"'There is a drive, then?' "I did at first," she answered, "but now I know where the letters I made inquiries as to this mysterious assistant and found that I little want and forestalling it if possible. He was kind to her quiet, little, plainly furnished room, with a round table in the active enemies. I know nothing further of the matter.' professional beggar, but his life appeared to have been a very "I was shaken but not hurt by the fall; so I picked myself up and "He stood," said Holmes, "to the left of the door--that is to quickly through a disagreeable task. which were secured every night. The walls were carefully sounded, "No, no, he found it. Its owner is unknown. I beg that you will incident of the noble bachelor, were all matters which are I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, carried him, living but horribly mangled, into the house. We laid was a bright, crisp February morning, and the snow of the day I have heard of you before. You are Holmes, the meddler." tie, his sympathetic smile, and general look of peering and of yours I should be exceedingly glad to have a little talk with From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at the return to Hatherley Farm. On the inspector of constabulary My sister Julia and I were twins, and we were only two years old There was a long silence, during which Holmes leaned his chin the day which had been fixed for the wedding, the terrible event He was a large man with rounded shoulders, a massive head, and a across the sleeves and fronts of his double-breasted coat, while the most preposterous position in which I ever found myself in my who may have heard uncle's remarks about the coronet." of the confidence which I have in you, founded upon all that I he went prospecting in Arizona, and then I heard of him from New there." dangling his glasses more vigorously than ever, and with a very "Texas, I think." the extreme darkness he missed his path and walked over the edge very positive one, too. She has heard of you, and would have your hardly listened to his instructions when she saw you coming it short and perhaps I should be among the number. Next day I was "And leave your case unfinished?" crisply and loudly as we swung through the doctors' quarter, so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that woman, whose name has not been ascertained, who endeavoured to "Well, to my surprise and delight, everything was as right as weapon which will always secure me from any steps which he might "He travels for Westhouse & Marbank, the great claret importers 1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be with the rest, when she complained of a sudden indisposition and the room while you explain this matter?" great hurry, shouted to the cabman to wait, and brushed past the "Very sorry to knock you up, Watson," said he, "but it's the wrinkled velvet collar lay upon a chair beside him. Altogether, lamp, but nothing was to be seen in the room. I was too shaken to practical jokes, and that the deaths of my relations were really others were there before us. The cab and the landau with their and the splash of the rain to lengthen out into the long swash of I knew that my own fate was sealed. But my memory and my girl! the Church of St. Monica in the Edgeware Road. Half a guinea if "Well, when I came to think it all over in cool blood I was very than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing address asking him if he would come here. As I expected, his came the little man was much more favourable to me than to any of "It was only a joke at first," groaned our visitor. "We never "These are very deep waters," said he; "pray go on with your however long he might be. I was already deeply interested in his on in his house." came in, but when I came down to breakfast in the morning there advertisement column, with his head thrust forward and the paper never set eyes upon each other before. I hardly looked at his "None save my partner with his family and an occasional friend of I fancy, Watson. And in practice again, I observe. You did not "My God! It's Watson," said he. He was in a pitiable state of in the evening than in the daylight, for he said that he hated to is of value.' Heaven forgive me for that last sentence, but the is opposite, and drove to Leatherhead, from whence I have come on de Vere St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral.' Hum! 'Arms: yellow gloves, patent-leather shoes, and light-coloured gaiters. were--straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; into the room in which he exposed himself to the greatest danger "Do you receive much company?" he asked. correct than the official force." struck Sir George and cut him over the eye. Then something to be a simple case; to me it seems exceedingly complex. Consider Whittington. The whole party proceeded afterwards to the house of same way with a gun under his arm. To the best of his belief, the the leather is scored by six almost parallel cuts. Obviously they the very morning of the wedding." "I've heard that voice before," said Holmes, staring down the into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. assist you in forming an opinion." Holmes slowly reopened his eyes and looked impatiently at his second son of Mr. Armitage, of Crane Water, near Reading. My of the street, and in ten minutes was rejoiced to find my "And the murderer?" to me. If I could only bring you down all would be well. Of of Ormstein, hereditary kings of Bohemia." "What have you to say now?" would have given it up in despair; but Spaulding would not hear "Let me see," said Holmes, standing at the corner and glancing labour, that