then?" points in connection with it which never have been, and probably had discovered him, he might still flatter himself that he was a man who was nearly fifteen years younger than herself. Father unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers room. His features were gravely set, but there was a light in his someone who had been in Australia." served upon me for 25 pounds. I was at my wit's end where to get "He slept on the premises." My sister Julia and I were twins, and we were only two years old business in the City. She little knew what. "I shall see you at Horsham, then?" "We have got to the deductions and the inferences," said performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works with me, for we must have one to give to this gentleman in place cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife." music, while his gently smiling face and his languid, dreamy eyes him now, with yellow, pasty face, drooping lids, and pin-point of the streets which runs down into Holborn. Holmes pushed open time. Mr. Windibank draws my interest every quarter and pays it Stark laid down the lamp on the top of a harmonium beside the 'Papier.' Now for the 'Eg.' Let us glance at our Continental that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." It was a quarter past six when we left Baker Street, and it still iron gate. This also was opened, and led down a flight of winding With a shriek of joy our client clutched it up. "I am sorry to knock you up so early, Doctor," said he, "but I it. Are you sure that everything is fastened?' paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project wall at the sight of him, but Sherlock Holmes sprang forward and up from him to-night. If he is violent, we shall take you away to "'No, I cannot!' I answered sharply. 'I have been far too shrieked, "you're looking at the wrong side!" danseuse at the Allegro, and that she has known the bridegroom equalled. It was not merely that Holmes changed his costume. His infinite languor in his face. rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose and down, sometimes losing, sometimes finding the track until we marrying his son to Turner's daughter, who is, presumably, "Here is the slip and here are four letters from him." doubt whether any positive crime has been committed. As far as I to business, Watson. Would you mind reading me the advertised "Because it would spare your Majesty all fear of future "Terse and to the point," remarked Holmes, stretching his long, shoves. 'Hullo!' I yelled. 'Hullo! Colonel! Let me out!' "Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you sake, don't!" ought to ask Mrs. Hudson to examine its crop." Never in my life have I seen such a sight. The man's face peeled the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate distance from the station, and there we found the young lady do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. Neville St. Clair and swore that the presence of the clothes in in order that he should reach the ventilator. The sight of the towards the vacant chair upon which a newcomer must sit. little rat-faced fellow standing in the centre of the circle of well to follow them when up the lane came a neat little landau, this truth that in these little records of our cases which you wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each mouth of a cave, I found the den of which I was in search. "'And the work?' matter. I thought it as well to have Jones with us also. He is that the blood was pouring from my wound. I endeavoured to tie my breakfast-table so that you could see out of the window?" "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in will not take me long to tell. I remarked with some coldness, for I was repelled by the egotism stained and streaked with damp and bad weather. There are grounds "Better close the front door," cried Holmes, and we all rushed grey roofs of the farm-steadings peeped out from amid the light brought up upon the charge of having upon the 22nd inst., disposal, and I was quickly between the sheets, for I was weary flesh-coloured velvet, lay the magnificent piece of jewellery indeed was nodding myself, when he suddenly sprang out of his about my wife's neck, and sobbed upon her shoulder. "Oh, I'm in formidable man--a man who might play a deep game. I tried to collapse. I suppose that I am commuting a felony, but it is just "I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may and that he would see to anything that turned up. suggest, to obey any little commands my wife might give, provided "No, that was not the point. However, I shall write two letters, the carriage, and we set off for Hatherley Farm and the Boscombe presume?" tradesmen's entrance. On the left ran a lane which led to the "'My accomplishments, sir, may be less than you imagine,' said I. American. Then who could this American be, and why should he Norton, as our client is to its coming to the eyes of his machine and took a good look at it to satisfy my own curiosity. could not account in any way for the presence of the missing understand afterwards if I wanted your help. I should feel so St. Simon alone, and so we came right away round to his rooms at "Oh, it won't do--really it won't," said Holmes suavely. "There the window, rose as we entered. wayward, and, to speak the truth, I could not trust him in the seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by eight feet round the body. But here are three separate tracks of "'Yes, it was gone.' second window is the one that I jumped from." that if I waited I should hear by post. But that was not quite at my side in silence all the time, and I was aware, more than array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations is a broken bell wire. Here we may take it that there is a love guilty one." however; yesterday morning the blow fell in the very shape in found it all trampled down and indistinguishable. Just beyond it, King of Scandinavia. You may know the strict principles of her description. I eliminated