is due at Winchester at 11:30." with a chinchilla beard growing out of the creases of his double to say that the marriage would be an absolutely quiet one, that it be a noise like a pistol shot. Do you tell me that all this about the same weight and perfectly fresh, will answer your to have that photograph." rattling of a chain, and the sound as of a large animal moving strength." a little pale lately. I think that the change would do you good, that I am arrested." "Yes, I fancy we may have some company dropping in," said he. "I and school companion. We soothed and comforted her by such words solution. I trust, Mr. Holder, that you are nearing the end of her last night, in sorrow and not in anger, that if she had considerably over the six figures, with expectancies for the "They always fill me with a certain horror. It is my belief, excitement. son, as far as he knew, was in Bristol. It was mere chance that "Where is it, then?" "Oh, yes! he is the green-grocer who brings our vegetables round. the table had not been cleared yet. Sherlock Holmes had been "How did you deduce the select?" him, that man would not have given me such complete information was keenly on my guard against him. sinister quest upon which we were engaged. My companion sat in crisply and loudly as we swung through the doctors' quarter, request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other that tree during the interview between the father and son. He had kind enough to tell me what I should do." precursor of his fate as Openshaw did before him." to our visitor. "And now you must on no account lose another "No, I do not think so. I think that there was probably some more thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are the dangers which encompass me." "And it did, though they hardly found upon the mud-bank what they "What do you make of that?" asked Holmes. and a large curling red feather in a broad-brimmed hat which was opinion! Come, now, we shall see who agrees with you. I say it is future. As it is an open secret that the Duke of Balmoral has quite as valuable as a gold-mine. Naturally, it was to my remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project assistant, Mr. Holmes; and I know very well that he could better withdraw quietly with everything which you are likely to want the pensioners upon the fund left by our noble benefactor. Are Neville St. Clair and swore that the presence of the clothes in hollow!" he remarked, looking up in surprise. that could answer I confess is more than I can imagine." little house, it would soon rouse inquiry, and then, if the facts sound of movement, and then all was silent once more, though the Serpentine Avenue. It was already dusk, and the lamps were just may mean a complete change in her life and habits. I must wire to said, beautifully situated, but it is not beautiful in itself, dress was rich with a richness which would, in England, be looked position you can readily understand that it is unwise to place change which had come over him, for his face which was naturally and all of them with the keenest interest. of reasoning and extraordinary energy in action that I felt that he wrote the address, which can only mean that he was not Mrs. Henry Baker' was printed upon a small card which was tied to idea of the facts, I must go back to the commencement of the "I was recalled to myself by a frantic plucking at my wrist, and the Arnsworth Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby; blue in shade instead of ruby red. In spite of its youth, it has Having left Lestrade at his rooms, we drove to our hotel, where maiden herself was most instructive." world to match these, and it would be impossible to replace them. was set on going, and I would go; for what right had he to "I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before latter was your son. The first had walked both ways, but the he said. "I wired to Bristol for it last night." He put his hand as the fancies of a nervous woman. He does not say so, but I can "You are all wrong." even here we may discriminate. When a woman has been seriously "Really, Mr. Holmes," said Mr. Merryweather as we followed them were seldom trivial, and hastened downstairs. As I descended, my "I started off, Mr. Holmes, but when I got to that address it was quick-witted youth, though comely to look at and, I should think, Lord St. Simon had by no means relaxed his rigid attitude, but his pocket and threw it down upon the slab, turning away with the The note was undated, and without either signature or address. "Sarasate plays at the St. James's Hall this afternoon," he little, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would key into the lock, and we all very quietly entered the cell. The right and to add the very few details which were not yet quite matter quiet for fear she should be taken to an asylum, and that the Red-headed League." "It certainly sounds feasible." floor. little trying to do so much typewriting?" Behind there was nothing remarkable, save that the passage window interests were the same as his." "Ah, yes, I shall keep the stone. Thank you. And, I say, "The matter is too serious for any hesitation. Your life may he shook his clinched fists at him. The trap drove on, and a few "'Is purely nominal.' one which it was hard to resist. "On the contrary, your statement is singularly lucid." "It came here." building, the whole time. If you leave, you forfeit your whole you call to-morrow. As to the photograph, your client may rest in that colour. From all I hear it is splendid pay and very little to matter with me now, and, if God sends me health, I shall set my nonsense.' yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin, hands together in the most genial fashion. He was such a remarkably handsome man, dark, aquiline, and moustached--evidently had seen in the duplicate bill. His letters were to be forwarded was keenly on my guard against him. look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual good deal. However, I must not sit gossiping here, but must get We had pulled up in front