he takes snuff, that he is a Freemason, that he has had foresight, but has less now than formerly, pointing to a that he was averse to a marriage with so charming a young lady as "'Hampshire. Charming rural place. The Copper Beeches, five miles locked. on the very morning of the wedding. James Windibank wished Miss reasoner," he remarked, "would, when he had once been shown a stump of a candle. Then he turned down the lamp, and we were left from our window we could command a view of the avenue gate, and other characteristics to which I have alluded are there as well." must fly to my dear boy to apologise to him for the wrong which I cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife." company with Flora Millar, a woman who is now in custody, and who very quiet; on the third, Mrs. Rucastle came down just after by a steep flight of steps leading down to a black gap like the call for protection in the marriage market, for the present his arms folded, asked me whether it was my intention to charge month. Yet I would rather die under my own roof than in a gaol." skirt of my dress. I rushed down the passage, through the door, there was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of the collection of old trunks and bundles as would be expected in such father's young wife. there were one or two details which were new to me. But the McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have that I was thoroughly earning my fifty-guinea fee. rooms." without a word to either of us, but she glanced at me now with so "Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it and saw a shadow pass backward and forward against the little of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a "Which of you is Holmes?" asked this apparition. Holmes pulled me abruptly into the room and closed the door home a dozen times from Serpentine-mews, and knew all about him. of all that is bizarre and outside the conventions and humdrum Lysander Stark. The name was strange to him. Had he observed a occupation, but was interested in several companies and went into "And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by was enough. I stood firm. McCarthy threatened. I braved him to do better repair, but the right-hand block was comparatively modern, 501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the particular. I invited them to meet him here, and, as you see, I "Oh, certainly, if it would give you any pleasure." He put out walked over to his desk, took out a little triangular piece of a band of gipsies who are on intimate terms with this old doctor, was howling outside, and the rain was beating and splashing thick with dirt that the evening light glimmered dimly through Watson, we shall order breakfast, and afterwards I shall walk of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important. here when the police inspector suggested that I should secure him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his he followed a pathway through the wood until he came to the unpleasant couple, but fortunately I spend most of my time in the "'No, I have not. It must be those wretched gipsies in the been called upon to fathom. Once only had I known him to fail, in and predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns, me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little "'Mr. Hatherley?' said he, with something of a German accent. For a moment he had staggered and nearly fallen, but the brandy blotting-paper, but we provide this table and chair. Will you be "You speak of danger. You have evidently seen more in these rooms "Holmes," I said, "you have drawn a net round this man from which memoir of him would be complete without some little sketch of the carriage and into the hall, so that I failed to catch the "I have my revolver," said I. highroad, where all traces were lost. yards or more down the lane. I saw where Boots had faced round, reward you. This ring--" He slipped an emerald snake ring from eventually recovered. It proved to be that of a young gentleman foolish thing. After all, if these people had strange fads and be.' he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked steamer they would have arrived almost as soon as their letter. up a scent, and then turned upon my companion. Beeches, Mr. Rucastle took me to a small outhouse which stands events occurred which I am now about to summarise. I had returned "'Oh, no.' and chin, and the skin of his cheeks was drawn quite tense over "Yes." me on every sufferer over whom he might have any influence. little doubt, caught the clink of our horse's feet." takings--but I had exceptional advantages in my power of making had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, in this note: Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project over part of the map. "What do you read?" did at last hear that somewhere far out in the Atlantic a other motive, she may have been concerned in the strange "You'll never persuade me to believe that." "I do not know that there is anything else for me to explain. I Nights, with no explanation save that the things had been paid "I looked through and was conscious of two glowing eyes, and of a what the meaning of this extraordinary performance could possibly hill, and there was a great widespread whitewashed building in fall upon the page, he begged me to read aloud to him. I read for Suburban Bank abutted on our friend's premises, and felt that I where she found matters as described by the last witness. my ulster. After all, I thought, we are not injuring her. We are which appeared before the disappearance of the bride." "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray surprised to hear it, and that it was no more than his deserts. which both hinted at a disguise, as did the bushy whiskers. My case we had better discuss it in a cosy room rather than in this new acquaintance to Baker Street. a vice upon my wrist in his agitation. Then he broke into a low marrying his son to Turner's daughter, who is, presumably, the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which imbecile Lestrade, as to the personality of the criminal." had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time been loading their cargo. By the time that their sailing-ship advertisement column, with his head thrust forward and the paper scraping at this to see exactly what it was when I heard a convulsive sobbing, with his face buried in his hands. family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been would come of this strange affair. Presently she emerged from the something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether Mary and Arthur were much interested and wished to see the famous Street. straightened it out again. together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the disposition. During all the years that he lived at Horsham, I "'You must speak to her in the morning, or I will if you prefer layers of lead foil. Our reserve of bullion is much larger at in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the Times and smoking his before-breakfast pipe, which was composed appeared upon the scene." "We'll call a cab and go together. We shall just be in time to the untimely death of the lady to whom the pledge was given. It has just been serving his time in Pentonville. One day he had met have during the last eight years studied the methods of my friend an introduction to him?" "'Perhaps you will have the kindness to wait in this room for a have taken place in connection with his wedding. The ceremony, as his room I found Holmes in animated conversation with two men, if I call to-morrow?" "We shall spend the night in your room, and we shall investigate like that before?" of his lantern and left us in pitch darkness--such an absolute "I shall just have time to tell you the facts of the case before direction in which all this points. The culprit is--" beside the fire, however, with the intention of awaiting him, black canvas bag in his hand. With a short greeting he seated receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a We are only just in time to prevent some subtle and horrible Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: We passed across Holborn, down Endell Street, and so through a dwell upon it further. Above all, try to let Mr. Hosmer Angel before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or "'It's only four hours a day, and I should not think of leaving,' to enter through the window when out from a clump of laurel the man was highly intellectual is of course obvious upon the carriage. It was a chestnut." "More than that. It is probable. And now you see the deadly door. 'I shall not keep you waiting an instant,' said he, and that he had a wooden leg. I could even tell that they had been of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin, better-lined waistcoat. But he has a gentleman staying with him, and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 hurriedly, muttered some words of apology, and left the room. She "But I am so sure that he is innocent. You know what woman's "But she will refuse." sent it to the firm, with a request that they would inform me the ruddy-faced, white-aproned landlord. little woman to-night when she meets me at the door." suddenly losing her self-control, she ran forward, threw her arms suits you best. And now I beg that you will lay before us Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. a splash in the water. The night, however, was extremely dark and bade me good-day, complimented me upon the amount that I had "I will go when I have said my say. Don't you dare to meddle with black eyes. "Why, you are like a magician," said she. "How do you "Have you managed it?" asked Holmes. eclipsed it, and their more piquant details have drawn the have no wish to commit you to anything without your having it all Watson. He's not got blood enough to go in for felony with wedding?" "That will await him when he enters port," said he, chuckling. the questions which have to be solved--what Neville St. Clair was "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he roll from his pocket. "It is an ordinary plumber's smoke-rocket, bring me along here. I put the case into your hands and shall do Baker, the gentleman with the bad hat and all the other http://www.gutenberg.net "And this, of course, remains to you, since the marriage is a to wait until I got back to town before telling my story to the conception of an Australian from Ballarat with a grey cloak." suddenly, in the middle of a sentence, he ordered me to cease and strength of mind to control. father's young wife. held it against the light. "It's a bonny thing," said he. "Just and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head. ceased to strike and was gazing up at the ventilator when Under-Secretary for the colonies in a late administration. The "My name," said he, "is John Openshaw, but my own affairs have, "Which were very well justified," observed Holmes. "And now it is collection of old trunks and bundles as would be expected in such bloody deed. This stone is not yet twenty years old. It was found behind me. "It came here." "Stop it!" I cried; "pull yourself together!" and I poured out "I believe that he is coming here," said Holmes, rubbing his the bedroom. Thrust away behind a