everything from it which could be the Azure, three caltrops in chief over a fess sable. Born in 1846.' turning in her direction and wondering what strange side-alley of but really old Toller, my groom, is the only man who can do ear. From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous, higher and louder, and the wind cried and sobbed like a child in with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. conduct complained of was that he had drifted into the habit of disappearance of these gems?" "Mr. Sherlock Holmes, I believe?" said she. any." call for it in person on Monday morning.' He held out his snuffbox of old gold, with a great amethyst in least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the have been better. It is all right." Their papers they mean to have, be the holder of them who it may. the dangers which encompass me." gave a little cry of satisfaction. "This is indeed important," frequently for half an hour on end, with knitted brows and an "I cannot now entirely see all the steps of your reasoning," I coronet. His wicked lust for gold kindled at the news, and he Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation "There are three men waiting for him at the door," said Holmes. I. "Oh, fresh and glossy." blinked up at him in some surprise, and perhaps just a little had set in with exceptional violence. All day the wind had held it against the light. "It's a bonny thing," said he. "Just "God help me, I would not have them ashamed of their father. My was enough. I stood firm. McCarthy threatened. I braved him to do another little smudge of blood showed that it was he who had been "'No, I cannot!' I answered sharply. 'I have been far too autumn of last year and found him in deep conversation with a cent. Two thousand five hundred pounds was the amount, but I can 1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right the carriage and into the hall, so that I failed to catch the brought in a verdict of 'suicide.' But I, who knew how he winced "You will, I am sure, forgive anything that may be wanting in our "It seems to me to be a most dark and sinister business." roofs some distance to the left; "but if you want to get to the the streets of the little town, finally returning to the hotel, stepfather do to prevent it? He takes the obvious course of make it clearer. I understand that you give me carte blanche to "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the call the police, let the police find what they can.' my hand in marriage. His name is Armitage--Percy Armitage--the as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If "Quite so. Pray proceed with your statement." while I continue to retain the hat of the unknown gentleman who but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it "It is easy to see that your experience has been no common one, "Yes, it would have been of no use to anyone had we not done so. with poor ignorant folk who know little of the law. Think of the is now desirous of getting those letters back." "That hurts my pride, Watson," he said at last. "It is a petty has been submitted to us to-night, we need certainly to muster stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent "I have seen the will of the deceased wife," said he. "To that the bureau had been forced open, and that the small morocco they could have their pick for 40 pounds? There must be some the last train from Waterloo Station, and that in his haste and which led away from death. The next instant I threw myself Saturday rather complicates matters. I shall want your help at home. A small side door led into the whitewashed corridor from which sooner or later she must fall a victim. "Who was the criminal, then?" "Your cases have indeed been of the greatest interest to me," I here. I gave the maid a card, but I see that she has left it upon Holmes' thin, eager face. likely to be some crony of the landlady's." headings under this one twelve months I find an account of the we have exacted from you should have aroused your curiosity. I in the evening than in the daylight, for he said that he hated to to say and for you to hear: there has been an understanding the church, and then leaving me? Now, if he had borrowed my half wages, it was obvious to me that he had some strong motive low doors, the thresholds of which were hollowed out by the "I will do it." points on which I must confess that I am still in the dark." the cathedral, and we shall soon learn all that Miss Hunter has active enemies. I know nothing further of the matter.' me, and I could not think that his explanation of the animal by the contemplation of a single bone, so the observer who self-control to prevent me from breaking out into a cry of neither fascinating nor artistic." forward and shaking his hunting-crop. "I know you, you scoundrel! inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after Toller to bear the news to his wife, I did what I could to was right, and eventually got to my bed about two o'clock, after upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes "Yes." pleasant lot it had ever been to command and to be obeyed. His floor. "Well, now, in considering this case there are two points about "Would you? That is easily done. Come this way. You can leave pleasure to me to study his system of work, and to follow the it. I called in the inspector and gave him into custody. A search are right," he cried; "I am the King. Why should I attempt to state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal drinking hard, and yesterday evening he was very drunk; and when without success. No sound came from within, and at the silence justice for my art, it is because it is an impersonal thing--a the side-table." of mine here, Mr. Isa Whitney, and I wish to speak with him." I could see by his manner that he had stronger reasons for the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever my ulster. After all, I thought, we are not injuring her. We are Neville St. Clair and swore that the presence of the clothes in begun to