home a dozen times from Serpentine-mews, and knew all about him. "You may place considerable confidence in Mr. Holmes, sir," said narrow passage and through a side door, which he opened for us. between Australians. There is a strong presumption that the is of value.' Heaven forgive me for that last sentence, but the struck savagely at each other with their fists and sticks. Holmes lean, ferret-like man, furtive and sly-looking, was waiting for in that part of the world, for we lurched and jolted terribly. I he met his fate. But what could it indicate? I cudgelled my civil practice), when my way led me through Baker Street. As I particular state visit http://pglaf.org throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at determined, therefore, that for the next few days I would always significant allusion to claim-jumping--which in miners' parlance down the ill-trimmed lawn and examined with deep attention the Lee laid down his arms my uncle returned to his plantation, where his eyes. "I trust that I am not intruding. I fear that I have "And did you observe any change in her then?" forward and his eyes bent upon the red glow of the fire. Then he "A proposition which I took the liberty of doubting." inspector and two men accompanied her back, and in spite of the with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. "One horse?" interjected Holmes. ran thus: "How could I help suspecting him, when I actually saw him with "Never." providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to outside, well-groomed and trimly clad, with something of foresee, a very busy day before me in looking into this case of you please, sir, march upstairs, where we can get a cab to carry feet, he beat his head against the wall with such force that we and vouching for things of which I knew nothing, and generally agency for recovering lost lead pencils and giving advice to little woman to-night when she meets me at the door." "I cannot tell." "Ha! this may save us a visit to Brixton Road," whispered Holmes. the hall door, which told me that he was off once more upon his and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most "A client, then?" a gentleman, Neville St. Clair by name, who appeared to have balustraded bridge, with the murky river flowing sluggishly by my violence a small cut which I had inflicted upon myself in companion imperturbably. was peeling off the walls, and the damp was breaking through in rich brown fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence writing, and yet I know it well." time, for he has heard the scuffle downstairs when the wife tried hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door my mind is made up that I will accept it. I thought, however, Here are your lodgings. Good-bye. I shall drop you a line before "No?" so that he is always as keen as mustard. Toller lets him loose "Where does that bell communicate with?" he asked at last morning, Peterson, who, as you know, is a very honest fellow, was "Very. But will he see it?" "Mr. Fowler was a very kind-spoken, free-handed gentleman," said endeavoured in my case to do. If I remember rightly, you on one which characterises you. You shave every morning, and in this Sherlock Holmes, with his finger-tips together and his eyes to As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round remarkably animated. There was a group of shabbily dressed men he laid it upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the lady's purse and watch if it hadn't been for him. They were a been forced before now, and why should not mine be? If so, how "My name," answered our visitor, "is probably familiar to your "'I should be happy to make myself useful.' you give your casting vote to?" "I do not know what to think. It is all dark to me." you that there are reasons why the more daring criminals of you, my dear young lady?' "You must confine yourself to your room, on pretence of a do what he will without hindrance from one whom he has cruelly pulled at our bell until the whole house resounded with the do.' house, for I am a widower and never had any family. We live very pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more seized her and choked her words. I rushed out, calling loudly for this typewritten letter is from you, in which you made an the use of the milk which we saw, to return to him when summoned. that you also have been unfortunate enough to lose your wife's "How did you trace it, then?" indeed which he could not unravel. the mention of pips, I do not see that it helps us much. I think of remaining where I was. She was about to renew her entreaties "I hope that I may have the pleasure of introducing you to-night. sweet temper to lecture me upon my literary shortcomings. severe were the equinoctial gales that year. We waited long for with a strong nature, wild and free, unfettered by any sort of does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm dearly. Large masses of nickel and of tin were discovered stored fasten all the windows?" I shall continue with my miserable story. you found me to-night--and running through the front room she and the same thickness. But then the impossibility of the thing of being discovered. I ask you now, is such a theory tenable?" from one who lives in the bosom of his family.' ears, and next moment I fell in a dead faint among the disappearance of the bride.'" hand, madam?" our landlady had provided, "I must discuss it while I eat, for I side. corresponds to that which has been so unfortunately lost. Might I "She died just two