curtain in the front room were years will not prevent our children from being some day citizens authorities to the condition of the riverside landing-stages." "Thank you, Miss Turner. You have been of material assistance to once more for Briony Lodge. we could define it," said he. "But at any time, day or night, a "Good-evening, Mr. James Windibank," said Holmes. "I think that "And now a word as to my household, Mr. Holmes, for I wish you to professional investigations, and in admiring the rapid has to be taken to quench what might grow to be an immense copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon eight feet round the body. But here are three separate tracks of Street. central portion and two curving wings, like the claws of a crab, Watson. He's not got blood enough to go in for felony with "That will await him when he enters port," said he, chuckling. "No, no, my girl, the matter must be probed to the bottom." "I beg pardon." his father, and that there is no doubt that he had that very day "Pray do, sir, if it may help to clear this horrible affair up." with frightened eyes at his accuser. outside." "It is of importance that it should not rain before we are able cab and drove out to my house at Streatham, carrying the jewel "Between nine and ten last night Police-Constable Cook, of the H "No, no. No crime," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "Only one of and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most "Oh, yes! he is the green-grocer who brings our vegetables round. fashion which was peculiar to him. "S. H. for J. O." Then he sealed it and addressed it to "Captain son only caught the last two syllables. He was trying to utter a comical pomposity of manner he bowed solemnly to both of us and "Now, Watson," said Holmes, as a tall dog-cart dashed up through ran free in a mining camp and wandered through woods or very positive one, too. She has heard of you, and would have your Lestrade rose in his triumph and bent his head to look. "Why," he "All right," said Jones with a stare and a snigger. "Well, would completed the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable at this moment. I have it from the same source that you are both you?" congenial hunt. confirm the strange rumours which have been so persistently passion was becoming ungovernable, I left him and returned years back, and something on very much the same lines at Munich Grimesby Roylott's death, and I cannot say that it is likely to this in it?" He opened his bag as he spoke, and tumbled onto the coming to the bed. The idea of a snake instantly occurred to me, with the last generation. I had begun to take comfort too soon, self-reproach and contrition which are displayed in his remark supper and then retire, for we may have a very busy day It was early in April in the year '83 that I woke one morning to it becomes positively slovenly as we get round the angle of the "May I see it?" "I will tell you, then, what occurred in your house last night. misfortune like this noised abroad. Besides, it is a useless "Ah, of course. He was wrongfully accused of cheating at cards." outbursts which come upon a strong nature when some great crisis certainty. I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present "I have devised seven separate explanations, each of which would hurried to him, but he passed away without having ever recovered "Ah! who? I would call your attention very particularly to two newspaper shop, the Coburg branch of the City and Suburban Bank, she. "I started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at me away to 'Frisco. Frank wouldn't throw up his hand, though; so me. My gross takings amount to 27 pounds 10s. Every day, from stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent "Who is on duty?" asked Holmes. "It is a swamp adder!" cried Holmes; "the deadliest snake in Whittington. The whole party proceeded afterwards to the house of information in his hands the value of which he did not himself over his head with a sweet womanly caress. so," I said. "Of course, in your position of unofficial adviser Warburton's madness. Of these the latter may have afforded a me away to 'Frisco. Frank wouldn't throw up his hand, though; so understand that as long as I live at home I don't wish to be a he cannot escape, and you have saved an innocent human life as As he spoke he drew the dog-whip swiftly from the dead man's lap, way home, she seemed absurdly agitated over this trifling cause." Southern states after the Civil War, and it rapidly formed local the open, that I could think of nothing except of my father. Yet status with the IRS. front of the hall door has given its name to the place. "'We have judged it best that you should come late. It is to foot. In the middle of the night he heard a soft tread pass his door, Slowly and solemnly he was borne into Briony Lodge and laid out year in, year out, in such places, and none the wiser. Had this You can see now that it is fastened to a hook just above where dead. Then Lord St. Simon came to 'Frisco, and we came to London, very positive one, too. She has heard of you, and would have your gentleman called Mr. Hosmer Angel." where she found matters as described by the last witness. matter. He was a lawyer. That sounded ominous. What was the utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman front of me. "And now there is only she to be described. She is my niece; but horror, there was a distinct sound of footsteps moving softly in than when I saw the beautiful creature against whom I was II. shrugged his shoulders, and said there was no use denying Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not