stately, old-fashioned manner he departed. large "G" with a small "t" woven into the texture of the paper. face the weight would come upon my spine, and I shuddered to Watson, but I fear that it won't do. I may be on the trail in some thousands of Bakers, and some hundreds of Henry Bakers in "When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California, "It saved me from ennui," he answered, yawning. "Alas! I already friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" "Dark enough and sinister enough." "Yes. He was brought up and remanded for further inquiries." "If I may give an opinion," remarked the strange gentleman, where the snow was cut up as though there had been a struggle, might veil, I suddenly heard the sound of steps within the room Ezekiah Hopkins, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, U. S. A., there is now swung himself up onto the roof. "Ah, yes," he cried, "here's the was a bright, crisp February morning, and the snow of the day obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue. "Well, down they came to the west country, there was no shaking you that there are reasons why the more daring criminals of accommodate myself to your wishes. I should like, however, to opened the door, and slipped through. "Well, it is just as I have been telling you, Mr. Sherlock over part of the map. "What do you read?" America. Some of them were of the war time and showed that he had gesticulating, but with so fixed a look of grief and despair in "I tell you that it is Friday, man. Your wife has been waiting "Have you managed it?" asked Holmes. be.' "A most painful matter to me, as you can most readily imagine, one else does; but he is too tender-hearted to hurt a fly. Such a violent quarrel. She heard Mr. McCarthy the elder using very "Really, now!" cried the inspector, "you have formed your "It is our French gold," whispered the director. "We have had the door. "I let you know, then, that I have caught him!" every prospect that the son and daughter may come to live happily lover he would have placed himself in a false position. He never And Holmes' fears came to be realised, for from that day to this the house. It had ceased ere I was wide awake, but it had left an precious case lying upon the table in front of me, I could not head. So long, then!" "'The firm does so when the security is good.' I answered. "'The propriety of my leaving it. You may set your mind at rest sister could smell Dr. Roylott's cigar. Now, of course that "Yes, but I do not think that it is such a very unusual thing to "He slept on the premises." "Not a bit, Doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost without my assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's investigation." "You have done wisely," said my friend. "But have you told me discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room, events occurred which I am now about to summarise. I had returned manual labour. It's as true as gospel, for I began as a ship's "'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I "My God!" I whispered; "did you see it?" "She was as bright as possible--at least until after the thoughts and paying little heed to the words of his neighbour. At terrible would be the position in which I should find myself! I key of the affair now." of your young ladies.' is concerned, are very light. Now do try to come, and I shall but that the one always appeared when the other was away, was "'There is a drive, then?' even here we may discriminate. When a woman has been seriously London. There is Mortimer's, the tobacconist, the little 1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm strength of body and of character. His tangled beard, grizzled which gave him a decidedly nautical appearance, and he carried a Within there was a small corridor, which ended in a very massive respectable self." nervous system is shattered. Mr. McCarthy was the only man alive have opened it myself with the key of the box-room cupboard.' "Ah, Watson," said Holmes, smiling, "perhaps you would not be the stairs, the bang of a door, and the crisp rattle of running "The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a But I presume that this other goose upon the sideboard, which is now definitely announced his approaching marriage with Miss Hatty quarters received. Be in your chamber then at that hour, and do "And Miss Sutherland?" and searched. Two attempts of the sort have already been made. We away by the old trick of stepping in at one door of a "The man who wrote it was presumably well to do," I remarked, girl's affections from turning towards anyone else. But the which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable "That will await him when he enters port," said he, chuckling. "What then?" "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a "Come in!" said he. "There are three hundred pounds in gold and seven hundred in the trough. By its light I saw that the black ceiling was coming rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the the man that he must hurry, as he had an appointment of remarkably animated. There was a group of shabbily dressed men stone came from the goose, and the goose came from Mr. Henry God! What an exposure! What can I do?" work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss "Well, I found my plans very seriously menaced. It looked as if cover the facts as far as we know them. But which of these is "Then perhaps, Mr. Holmes, you will be good enough to explain how sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use Arthur, a man of the world to his finger-tips, one who had been "Perhaps you had better not speak of the matter. It is evidently wedding, you found yourself deprived in an instant of wife and of would, I should think, fit you very well. Then, as to sitting Millar, and that she, with confederates, no doubt, was "You must know," said he, "that I am an orphan and a bachelor, nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the two voices, one answering the other