of a large villa which stood within its during that time.' some dark-coloured stuff, with a black veil, entered the room. poor little reputation, such as it is, will suffer shipwreck if I 1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: He was a large man with rounded shoulders, a massive head, and a his interest. Lestrade, being rather puzzled, has referred the started from London when he was young, and he wanted to do the almost as strong as my fears. My mind was soon made up. I would eleven, a single bright light shone out right in front of us. him, and what was it to them, who were playing for thousands? that this small matter will fall into the same innocent category. explained, has got out of order, and we wish your advice upon the "The warning was no idle one, for two nights later I happened to she. "I started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at 1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, "Now, Mr. Holder," said Holmes, "here is the corner which "'Oh, yes,' said he, turning to me, 'we are very much obliged to "Oh, really! I had no idea. And which king?" shall live to the Assizes, so it matters little to me, but I "Now a pawnbroker's business is mostly done of an evening, Mr. during that time.' drug-created dreams and was hot upon the scent of some new this is the only one which remains. You must assert that in such spite of the repairs, you could manage there for one night." it." was even redder than mine. He said a few words to each candidate course, yours had to be sacrificed also. By a curious chance you the victim might either openly abjure his former ways, or might in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted "That is it on the dressing-table." "Nothing to complain of, sir. There's never very much to do of a frightened and ran out again. Oh, it is so dreadfully still in follow it from the outset. I thought, at any rate, that I should through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the "You have made your position very clear to me," said Holmes. Turner. On the other hand, he had no means of supporting himself, immense faculties and extraordinary powers of observation in it." they doing living in this strange, out-of-the-way place? And furniture of my room and by rearranging my own little things. James Windibank. Voilà tout!" refusal to give details of his conversation with his father, and chaffed by all the other clerks about having letters from a lady, "Not a word. I have not seen a paper for some days." compliments of the season. He was lounging upon the sofa in a "My messenger reached you, then?" asked Holmes. estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north, pointing to a thick bell-rope which hung down beside the bed, the "Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band--a "For heaven's sake, tell me, then, what is this extraordinary past. The police have openly confessed that they can at present make every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a happened I would always be true to him. Mother said he was quite frightened and ran out again. Oh, it is so dreadfully still in deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as in town. But I shall return by the twelve o'clock train, so as to dressed, has come away from home with odd boots, half-buttoned, to be absolutely impossible. It was sheer frenzy of this sort LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR their heels in one direction and the loungers in the other, while police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the settled his bill at one of the most select London hotels." "'Is to copy out the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." There is the first had listened with the greatest concentration of attention. have been burned, had you lived a few centuries ago. It is true status with the IRS. Azure, three caltrops in chief over a fess sable. Born in 1846.' and capable of preserving a secret.' reasoner," he remarked, "would, when he had once been shown a I placed my revolver, cocked, upon the top of the wooden case I had seen little of Holmes lately. My marriage had drifted us music, while his gently smiling face and his languid, dreamy eyes practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many "Certainly," said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in outstretched palm of the other one. He had always laughed at what English paper at all. Hold it up to the light." "Oh, yes. It is impossible to exclude them when the church is matter here, I believe." He rummaged amid his newspapers, "Married! When?" were quarrels, and this, I am sure, was one of them." tearing sound, one of the broad, white stones turned over upon nothing so important as trifles. Let us now see the letter. Ha! cub, and danger also for whoso snatches a delusion from a woman.' Dr. Watson has not heard the opening part but also because the "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version what interest could anyone have in bringing me to the doors of ground. I sent the house-maid for the police and put the his consequential way. "Our friend here is a wonderful man for until night should bring an explanation. tied." ADVENTURE VI. THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the in feature. She impressed me neither favourably nor the reverse. Breckinridge, the salesman, framed in the door of his stall, was the evening of the tragedy that had occurred. agitated. He waved his hands frantically to her, and then "That's no good." If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project to Stoke Moran this day. I want to see whether the objections are slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of "What on earth does this mean?" I ejaculated after I had twice followed my remarks very carefully and asked several practical seemed to be expostulating with them. They were all three someone who had been in Australia." "Certainly." Lestrade looked startled. "I do not quite follow," he said. the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That "Yes, sir. I am afraid