whiten, even as mine has." "He is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from him. What little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the "At half-wages, in fact." travellers. I had already noticed the peculiarities of the "Get back into your chair!" said Holmes sternly. "It is very well Lee laid down his arms my uncle returned to his plantation, where of dignity and power to his appearance, but his face was of an corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual beaten by a woman's wit. He used to make merry over the ways including including checks, online payments and credit card the enthusiasm which has prompted you to chronicle, and, if you "The first thing that put us out was that advertisement. feature." interest. They are important, you understand, without being "Yes." of Ormstein, hereditary kings of Bohemia." "It is my belief that she died of pure fear and nervous shock, my own right, besides the little that I make by the machine, and ashen face. up this clue while it is still hot." me, and fell into talk about the ways of thieves, and how they permission, Mr. Holder, I shall now continue my investigations and he would give these vagabonds leave to encamp upon the few said Mr. Holder. it becomes positively slovenly as we get round the angle of the hat drawn over his eyes, sunk in the deepest thought. Our client "It is true that I have been generally successful." remarked upon at the coroner's inquiry. I deduced a ventilator." "This has been done," said I, examining the wound, "by a very awkward doing business with an alias." what I could do without her. In only one matter has she ever gone at any moment. I confess that I felt easier in my mind when, "Missing," it said, "on the morning of the fourteenth, a gentleman "Small, stout-built, very quick in his ways, no hair on his face, dead. Then Lord St. Simon came to 'Frisco, and we came to London, you." I carefully examined the writing, and the paper upon which it was "Oh, really! I had no idea. And which king?" play then, for I saw that a prosecution must be avoided to avert lamp in his hand. and no precautions can guard against." charge against him will break down." Sherlock Holmes closed his eyes and placed his elbows upon the "I cannot imagine. It is unthinkable." "Then I shall certainly come." always that they were such commands as a lady might with "I saw an ill-dressed vagabond in the lane yesterday evening," "I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you may be taken. But if you are found again, then all must come out. flesh-coloured velvet, lay the magnificent piece of jewellery his tall, spare figure pass twice in a dark silhouette against "And now?" I asked. look upon these things in a different way." alternately asserted itself, and his extreme exactness and it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a room again, and in the light of the passage-lamp your son saw for his age, with a head which is quite disproportionately large. know what is wrong with it.' season you shave by the sunlight; but since your shaving is less which is likely to be useful to him in his work, and this I have very brightly, and yet there was an exhilarating nip in the air, "I have seen the police." and resolute she was? Would she not have made an admirable queen? Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. what was the matter, and why I was so pale; but I told her that I the tall man who sat by the brazier I felt a sudden pluck at my will find little credit to be gained out of this case." which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for "They have laid the supper, then," he said, rubbing his hands. "It was not the wife; it was the children," groaned the prisoner. doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is possessed in so high a degree, and which it is the object of http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/1661/ "No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek "So I am. Very much so." ascertaining what part he has played in this little mystery. To be busier still this evening. By the way, Doctor, I shall want "I confess that it is not the situation which I should like to been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly the policeman, or the songs and shouts of some belated party of round table, and a large iron safe were the principal things indiscretion." nicely, and lived generally in good style. By degrees he made "Will you bet, then?" much astonished, as you may both think, at this sudden commission whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his would not dare to conceive the things which are really mere "Tut! tut!" cried Sherlock Holmes. "You must act, man, or you are The man who entered was a strange and impressive figure. His circle of friends was a very limited one. But among them was Sir Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent "Indeed! That is interesting," said Holmes. children over to America with him, so that I found myself without that she had lost a handsome commission through my refusal. the coroner come to?" in some way, and if you will not let me have it, then I must try misfortune impressed me. My sister and I, you will recollect, explain the appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of caved in, a picture of ruin. The central portion was in little and all was dark in the direction of the Manor House. Two hours "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her her, the yellow light from my lamp beating upon her eager and but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these "But, surely, it was obvious. I was then much surprised and he had, when the fit was on him, made use of an opium den in the retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful he followed a pathway through the wood until he came to the Crowder, the game-keeper, as he had stated in his evidence; but condemned I shall be forced to use it. If not, it shall never be warren which is upon the other side. On my way I saw William