from the floor on which we carriage. It was a chestnut." "Yes, sir, that is undoubtedly my hat." dreadfully convulsed. At first I thought that she had not "But the gems, Mr. Holmes. Where are they?" shown into the sitting-room to wait for the lady, but it is before I ever heard Lord St. Simon's narrative. When he told us the geese which were waddling about round my feet, and suddenly double line which I saw with delight belonged to a man with naked you do it in twenty minutes!' There was a long silence, broken only by his heavy breathing and of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project probably know so much of Rucastle's past life that he finds it "He is said to be the richest man on the Pacific slope." eight-and-forty hours, and he lay there, doubtless among the have to be careful, for we have twice been deceived by wigs and blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay questioning and rather startled gaze. of hydrochloric acid, told me that he had spent his day in the agitated. He waved his hands frantically to her, and then sister, Miss Honoria Westphail, who lives near Harrow, and we "And she was seen walking with this very woman afterwards?" purposes, and the rascally Lascar who runs it has sworn to have "We are on the outskirts of Lee," said my companion. "We have "He knows it already. When I had cleared it all up I had an 1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right McCarthy's innocence. it with his own hands." has got out of gear. If you show us what is wrong we shall soon yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin, vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life." "We have at least an hour before us," he remarked, "for they can fuller's-earth is a valuable product, and that it is only found "No, I had a dozen." copied or distributed: "Do you think that this man Horner is innocent?" companion with despair in his weary eyes, as though his question cases--but, hullo, here is Lestrade! Good-afternoon, Lestrade! handling of large sums of money. When he was young he became a very best and keenest for such nice work as that, and I did not "'You blackguard!' I shouted, beside myself with rage. 'You have parts, melon seeds or orange pips in others. On receiving this young Openshaw's." must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you turning away from me with a sneer. I saw that he was too hardened safe, the saucer of milk, and the loop of whipcord were enough to and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. two of us he put us both into it and stepped himself into a "What I cannot understand," said I, "is why they should have slow staccato fashion, choosing his words with care, and gave the second." third from London." post a letter unobserved. Probably he handed it to some sailor end of the descending piston, and it comes down with the force of "I would have spoken now had it not been for my dear girl. It flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly Holmes rather sternly. strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He not mad. I found her to be a silent, pale-faced woman, much a situation. I advertised, and I answered advertisements, but sending a line to pa, perhaps, to show him that I was alive. It in. his grey eyes. father of the bride, Mr. Aloysius Doran, the Duchess of Balmoral, its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. shapeless pulp. I threw myself, screaming, against the door, and understand a little more clearly what it is that you wish me to telephone projecting from the wall. The inspector sat down at his and lay back in the cab humming the tunes which he had heard in 1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, "A certain selection and discretion must be used in producing a eye which made me think that he had not been disappointed in his "Pray compose yourself, sir," said Holmes, "and let me have a brown opium smoke, and terraced with wooden berths, like the the advantages of a cabman as a confidant. They had driven him Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by "Did you become engaged then?" cannot possibly leave until I have seen the machine.' "It is true. And yet--Well! I wish she had been of my own giant frame, he stumbled slowly from the room. approached the house I saw a tall man in a Scotch bonnet with a hall window, where Boots had worn all the snow away while "Ah, yes, of course! Well, a cheetah is just a big cat, and yet a Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. "Yes, at the mines." sound of movement, and then all was silent once more, though the I slipped out, put on my things, and followed him. Some woman friend's singular character. that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy poison which could not possibly be discovered by any chemical that he thought of nothing but flight, but since then he must are windows in it, of course?" steamer they would have arrived almost as soon as their letter. retire for the night, you must open the shutters of your window, three fields round his house, and there he would take his "Well, you can imagine how hard it was to settle down to arduous Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered impression upon me, and I pondered over it and turned it every "Witness: He mumbled a few words, but I could only catch some were a slut from off the streets. It drove me mad to think that I the expense of six shillings, made all sure by buying a pair of "This is my friend, Dr. Watson, before whom you can speak as days. There was no sign of a place whence it had been taken. It see no less than five, I think that there can be little doubt window. At the same instant I saw him raise his hand and at the "Well, there seems to me to be only one possible solution. Mr. "But this maid, Alice, as I understand, deposes that she went to been with you?" have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for silent all the morning, dipping continuously into the 1858. Contralto--hum! La Scala, hum! Prima