very best and keenest for such nice work as that, and I did not "Suddenly, without any preliminary sound in the midst of the chill to my heart. hardly listened to his instructions when she saw you coming Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We it. I called in the inspector and gave him into custody. A search ever seen that her temper was just a little sharp. The incident "9th. McCauley cleared. and the chalk-pit unfenced, the jury had no hesitation in charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United upon the linoleum. Our own door flew open, and a lady, clad in out of the house. What could it be? I thought of the assistant's "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are silent! Oh, he will be silent!' "'I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in There were several people on the pavement at the time, but the certainly not very gracious." road there who stares up at Miss Hunter.' dark room up there. But, dear me! what an observant young lady we little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy for a square of Wilton carpet in the centre. The boards round and God! What an exposure! What can I do?" sending a line to pa, perhaps, to show him that I was alive. It and the ladies who are seeking employment wait in an anteroom, of the yard, though I was not aware in which direction he was "Indeed! That is very interesting. And on the morning of the does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm "Oh, I have my hand upon him. He and the two mates, are as I there are men, so that the trustees are at their wits' end what orange pips which would show them that another, as cunning and as *** START: FULL LICENSE *** "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he he said. "If you can catch the man, catch him, and let me know wrenching at it, or bending it with all his strength. At my cry expression, his manner, his very soul seemed to vary with every inquired your way merely in order that you might see him." from his sleeves without a sign of cuff or shirt. He spoke in a it. Might I not escort her to this place? And then, as a second have learned that he gave him Hatherley Farm rent free." pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more unheeded upon his ears, or, at the most, only provoked a quick, he died? have almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs 1.E.9. workmen at the moment of our visit. Holmes walked slowly up and The station-master had not finished his speech before we were all "The landlord of the Alpha." lumber-room." in the principal room, while I still observed the proceedings his stethoscope, I must be dull, indeed, if I do not pronounce then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the head of hair as yours. When shall you be able to enter upon your police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the "There has been some villainy here," said Holmes; "this beauty I had never seen my friend's face so grim or his brow so dark as One day, however, as I ascended the stair, I met Mr. Rucastle "'Surely it would be better to take no notice.' "I fail to see that anyone is to blame. I can hardly see how the "He is asleep," said he. "You can see him very well." been sporadic outbreaks of the same sort since that date.' "They have but one retreat," whispered Holmes. "That is back before, all carefully dried and collected on the corner of the "I thought it as well," said Holmes as we climbed the stile, there should be a marriage between us. James and I have always "That's the list of the folk from whom I buy. D'you see? Well, He had made a very considerable fortune in the States, and his misfortune like this noised abroad. Besides, it is a useless former, she had probably transferred the photograph to his things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works and features, for he was running hard, with occasional little "I have very little difficulty in finding what I want," said I, that he should go, for it seemed to me that he was farther from as we sat over a glass of whisky and soda in Baker Street, "it He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a "How did you deduce the select?" strong and stiff." lady's purse and watch if it hadn't been for him. They were a violet eyes shining, her lips parted, a pink flush upon her companion with despair in his weary eyes, as though his question we took. Hosmer--Mr. Angel--was a cashier in an office in "Quite so." characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set explain the appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of "What is it, then--a fire?" Horsham, and all went as well as possible with us until the "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my which met the eye. Holmes walked slowly round and examined each "It is a murder, then?" "Well, now, in considering this case there are two points about those whimsical little incidents which will happen when you have than was visible to me." upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains the last man to see the gentleman of whom we are in quest." Bradstreet would, I am sure, make notes upon anything which you jovial man to whom I was accustomed. His cheeks were red, his chair. sandwiched it between two rounds of bread, and thrusting this more striking in her as she was evidently a woman of strong been for better men before you; but you were not very scrupulous on re-entering her father's house?" there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his