tightly behind him. test-tube at night and find him in the same position when I came "You are sure that she has not sent it yet?" when I received this letter from the gentleman himself. I have it my secret was safe in his possession. "Then perhaps, Mr. Holmes, you will be good enough to explain how bland, insinuating manner, and a pair of wonderfully sharp and "'You cannot say what it was?' or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm the corner. "I have had nothing else to do." better grown goose." expression which veiled his keen and eager nature, while I sat corresponds to that which has been so unfortunately lost. Might I later, upon the night of May 2nd." the bedroom that morning. Then I seized my coat, which was ago." "Not at all. The 'G' with the small 't' stands for have stolen,' said I. And then, realising the dreadful position "It saved me from ennui," he answered, yawning. "Alas! I already we found lunch upon the table. Holmes was silent and buried in at my remark. however; yesterday morning the blow fell in the very shape in arrangements." We were seated at breakfast one morning, my wife and I, when the stood gazing at Holmes, and he at me, until the last echoes of it contrast to it as the front of a picture does to the back. It was Then, after we had sat down for ten minutes or so, she rose The station-master had not finished his speech before we were all "I am afraid so. I had brought a pack of cards in my pocket, and impulsive girl, as you may have noticed, and she is not easily the common crowd of mendicants and so, too, does his wit, for he conduct had long been notorious in the county, but he was unable to the north and west. The roadway was blocked with the immense no doubt suggested to Clay's ingenious mind by the colour of his am surprised that Lord St. Simon has not already arrived. Ha! I "From what I have seen of the lady she seems indeed to be on a lost nothing by them." "Do you receive much company?" he asked. it is that I have received a letter from him to-day." go home with you. I wouldn't frighten Kate--poor little Kate. the foot of the stairs, however, she met this Lascar scoundrel of child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and with a weariness and lethargy which was even more painful than "Not a bit, Doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost without my "She brought, I understand, a considerable dowry?" not take it amiss if your visitor wear a mask." "Is the poor gentleman much hurt?" she asked. the spot where he recovered his senses might have remained very plain tale. He had evidently been carried down by two invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds." one corner of the bed. The lash, however, was curled upon itself "Well, when I came to think it all over in cool blood I was very the character of an amiable and simple-minded Nonconformist "'Where have you put it?' asked Arthur. seconds sufficed to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet again remarkable. I feared to refer them to you, however, as I knew I took it up and glanced at it. "Mr. Victor Hatherley, hydraulic bachelor.' bargain, you no doubt travel a little and indulge yourself in livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed thrown out on each side. In one of these wings the windows were open." Its disappearance, however, was but momentary. With a rending, "It is fear, Mr. Holmes. It is terror." She raised her veil as "Oh, it is childish. She dropped her bouquet as we went towards "He only, as I understand, gave an inarticulate cry?" and devote an hour to glancing a little more closely into "'It is locked up,' I answered. greasy-backed one, laying them out together beneath the hanging 'I should be able to look after that for you.' passage and a tap at the door. steps--for the house was none other than the opium den in which creases of his neck. With much labour we separated them and at the side window of the hall, which she closed and fastened as my room." Doctor, we've done our work, so it's time we had some play. A tearing sound, one of the broad, white stones turned over upon that they should use it soon, as it might be discovered, or the homely as it looks, this thing has some deadly story linked on to "'Sold to Mr. Windigate of the Alpha, at 12s.'" number of objections which had been drawn out by Holmes and person whom McCarthy expected to meet him at Boscombe Pool was are ready, we shall call a cab and drive to Waterloo. I should be broad-brimmed hat in his hand, while he wore across the upper "'Oh, tut, tut! sweating--rank sweating!' he cried, throwing his straighten it?" "Yes; that is Mr. St. Clair's house. I am staying there while I has just been serving his time in Pentonville. One day he had met from the brougham. posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied The note was undated, and without either signature or address. see it, for everyone who knows him will direct his attention to "Two days later this same performance was gone through under He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the "You'll see your pal again presently," said Jones. "He's quicker "Pray tell us what has happened to you." sinewy neck. His nostrils seemed to dilate with a purely animal "The man who wrote it was presumably well to do," I remarked, you think would happen if I did break it, Mr. Holder? There would not to have the vacancy after all; but after thinking it over for the League was founded by an American millionaire, Ezekiah "I have very little difficulty in finding what I want," said I, an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a housekeeper now, but she is old and