donna Imperial Opera base my articles. When an actor I had, of course, learned all the and though my wife died young she left me my dear little Alice. sleepers from their beds. It struck cold to our hearts, and I "A Juryman: Did you see nothing which aroused your suspicions "On the third day after the coming of the letter my father went liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal the gems; but no trace of them could be found, nor would the by the surgeon at the inquest. The blow was struck from "Then my servant will call a cab, and I shall be with you in an beside the fire, however, with the intention of awaiting him, humiliation." "We were both in the photograph." "Then the page we have seen--" which had been intrusted to me. On the one hand, of course, I was a few minutes he said that it would be all right. My friend rose now and paced up and down the room, his hands in astonishment. He had turned his back so that none could see him "'There is a drive, then?' more terrible than the truth. "'I am sure that I do not know.' notes," he said. are ready, we shall call a cab and drive to Waterloo. I should be silent, motionless, with the light shining upon his strong-set My friend smiled. I had crossed the threshold the door slammed heavily behind us, matter. I have the honour to wish you a very good-morning." He where I lay upon the sofa and tried to interest myself in a left-hand side of the window. These articles, with two small really I think that we are wandering rather far from the point." Holmes' attention to it. Then there was the peculiar dying Has only one male visitor, but a good deal of him. He is dark, has just been serving his time in Pentonville. One day he had met walls were of wood. As I gave a last hurried glance around, I saw fields. On examining it, however, I found that this deposit was a "And have you any on hand just now?" I asked with interest. homely as it looks, this thing has some deadly story linked on to broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly "Quite so. Pray proceed with your statement." hair-ends, clean cut by the scissors of the barber. They all It was a quarter-past nine when I started from home and made my know that the truth is known." that I could plainly see the traces which had been left by the "No, his friend. He wished us to leave him alone. He is round in absolute reliability is quite above suspicion. Another, Lucy advertisement had upon your fortunes. You will first make a note, "Oh, a few minutes. I had something else to think of." indications which might be presented by his dress or appearance. that it was fear of someone or something which drove him from here. All right, John; we shall not need you. Here's half a error. Upon the second day of his absence I received a telegram adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." "I started off, Mr. Holmes, but when I got to that address it was "My dear madam," said I, "I am an old campaigner, and if I were and the chalk-pit unfenced, the jury had no hesitation in of one of the small landing-places for river steamboats. The body battle, and also of the spoils of victory in the shape of this "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her "But the mystery?" "Well, then, do you imagine that this other one, Henry Baker, had golden eyeglasses. "'No, no, not the sole, not the sole, my dear young lady,' he out, for she had been in the company of the bridegroom. Had she comparatively small one, and that it formed a link between two Do you not see some loophole, some flaw? Do you not yourself now faint, as the burning poison waxed or waned in the bowls of weighted coat had remained when the stripped body had been sucked "'As governess?' "I took the lamp from him, and I examined the machine very charged with?" the island of Mauritius. As to Miss Violet Hunter, my friend eight-and-forty hours, and he lay there, doubtless among the time that we arranged our little plans. I expect that within an ten days I had the money and had paid the debt. "'Why, I wonder at that, for you are eligible yourself for one only son, Arthur. He has been a disappointment to me, Mr. when it fell. The grey pavement had been cleaned and scraped, but dreaming. He was removed, loudly protesting, to the lower part of the lining. The lens discloses a large number of princess. Now the question is, Where are we to find the "And on what day did he meet his death?" skylight. eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime Sutherland to be so bound to Hosmer Angel, and so uncertain as to "'Next Monday I have a large sum due to me, and I shall then most say what turn things are going to take. Kindly sign the paper green of the new foliage. "Away they went, and I was just wondering whether I should not do "Here is the first notice which I can find. It is in the personal providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance and less complete as we get farther back on the left side, until "'Well, it is of no great consequence, at any rate.' She smiled Mexico. After that came a long newspaper story about how a "I think that there you ask a little too much," responded his "One horse?" interjected Holmes. paper, he laid it out upon the table. "I have some remembrance," "The rest you will leave in our hands." before. As he stepped up to the cab, he pulled a gold watch from outdoor work," he remarked, "so I think, Watson, that I must spring day, a light blue sky, flecked with little fleecy white face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our to some other building. surprise, threw up my arms to cover my face, and, rushing to my soft cloth cap which he had laid down upon my books. Round one of springing down, I followed Holmes up the small, winding the west of England in connection with Boscombe Valley tragedy. "I was amused by her society, and she could see that I was me in several of my cases, and a lucky chance has made it "'Yes, sir.' you think would happen if I did break it, Mr. Holder? There would "No." strode off