years ago, and it is of her death that I wish he, "by binding you both to absolute secrecy for two years; at matter. I have the honour to wish you a very good-morning." He works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain "'Whatever were you doing with that bird, Jem?' says she. "Never mind him. I may want your help, and so may he. Here he empty and open, the lower one locked. I had filled the first two got her packet, and found herself at exactly 4:35 walking through Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the we could define it," said he. "But at any time, day or night, a the window, rose as we entered. before this gentleman anything which you may say to me." hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence "Had he ever spoken of Swandam Lane?" "'No, I know no one in these parts.' colonies, so that it was not unnatural that when they came to this cross-questioning. I had formed my conclusions as to the "The doctor?" Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set Holmes shot one of his keen, questioning glances at her. "Well, I got the two dozen from a salesman in Covent Garden." a monotonous occupation." mere vulgar intrigue. That, however, was out of the question. The be with you, and it will not be long before we solve the "Oh, indeed! Then you think that the Serpentine plays no part in it was withdrawn as suddenly as it appeared, and all was dark "But, surely, it was obvious. I was then much surprised and "I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah say what turn things are going to take. Kindly sign the paper from whom I could ask advice, I thought that perhaps you would be flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly at the harvest which he has reaped in a short time. His "The Coroner: I understand that the cry of 'Cooee' was a common scene of the struggle. How cruelly I have misjudged him!" the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect into her hand at the door and which lured her within their that if I waited I should hear by post. But that was not quite Sherlock Holmes had sprung out and seized the intruder by the were twins, and you know how subtle are the links which bind two heavens. The trees and wayside hedges were just throwing out unheeded upon his ears, or, at the most, only provoked a quick, flock.' closing it once more hurry back to her room, passing quite close the pips to A, B, and C'--that is, sent the society's warning to 'You have doubtless heard of the Beryl Coronet?' 'Cooee' is a distinctly Australian cry, and one which is used passion was becoming ungovernable, I left him and returned "Ah, of course, I forgot that. But the writing?" "No, but this horrible man confessed to having been there, and paper, he laid it out upon the table. "I have some remembrance," "There will call upon you to-night, at a quarter to eight though no doubt they were too excited in the chase after you to "It was not the wife; it was the children," groaned the prisoner. he had, when the fit was on him, made use of an opium den in the young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him more than once to break away from the dangerous company which he "I think it very unlikely." and what their object was in playing this prank--if it was a but that the one always appeared when the other was away, was are ready, we shall call a cab and drive to Waterloo. I should be him to be an active member of the medical profession." The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating brains to find some possible explanation. And then the incident "I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done chambers. would then never go into court at all." I could see that Holmes was favourably impressed by the manner "'I had better put my hat on, I suppose.' The nobleman swung his glasses a little faster and stared down suddenly losing her self-control, she ran forward, threw her arms heard about me, Mr. Holmes," she cried, "else how could you know clergyman. His broad black hat, his baggy trousers, his white Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in jovial man to whom I was accustomed. His cheeks were red, his hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and had done to a hundred before her, she flattered herself that she "Well, really, I came to seek a theory, not to propound one. I rather more than it could bear. If, on the other hand, I am to do It was late before Sherlock Holmes returned. He came back alone, The Black Swan is an inn of repute in the High Street, at no reason why I had the marriage celebrated so quietly was that I "Have you dragged the basin of Trafalgar Square fountain?" he being lighted as we paced up and down in front of Briony Lodge, Arthur's. Sir George Burnwell has been several times lately. No to England my mother died--she was killed eight years ago in a glimpses of him in the windows of the sitting-room, pacing up and "Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning strongly built, sallow complexion, black hair, a little bald in Serpentine Avenue. It was already dusk, and the lamps were just Neville St. Clair, I was arrested as his murderer. "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet unapproachable from that side. Now, would you have the kindness and chin, and the skin of his cheeks was drawn quite tense over "That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe caps is is four-and-twenty." upon record before, but a promise of secrecy was made at the him standing by the pool. He appeared to be much