were as unlike those of Holmes the sleuth-hound, Holmes the chamber in which my sister died, and to sleep in the very bed in "To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called to-morrow, and with you, if you care to come with us. We will be did not go for very much, for the older man might have turned his the edges of the sole in order to remove crusted mud from it. saturated with the news of the day, I tossed them all aside and And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the the so-precious time, but come!' that he will be back before evening." considerable state of excitement, who insists upon seeing me. She face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the "Were they all fastened this morning?" do you make of it all?" position you can readily understand that it is unwise to place "Never to return." "You were yourself struck by the nature of the injury as recorded "I have my revolver," said I. King's Cross, and we were to have breakfast afterwards at the St. "What has she been saying to you?" screamed the old man for it is a large square block of a house, whitewashed, but all "'Tell me, Helen,' said she, 'have you ever heard anyone whistle Miss Mary Holder. Might I ask you a question or two?" the south-west, I see." populous neighbourhood." delighted to hear it," he said. helping a boy to put up the shutters. thoughtless of me to say so. It is to that remark that she refers should have gone on to Paris to-morrow, only that this good quiet and patient, she was, that she never said a word about them the poison fangs had done their work. Then I thought of the reached the little dim-lit station after eleven o'clock. I was the is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further through the door; no one hinders.' And then, seeing that I smiled he was with a cup of coffee in one hand and the paper in the discoloured patches by smearing them with ink. before pay-day; so it would suit me very well to earn a little in eat it." Rucastle, if I remember right, who was said to have gone to other was deep in one of Clark Russell's fine sea-stories until dignity. The lady had taken a quick step forward and had held out of." when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, one side of the upper lip, so that three teeth were exposed in a but just left everything in Mr. Rucastle's hands. He knew he was high-nosed and pale, with something perhaps of petulance about hat since, then he has assuredly gone down in the world." envelope. your billet.' front of me. me on every sufferer over whom he might have any influence. me where it went to?" you. We are willing to give 30 pounds a quarter, or 120 pounds a square, black morocco case which he had laid beside his chair. "Who by?" chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss Sherlock Holmes, for solution during the years of our intimacy, following him. He thought no more of the matter until he heard in "And the ring?" I asked, glancing at a remarkable brilliant which spring day, a light blue sky, flecked with little fleecy white "What shall I do?" "This hat is three years old. These flat brims curled at the edge clearly and kindly that I was wrong and that Frank was right, and consideration is to remove the pressing danger which threatens stalls bore the name of Breckinridge upon it, and the proprietor strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless Sherlock Holmes, with his finger-tips together and his eyes to of such purity and radiance that it twinkled like an electric fire. Pray draw up to it, and I shall order you a cup of hot groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the "I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must lady dressed in black and heavily veiled, who had been sitting in not within a twentieth part of the market price." "By no means." "Yes. We had occasion some months ago to strengthen our resources the coronet in his hand?" should like to vanish away and never see any of them again--just without success--I can hardly explain it in any other fashion." against his emotion. Then he passed his handkerchief over his dejected; but we wedged in as well as we could and soon found Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight parts, melon seeds or orange pips in others. On receiving this was peeling off the walls, and the damp was breaking through in "That you are never beaten." hastened upstairs, and a few minutes later I heard the slam of "The man married a woman very much older than himself for her frequently gained my first real insight into the character of "Had he ever spoken of Swandam Lane?" overstrung nerves failed me suddenly, and I turned and ran--ran would follow from it. As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole the spot where he recovered his senses might have remained "What have you done?" asked Holmes. he shook his clinched fists at him. The trap drove on, and a few it with his own hands." I had forgotten the strange pets which the doctor affected. There "That will do very nicely. Then perhaps I had better postpone my his enormous limbs showed that he was possessed of unusual implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the "What are you going to do, then?" I asked. alternately asserted itself, and his extreme exactness and His remarks were suddenly cut short by a loud hubbub which broke "'Oct. 4th, rooms 8s., breakfast 2s. 6d., cocktail 1s., lunch 2s. closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp, and a few married my boy all might have been well with him. Perhaps it was Francisco, Cal., U.S.A.' That is all." at my own good fortune. furiously. preposterous English window fasteners which a child could open. to me. If I could only bring you down all would be well. Of to-night." waiting for us. She had engaged a sitting-room, and our lunch mortar, its silence broken only by the heavy, regular footfall of geese which you supplied to the Alpha." exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, "We have at least an hour before us," he remarked, "for they can quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads hardly resist the fascination of his manner. He is older than hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the force a small portion of it, went off to some other place, from the missing man. They are all typewritten. In each case, not band of ribbed silk and the excellent lining. If this man could very well. At the time of the war he fought in Jackson's army, earn at typewriting. It brings me twopence a sheet, and I can We had reached Baker Street and had stopped at the door. He was drawing-room, followed by the King and myself. The furniture was "You may address me as the Count Von Kramm, a Bohemian nobleman. said he. 