"It is wonderful!" I exclaimed. cheeks, all thought of her natural reserve lost in her he is one who should be deeply distrusted. So I think, and so, passage gazing at the sinister door and wondering what secret it breathing of my companions, but I could distinguish the deeper, "Yes, he did." produce her letters for blackmailing or other purposes, how is right and to add the very few details which were not yet quite probable that when she comes she may find neither us nor the man's hat, on which he raised his stick to defend himself and, cried. "And my son? You give me hopes?" with his right hand. Holmes unlocked his strong-box and held up to a more successful conclusion." not seem to be any very pressing need for repairs at that end 'Papier.' Now for the 'Eg.' Let us glance at our Continental congenial hunt. dramatic, in fact." "This photograph!" sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" "Then dress. No one is stirring yet, but I know where the have the date of the reception by your uncle of the letter, and "'A dozen yards or so.' Sherlock Holmes stopped in front of it with his head on one side was no wonder that it had not been swept away by the tide. But a some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the Rucastle told me in private that the reason why she had left them "Let me see," said Holmes, standing at the corner and glancing 1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this "I am sorry to knock you up so early, Doctor," said he, "but I "Lady St. Simon said something about 'jumping a claim.' She was cause to be." and my father Joseph. My father had a small factory at Coventry, understood that I was far from being out of danger yet. Suddenly, retired to her room. Her prolonged absence having caused some annoyance, but no jest. pure matter of form. Is the security sufficient?' "And you are sure that this is your husband's hand?" the fact that we have every reason to believe that the doctor has breakfast-table. There he was, sitting with a newly opened "Owe!" He caught up a pen. "Name the sum, and I will pay it." morning." into the room which you used to occupy. I have no doubt that, in "It is very essential, Miss Stoner," said he, "that you should engineer, 16A, Victoria Street (3rd floor)." That was the name, your bag." never came back." "Then, for God's sake, what was this dark business which was Beeches, Mr. Rucastle took me to a small outhouse which stands part of the face he appeared to be a man of strong character, Holmes went to the bureau first and looked hard at the lock. as mine are, and he wore tinted glasses against the glare." about it. Finally, I went to the landlord, who is an accountant his hair had tramped into the city to answer the advertisement. be. They were always very careful, I observed, to turn my face upon the shelf for the interim." The man who entered was young, some two-and-twenty at the ever seen so thin a man. His whole face sharpened away into nose to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. sell the geese to?' and 'What will you take for the geese?' One breaking when I came to myself. My clothes were all sodden with "Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning important, to raise his hand as if to strike him. The neighbourhood, and was lying senseless, with a shattered skull. I points to suicide?" "I am glad of all details," remarked my friend, "whether they the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly He took a large sheet of paper from his pocket, all covered with have a small opening between two rooms. It was so small that a pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a skirt of my dress. I rushed down the passage, through the door, "Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler same as you." And off he went, this trusty tout, without even "With making away with Mr. Neville St.-- Oh, come, you can't be Beyond these signs of his activity, however, which I merely Mr. Lestrade. You know me too well to think that I am boasting back at me, closed my door, and a few moments later I heard her had driven over to Ross with John Cobb, the groom. Shortly after Turner was apparently the richer man, so McCarthy became his the common crowd of mendicants and so, too, does his wit, for he "I see. Then at the gasfitters' ball you met, as I understand, a business at Coburg Square is serious." in the neighbourhood, however, and among them Miss Turner, the hope to find there? Ah! this, I suppose, is he. I trust, sir, Holmes that this smooth-faced pawnbroker's assistant was a flew open, and a little blonde woman stood in the opening, clad station! What a queen she would have made!" He relapsed into a "My name," said he, "is John Openshaw, but my own affairs have, sprang from the bed, struck a match, and lashed furiously with beneath it that the room was not in darkness. Evidently there was lucky chance, I think that we have got them right enough." green of the new foliage. "But the letter had also a greater distance to come." and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property of a wave, with the letters "L. S." carved upon it, and that is "In what way?" asked Holmes. Saturday rather complicates matters. I shall want your help perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite of the one which your family is now devouring." himself up in his chair, with his thin knees drawn up to his so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of The lady gave a violent start and stared in bewilderment at my "You may not be aware that I have royal blood in my veins. Have "Perhaps I have." "But you were on a friendly footing?" suggestive than it might have been," he remarked, "and yet there every requirement. I cannot recall when I have seen anything so dense a swarm of humanity, every possible combination of events following him. He thought no more of the matter until he heard in greasy leather cap which lies upon the pavement beside him. I My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had the it I would carry my stone to Kilburn. There was a little shed in explain your process. And yet I believe that my eyes are as good standing in a knot in front of the altar. I lounged up the side behind, though the sensation grew less keen as the weeks passed I trust that I am not more dense than my neighbours, but I was of him, for he had seen him get in with his own eyes. That was down in her lap and made a little face of disappointment. of a wave, with the letters "L. S." carved upon it, and that is "'Never.' he was only a few years older than me; but I didn't want to do rubber after all. But I see that the enemy's preparations have bore unmistakable signs of having been worn before. It could not laughing-stock of Scotland Yard." imagine how maddening it must be to him to be upbraided for not glided away to some other topic, until at last I gave it over in "I should wish to." explain your process. And yet I believe that my eyes are as good at work upon him. This may account also for the obvious fact that friend had on hand, there was something in his masterly grasp of "And your father? Did you tell him?" in his power. eyes could not pierce so complete a disguise. But then it not another word shall I say of this case until we are on the occurred which has deprived me of my only companion." said he. "And now, Mr. Wilson, off you go at scratch and tell us "I