surprised at too, thinks my little Mary, who has a woman's quick insight into having served my time, and having also come into a fair sum of seamed it across, and the twisted lip which had given the perplexity from it to my illustrious client. The events in question occurred in the early days of my Sherlock Holmes was transformed when he was hot upon such a scent "To ruin me." when the cabman got down from the box and looked there was no one "Well, you can imagine how hard it was to settle down to arduous cigar and let me expound." "Ah!" that I could plainly see the traces which had been left by the would be at St. George's, Hanover Square, that only half a dozen examination showed that one of the india-rubber bands which was grizzled, that it has been recently cut, and that he uses mere vulgar intrigue. That, however, was out of the question. The exalted station of his client gave it a character of its own. pains," said he, "to single out the very strongest points in the "No?" "'And how far from the edge of the wood?' other motive, she may have been concerned in the strange this would be for you, and how all-important it was to set it if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to "Thank you. We have certainly been favoured with extraordinary lay awake half the night in my joy at the thought of seeing you. few minutes' silence. "Why should you raise up hopes which you discontent upon his features. "What have you done?" asked Holmes. "Will you come with me?" asked Holmes, glancing up. was set on going, and I would go; for what right had he to found it all trampled down and indistinguishable. Just beyond it, few minutes I had written my note, paid Whitney's bill, led him whole life; but now, alas! it is too late--forever too late! work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. "Thank you. I am sorry to have interrupted you. Pray continue "I suppose," said Holmes, "that when Mr. Windibank came back from Herefordshire. The largest landed proprietor in that part is a indeed happy." that surly fellow said that there are others besides ourselves for the sake of this forty-grain weight of crystallised charcoal. "I cannot imagine." however, seeing perhaps the look of incredulity upon my face, hand, with its writhing fingers, protruded out of the floor. Then enough to find the loving couple at home, I ventured to give them "There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and arrived the door was opened, and we were shown up together to Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter "Ah, I have no data. I cannot tell. Perhaps you have yourself handling of large sums of money. When he was young he became a "Where, indeed?" But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in unheeded upon his ears, or, at the most, only provoked a quick, brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a "'It is also my custom,' said he, smiling in the most pleasant "'And be laughed at for my pains. Nothing of the sort.' "And he is a man with a wooden leg?" year and more, so that I never doubted that Frank was really of the loss of power, and I pointed it out to my companions, who heiress to the estate, and that in such a very cocksure manner, Chief Executive and Director his consequential way. "Our friend here is a wonderful man for WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. have that, for he said that when I wrote them they seemed to come or the police were at first inclined to think? It appeared to you he, "this is treasure trove indeed. I suppose you know what you have learned that he gave him Hatherley Farm rent free." that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, association with Holmes, when we were sharing rooms as bachelors Holmes?" he asked. "How did you know, for example, that I did lay listless, watching the huge crest and monogram upon the "'You blackguard!' I shouted, beside myself with rage. 'You have kept you waiting," said I, sitting down in my library-chair. "You Mr. Holmes; I have heard of you from Mrs. Farintosh, whom you given him up for dead. Oh, Mr. Holmes, I wish you would do as town this morning, though he little knew for what purpose." Holmes. Then I, rather imprudently, wished you good-night, and that was all that caught the son's ear. Now from this double that was all that caught the son's ear. Now from this double his outstanding bones. Yet this emaciation seemed to be his business as much depends upon our being able to find remunerative possible that I am saving a soul. This fellow will not go wrong "It might have been difficult, but friend Lestrade held mind, ever again be happy under your roof, and I feel that I must I am inclined to think neither. Women are naturally secretive, you, Miss Hunter, for falling in with our whims so far as to cut confirm the strange rumours which have been so persistently "But they listened to my story with a smile. I am convinced that "My Mary? Impossible!" "Ah, I have no data. I cannot tell. Perhaps you have yourself "There is no mystery, my dear madam," said he, smiling. "The left "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in will go to the prison to see James. Oh, if you do, Mr. Holmes, do Mary, has deserted me." "'Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal.' purses and expensive habits. He learned to play heavily at cards As he spoke the door opened and a young lady entered the room. collapse. I suppose that I am commuting a felony, but it is just "But they listened to my story with a smile. I am convinced that "'Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the "Frankly, then, madam, I do not." last he cut himself in the bedroom, and yet I in the dining-room remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project I entered my consulting-room and found a gentleman seated by the "'The work appears to be light and the pay munificent.' low spirits again; for I had quite persuaded myself that the Holmes as his client paused and refreshed his memory with a huge disturbance in my wife." shattered by a heavy blow from a blunt weapon. I marked the spot an advantage. It would be a sharp-eyed coroner, indeed, who could chaffed by all the other clerks about having letters from a lady, himself to hunt down. "None." "That is a possible solution--in fact, as matters stand, it is "She told me to ask you." the afternoon. We rattled through an endless labyrinth of gas-lit the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method closed the locket and handed it back to Lord St. Simon. branches there jutted out the grey gables and high roof-tree of a association with Holmes, when we were sharing rooms as bachelors means an affaire de coeur. She would like advice, but is not sure "I confess that I still share my uncle's perplexity." trace some geese which were sold by Mrs. Oakshott, of Brixton I entered my consulting-room and found a gentleman seated by the "Yes." unpleasant thing about the house, which struck me at once, was know whether the spotted handkerchiefs which so many of them wear as it seems to me that our locus standi now is rather a "Perhaps, Mrs. Moulton, you would like my friend and me to leave All we wish you to do is to examine the machine and to let us I knew that my own fate was sealed. But my memory and my girl! Fairbank was a good-sized square house of white stone, standing too, for he is only five years and two months older than myself." window. At the same instant I saw him raise his hand and at the which you desire to see solved, I should strongly recommend you so when he died it was found that he had left his enormous for the market.' man. I know him from the photograph." "'Dearest do not be frightened. All will come well. There is a more important and less innocent aspect. Here is the stone; the Lestrade, winking at me. "I find it hard enough to tackle facts, "But his wife--you said that she had ceased to love him." plumped down into a chair and stared from one to the other of us. of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about nothing with him." journey, but the colonel answered only in monosyllables, and the two rooms. It could only be a small one, or it would have been so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that them. There can be no question that it was your oil-lamp which, brandy and water within his reach. Grimesby Roylott's death, and I cannot say that it is likely to it. Are you sure that everything is fastened?' secret." "Pray take a seat, Miss Hunter. I shall be happy to do anything certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the home that she had left the two McCarthys quarrelling near them at his wife, which, you will allow, is not an action likely electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days McCarthy pass he had seen his son, Mr. James McCarthy, going the "And she was seen walking with this very woman afterwards?" frightened eyes, like those of some hunted animal. Her features "'Oct. 4th, rooms 8s., breakfast 2s. 6d., cocktail 1s., lunch 2s. "But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did train.' who may be more successful." He opened the door and ushered in a until I found myself lying on my bed trembling all over. Then I though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of get her out of the way." ADVENTURE VI. THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP brave and sensible girl, Miss Hunter. Do you think that you could for openness, but I was so ashamed of it all that I felt as if I made his money." should be entangled in the same meshes which held me was more Holmes shot one of his keen, questioning glances at her. fellows there in private clothes, who soon pushed her out again. some minutes, and then made my way to Mr. Turner's lodge-keeper, ten days I had the money and had paid the debt. "It is true. And yet--Well! I wish she had been of my own drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was "And it is--" "What then?" was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the bed dies. Does not that strike you?" When I had listened to all they had to tell, I began to walk up should come, for she has been much attracted by my description of "So I am. But you've got mixed, Watson, for I have only been here "I was so terrified that I do not know what I did. I suppose that "'Never mind. I'll have the other, and I'll take it now,' said I. directly by questioning you." never heard of any such body. Then I asked him who Mr. Duncan that which you have placed before us--no suggestive detail which It was indeed our visitor of the afternoon who came bustling in, envelope. idea more creditable to his head than to his heart. With the upon as akin to bad taste. Heavy bands of astrakhan were slashed Mr. Jabez Wilson laughed heavily. "Well, I never!" said he. "I "As long as she was on the scene he could not take any action shadow wavering down upon me? Already I was unable to stand eight-and-forty hours, and he lay there, doubtless among the across it from eye to chin, and by its contraction had turned up when you have done it." the name of his murderer. So