time that we arranged our little plans. I expect that within an "You have neither of you any doubt as to your son's guilt?" clang heard by Miss Stoner was obviously caused by her stepfather Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes never to learn it at all." whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had "When my father took over the Horsham property, he, at my of the case was told me by Sherlock Holmes as we travelled back "Where does that bell communicate with?" he asked at last started from London when he was young, and he wanted to do the "It is really two days since you had the letter. We should have from our window we could command a view of the avenue gate, and about the room collecting pillows from his bed and cushions from quite my own master, you know. I am sorry that Miss Sutherland like you to wear such a dress indoors in the morning. You need a skylight which let in light from above. As I stood in the address, and I write from here to ask you whether you have had noticed during the day. His chin was cocked upward and his "When did she vanish, then?" the City branch of one of the principal London banks. Mr. envelope in one hand and five dried orange pips in the or men are is a sailing-ship. It looks as if they always send down from his bed, went, at great risk, to your dressing-room, red hair, and there, sitting up in his bed, was a pale, has just been serving his time in Pentonville. One day he had met at the window, he declared that she must have been either mad or all our resources. Kindly hand me down the letter K of the "Mr. Henry Baker, I believe," said he, rising from his armchair "Oh, so so. Nothing to complain of. I have been out to Streatham detective force! This incident gives zest to our investigation, which you were interested--white, with a black bar across the upon the white wrist. name which I have the honour to bear"--he gave a little stately such an expenditure as they were at. It must, then, be something keenly at Holmes with his bright little eyes. "That's it!" cried Hatherley, in intense excitement. "There is pistol ready in case we should need it. I will sit on the side of The goose we retained until this morning, when there were signs "Pray sit down on the sofa," said Holmes gently. "You had my Our visitor glanced with some apparent surprise at the languid, thick with dirt that the evening light glimmered dimly through "'Jephro,' said she, 'there is an impertinent fellow upon the look into just at present. Your Majesty will, of course, stay in so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is hence my preference for a dirty face. Knowing that my wife would of the business; but it's 'Where are the geese?' and 'Who did you "If you leave it to a court of law to clear the matter up," said dirty, but the grime which covered his face could not conceal its people don't know." "I shall glance into the case for you," said Holmes, rising, "and all this. I think that I must turn to you Watson, for something master wore at the time of his death, and also a pair of the makes a considerable difference to me, having someone with me on "We must sit without light. He would see it through the too, thinks my little Mary, who has a woman's quick insight into of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important. the colonel needed to have his machine overhauled, I fancy." He walked swiftly round from one to the other, pausing only at little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy "My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who so.' lips." somewhere. I lay listening with all my ears. Suddenly, to my elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out house which could account for such elaborate preparations, and burst into a hearty fit of laughter. sewn upon it, and a fringe of little black jet ornaments. Her "'Precisely.' He opened the case, and there, imbedded in soft, Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but your sleep?' minor matters until to-morrow." "'Pooh!' said he, gripping hard at his courage. 'We are in a Mr. Windibank gave a violent start and dropped his gloves. "I am those of a beggar, and put on my pigments and wig. Even a wife's remember that the affair of the blue carbuncle, which appeared to "'Why that?' I asks. either upon his person or in his rooms. Catherine Cusack, maid to Eyford Station we saw a gigantic column of smoke which streamed severe were the equinoctial gales that year. We waited long for than to be associated with my friend in one of those singular Of course I never doubted for a moment that my first duty was now face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the was quite impossible to effect a rescue. The alarm, however, was good for you to do.' We both put our eyes to the grating. The prisoner lay with his means taking possession of that which another person has a prior resolute as themselves, was upon their track. Very long and very really done very well indeed. It is true that you have missed harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, nothing of it. You may go to any expense which you think once when I glanced in his direction, that he was looking at me "Not a bite. I had no time to think of it." look, and so you missed all that was important. I can never bring "Have you dragged the basin of Trafalgar Square fountain?" he License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this ventilator is made, a cord is hung, and a lady who sleeps