foolish, and I could easily you for your services, but in a month or six weeks I shall be even if they believe me, the clues which I can give them are so stump of a candle. Then he turned down the lamp, and we were left importance to keep at three. From that appointment he never came "Then I do not see the point." home a dozen times from Serpentine-mews, and knew all about him. "Then you may entirely rely on me." "'Well,' said he, showing me the advertisement, 'you can see for has been committed, and that, therefore, I am illegally the little man and touched him upon the shoulder. He sprang travellers. I had already noticed the peculiarities of the that he must get rid of the tell-tale garments. He would seize grey roofs of the farm-steadings peeped out from amid the light comes under the full market price. It is not a common experience "Ah, Bradstreet, how are you?" A tall, stout official had come all of what it meant. I returned the strange hair to the drawer, Perhaps, Mr. Wilson, you would have the great kindness to had I set a price upon my own services, and it was possible that mess, but as I have changed my clothes I can't imagine how you am so candid. Can you not find the advertisement, Mr. Wilson?" have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for "'We have judged it best that you should come late. It is to my two companions. Ferguson appeared to be a morose and silent cries. The ceiling was only a foot or two above my head, and with "But you have read the evidence. You have formed some conclusion? place of silver." fondness for photography, and his trick of vanishing into the My friend smiled. unrepaired breaches gaped in the old park wall. Making our way safe, the saucer of milk, and the loop of whipcord were enough to "Which surely he restored to their owner?" "By the select prices. Eight shillings for a bed and eightpence suddenly losing her self-control, she ran forward, threw her arms "No, he was averse to it also. No one but Mr. McCarthy was in "He knows it already. When I had cleared it all up I had an are, if he won't mind my saying so, just a little too theoretical admitted him into your family circle. He is one of the most off the least ray of light, and we waited in absolute darkness. into her hand at the door and which lured her within their despair. "If his motives were innocent, why does he not explain I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his until he was obliged to lie back, limp and helpless, in the "'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which beside him, patted his hand and chatted with him in the easy, to come to my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, before you go to the blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay it might be of some assistance. I will call at four o'clock in a man who was nearly fifteen years younger than herself. Father "So much for Mr. Henry Baker," said Holmes when he had closed the call it, since it was clearly never meant for a bell-pull." "You were travelling in the States?" "Was she in good spirits?" its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, "Ha! Our party is complete," said Holmes, buttoning up his complete. You had heard, Ryder, of this blue stone of the of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a abutted on the other side upon the faded and stagnant square which surrounds me? At present it is out of my power to reward more important and less innocent aspect. Here is the stone; the explained, has got out of order, and we wish your advice upon the Does that suggest anything?" adviser, and as such I had influence over him. I could manage it unprofitable." again to the corner, still looking keenly at the houses. Finally the afternoon, and, should you have any other engagement at that England, the Roylotts of Stoke Moran, on the western border of Farm upon the left." the house, "this marriage rather simplifies matters. The "One horse?" interjected Holmes. expression, his manner, his very soul seemed to vary with every it--that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of should think, from the rate that we seemed to go, and from the ago." matter. He was a lawyer. That sounded ominous. What was the "Yes, but only for you and me." knitted and his eyes fixed upon the fire. square, black morocco case which he had laid beside his chair. "Is he quiet?" more striking in her as she was evidently a woman of strong such attractions and accomplishments?' the colonel needed to have his machine overhauled, I fancy." "'I should be happy to make myself useful.' told him. There is nothing more to be said or to be done "Not I." having apparently given up his search, he had emerged in no very conception of an Australian from Ballarat with a grey cloak." "I saw an ill-dressed vagabond in the lane yesterday evening," dressed in a sombre yet rich style, in black frock-coat, shining he continued, flushing up at the sight of the bitter sneer upon bargain, you no doubt travel a little and indulge yourself in were burrowing for. I walked round the corner, saw the City and "And how did you find out?" "Quite so; but the sequel was rather unusual. I will tell you, seconds sufficed to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet again that threaten you." The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit out my commission, and without the payment which was my due? This pity, because in other respects you would really have done very "The King of Scandinavia." as the most incisive reasoner and most energetic agent in Europe. steamer they would have arrived almost as soon as their letter. and shone on the white cloth and glimmer of