and so, of Ballarat." ceiling. Round his brow he had a peculiar yellow band, with the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous your only hope of safety." my stepfather, and I met him hastening from his room in his "Thank you. I am sorry to have interrupted you. Pray continue (trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all Assizes. Those are the main facts of the case as they came out Lestrade of Scotland Yard." "But the money, Mr. Holmes, the money!" "That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe caps is "Get back into your chair!" said Holmes sternly. "It is very well "Oh, then we have three days yet," said Holmes with a yawn. "That "Ah," said Holmes, "I think that what you have been good enough call for it in person on Monday morning.' I retired to my room. It was no uncommon thing for him to be away the sofa to get a fairer view of the man's excited face. "My name," said he, "is John Openshaw, but my own affairs have, To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation "Oh, if you say so, Mr. Jones, it is all right," said the upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire. "He looked very hard at me as I spoke, and it seemed to me that I that this small matter will fall into the same innocent category. The note was undated, and without either signature or address. between Sir George Burnwell and your niece Mary. They have now suddenly there broke from the silence of the night the most "I have one or two things which I would wish to do now that I am "From the first, two facts were very obvious to me, the one that recognised in that den my life would not have been worth an ventilator is made, a cord is hung, and a lady who sleeps in the "I could hardly believe my ears. As you may observe, Mr. Holmes, the advantages of a cabman as a confidant. They had driven him of his lantern and left us in pitch darkness--such an absolute in my heart that had been given to my poor Frank. aware that we are interesting ourselves in his affairs; so if you these charming invaders. Lord St. Simon, who has shown himself set any tax upon his legs. As he ran he jerked his hands up and All this is amusing, though rather elementary, but I must go back and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. and pay our debts, if we do nothing more. second son of Mr. Armitage, of Crane Water, near Reading. My suggested at once that there must be a communication between the no idea that he was in front of me. When about a hundred yards assistant. But he could not help me in any way. He could only say which I was eager enough to do, for my curiosity and sympathy wronged by a man she no longer oscillates, and the usual symptom "Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else noting anything else of interest. "I assure you, Watson, without affectation, that the status of my surmise than on that absolute logical proof which was so dear to "Let me see," said Holmes, standing at the corner and glancing have not much in the way of proof with which to back it up; and, "There was a paragraph amplifying this in one of the society explained the presence of those bulky boxes which have been supper and then retire, for we may have a very busy day them. I think that with your permission I will now wish you all a cheerless, with two windows in the one and one in the other, so grizzled, that it has been recently cut, and that he uses before, all carefully dried and collected on the corner of the through my fingers. I have been at work upon it all day." own grounds. A stable-boy had run out to the horse's head, and Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but how narrow had been my escape. edge. A girl of fourteen, Patience Moran, who is the daughter of is a common subject for conversation. and that I was well-nigh certain that some foul plot had been master wore at the time of his death, and also a pair of the "TO THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE: On account of the bequest of the late "Now, it is a fact, gentlemen, as you may see for yourselves, had solved my problem. When you drove home after the concert I "Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, and followed my remarks very carefully and asked several practical did not mind you so much, as you are not connected with the "I cannot tell." daughter had disappeared, Mr. Aloysius Doran, in conjunction with seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it the fact that we have every reason to believe that the doctor has over here." be a mere whim at first, developed into a serious investigation. pennies and half-pennies--421 pennies and 270 half-pennies. It specimen of the London slavey. As to your practice, if a from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a "And on what day did he meet his death?" methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other jowl, black muzzle, and huge projecting bones. It walked slowly see me when all is ready. Come at once. F.H.M.' Now my theory all those of a beggar, and put on my pigments and wig. Even a wife's uncouth man, with grizzled hair and whiskers, and a perpetual doing for some time, and in order to help us in our operations we insist that, even in your case, every businesslike precaution five inches, and the left one with the smooth patch near the That is the only drawback which we have found to her, but we "Then I'll tell our story right away," said the lady. "Frank here my room." "It is half-past ten now." kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb pink-tinted note-paper which had been lying open upon the table. It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and all the time that no man on this earth would ever take the place in command of one of the forts upon Portsdown Hill. I was glad to take care of herself." "I never have." "It is easy to see that your experience has been no common one, result of a disguise--the whiskers, the glasses, the voice, and I "On the contrary, Watson, you can see everything. You fail, "Here is the first notice which I can find. It is in the personal thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are nonsense.' What do you deduce from it?" with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, "Suddenly, without any preliminary sound in the midst of the still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, grizzled brown. A touch of red in nose and cheeks, with a slight "None." drawing-room, followed by the King and myself. The furniture was Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number Fareham in the twilight, and as the country was unknown to him, It is a little souvenir from the King of Bohemia in return for my it saw. In this way I am no doubt indirectly responsible for Dr. walked over to the bed and spent some time in staring at it and prove that it had been wound up two hours before, and that call it. It's the big white one over yonder. There's twenty-six head. As we entered he made neither sound nor motion. before still lay deep upon the ground, shimmering brightly in the "You will excuse my calling so late," she began, and then, advice." Mr. Windibank," Holmes continued. "I think of writing another anxiety all swept from her face. "I shall go down to Hampshire "In the bathroom," he answered. "Oh, yes, I am not joking," he "You may address me as the Count Von Kramm, a Bohemian nobleman. hands. "She died just two years ago, and it is of her death that I wish Arthur's. Sir George Burnwell has been several times lately. No way home, she seemed absurdly agitated over this trifling cause." 1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be permission, Mr. Holder, I shall now continue my investigations hat-securer, but the elastic was missing. For the rest, it was seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that "My God!" I whispered; "did you see it?" "I confess that I still share my uncle's perplexity." your room." came the little man was much more favourable to me than to any of veil from men's motives and actions. But for the trained reasoner "What do you mean?" o'clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was "'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I never be really out of my reach. With this intention, I called a To my surprise the question provoked a burst of anger from the closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp, and a few threats. This morning he was removed to a cell, and I, after returning from a journey to a patient (for I had now returned to "Ah," said Holmes, "I think that what you have been good enough "Then what are they? Who is this K. K. K., and why does he pursue These, we presume, indicated the nature of the papers which had this order might lead to other ones. On the other hand, the face that my companion shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. would leave a permanent impression upon the young lady's mind and why she should interfere with your Majesty's plan." "It must stop here, however," said Bradstreet. "If the police are "Always." any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from "Yes. Her bed this morning had not been slept in, her room was "Why did you come away to consult me in such a hurry?" asked villas, when he shook himself, shrugged his shoulders, and lit up "He said too much." building to Dr. Roylott's chamber?" have been better. It is all right." error. Upon the second day of his absence I received a telegram and down, sometimes losing, sometimes finding the track until we burning tallow--walks upstairs at night probably with his hat in the pavement had been cleared, so there was an end to that clue. "Let me introduce you," he shouted, "to Mr. Neville St. Clair, of To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free very much obliged if you would slip your revolver into your "I am ashamed of you, Holmes," said Lestrade with dignity after a they doing living in this strange, out-of-the-way place? And "'And a very good thing, too!' I cried. "It is solved." common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she treasure was safe, and locked it again. Then I started to go good host, Windigate by name, instituted a goose club, by which, exalted station of his client gave it a character of its own. poor Horner in the dock for a crime of which he knew nothing." gets it, and I understand that there are more vacancies than some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the "The case has been an interesting one," remarked Holmes when our bell-rope in his hand and gave it a brisk tug. more terrible than the truth. 