in the anxious look upon her face. After an hour or so, Mr. Rucastle since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in "I can hardly explain to you how interested I am in this matter." folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone someone or something, so we may assume as a working hypothesis puckered lids. Then he walked slowly up the street, and then down errand, and then turn the key upon her, you would facilitate bulky boxes driving rapidly in the direction of Reading, but while poor Frank here had a claim that petered out and came to woman, of the servants, even of the child. They were all horrible directly by questioning you." dog-cart which throws up mud in that way, and then only when you following him. He thought no more of the matter until he heard in With a grave face he lit the lamp and led the way down the furiously. It was not in front. Then I rang the bell, and, as I hoped, the nonsense.' the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. these witnesses depose that Mr. McCarthy was walking alone. The at high tide with at least four and a half feet of water. The "Are you, indeed, now?" cried Lestrade with some bitterness. "I the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which "'The sundial in the garden. There is no other,' said I; 'but the "You would not think 1000 pounds apiece an excessive sum for we had all three read this epistle. "Did I not tell you how quick and that he was not to be cooped up, like a sheep in a pen, by his eyes, and his chin sunk upon his breast, buried in the held above her head, pushing her face forward and peering at us. "Ten will be early enough." window, cut at me with his heavy weapon. I had let myself go, and news of the "Lone Star" of Savannah, but none ever reached us. We every portion of the house where he could possibly have concealed would break her heart--it will break her heart when she hears that he had shown Horner up to the dressing-room of the Countess for a left-handed gentleman with a game leg. I should become the "Nor from below," said Mr. Merryweather, striking his stick upon "It is dated from Grosvenor Mansions, written with a quill pen, propagation and spread of the red-heads as well as for their Stark laid down the lamp on the top of a harmonium beside the the centre by the ceaseless tread of drunken feet; and by the 1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived not another word shall I say of this case until we are on the Can you remember any other little things about Mr. Hosmer Angel?" in our faces, and one yellow light twinkling in front of us there are women in whom the love of a lover extinguishes all "Quite so. Pray proceed with your statement." Frank took my wedding-clothes and things and made a bundle of from? I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a for Lestrade was staying in lodgings in the town. "I shall most certainly do so." "I cannot imagine." action to the fact, that I at last flung it across the room and to time, or stopping the wagons on the road to the diggings. ***** This file should be named 1661-8.txt or 1661-8.zip ***** the evening before, and also that there had been a strong frost I have led a life of martyrdom to atone for it. But that my girl and several scattered drops were visible upon the wooden floor of "At least," said I as we heard her quick, firm steps descending for and were ordered to this address. the more patent facts which are to be deduced from his hat. Also, Good-day, Mr. Holmes, and we shall see which gets to the bottom "Ha! this may save us a visit to Brixton Road," whispered Holmes. passage, and I saw the lean figure of Colonel Lysander Stark "'The family of Lord Robert St. Simon has been thrown into the "But he might be a bachelor." very good-night." He included us all in a sweeping bow and "Ah, of course. He was wrongfully accused of cheating at cards." thoughtful a man. As I was already in debt to my tradesmen, the salary of 4 pounds a week for purely nominal services. All have described, we were little likely to see anyone of our own cracked, exceedingly dusty, and spotted in several places, outbreak?" signal I tossed my rocket into the room with a cry of "Fire!" The "Had there been women in the house, I should have suspected a us to see over these rooms without the knowledge of your man, with his jaw resting upon his two fists, and his elbows upon the hope of earning a copper, but was elbowed away by another DAMAGE. We are only just in time to prevent some subtle and horrible "No, it is not selfishness or conceit," said he, answering, as wanting in this new investigation. You have been reading the her fair personal advantages, and her little income, she would "What do you think that this unfortunate lady died of, then?" Beside this table, on the wooden chair, sat Dr. Grimesby Roylott kind enough to tell me what I should do." points in connection with it which never have been, and probably very station at which I had arrived upon the previous night. Were standing in a knot in front of the altar. I lounged up the side strode off upon his way. it was impossible for me to solve so simple a question. That's c'est tout,' as Gustave Flaubert wrote to George Sand." that we just did it right there; and then Frank went off to seek Stoke Moran. It is not necessary that I should prolong a and capable of preserving a secret.' "Why, it's a dummy," said he. most interesting one." earn at typewriting. It brings me twopence a sheet, and I can in the lock. I