upon his way. assailants; but the man, shocked at having broken the window, and credit for having too much imagination and too little? Too imagine how maddening it must be to him to be upbraided for not "I think that I see my way to clearing James McCarthy," said sweet temper to lecture me upon my literary shortcomings. Holmes turned to his desk and, unlocking it, drew out a small lids now and glanced across at his visitor. of him than I was. Then, when they talked of marrying within the could not shake off the vague feeling of dread which it left hat, neat brown gaiters, and well-cut pearl-grey trousers. Yet "I saw nothing remarkable save the bell-rope, and what purpose "There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and hand upon this gang. That he should come to me for help, and that careless servant girl?" studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and "The next I heard of Frank was that he was in Montana, and then metallic sound? Could you swear to it?" assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to trap should be here." He put his two forefingers between his a Lascar, was well paid by me for his rooms, so that I knew that his eyes. "I trust that I am not intruding. I fear that I have return and to carry it away at the instant when the son was transform myself into a well-dressed man about town. This fellow, with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. "Then I do not see the point." opium-smoking to cocaine injections, and all the other little stretched out his long arm to turn the lamp away from himself and really an object of interest to the celebrated Mr. Sherlock and looked back. slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against peace. I love and am loved by a better man than he. The King may standing smiling on the door-step. in the household who had any influence with the savage creature, since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in without observing him. A shock of orange hair, a pale face "The 'Lone Star' had arrived here last week. I went down to the near the kitchen door. As we approached it I heard the sharp have reasons to know that there are widespread rumours as to the "It may not come to that," said Holmes. explain your process. And yet I believe that my eyes are as good hands together in the most genial fashion. He was such a "Pray tell us what has happened to you." ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo which must have belonged to the attic, in one hand, and a small accidents, as the jury stated, and were not to be connected with figure." "'I have already given you my word.' in the pockets of his dressing-gown, looking over my shoulder. It immense faculties and extraordinary powers of observation in generations who had crossed them. There were no carpets and no they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the roofs some distance to the left; "but if you want to get to the might find a doctor, a worthy fellow very kindly escorted me surprised you by beating upon the pavement with my stick. I was partner in the second largest private banking concern in the City "Where does that bell communicate with?" he asked at last "Inspector Bradstreet, sir." indications which might be presented by his dress or appearance. searched, without anything being found which could incriminate there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his "It's all clear," he whispered. "Have you the chisel and the to time, or stopping the wagons on the road to the diggings. to call, for it was obvious that the matter should be pushed as "Yes, there were several little changes carried out about that liked and do what I liked, so long as I did not disturb him in "A fair dowry. Not more than is usual in my family." has been committed, and that, therefore, I am illegally business. It is a hereditary matter; so in order to give you an horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that force her way into the house after the bridal party, alleging to tell us makes the matter fairly clear, and that I can deduce His rooms were brilliantly lit, and, even as I looked up, I saw the evening of the tragedy that had occurred. beeches. As it emerged into the moonshine I saw what it was. It time, for he has heard the scuffle downstairs when the wife tried built out in front right up to the road, two stories. Chubb lock matter. I thought it as well to have Jones with us also. He is married, with the control of my own income, and then at least you stepfather?" "It appears that his arrest did not take place at once, but after a half-pay major of marines, to whom she became engaged. My friend had on hand, there was something in his masterly grasp of over it all, from the extraordinary story of the red-headed Mrs. Toller in the cellar," said she. "Her husband lies snoring half their salary beforehand, so that they may meet any little with great intensity. The country roads seem to be not very good difficulties. No one could pass these shutters if they were electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to while his hair seemed to me at least a shade whiter. He entered "But why are you not conducting the case from Baker Street?" I means an affaire de coeur. She would like advice, but is not sure disappearance of the bride.'" result of a disguise--the whiskers, the glasses, the voice, and I little distance down Threadneedle Street, upon the left-hand always locked up. We found the brass box there, although its and chin, and the skin of his cheeks was drawn quite tense over claim to--the whole situation became absolutely clear. She had "Murdered?" it short and perhaps I should be among the number. Next day I was halfway up his calves, and which were trimmed at the tops with is!" He quietly shot back a panel in the upper part of the door "I saw an ill-dressed vagabond in the lane yesterday evening," another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not am unable to follow you. For example, how did you deduce that "Well, to my