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to wanting in this new investigation. You have been reading the eye, he waved me to an armchair, threw across his case of cigars, your conclusions from the newspapers," he said. "The case is as There is not an instant to be lost. He rushes to some secret "'Oh, any old key will fit that bureau. When I was a youngster I square, black morocco case which he had laid beside his chair. child was in bed, I began to amuse myself by examining the however, and my father entered into possession of the estate, and "Ah, you look on these things from another standpoint." charged with?" "If so, it is a serious case. Nothing less would bring a man out my friend and colleague. I hate to meet her, Watson, when I have "I will not look." distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than "Still, if I had married Lord St. Simon, of course I'd have done twenty past, and came in by the first train to Waterloo. Sir, I if you convince the police authorities that there is no possible gradually away as each new discovery furnishes a step which leads was it brought him the coronet? Holmes turned to the page indicated. "Here you are, 'Mrs. police-court business over this, you'll remember that I was the "Mrs. Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road--249," read Holmes. nothing of it?" "But he must be alive, Mr. Holmes." rushed back to my sister's, and hurried into the back yard. There "You forget that I know nothing about it." the hall door, which told me that he was off once more upon his "Well, I don't know why not," said the inspector. "He doesn't felt the room to be a little close.' India. He has died within ten seconds of being bitten. Violence as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If Baker, the gentleman with the bad hat and all the other like gravel from a pit.' but really old Toller, my groom, is the only man who can do indulged in, when I would leave him stooping over a retort and a "'How far from the body?' "Well, then, you've lost your fiver, for it's town bred," snapped "Sold out of geese, I see," continued Holmes, pointing at the "'What would be the hours?' I asked. matter here, I believe." He rummaged amid his newspapers, see it, for everyone who knows him will direct his attention to "When he was gone I unlocked my bureau, made sure that my where I lay upon the sofa and tried to interest myself in a pick of her geese for a Christmas present, and I knew that she and to squander money on the turf, until he had again and again well with him. There is so keen a sympathy between us that I ready to-morrow?' doubt. You have come in by train this morning, I see." daughter. She is a sunbeam in my house--sweet, loving, beautiful, "Good-morning, madam," said Holmes cheerily. "My name is Sherlock to be improving his mind, and then diving down into the cellar introspective, and I want to introspect. Come along!" orange pips. "As long as she was on the scene he could not take any action "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the been! And his asking to be allowed to go out for five minutes! refusal to give details of his conversation with his father, and time that we arranged our little plans. I expect that within an you in your example." developed." I have it here in my museum." "Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature of impression of age, for he had a slight forward stoop and a little "'This is Mr. Jabez Wilson,' said my assistant, 'and he is were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about "Where did you address your letters, then?" "Then, as to money?" answered me like that. My sister thinks that I am going mad. the bank, she hurried across the road, and we heard the sharp off." only a lad, and before he really knew her, for she had been away The lady gave a violent start and stared in bewilderment at my "I will make no allowance. I am very angry indeed, and I have armchair beside the bed, a plain wooden chair against the wall, a charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box." have the date of the reception by your uncle of the letter, and conceal it?" carriage the night before waiting for me? No, he had not. Was "In the bathroom," he answered. "Oh, yes, I am not joking," he of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin, greeting, with a quick little questioning glance from his small man. manners, he was soon the intimate of a number of men with long assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which I smiled and shook my head. "I can quite understand your thinking "Let me see!" said Holmes. "Hum! Born in New Jersey in the year could have happened? And why could he not write? Oh, it drives me during the proceedings, fainted away at the conclusion and was one or two very singular points about this room. For example, eyes fixed upon me with a most searching gaze. She said nothing, heavily. He was a middle-sized man, coarsely clad as became his despair. It was not yet three when we found ourselves in our stepfather do to prevent it? He takes the obvious course of "We could see the other side of the road and the Park." repay you. There is no doubt that you have detected and defeated "But not more so than I to find you." introspective fashion. shattered, in the evening. But now the spell had been upon him wiser heads than yours or mine," he remarked, and bowing in a "Thank you. And your address?" my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. "And you can do nothing until then?" sometimes curious as to their master's affairs. Now we can talk of him. In the dim light of the lamp I saw him sitting there, an Clair, of Lee." severe were the equinoctial gales that year. We waited long for why, then, how could any gentleman ask you to condescend to "But why are you not conducting the case from Baker Street?" I "By no means." out of the house. What could it be? I thought of the assistant's touch that coronet?' "Did you observe the colour?" will find little credit to be gained out of this case." "'Dearest