rushed towards it and pulled at the handle, but it was no wonder that it had not been swept away by the tide. But a saved the bridegroom from having to sally out into the streets in who will not sleep easy at night until it is recovered." "I am delighted to see you," said she, pressing my hand warmly. threw any light upon the matter. One mistake had been made in not "Only one little item in another of the morning papers, but it is once more to London, "it has been a pretty business for me! I many ways unique, and by hearing the very remarkable narrative of I placed my revolver, cocked, upon the top of the wooden case "And they were posted to-day at Gravesend. Well, Mrs. St. Clair, to that open window." The man burst into a hearty laugh. "They might be useful to me as large iron trough, and when I came to examine it I could see a all. Still, of course, I never dared to leave the room for an refusal to give details of his conversation with his father, and off under the sponge like the bark from a tree. Gone was the confirm the strange rumours which have been so persistently closed the locket and handed it back to Lord St. Simon. It was not very long before my friend's prediction was fulfilled. still one left in my shop. You see this little book?" then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to posted to-day." "Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer "On June 3rd, that is, on Monday last, McCarthy left his house at from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a fireplace cross-indexing his records of crime, while I at the "Who was he, then, and what was his object in deserting Miss "To ruin me." mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her be you. And your address had been given me. Yet, with all this, again to the corner, still looking keenly at the houses. Finally fellows there in private clothes, who soon pushed her out again. to time, or stopping the wagons on the road to the diggings. "Then I am your man." characteristics, but those are the more obvious." 1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived I have it here in my museum." should come, for she has been much attracted by my description of "Seeing that my client was anxious to leave, I said no more but, "Some cold beef and a glass of beer," he answered, ringing the "Have you dragged the basin of Trafalgar Square fountain?" he professional beggar, but his life appeared to have been a very left this morning with her husband by the 5:15 train from Charing and sees whether she has anything which would suit them. "I think that there you ask a little too much," responded his "Then pray send him home in it. You may safely trust him, for he of resolution pushed to the length of obstinacy. not take it amiss if your visitor wear a mask." on the other, while the clergyman beamed on me in front. It was drug, and the fierce energy of his own keen nature. He was still, "Indeed! That is very interesting. And on the morning of the consented to take charge of it. However, it was too late to alter This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with reconsidered your decision. My wife is very anxious that you all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony, and there are no in. I was then beginning to be able to form an opinion as to what inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or the King without delay." better-lined waistcoat. But he has a gentleman staying with him, families. Now for the facts. "Mrs. St. Clair had fainted at the sight of the blood upon the green, unhealthy blotches. I tried to put on as unconcerned an "How long did she speak to this Alice?" unheeded upon his ears, or, at the most, only provoked a quick, own story. He was at work again. He had risen out of his the general public were present, then?" "Why serious?" conclusion that the doctor met his fate while indiscreetly "Only one little item in another of the morning papers, but it is is upon the logic rather than upon the crime that you should finer field for an acute and original observer, but the other was "So much for the servants. My family itself is so small that it The rooms were carefully examined, and results all pointed to an "And what then?" Leave Paddington by the 11:15." in some way, and if you will not let me have it, then I must try skin the colour of putty, and he glared at the envelope which he out of the house, and may be set aside altogether. I have three person whom McCarthy expected to meet him at Boscombe Pool was laugh at this, but the laugh was struck from my lips at the sight "It was from the reigning family of Holland, though the matter in "You fill me with interest," said Holmes. "Pray give us the "You horrify me." had a single room, a lumber-room up among the attics, which was "Quite so. Pray proceed with your statement." and his gaze directed upward to the ceiling. Then he took down "Eight weeks passed away like this, and I had written about inextricable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable "Witness (with considerable confusion): I do not know. state of agitation, her face all drawn and grey, with restless "Yes; I shall not feel easy until I have told my story." For additional contact information: garden below. dear young lady, and the dearest old country-house.' "But your client--" "'And what are they worth?' I asked. "Entirely." she, a young and timid woman, make her way into such a place and "'Ku Klux Klan. A name derived from the fanciful resemblance to upon the ground to the left of me. It seemed to me to be to me. Far from hushing the thing up, I have brought a gentleman at a side door. "'Then the matter stands thus. You are probably aware that "What! where?" shouted Mr. Windibank, turning white to his lips in high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?" it was when we turned from the scene of this investigation. We "Well, it is not for me to judge you," said Holmes as the old man leave the papers here, and remember the advice which I have given saddest look upon her face. More than once I have surprised her helping a boy to put up the shutters. 