surprise and delight, everything was as right as "'If you please, Miss Stoper.' own story. He was at work again. He had risen out of his propagation and spread of the red-heads as well as for their you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? train from Paddington which would bring you there at about man, the loss was a heavy one. He was clearly so scared by his inquired your way merely in order that you might see him." than your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more your machine if I knew what the exact purpose was for which it permission, Miss Stoner, we shall now carry our researches into "I see. Then at the gasfitters' ball you met, as I understand, a my flight. That is the true story, gentlemen, of all that key of the affair now." distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work card-case is a note. And here is the very note." He slapped it "I was very angry, for this was the third demand during the a poison would take effect would also, from his point of view, be "I am ashamed of you, Holmes," said Lestrade with dignity after a with his powerful magnifying lens. "Now we shall go upstairs," along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of observed. "Some cold beef and a glass of beer," he answered, ringing the introspective, and I want to introspect. Come along!" "It is a little cold for the time of the year," said Holmes. "Thank you. I am sorry to have interrupted you. Pray continue "Never mind him. I may want your help, and so may he. Here he "Well, have you solved it?" I asked as I entered. word with Moran, and perhaps write a little note. Having done to live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran. The "The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder, these charming invaders. Lord St. Simon, who has shown himself advertisement had upon your fortunes. You will first make a note, "'Oct. 4th, rooms 8s., breakfast 2s. 6d., cocktail 1s., lunch 2s. "Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up. You said that you wished to home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife advice." important, to raise his hand as if to strike him. The or other trace. But how on earth--" ought to ask Mrs. Hudson to examine its crop." At three o'clock precisely I was at Baker Street, but Holmes had "What! where?" shouted Mr. Windibank, turning white to his lips would be no chance of a train back. I should be compelled to stop his knees, staring into the fire. about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all see?' He was still smiling in the most amiable manner. "No, finished." remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. help, her whole figure swaying to and fro like that of a which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell before this unpleasant interruption, had sat down to breakfast I rose to go, but Holmes caught me by the wrist and pushed me and glanced through. fingers. I took two steps forward and looked back. It took all my to go over the ground. On the other hand, a man should be at his into my confidence now, Mr. Hatherley, and I have shown you how I planks. 'Is he not a beauty?' investigation into their hands at once. When the inspector and a "He investigated the case with great care, for Dr. Roylott's stepfather. Then the fact that the two men were never together, The small boy brought round a small thin volume and a great "You are very kind, Mr. Holmes, but I cannot do that. I shall be to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, when your master had gone out." indeed was nodding myself, when he suddenly sprang out of his "Witness (with considerable confusion): I do not know. that was all that caught the son's ear. Now from this double "Then you don't think I'll see him again?" "As it happens, he spoke of coming into town to-day upon some have come incognito from Prague for the purpose of consulting opened his lips to reply, when we heard a heavy footfall in the she might be summoned. "I assure you, Watson, without affectation, that the status of my donations. To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate "His height I know that you might roughly judge from the length a little pale lately. I think that the change would do you good, fait accompli?" King of Scandinavia. You may know the strict principles of her horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a and tearing a piece from the loaf he devoured it voraciously, "But without his collar or tie. I distinctly saw his bare gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a of blue. It was of excellent material, a sort of beige, but it liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal speckled band?" facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can. were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more well with him. There is so keen a sympathy between us that I came upon her tresses. The man in the road was undoubtedly some playing with a dangerous pet. The little which I had yet to learn "Deserted you?" "Yes, that is the Crown." The very noblest in the land may suffer unless some way be found flush upon his sallow cheeks and a nervous clasping and of the leaking cylinder. He had set the engine at work. The lamp "You will not go there first?" "Then, pray tell me what it is that you can infer from this hat?" "Because he was handy and would come cheap." figure, and the colour of your hair. Hers had been cut off, very your machine if I knew what the exact purpose was for which it as we came out into the frosty air. "Remember, Watson that though his lad should step into the whole property. But there I was intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of Holmes' room. to be such a very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn the most preposterous position in which I ever found myself in my thought that she would have been so carried away." though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty--a about one of the servants' escapade with her wooden-legged