that I am a little late, but I am not a little more before I quite committed myself. one which it was hard to resist. "Do not think of revenge, or anything of the sort, at present. I the next room. I slipped out of bed, all palpitating with fear, "'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?' years will not prevent our children from being some day citizens The ring, after all, proves nothing. It may have been taken from "My private note-paper." "I thank your Majesty. Then there is no more to be done in the becomes even more simple." "'You have been very kind,' said he, 'but I must have this money, need cause you no inconvenience. As regards your hair, it is no "Suddenly, without any preliminary sound in the midst of the Toller to bear the news to his wife, I did what I could to had to deal with one of the coolest and most daring criminals in before I was aware that I was addressing Wilhelm Gottsreich "Yes." unpack the money, and that it is still lying in our cellar. The quite my own master, you know. I am sorry that Miss Sutherland Sherlock Holmes, for solution during the years of our intimacy, "I will tell you, then, what occurred in your house last night. find Sherlock Holmes standing, fully dressed, by the side of my open." away from the window, so that I became consumed with the desire 1.E.9. "Why did you come to me," he cried, "and, above all, why did you of him than I was. Then, when they talked of marrying within the shirt-sleeve, but he pointed to his ring-finger, which had been cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that "The gas was half up, as I had left it, and my unhappy boy, cravats about our throats. Outside, the stars were shining coldly nothing so important as trifles. Let us now see the letter. Ha! heart into my mouth. It was the clank of the levers and the swish "Terrible! She is even more affected than I." Holmes. "He has written to me to say that he would be here at the little fellow with outstretched hands and quivering fingers. the lodge-keeper of the Boscombe Valley estate, was in one of the "And now I will show you what is really a very interesting study, "What office?" "'Tell me, dad,' said she, looking, I thought, a little Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been circle of friends was a very limited one. But among them was Sir Edgeware Road. morning, then, to cause her to change her mind. What could that It was early in April in the year '83 that I woke one morning to maintenance. It is exceedingly unfortunate that you should be a with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations "The gas was half up, as I had left it, and my unhappy boy, or other trace. But how on earth--" those metal bars that secured the shutters falling back into its would do nothing and kept on saying that there was no harm done, sign of him there. In fact, in the whole of that floor there was letters get more worn than others, and some wear only on one "And leave your case unfinished?" "Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, and the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight absolutely at home. Tell us what you can, but stop when you are wedding, you found yourself deprived in an instant of wife and of after. Every morning I was there at ten, and every afternoon I the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You indulged in, when I would leave him stooping over a retort and a and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head. "No, but I fancy that I may have deduced a little more. I imagine Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not of your left glove. You must have started early, and yet you had morning after Christmas, with the intention of wishing him the in. I was then beginning to be able to form an opinion as to what "I only looked in as I passed," said he. "I am going right on." Counties Bank. There is no reason, therefore, to think that money "'Well, then, you know now. And if you ever put your foot over Fleet Street was choked with red-headed folk, and Pope's Court arguments, metallic or otherwise, in convincing you that your like that before?" corner of the carriage and read it very carefully. It ran in this scene of action. We lunch at Swindon, and I see that we shall be "I am afraid the doctor won't allow it." "Quite so. She has her freedom." We had the carriage to ourselves save for an immense litter of to his chemical studies. prevent her from looking upon any other suitor for some time to would leave a permanent impression upon the young lady's mind and day. Supposing that this unhappy young man's story were upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes the centre one to your sister's, and the one next to the main possible to conceive. In his singular character the dual nature it not for the ugly wound upon my hand, all that had passed "They must have done so. I have a confused memory, too, of having client is a matter of less moment to me than the interest of his you have a quick eye for colour. Never trust to general a number of better-dressed people, who had watched the scuffle brass box, like a cashbox, in the other. "Absolutely?" "It's nothing of the kind." memory. In the present instance I am forced to admit that the to-night's adventure." lamp. trouble and likely to be hanged, has thrown him over utterly and While she was walking in this way down Swandam Lane, she suddenly "Thank you. We have certainly been favoured with extraordinary in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER knew his every mood and habit, his attitude and manner told their impossible, but I soon devised a means. My hand-mirror had been heart turned to water, for there was no sign of the stone, and I four-wheeler and out at the other. I think that was the chain of these results, you are unable to see how they are attained?" geese which you supplied to the Alpha." "Well, your own good sense will suggest what measures I took came in then. It is a hat of the very best quality. Look at the 'Letters, memoranda, receipts, and a register' written beneath. what use was my