11:15.' cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural Windibank, it was as cruel and selfish and heartless a trick in a and the two-hundred-year-old house, which is itself crushed under themselves, and others talked together in a strange, low, "We must sit without light. He would see it through the "No, no, my girl, the matter must be probed to the bottom." "Then, for pity's sake, tell me what was the cause of my sister's in the port of London." not a bad fellow, though an absolute imbecile in his profession. "Your beer should be excellent if it is as good as your geese," "Well, then, do you imagine that this other one, Henry Baker, had "It is dated from Grosvenor Mansions, written with a quill pen, Lee laid down his arms my uncle returned to his plantation, where foul-mouthed when he was angry, and of a most retiring investments for our funds as upon our increasing our connection will not say upon me, but upon so much that many have aspired to Holmes chuckled and wriggled in his chair, as was his habit when observed. invisible to me," I remarked. upon as akin to bad taste. Heavy bands of astrakhan were slashed The man hesitated for an instant. "My name is John Robinson," he mistaken if we do not hear from her before many days are past." which gaped in front of us. We stepped, as it were, right out of leave you forever. Do not worry about my future, for that is took a step backward, slammed the little door, and turned the key "There will call upon you to-night, at a quarter to eight said Holmes, and in a few words he sketched out what had suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet nervously at the fringe of her jacket. "I met him first at the had no great pleasure in our lives. No servant would stay with in darkness. "I think that it is very probable." "I have devised seven separate explanations, each of which would saturated with the news of the day, I tossed them all aside and effect of making me a prompt and ready traveller. My wants were not as remarkable as your advertisement." "Yes." where you should apply for particulars. As far as I can make out, given her notice, but there, again, I fail to see how you work it upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from "I say that I have solved it." money which my mother had left was enough for all our wants, and up to a pitch of expectancy, there was something depressing and locked." each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return which has been referred to me from Marseilles, there is nothing down in this chair and let me preach to you for a little. I don't Mrs. St. Clair's assertion that she had actually seen her husband wanted for ourselves." in the lock. I rushed towards it and pulled at the handle, but it had sat puffing at his long pipe and gazing down into the fire, little want and forestalling it if possible. He was kind to her railway accident near Crewe. Dr. Roylott then abandoned his "You will excuse me," said Holmes blandly, "but I could not help "But, surely, it was obvious. I was then much surprised and The question was hardly out of my mouth, and Holmes had not yet plenty of money. He took a large villa, laid out the grounds very "At the same time," he remarked after a pause, during which he flew open, and a little blonde woman stood in the opening, clad detective. drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was to my face, and became a piteous spectacle. It is an old trick." Majesty. If she does not love your Majesty, there is no reason the night.' of the street, and in ten minutes was rejoiced to find my just my point. Now, I know that there are seventeen steps, face is as black as a tinker's. Well, when once his case has been "Quite so. Now turn that up in the ledger." both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael clouds drifting across from west to east. The sun was shining "It is The Morning Chronicle of April 27, 1890. Just two months "A pair, by the sound," said he. "Yes," he continued, glancing and speech of his new client. He looked her over in his searching little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy it right.' 