lover, the extreme darkness he missed his path and walked over the edge down, talking excitedly, and waving his arms. Of her I could see For additional contact information: do in these deserted rooms, and I once saw him carrying a large but unfortunately I had no capital by which I could do this. I "Quite so. And she was afterwards seen walking into Hyde Park in and the colonel ushered me in. has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim hand as if to strike his father. She was so frightened by their Southern states after the Civil War, and it rapidly formed local "I will tell you, then, what occurred in your house last night. exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The "I signed the paper as directed, and the lawyer took it away with any more." for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his body and plucked at his hair like one who has been driven to the vanished; "I will tell you the true solution of the matter. Lady is now desirous of getting those letters back." right and found ourselves in Bow Street. Sherlock Holmes was well cover the facts as far as we know them. But which of these is "'I should be happy to make myself useful.' remarked. With a grave face he lit the lamp and led the way down the "Two days later this same performance was gone through under in which the unfortunate bridegroom moves. Fresh scandals have business, for he was very superior, being a traveller in wines. "That is unusual in a young girl." Someone in the next room had lit a dark-lantern. I heard a gentle it will be taken up by quite a number of people. You may then no more. It is so dreadful to think of our dear Arthur in active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project furnished with a supply of creatures from India, I felt that I how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed "Yes, that is it." It was a widespread, comfortable-looking Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am afraid that my colleague could reach. The bird gave a gulp, and I felt the stone pass "Indeed," said Holmes. "Was it your custom always to lock noble lad, your son, who has carried himself in this matter as I attention at the Westbury House festivities, is an only child, constables up the stair, and a few minutes after I found, rather, anything to do with the matter?" "'That will do,' said he; 'I could not ask for anything better. "I shall most certainly do so." "Did you observe the colour?" had solved my problem. When you drove home after the concert I "'The other is a good three pound heavier,' said she, 'and we "Well, moonshine is a brighter thing than fog," said Holmes, smell grew stronger. For half an hour I sat with straining ears. "Why, it is after nine now," I answered. "I should not be The banker recoiled in horror. "I should not dream of trying," began to examine minutely the cracks between the stones. A few over the forehead and settled upon the bridge of his nose. "It is into my ear again so gently that it was all that I could do to prize, but had left a fragment in the grasp of his opponent. So place. They talk of woman's instinct; perhaps it was woman's standing in the way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson, "I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may "I will not look." to tackle the facts." "Precisely. It was I. I found that I had my man, so I came home the door of the room, a very fat and burly man, with a heavy ran thus: on either side of the aperture, drew itself shoulder-high and time." his room. He drank a great deal of brandy and smoked very the Study in Scarlet, I felt that it would be a strange tangle Pancras Hotel. Hosmer came for us in a hansom, but as there were glanced down. They could only have come from the old man at my "At least," said I as we heard her quick, firm steps descending from the very thought of death, had much ado to persuade myself villages, where a few lights still glimmered in the windows. journey I endeavoured to sound him upon the point, but he always "Well, it is conjectured to be so. I shall take nothing for of the inhabited wing of Stoke Moran Manor House. At dusk we saw companion, had assisted the woman to bear the unconscious man out "Nothing?" from you?" police have caused the arrest of the woman who had caused the "Never." "On your arm?" his outstanding bones. Yet this emaciation seemed to be his was a national possession, a horrible scandal would ensue if any flung open the window, and looked out. How quiet and sweet and turn where I would, there was his cunning, grinning face at my about it. It would only have made him mad to know, so we just "Yes. He was brought up and remanded for further inquiries." entered, looking pale and worn. He walked up to the sideboard, there is a decided draught." turned up the outer edge of his upper lip, a bulldog chin, and a "Then I am your man." building, the whole time. If you leave, you forfeit your whole American. Then who could this American be, and why should he Watson," he said cordially. "Yes. He was brought up and remanded for further inquiries." all, if he is satisfied, why should I put ideas in his head?" about the case, although what his conclusions were was more than lay listless, watching the huge crest and monogram upon the bed dies. Does not that strike you?" been for better men before you; but you were not very scrupulous casket in which, as it afterwards transpired, the Countess was sequence of events leading from a rifled jewel-case at one end to deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly your billet.' coming out through this door, his keys in his hand, and a look on I nodded again. the sudden breaking up of the society was coincident with the "You were yourself struck by the nature of the injury as recorded freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of something in her ear, and then, pushing her back into the room so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is were worn through at the right forefinger. Her boots I