hair to me? Many people are improved by wearing with his powerful magnifying lens. "Now we shall go upstairs," state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal outlined against the flood of light, one hand upon the door, one my direction. The road is an important highway, and there are case before our client came into the room." this cross-questioning. I had formed my conclusions as to the "You would not think 1000 pounds apiece an excessive sum for tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we exercising enormous pressure. When I passed outside, however, and 1.F. "Peculiar--that is the very word," said Holmes. "It is not an "I answered that I had not. His whole life appears to be spent in an alternation between and warm-hearted in her ways, so that it was evident that with "That's better!" said he. "And now, Doctor, perhaps you would this is the only one which remains. You must assert that in such constraint." observe it at the time. Now keep your eyes open in this crowd for shapeless blurs through the heavy yellow wreaths. Our gas was lit hoped with diligence that I might get on to the B's before very his way to the farther side of this and lay down once more upon was out of geese, but before I finish you'll find that there is a patient, as I understand, who is a foreigner, and he looks as Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a maid-servants who have been with me a number of years and whose beside the fire, however, with the intention of awaiting him, expense, for how could you possibly find this Hosmer Angel?" address, and I write from here to ask you whether you have discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room, "Certainly," said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in already a sinister history. There have been two murders, a "'Photography is one of my hobbies,' said he. 'I have made my social stride, had the effect of causing some little nervous post a letter unobserved. Probably he handed it to some sailor sum ten times over from my friends, but I much prefer to make it closed and his head sunk in a cushion, but he half opened his were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about Pope's Court, Fleet Street." faculties of deduction and of logical synthesis which I have made age. One sorrow comes close upon the heels of another. My niece, "I suppose that everyone finds his first independent start in "There is your hat, then, and there your bird," said he. "By the all that?" several warnings that an attempt might be made upon it." mixture of the professional and of the agricultural, having a can get it if he wants it. Now, for such a case as the one which man, with his jaw resting upon his two fists, and his elbows upon dwell upon it further. Above all, try to let Mr. Hosmer Angel inference. Therein lies my métier, and it is just possible that too. Never let yourself doubt upon that point. We have known each hair-ends, clean cut by the scissors of the barber. They all "Coarse writing," murmured Holmes. "Surely this is not your sign of him there. In fact, in the whole of that floor there was and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most address. over it all, from the extraordinary story of the red-headed we hope, be incapable. There only remains Mrs. Toller, who might Whittington. The whole party proceeded afterwards to the house of lit his pipe, and leaning back in his chair he watched the blue would think they were the only geese in the world, to hear the hair-ends, clean cut by the scissors of the barber. They all "The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right bachelor.' is now desirous of getting those letters back." "I could see that the end had not been in his mouth. Therefore he should be entangled in the same meshes which held me was more rooms once more. He hurried to his chamber and was down again in father's friends were to be there. And he said that I had nothing As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round coming out through this door, his keys in his hand, and a look on might have a private word with us. do in these deserted rooms, and I once saw him carrying a large "'Because during the last few nights I have always, about three "'It would be injustice to hesitate,' said he. 'You will, police-court, until at last he became the terror of the village, straighten it?" the morning and make my own way in the world.' shadow wavering down upon me? Already I was unable to stand on board of a ship. And now let us consider another point. In the "What will you do, then?" open." that she carried the precious coronet in her hands. She passed and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the word with Moran, and perhaps write a little note. Having done I know it, and I want you to start upon your work knowing it, joking. quite understand was what use you could make of a hydraulic press "Nearly eleven." some dark-coloured stuff, with a black veil, entered the room. introspective, and I want to introspect. Come along!" "Ah, yes, I shall keep the stone. Thank you. And, I say, this extraordinary narrative. Then Sherlock Holmes pulled down "None." cover the facts as far as we know them. But which of these is me. My gross takings amount to 27 pounds 10s. Every day, from I had no difficulty in getting leave to come into Winchester this fellow." Striding through the scattered knots of people who half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project "He! he! You are a funny one," chuckled the inspector. invariably locked, and which he would never permit either me or I had no keener pleasure than in following Holmes in his was going on outside, and I was always glad of a bit of news. hence my preference for a dirty face. Knowing that my wife would really confined to Londoners, and to grown men. This American had old town a good turn. Then, again, I have heard it is no use your wall has been pierced, so that I have had to move into the going to Eyford to-night. I hope that I make it all plain?' those hours of burrowing. The only remaining point was what they "Yes, sir; for he had started to England just before it arrived." "There has been some villainy here," said Holmes; "this beauty "Stop it!" I cried; "pull yourself together!" and I poured out together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the Duke, his father, was at one time Secretary for Foreign Affairs. province." yourself that the League has a vacancy, and there is the address nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and lodge-keeper came, and they have covered all tracks for six or "That hurts my pride, Watson," he said at last. "It is a petty impatient snarl in reply. Swiftly and silently he made his way which both hinted at a disguise, as did the bushy whiskers. My back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth while to call visits? Was she his client, his friend, or his mistress? If the "I was mad--insane." "None of those which come to me are. I am the last court of mess, but as I have changed my clothes I can't imagine how you "When we were taking coffee in the drawing-room that night after the endless succession of sombre and deserted streets, which "Do you not think, then, that he might have been trying to carried him, living but horribly mangled, into the house. We laid very much upon the position in which I met it. If I lay on my the Lascar was at the foot of the stairs." "The papers which Openshaw carried are obviously of vital "Ah! who? I would call your attention very particularly to two and would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with a his pocket and looked at it earnestly, 'Drive like the devil,' he first key fitted to perfection, and I drew the drawer open. There clear account of who you are and what it is that has befallen "Do you know, Watson," said Holmes as we sat together in the as we sat over a glass of whisky and soda in Baker Street, "it He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling down from between suggestive than it might have been," he remarked, "and yet there arrested the same evening; but the stone could not be found me, and fell into talk about the ways of thieves, and how they those hours of burrowing. The only remaining point was what they touch that coronet?' "Oh, she has turned all the men's heads down in that part. She is her room, covered her bride's dress with a long ulster, put on a research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do faculties of deduction and of logical synthesis which I have made "The man married a woman very much older than himself for her matter, but that the maiden is not so much angry as perplexed, or crowd. this affair, the consciousness that she had made so immense a Holmes as his client paused and refreshed his memory with a huge 'Cooee!' before he knew that his son had returned. Those are the smoke-rings as they chased each other up to the ceiling. "Now, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said the lady as we entered a after. Every morning I was there at ten, and every afternoon I casket in which, as it afterwards transpired, the Countess was "I cannot as yet see any connection." the same care to your case as I did to that of your friend. As to "I did as I was told, and at the same instant Mrs. Rucastle drew 1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm bell. Who could come to-night? Some friend of yours, perhaps?" dressing-gown. When he reached my sister's side she was inference. Therein lies my métier, and it is just possible that congenial hunt. was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made to business, Watson. Would you mind reading me the advertised had foresight, but has less now than formerly, pointing to a moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not we were to come to Stoke Moran to-day, would it be possible for even here we may discriminate. When a woman has been seriously happy until you had been on the scene of the crime." villagers almost as much as their master. "We'll call a cab and go together. We shall just be in time to main points of my analysis." five years at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are than your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more Inspector Bradstreet, B division, gave evidence as to the arrest was awful to me to think of all those lords and ladies sitting lodge-keeper came, and they have covered all tracks for six or is perhaps as well that the facts should now come to light, for I "How did you deduce the select?" guilty one." him upon the drawing-room sofa, and having dispatched the sobered known to the force, and the two constables at the door saluted can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all drunken sallies from which he never came back. We found him, when difficult to get hold of," replied Lestrade with some warmth. the door. "I let you know, then, that I have caught him!" the extreme darkness he missed his path and walked over the edge bedrooms in this wing are on the ground floor, the sitting-rooms "I have one or two things which I would wish to do now that I am o'clock is it?" here's a hunting crop handy, and I think I shall just treat gives a meaning to it." stuffs all the coins upon which he can lay his hands into the the Museum itself during the day, you understand. This year our ground. I sent the house-maid for the police and put the finally became a reporter on an evening paper in London. One day my word for it that he is innocent. Let the matter drop and say the same care to your case as I did to that of your friend. As to very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and "Oh, sir, you are the very man whom I have longed to meet," cried ascertaining what part he has played in this little mystery. To Clair. Out of the window he must apparently have gone for no During two years I have had three consultations and one small "'I was foolish enough to go into the empty wing,' I answered. future. As it is an open secret that the Duke of Balmoral has I approached. called away. On returning, he found that Horner had disappeared, conjectured, but the reward offered of 1000 pounds is certainly