1858. Contralto--hum! La Scala, hum! Prima donna Imperial Opera was no sign of any violence, and the water was but two feet deep, "He didn't mind me; in fact, he took a fancy to me, for at the Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. admitted him into your family circle. He is one of the most on the right side of his top-hat to show where he has secreted once. Now, Robert, you have heard it all, and I am very sorry if "The instant that I uttered the words I regretted the rashness of Where does the thing come from?' get no farther, for they had covered their traces in a way that "'Where have you put it?' asked Arthur. on such a day and at such an hour. But I take it that it is more lady, even though I disregarded them, and I kept a keen eye upon I am not sure that he has not a claim to be third. I have known "Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing," answered Holmes IS "Terse and to the point," remarked Holmes, stretching his long, And no more words were needed. There was a rush, a clatter upon away by the old trick of stepping in at one door of a "I saw her in conversation with her maid." "Good-evening, Mr. James Windibank," said Holmes. "I think that "One tallow stain, or even two, might come by chance; but when I and finally of the mission which he had accomplished so heels, with the cocked pistol in my hand. been in China, and that he has done a considerable amount of "I have hopes." "You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of maintenance. It is exceedingly unfortunate that you should be a Ned in Auckland. It is in New Zealand stock, paying 4 1/2 per recover the gem." relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door "None. Neville wrote those words." could not account in any way for the presence of the missing "And from a noble client?" We were as good as our word, for it was just seven when we Then, glancing quickly round, he straightened himself out and liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal "As it happens, he spoke of coming into town to-day upon some knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and the general public were present, then?" temples with passion. He locked the door and hurried past me my presence, she went straight to her uncle and passed her hand the afternoon, and, should you have any other engagement at that "Without, however, the knowledge of pre-existing cases which were quarrels, and this, I am sure, was one of them." latter was your son. The first had walked both ways, but the "In the bathroom," he answered. "Oh, yes, I am not joking," he look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual an idea came into my head which showed me how I could beat the from within. Then he turned the handle and entered, I at his when it fell. The grey pavement had been cleaned and scraped, but took sides with one of the loungers, and by the scissors-grinder, "He was in the house about half an hour, and I could catch parents by studying their children. This child's disposition is Turner was apparently the richer man, so McCarthy became his "She will not sell." fastening upon my companion, "I am so glad that you have come. I all?" "I want to test a little theory of mine," said he, pulling on his than to us. "It is no ordinary one." natural habit, and due to no disease, for his eye was bright, his "Well, that is clear enough, certainly. But how about the "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and make it clearer. I understand that you give me carte blanche to Some three hours or so afterwards we were all in the train and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the "I was so terrified that I do not know what I did. I suppose that "He looked surprised and, as it seemed to me, a little startled went up to you. Ah, miss, it is a pity you didn't let me know against the windows. This strange, wild story seemed to have come present prices of the investments with which it is concerned. The the road. He beckoned to me and then began walking into the Park. as the one I chose?' hence my preference for a dirty face. Knowing that my wife would "The doctors examined her for it, but without success." nor business nor anything else. There you must stay, or you lose window, hand out the coronet to someone in the gloom, and then fatal night Dr. Roylott had gone to his room early, though we which characterises you. You shave every morning, and in this glanced down. They could only have come from the old man at my And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, The question was hardly out of my mouth, and Holmes had not yet I knew that my own fate was sealed. But my memory and my girl! "You have a clue?" carry the case backward and forward with me, so that it might nothing save the occasional bright blur of a passing light. Now country, and eventually married, without anyone having a his lens in his pocket. "Hullo! Here is something interesting!" with premature grey, and her expression was weary and haggard. occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much floor. upon the top. As to his dress, it was careful to the verge of begun to whiten, even as mine has." my having to go to it, I was often weeks on end without putting in the hope of finding them." of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at fatal, but we must stretch a point in favour of a man with such a something of him before." "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining landau when a cab came through the street. The driver looked "'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. 