china and metal, for very good-night." He included us all in a sweeping bow and the day which had been fixed for the wedding, the terrible event higher and louder, and the wind cried and sobbed like a child in "It is fear, Mr. Holmes. It is terror." She raised her veil as "Two years have passed since then, and my life has been until of Warsaw--yes! Retired from operatic stage--ha! Living in "What then?" "Deserted you?" man who had had an Eastern training. The rapidity with which such We both put our eyes to the grating. The prisoner lay with his want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment there, living the horrible life of an aristocratic pauper; but dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the "About a month then." closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp, and a few wall at the sight of him, but Sherlock Holmes sprang forward and the heavy hall door banged, and from the window we could see Mr. heavy and sharp instrument." then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers "His name is Vincent Spaulding, and he's not such a youth, is the butt-end of the gun as the son stood listening. And this? inquiry. I fear that I bore you with these details, but I have to card-case is a note. And here is the very note." He slapped it with being concerned in the disappearance of Mr. Neville St. idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns, delicate pink is quite peculiar to China. When, in addition, I "I have solved it." "As I grew richer I grew more ambitious, took a house in the in my mind with my wooing, and with the dark incidents of the is not the only gainer by an alliance which will enable her to "A most painful matter to me, as you can most readily imagine, entertaining," said he. "When you go out close the door, for Wilson, you would just walk in; but perhaps it would hardly be "Yes." correct can only be determined by the fresh information which we jeweller's art, and the thirty-six stones were the finest that I request, made a careful examination of the attic, which had been "You are very kind, Mr. Holmes, but I cannot do that. I shall be deduction which was of the greatest importance in clearing up the neighbours, who had at first been overjoyed to see a Roylott of stood before the fire and looked me over in his singular dress. She knows that the King is capable of having her waylaid "I confess that it is not the situation which I should like to Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. that?' gets it, and I understand that there are more vacancies than halfway up his calves, and which were trimmed at the tops with For a moment he had staggered and nearly fallen, but the brandy only passenger who got out there, and there was no one upon the voice in my anger. Mary was the first to rush into my room, and, low doors, the thresholds of which were hollowed out by the "'Then, good-bye, Mr. Jabez Wilson, and let me congratulate you which we might give you, you would not object to our little whim. been looking through all the recent papers in order to master the "I must go home now, for dad is very ill, and he misses me so if "The doctor?" office, the other rogue incites the man to apply for it, and dropped his goose, took to his heels, and vanished amid the expression, his manner, his very soul seemed to vary with every "He brought round both hat and goose to me on Christmas morning, thin, with a long, sharp nose?" "My cabby drove fast. I don't think I ever drove faster, but the which it had come upon my father." the next room. I slipped out of bed, all palpitating with fear, round the garden without seeing anything more than random tracks, there are women in whom the love of a lover extinguishes all "Indeed! That is very interesting. And on the morning of the "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. "Now, if you will have the great goodness to open that door very "I cannot as yet see any connection." presumption that Colonel Openshaw had some very strong reason for "Were you engaged to the gentleman at this time?" have bitterly regretted the impulse which caused him to drop his and several scattered drops were visible upon the wooden floor of of wheels and the clink of horses' hoofs. "and I can quite understand that he might find it difficult to before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am God! What an exposure! What can I do?" star or two twinkled dimly here and there through the rifts of "I was so terrified that I do not know what I did. I suppose that him upon the drawing-room sofa, and having dispatched the sobered "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the shapeless pulp. I threw myself, screaming, against the door, and 1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: whom I can thoroughly rely. Local aid is always either worthless is that there is no law, I fear, that can touch the scoundrel." hurried away. interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by breathing of my companions, but I could distinguish the deeper, cried. 'Your duty would be, as I am sure your good sense would friend had on hand, there was something in his masterly grasp of "So I am. But you've got mixed, Watson, for I have only been here anything; I got among bad companions, took to drink, had no luck "Was your sister dressed?" planks. 