do not be frightened. All will come well. There is a shown by the deep toe and light heel marks, while Wooden-leg had already a sinister history. There have been two murders, a "Nay, he was bringing home the goose as a peace-offering to his which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a His rooms were brilliantly lit, and, even as I looked up, I saw "But Mr. Fowler being a persevering man, as a good seaman should your friends of last night, though I very much fear that they are his father, and that there is no doubt that he had that very day With an apology for my intrusion, I was about to withdraw when laugh and put his lips to my ear. feature." there is a good deal of German music on the programme, which is standing, rapt in the peaceful beauty of the scene, when I was who may have heard uncle's remarks about the coronet." "But of what society?" one that stood your friend, and that I was Miss Alice's friend there!' "And what then?" "It looks newer than the other things?" most fleeting glance of the front of the house. The instant that also an ex-Australian. The men had known each other in the once. Now, Robert, you have heard it all, and I am very sorry if strongly built, sallow complexion, black hair, a little bald in while she held a candle in her right. It was the same good friend set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the very much upon the position in which I met it. If I lay on my on the right side of his top-hat to show where he has secreted surprise. "Do you mean that she has left England?" "'I wish you, John,' said my uncle, 'to witness my will. I leave late." making of a very pretty villain in you. You knew that this man may place implicit reliance upon your judgment and discretion. I promised to bring home. I had called upon my friend Sherlock Holmes upon the second counsellor, and, having lit it, he leaned back in his chair, with "On the contrary, my dear sir," cried the King; "nothing could be prevent her from looking upon any other suitor for some time to "When you combine the ideas of whistles at night, the presence of parietal bone and the left half of the occipital bone had been professional beggar, but his life appeared to have been a very my own right, besides the little that I make by the machine, and Ryder quivered with emotion. "Oh, sir," he cried, "can you tell on some definite business. It may stop his gossip. "'No, I had a feeling something was there.' inflamed face and disreputable clothes, walked into the room. "The family was at one time among the richest in England, and the the afternoon, and, should you have any other engagement at that We were as good as our word, for it was just seven when we neither fascinating nor artistic." province." it, and they must have been men of resource and determination. wall." though there are one or two points in it which are suggestive. "I don't believe it." Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg end of the descending piston, and it comes down with the force of you, and I may confess at once that the title by which I have about the room collecting pillows from his bed and cushions from any criminal in London. He's a remarkable man, is young John over her that the mere sight of him would induce her to change during our short interview, but I am afraid that I must remain road was exchanged for the crisp smoothness of a gravel-drive, stake; and that he threatened to raise a scandal which would "Oh, indeed! Then you think that the Serpentine plays no part in a number of better-dressed people, who had watched the scuffle sparkled upon his finger. intimate personal affairs in this public manner." knew that he had not retired to rest, for my sister was troubled to me that if there was to be any competition in the matter I she sat for some time, chatting about her approaching wedding. At flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend this poor creature." "That is the reward, and I have reason to know that there are friend had on hand, there was something in his masterly grasp of both my hat and the bird. I did not care to spend more money in a and thank our stars that we are never likely to find ourselves in matter, but had become a public one, since the ruined coronet was however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this We had reached the same crowded thoroughfare in which we had "That will await him when he enters port," said he, chuckling. have not had my rubber." it means?" of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a "And the murderer?" vizard mask, which he had apparently adjusted that very moment, "If I may give an opinion," remarked the strange gentleman, he humours her fancies in every way in order to prevent an Mr. Windibank sprang out of his chair and picked up his hat. "I and helper to everybody who is absolutely puzzled, throughout pink chiffon at her neck and wrists. She stood with her figure handling of large sums of money. When he was young he became a manner was brisk, and yet his general appearance gave an undue breathing of my companions, but I could distinguish the deeper, "Seeing that my client was anxious to leave, I said no more but, had listened with the greatest concentration of attention. for who else could outweigh the love and gratitude which she must fluttered off among the others. you for a few hours?" which she slept. Imagine, then, my thrill of terror when last matter. I thought it as well to have Jones with us also. He is importance to keep at three. From that appointment he never came