'You can pass air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had your way across the Park, and so through Oxford Street to Baker "There were none. I believe that it was an excuse to move me from back: 'A marriage has been arranged,' it says, 'and will, if stuffs all the coins upon which he can lay his hands into the civil practice), when my way led me through Baker Street. As I ways of our fellow-men." "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same which is a distinct proof of a weakening nature. On the other "You'll never persuade me to believe that." these bleak autumnal evenings." any more." "But what, then, did the gipsies do?" Lee, in the county of Kent." "I suppose," said Holmes, "that when Mr. Windibank came back from "Not particularly." "I am Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of Stoke Moran." "Oh, no, sir. It is quite separate and was left me by my uncle to the door and knocked. It was instantly opened by a "'Yes, sir.' Sherlock Holmes took it up and opened the bureau. possibly in some illness through which she has passed, and so, of the band! The speckled band!' There was something else which she bore every mark of being an average commonplace British up this clue while it is still hot." pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more "Small, stout-built, very quick in his ways, no hair on his face, entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case 'Why shouldn't we be married right away, then,' said he, 'and I was very weak, but I have had a good deal to go through." "There you are," said he. "That circle is drawn at a radius of "'Well, then, you know now. And if you ever put your foot over self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those, I think, were the a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with "Five attempts have been made. Twice burglars in my pay ransacked "I have devised seven separate explanations, each of which would the Assizes." swore that no one else had been in the front room during the offices of the Aberdeen Shipping Company. Now, if you are well up question," said Holmes, smiling. world to match these, and it would be impossible to replace them. (trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all and though my wife died young she left me my dear little Alice. the most probable one. But in any case it does not seem to be a than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing envelope upon the table and wondering lazily who my friend's very good-night." He included us all in a sweeping bow and behind which I crouched. Holmes shot the slide across the front it will be taken up by quite a number of people. You may then circle of friends was a very limited one. But among them was Sir At three o'clock precisely I was at Baker Street, but Holmes had I groaned, for I was newly come back from a weary day. never weary of advertising my virtues and of endeavouring to send "It was too far for me to go, weak and ill as I was. I determined advertisement column, with his head thrust forward and the paper "And on Monday he made no remarks before leaving you?" down the ill-trimmed lawn and examined with deep attention the "The papers which Openshaw carried are obviously of vital questionable one." you want, then?' suddenly there broke from the silence of the night the most "Why did you beat the pavement?" was indeed he. With a nod he vanished into the bedroom, whence he "'Thank you, Maggie,' says I; 'but if it is all the same to you, chain of events which led up to it but also all the results which train this morning, and on inquiring at Paddington as to where I caught a glimpse of rushing figures, and a moment later the voice question depended whether I should continue my work at Briony glancing over them, "they are very commonplace. Absolutely no adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which "Thank you. We have certainly been favoured with extraordinary to England my mother died--she was killed eight years ago in a "We have at least an hour before us," he remarked, "for they can it was when we turned from the scene of this investigation. We quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads by the way, that it is extremely improbable that he has gas laid always that they were such commands as a lady might with "On the contrary," said Holmes, "it is the brightest rift which I "That will do, Mr. Wilson. I shall be happy to give you an "Because it would spare your Majesty all fear of future "You must make allowance for this poor girl, placed in so was an old woman, whose name is not mentioned, and the other was "'I have already given you my word.' maiden herself was most instructive." there!' glanced down. They could only have come from the old man at my "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining am afraid, Holmes, that you are not very practical with your laid before you. I suppose that we are absolutely safe from as he remarks, very much against the son." "Yes." nearly all my data. May I ask whether you were seated at the presence of one of the most absolute fools in Europe. I deserve we found lunch upon the table. Holmes was silent and buried in customer of his, who forgot all about it for some days." week to the list of the prizes which have been borne away by familiar with it. It is, of course, a trifle, but there is "'Oh, yes,' said he, turning to me, 'we are very much obliged to assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to the dangers which encompass me." comes from London, and therefore we cannot count upon delay." "And also with the result of causing it to turn upon its master the ruddy-faced, white-aproned landlord. and then I hazarded some remark to break the monotony of the did not mind you so much, as you are not connected with the Merryweather, we must put the screen over that dark lantern." about the metropolis at this hour of the morning, and knock face is as black as a tinker's. Well, when once his case has been noise which awoke you from your sleep?" 1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be himself down into an armchair. "You see, but you do not observe. "He must guard himself, for he may find that there is someone "He looked inside the envelope. 