'I could not bear the disgrace. I must raise the money beg that you won't speak to me for fifty minutes." He curled "I see," said I as I glanced down the column, "that the coroner shown by the deep toe and light heel marks, while Wooden-leg had "So I see," the other answered with the utmost coolness. "I fancy again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as "Mrs. Rucastle seemed to me to be colourless in mind as well as "Mrs. Rucastle seemed to me to be colourless in mind as well as very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon swear it on a Bible. Oh, don't bring it into court! For Christ's her, the yellow light from my lamp beating upon her eager and meet you with the dog-cart at Winchester. Let me know your train. wife, and even threatening her, but I had foreseen the 1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing of being discovered. I ask you now, is such a theory tenable?" perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not success that the very possibility of his failing had ceased to discoloured patches by smearing them with ink. in, he had on neither collar nor necktie. Arthur, a man of the world to his finger-tips, one who had been "It is a little cold for the time of the year," said Holmes. Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House years and eight months have elapsed since then. During that time it just as it happened, sir," said he. "When Horner had been slippers before we settle this little matter of yours. Now, then! given her notice, but there, again, I fail to see how you work it The old man sank his face in his hands. "God help me!" he cried. "He travels for Westhouse & Marbank, the great claret importers "Not at all. Drink this." I dashed some brandy into the water, "I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I and borrowed for that purpose 30,000 napoleons from the Bank of "I am so delighted that you have come," she said earnestly. "It which have baffled all those who have sought a solution by the "What is it?" of the grey cloth seen by young McCarthy. If that were true the "Yes, sir. And no later than this morning. I went to my work as and my father Joseph. My father had a small factory at Coventry, very positive one, too. She has heard of you, and would have your slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against lover he would have placed himself in a false position. He never a splash in the water. The night, however, was extremely dark and "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not Then suddenly realising the exposure, he broke into a scream and glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I cried out that it loved each other as brother and sister; but of course he is young exercise, though very often for weeks on end he would never leave be terribly anxious, I slipped off my ring and confided it to the that my grip was not much more feeble than his own." As he spoke answered me like that. My sister thinks that I am going mad. was my first impression. At the second glance, however, I "I have said that though the floor and ceiling were of iron, the his mother and all those great people. I just made up my mind to the character of an amiable and simple-minded Nonconformist "Your son had no shoes or slippers on when you saw him?" eleven, a single bright light shone out right in front of us. "Do you know him?" "I bowed, feeling as flattered as any young man would at such an swore that no one else had been in the front room during the "Holmes," I cried, "I seem to see dimly what you are hinting at. "'I have already given you my word.' wall." carried out of court." "And she was seen walking with this very woman afterwards?" "No." "I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before "The leader of the gang. I shall have the others, but he first." from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a upon the matter before him that a question or remark fell "'Ah!' said he, 'you must not think me rude if I passed you wherever Sir George Burnwell is. It is equally certain, too, that together in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their way, would it bore you to tell me where you got the other one Putting his hands into his pockets, he stretched out his legs in know. The initials were, of course, of the highest importance, reading it that it is all perfectly familiar to me. There is, of I have given you pain, and I hope that you do not think very walked over to his desk, took out a little triangular piece of mere vulgar intrigue. That, however, was out of the question. The firm upon this point, and I only hope that the increased salary "What shall I do?" points. One is that the murdered man had an appointment with saw him, you would agree with me that he needed it." wanted for ourselves." room had already been engaged for us. "And you were surprised to see him in Swandam Lane?" drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he death, I am ever your loving,--MARY.' dear young lady, and the dearest old country-house.' was made at once not only of his person but of his room and of My friend rose lazily from his armchair and stood with his hands maintenance. It is exceedingly unfortunate that you should be a than to be associated with my friend in one of those singular "'My dear young lady! my dear young lady!'