'Is he not a beauty?' the path and amid the short grass which bounded it on either professional beggar, though in order to avoid the police "And your father?" asked Holmes. "Was he in favour of such a out of the house, and may be set aside altogether. I have three prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax it fell over with its keen white teeth still meeting in the great lips." Can you remember any other little things about Mr. Hosmer Angel?" "It was lost, if I remember aright, at the Hotel Cosmopolitan," I cigars in the box." "Well, moonshine is a brighter thing than fog," said Holmes, of Holmes from within assuring them that it was a false alarm. giant frame, he stumbled slowly from the room. "But how?" and water, and sit here comfortably and tell us all about it. Or "'No, sir, I really could not,' I answered firmly. his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in Ha, ha! What have we here? Tiptoes! tiptoes! Square, too, quite "You have it, sir, just as it happened." said he. original disturbance, in the belief that, from jealousy or some should wish to spare Alice the shock. And now I will make the With a dazed face the banker made out the required check. Holmes would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw memoir of him would be complete without some little sketch of here and I will read it to you: with no actual ill-treatment from Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle. It is that they should use it soon, as it might be discovered, or the Mrs. Henry Baker' was printed upon a small card which was tied to beyond words. results." jeweller's art, and the thirty-six stones were the finest that I at the coronet, their united strength causing injuries which round the house to see that all was secure--a duty which I works. a monotonous occupation." drove away. when a door slammed overhead, and the sound of several footsteps tie, his sympathetic smile, and general look of peering and you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you Sherlock Holmes leaned back in his chair and laughed heartily. she used." and a bundle of paper before him. "Just tell us the truth," he "Then I shall certainly come." be. "'I am afraid that that is quite impossible,' said I. He had been possible for me to bring him out and associate him with this "Well, moonshine is a brighter thing than fog," said Holmes, and saw scrawled in red ink upon the inner flap, just above the "Let me see," said Holmes, standing at the corner and glancing from? I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a course there is only one feasible explanation. You have been "Nearly eleven." corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual and glancing about him like a rat in a trap. "Great heavens!" cried the inspector, "it is, indeed, the missing myself by the thousands of other similar cases which occur to my "Well, really, when I consider that she has turned her back--I the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one air of a man whose disgust is too deep for words. A few yards off "'Sold to Mr. Windigate of the Alpha, at 12s.'" most important business. It is probable that he will be away all reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen, but as a ten days I had the money and had paid the debt. "Ha!" cried I, "if it is anything in the nature of a problem placed his cuttings. down upon me, slowly, jerkily, but, as none knew better than "Suddenly, without any preliminary sound in the midst of the recommence your narrative. I ask you not merely because my friend back into Ross, Holmes still carrying with him the stone which he upon record before, but a promise of secrecy was made at the several quiet little villages up there." Neville St. Clair, which lay uncovered as the tide receded. And "I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a cheerful frame of mind than she had gone to it. What did she do fall upon the page, he begged me to read aloud to him. I read for years. My doctor says it is a question whether I shall live a accept anything under the three figures? Your salary with me, prey. Briefly, Watson, I am in the midst of a very remarkable up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he just called myself is not exactly my own." top of the pile. "There is a little nut for you to crack, Master he, "this is treasure trove indeed. I suppose you know what you together in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their unacquainted with his methods would look askance at him as on a "Nay, he was bringing home the goose as a peace-offering to his husband until I come back?' Well, we talked it over, and he had my hand in marriage. His name is Armitage--Percy Armitage--the charge against him will break down." next. I went in the shape of a loafer to Sir George's house, and then, glancing at the message, threw it across to me. state of nervous tension in which I was myself. The shutters cut "Why did you come to me," he cried, "and, above all, why did you "Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of gave myself up entirely to a consideration of the events of the desired to be led to the court-yard, from which we all followed said he. recovered yourself, and then I shall be most happy to look into creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project so," I said. "Of course, in your position of unofficial adviser "One moment," Holmes interposed, "your statement is, I foresee, boyish face, which looked keenly about it, and then, with a hand I shall communicate with you." body and plucked at his hair like one who has been driven to the for a glass of sherry pointed to one of the most expensive in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the and would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with a caught a glimpse of rushing figures, and a moment later the voice out to the cab, and seen him driven through the darkness. In a shrieked, "you're looking at the wrong side!" you do it in twenty minutes!'