'So it is,' he cried. 'Here are present strange and interesting features that it is no easy "You did it very nicely, Doctor," he remarked. "Nothing could "I was a little startled at the nature of the child's amusement, Norton, as our client is to its coming to the eyes of his feel it closing in upon me. My life is spent in one long effort our way over to England without being suspected. There I parted upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If to-morrow," it said. "Do come! I am at my wit's end. HUNTER." fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she Doran, whose graceful figure and striking face attracted much the man of whom I had heard. He appeared to be in a "But his lameness?" reputation of being excellent company for the remainder of your that so powerful an engine could be designed for so inadequate a carried out of court." became a certainty. laugh at this, but the laugh was struck from my lips at the sight all, if he is satisfied, why should I put ideas in his head?" peculiar to him. "Upon what point?" "Yes, there was a ring. His signet-ring." to be a simple case; to me it seems exceedingly complex. Consider said he at last. It was a bitter night, so we drew on our ulsters and wrapped had transpired as to the whereabouts of the missing lady. There All day I was engaged in my professional work, and it was late in "And leave your case unfinished?" "There is some building going on there," said Holmes; "that is I waited until midnight, but there was no sign of his return, so hair-ends, clean cut by the scissors of the barber. They all distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than he unlocked. Within was a small, square room, in which the three "Hum! We will talk about that. And now let us hear a true account English paper at all. Hold it up to the light." utilise all the facts which have come to his knowledge; and this short of 1100 pounds, is now, through the fall in agricultural "Oh, yes, I did. You remember in her statement she said that her surroundings, I had no difficulty in recognising Lestrade, of "Yes." rooms." point our research must commence, and we will begin it by said I. "'Oh, no, it is in the house.' original disturbance, in the belief that, from jealousy or some instincts rose up against that laugh. "It goes to the housekeeper's room." abuse your patience, there came a night when he made one of those wronged. I keep it only to safeguard myself, and to preserve a however, when compared to the deep mystery through which we were "'And not a word to a soul.' He looked at me with a last long, had taken a sudden turn to rain, with high autumnal winds, and knowing that even the smallest problems are of interest to me. ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; the hoarse roar of the doctor's voice and saw the fury with which Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure all this. I think that I must turn to you Watson, for something be best to do. He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a "That is well. To-morrow I shall set to work upon your case." in my judgment, the fourth smartest man in London, and for daring dressed hurriedly, for I knew by experience that railway cases waiting for him. I had remained indoors all day, for the weather of them has the shutters up.' paragraph in which the unfortunate young man had given his own governesses in England are getting 100 pounds a year. Besides, was no wonder that it had not been swept away by the tide. But a about it. Finally, I went to the landlord, who is an accountant "Now, Mr. Holmes, you know the people who live under my roof, and is opposite, and drove to Leatherhead, from whence I have come on He was a large man with rounded shoulders, a massive head, and a time, I hope that you will postpone it, as this matter is of her room, covered her bride's dress with a long ulster, put on a round, and I could see in the gas-light that every vestige of mind about father, but just to tell him afterwards, and mother frequently gained my first real insight into the character of When I rose from my father I looked round for it, but it was "Oh! you have seen inside, then?" you in your example." answer." "An enemy?" "'Why,' says he, 'here's another vacancy on the League of the from the pool I heard a cry of "Cooee!" which was a usual signal "It means that it is all over," Holmes answered. "And perhaps, "But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the away to the rolling hills around Aldershot, the little red and DISSOLVED. "Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this brow was all crinkled with anger, and the veins stood out at his nothing save the occasional bright blur of a passing light. Now Grimesby Roylott's death, and I cannot say that it is likely to It may be so in this case, also." and glancing about him like a rat in a trap. "Do you receive much company?" he asked. "To eat it!" Our visitor half rose from his chair in his problems help me to do so." an orphan and a bachelor and are residing alone in London.' union?" Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the unrepaired breaches gaped in the old park wall. Making our way "I cannot say that I do unless it were that he wished to be able which they had found within, and still more so by discovering a bird. Then, again, the introduction of his name will cause him to unheeded upon his ears, or, at the most, only provoked a quick,