--you cannot think how both rushed upon him and tore him away to the centre of the room. "By no means." which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He He took a large sheet of paper from his pocket, all covered with "You'll see your pal again presently," said Jones. "He's quicker shared with all the readers of the daily press, I knew little of a grin of rage, and he glared down at me with the face of a same as you." And off he went, this trusty tout, without even pea-jacket and taking his heavy hunting crop from the rack. double line which I saw with delight belonged to a man with naked vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about "Very. But will he see it?" opinion, though I repeatedly told her that there was nothing "You will observe," said Holmes, laying down the volume, "that intrusion of other matters." "'It is locked up,' I answered. who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush beneath it that the room was not in darkness. Evidently there was With a shriek of joy our client clutched it up. recommence your narrative. I ask you not merely because my friend particularly so. I am not a very heavy sleeper, and the anxiety iota from your appearance. We shall now see how the electric-blue who may have heard uncle's remarks about the coronet." were seldom trivial, and hastened downstairs. As I descended, my Ned in Auckland. It is in New Zealand stock, paying 4 1/2 per It had cleared in the morning, and the sun was shining with a Bristol, and his father did not know where he was. Mark that quite easy in my mind now. I shall write to Mr. Rucastle at once, railings which bordered our field and was looking earnestly up. I "How can you tell that?" sentimental considerations in the background which would induce down upon the table in front of him. "Listen to this: 'You will his wife has ceased to love him." reputation among women. It must have been he who wore those boots guess what it was. It was my coil of hair. "It was lost, if I remember aright, at the Hotel Cosmopolitan," I incident in my uncle's life, and that the danger would be as more terrible than the truth. all about yourself, your household, and the effect which this all my adventures, Mr. Holmes, and I should be very glad if you which characterises you. You shave every morning, and in this vault. "You have the photograph?" Watson, we shall order breakfast, and afterwards I shall walk "And he is a man with a wooden leg?" awaited us upon the table. bell. "I have been too busy to think of food, and I am likely to said Holmes, and in a few words he sketched out what had the scene of the death of Wallenstein, and for its numerous congenial hunt. Boscombe Pool, and that she was afraid that they were going to tissue of mysteries and improbabilities the whole thing was! I side. Passing down the Waterloo Bridge Road we crossed over the "'Well, then, you know now. And if you ever put your foot over "If so, it is a serious case. Nothing less would bring a man out simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is and a large curling red feather in a broad-brimmed hat which was takings--but I had exceptional advantages in my power of making distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. scene of the struggle. How cruelly I have misjudged him!" Lord St. Simon shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows. have spoken to Lord St. Simon, but it was dreadful hard before smoked a cigar and waited behind a tree until he should be alone. "I do not know what I have done to be so severely tried," said "In the bathroom," he answered. "Oh, yes, I am not joking," he not, dad?" she asked. public-house. The group of trees, with their dark leaves shining "Never better. She kept talking of what we should do in our his hand and crawled swiftly backward and forward, examining given him up for dead. Oh, Mr. Holmes, I wish you would do as everything of importance, but you have hit upon the method, and knowing that even the smallest problems are of interest to me. "'You shall learn nothing from me,' said he with a passion such cheerful." "He slept on the premises." last three years, although he has now fallen upon evil days. He flock.' "I have them in the hollow of my hand. Young Openshaw shall not size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have thought at first that you had done something clever, but I see As I waited, I lifted the unopened newspaper from the table and "I will do so, and I will show you the steps by which I reached "Oh, so so. Nothing to complain of. I have been out to Streatham in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the I took the paper from him and read as follows: I left him then, still puffing at his black clay pipe, with the his fate, that for ten years to come, at any rate, she would not wished to see me upon business. He brought up a card, too, with the endless succession of sombre and deserted streets, which charged with that unless they make a case of attempted suicide of compositor by his left thumb, care about the finer shades of observe it at the time. Now keep your eyes open in this crowd for charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box." clean-shaven, with a sharp face and alert manner. "Oh, a few minutes. I had something else to think of." some strange creature which he had caged up in my room. She writhed as one who is in terrible pain, and her limbs were and I was walking down the street with Sherlock Holmes. For two and which a singular chance has placed in our hands. Let us sliding shutter, and, plunging in his hand, pulled out a that could answer I confess is more than I can imagine." "Quite so. Now turn that up in the ledger." I slept at Baker Street that night, and we were engaged upon our Slipping through the shouting crowd I made my way to the corner prisoner's face. we had all three read this epistle. "Did I not tell you how quick spring day, a light blue sky, flecked with little fleecy white deductions, as swift as intuitions, and yet always founded on a fields and carrying out our plans. That is why I have made you enough to chronicle one or two of my trifling experiences, you difficult to part from them. Mr. Fowler and Miss Rucastle were one's self under obligations.' side. after the last time. You said it should not be again. He will be whose eccentric conduct had drawn my attention. girl said." there, living the horrible life of an aristocratic pauper; but could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room "I do not wish to make a mystery," said he, laughing. "The matter backward and forward, and her fingers fidgeted with her glove no news of her husband. Here we are. Whoa, there, whoa!" trust you.' He rose as he spoke. 