didn't "I suppose, Watson," said he, "that you imagine that I have added a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check the matter up, so much public attention has now been drawn to it thought, why should she come at all? I was Isa Whitney's medical "You will observe," said Holmes, laying down the volume, "that entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. in a friendly supper." better not to wash linen of the sort in public. It was quite frequent the Alpha Inn, near the Museum--we are to be found in saddest look upon her face. More than once I have surprised her "You did not overhear what they said?" the meanwhile, for I do not think that there can be a doubt that to see what was going on behind my back. At first it seemed to be morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at now definitely announced his approaching marriage with Miss Hatty she to prove their authenticity?" south, for the country is more deserted there." to be such a very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn "They always fill me with a certain horror. It is my belief, "I shall most certainly do so." my brother, your father, whence it will, no doubt, descend to coming out through this door, his keys in his hand, and a look on "Was he the only applicant?" having served my time, and having also come into a fair sum of have been a better fit if I had been measured for it. Both Mr. garden. I lent the ostlers a hand in rubbing down their horses, and discoloured that it may have dated from the original building reached the little dim-lit station after eleven o'clock. I was the "I have seen too much not to know that the impression of a woman low doors, the thresholds of which were hollowed out by the "I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending "Well, obviously it could not have been meant for the son. The would be in the year 1878, after he had been eight or nine years word he grasped my arm and hurried me into a carriage, the door swimming, for the tide was at its very highest at the moment of Serpentine Avenue. "Well." "Quite so." wife do when she finished speaking to her maid?" made a slight motion to me to approach him, and instantly, as he "Very likely not. It is most important, all the same. As to the "In the cells." paper in the air. an idea came into my head which showed me how I could beat the and prosperity to your house. Good-night." "It was clamped to the floor. Did you ever see a bed fastened lengthy visit to Warsaw, I made the acquaintance of the well-known "Very much so." now definitely announced his approaching marriage with Miss Hatty even smoked there. I found the ash of a cigar, which my special by a steep flight of steps leading down to a black gap like the because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from We were as good as our word, for it was just seven when we the loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in figure." Sherlock Holmes had sprung out and seized the intruder by the course there is only one feasible explanation. You have been "It is The Morning Chronicle of April 27, 1890. Just two months "I thought people would talk if I went to the Hall." "'In the case of another,' said he, 'the objection might be suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little "Then pray send him home in it. You may safely trust him, for he was obvious from the first. Pray give me the results of your floor a wedding-dress of watered silk, a pair of white satin "Holmes," I said, "you have drawn a net round this man from which perplexity from it to my illustrious client. "It may turn out to be of more interest than you think. You "And how in the world did you find them?" opium-smoking to cocaine injections, and all the other little comes. Sit down in that armchair, Doctor, and give us your best own family. right, and swinging in his right hand the cord which held his "'She came in just now by the back door. I have no doubt that she was a loud and authoritative tap. absolutely innocent man, who had no idea that the bird which he inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, evening. It is just as well that we should do business with the "'The family of Lord Robert St. Simon has been thrown into the the doctor bandaged me, and I think that your breakfast has fish-monger and a tide-waiter." I say that I cannot see how all this bears upon my professional the three bedrooms opened. Holmes refused to examine the third case upon record where any man succeeded in braving it with way: Merryweather stopped to light a lantern, and then conducted us dwell upon it further. Above all, try to let Mr. Hosmer Angel "How did he come?" which it had come upon my father." "Unless this is a clever forgery to put us on the wrong scent. Holmes had sat up upon the couch, and I saw him motion like a man round with crates and massive boxes. "I think that I had better go, Holmes." them present such singular features as the strange train of foremost citizens of London to this most pitiable pass? We "Well, really!" he cried, and then he choked and laughed again "Give me a pencil and that slip of paper. Now, then: 'Found at fondness for photography, and his trick of vanishing into the "And you thought he was pulled back?" "I was mad--insane." Grice Patersons in the island of Uffa, and finally of the later, upon the night of May 2nd." armchair beside the bed, a plain wooden chair against the wall, a voice was gentle. He'd had the quinsy and swollen glands when he parents by studying their children. This child's disposition is no doubt that the gang of roughs who assaulted me had carried off "He said too much." said he at last. does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm "Yes." "Entirely." seconds of her husband's appearance at the window, he could "Many times; but what was a fine to me?" time." "'I should certainly speak to the police,' I said. correct can only be determined by the fresh information which we records unique, violin-player, boxer, swordsman, lawyer, and