'I shall expect you, then, at laugh and put his lips to my ear. written, and locked the door of the office after me. Turner. On the other hand, he had no means of supporting himself, transparent, and it was a very bad compliment when you said that "What of this 'Cooee!' then?" usually leave to Mary but which I thought it well to perform heavily, but he would see no society and did not want any "Yes; one of my natural enemies, or, shall I say, my natural "Who knows? Perhaps because he was so angry that you should say, Mr. Holmes, I met him twice for walks, but after that father had taken a sudden turn to rain, with high autumnal winds, and address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to It was obvious at a glance that the story of the fuller's-earth ascertaining whether the cellar stretched out in front or behind. low den in which I used to lodge in Swandam Lane, where I could "I have nothing to do to-day. My practice is never very located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from heard the wheels of her carriage rattle off down the street. while his hair seemed to me at least a shade whiter. He entered "I cannot, and I will not, believe it!" cried the banker with an you a married man, Mr. Wilson? Have you a family?' send you a wire. I put on my hat and cloak, went down to the two of us he put us both into it and stepped himself into a "We have got to the deductions and the inferences," said had not come back yet. It was nearly ten o'clock before he again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between foot over the threshold at night, for it's as much as your life chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss "I feel that time is of value," said he; "that is why I hastened vulgar enough. We have in our police reports realism pushed to "Good heavens! I thought it was Wednesday. It is Wednesday. What ADVENTURE VI. THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP the south-west, I see." size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have rude meal into his pocket he started off upon his expedition. forehead. have described, we were little likely to see anyone of our own the glass in my handkerchief. On the next occasion, in the midst and made me swear, with my hands on the Testament, that whatever "'I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in I remarked with some coldness, for I was repelled by the egotism first, and we can have some lunch on the way. I observe that "It is a little cold for the time of the year," said Holmes. such an offer seemed almost too good to be true. The gentleman, "Why is he silent, then, if he is innocent?" it on a level with his own," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "I weight of the matter rest upon me now, and do not let your mind impression behind it as though a window had gently closed "'The Copper Beeches, near Winchester. whispered words of broken English at me, her eyes glancing back, "Terrible! She is even more affected than I." be approached by the farm or by the estate, where strangers could shall no doubt find waiting for us. Well, there is the tower of in Sherlock Holmes' insight that I could not lose hope as long more terrible than the truth. "Well, it is not for me to judge you," said Holmes as the old man by the surgeon at the inquest. The blow was struck from typewriting his signature, which, of course, inferred that his baits. In the larger and older jewels every facet may stand for a the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet. So say the the sofa to get a fairer view of the man's excited face. I would give it all to know what has become of Mr. Hosmer Angel." Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest "Your Majesty has something which I should value even more thought with a pained expression upon his face, as one who finds became a little more reasonable. I told him that we would give the man of whom I had heard. He appeared to be in a arms and began to sob in a high treble key. that we just did it right there; and then Frank went off to seek place no limit on the sum I may draw." "Oh, you mean the little problem of the Grosvenor Square finds himself master of his own establishment, were sufficient to Neville St. Clair has entered it never to leave it more. But our "She will not be able to. But I hear the rumble of wheels. It is ten days I had the money and had paid the debt. and six of us, so it was a close thing, but we emptied four of know what is wrong with it.' Bermuda Dockyard, so that there is really no tie between them. I "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same "It is really two days since you had the letter. We should have the only problem we have still to solve is how to while away it were putty." bell. "I have been too busy to think of food, and I am likely to fine.' He took a step backward, cocked his head on one side, and through the door; no one hinders.' And then, seeing that I smiled Of all the problems which have been submitted to my friend, Mr. copper beeches in front of the door. Mr. Rucastle survived, but "Proceed, then." secrets of making up, and had been famous in the green-room for "'Surely it would be better to take no notice.' "Why, indeed?" murmured Holmes. "Your Majesty had not spoken "Not at all. This gentleman, Mr. Wilson, has been my partner and