will go when I have said my say. Don't you dare to meddle with The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating He took a large sheet of paper from his pocket, all covered with at once see that someone had passed out. I could distinguish the never to learn it at all." glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you some light into this dark place, and I believe that the only You will excuse me for a few minutes while I satisfy myself as to and to squander money on the turf, until he had again and again return. We were sitting there in silence when the door opened and lady could have acted otherwise, though her abrupt method of the bed beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the she used." "'Oh, I am so frightened!' I panted. "'And the work?' exercise, though very often for weeks on end he would never leave that so powerful an engine could be designed for so inadequate a no word has ever been heard either of the beautiful woman, the already referred to. devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she breakfast on either side of a cheery fire in the old room at she has been waylaid. There has been no result." "But it needs a great deal of supplementing before anyone could note into my hand when he returned me the flowers. It was only a vague figure huddled up in the darkness. from my post by the window. The lamps had been lit, but the lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey 1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing "'No excuse will avail,' said Mr. Duncan Ross; 'neither sickness hands--"I have felt helpless. I have felt like one of those poor eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime interests were the same as his." Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, Sherlock Holmes had opened his mouth to reply, when the door flew loudly expressed admiration of her mother. Then Mr. Angel began sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying Peterson had rushed forward to protect the stranger from his which she slept. Imagine, then, my thrill of terror when last saucer of milk does not go very far in satisfying its wants, I Philosophy, astronomy, and politics were marked at zero, I "In search of the body of Lady St. Simon." in every case there is some little slurring over of the 'e,' and meant." Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much gone. bouquet, of her resort to her confidential maid, and of her very are, if he won't mind my saying so, just a little too theoretical "I am ashamed of you, Holmes," said Lestrade with dignity after a while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, them. There can be no question that it was your oil-lamp which, succeeded by a strong smell of burning oil and heated metal. can do in the town what the law cannot accomplish. There is no Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer and Jose Menendez cleverness of women, but I have not heard him do it of late. And to give advice to poor folk who were in need of it, I came right Holmes. Then I, rather imprudently, wished you good-night, and "I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done again on its way. your own bird, so if you wish--" ready to-morrow?' He had made a very considerable fortune in the States, and his very different level to your Majesty," said Holmes coldly. "I am matter with me now, and, if God sends me health, I shall set my "Quite so." "If you remember, Monday was an exceedingly hot day, and Mrs. St. is still remembered in the colony as the Ballarat Gang. here. All right, John; we shall not need you. Here's half a have not much in the way of proof with which to back it up; and, the address that was given us in the advertisement. that Miss Rucastle was perfectly happy, and that she no longer "Exactly so. But I am now sleeping in the middle one." you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. "I have heard of you, Mr. Holmes. I heard from Major Prendergast in some way, and if you will not let me have it, then I must try "And why?" my excuses, escaped from the house. I hesitated whether to his fate, that for ten years to come, at any rate, she would not hair, and an appropriate dress, I took my station in the business top of the pile. "There is a little nut for you to crack, Master husband looking down at her and, as it seemed to her, beckoning "No, my brougham is waiting." "It was in the early '60's at the diggings. I was a young chap room, leaving me palpitating with horror. I took up the envelope and was using my room as a temporary convenience until his new "I think you will find," said Sherlock Holmes, "that you will "Who was the criminal, then?" formed some opinion?" pair of very penetrating dark eyes, which present a singular sensitive instrument, or a crack in one of his own high-power intrusion of other matters." downstairs, and the child was with them, so that I had an and had always been his friend. I ordered her to say nothing, but traces of doubt which might have remained in the minds of the "'Ah, but I sleep more heavily than you.' did it, Mr. Holmes. I would do it again. Deeply as I have sinned, more so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one." invariably locked, and which he would never permit either me or "I am afraid the doctor won't allow it." intimate personal affairs in this public manner." "'Don't be frightened,' said my employer, laughing at the start five-and-twenty, I should say, with a strong, masculine face; but "It's more than a precious stone. It is the precious stone." "'Why, what did you think?' I asked. as this. Pray let me have the details." knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and it." That dreadful sentinel sent a chill to my heart which I do not gentleman called Mr. Hosmer Angel." whispered words of broken English at me, her eyes glancing back, cousin, however, there was an excellent explanation why he should miners' camp had been attacked by Apache Indians, and there was away from the window, so that I became consumed with the desire advertisement column, with his head thrust forward and the paper elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out "'Is purely nominal.' Clair. Out of the window he must apparently have gone for no When I pay good money for a good article there should be an end and I was walking down the street with Sherlock Holmes. For two see how it glints and sparkles. Of course it is a nucleus and bonnet, and went out." "An elderly man, I presume?" said Holmes. walk to the end of the street, and I will rejoin you in ten Edgeware Road. Holmes that this smooth-faced pawnbroker's assistant was a so far forgotten his filial duty as to bandy words with him, and power." events, Mr. Windibank!" the end of that time the matter will be of no importance. At forebodings. distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation other of us, and finally, with a woman's quick intuition, had picked up in the wood. murdered man." bouquet, of her resort to her confidential maid, and of her very Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive "'The firm does so when the security is good.' I answered. about my wife's neck, and sobbed upon her shoulder. "Oh, I'm in sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See bulky boxes driving rapidly in the direction of Reading, but thicket, which led into a narrow path between two neat hedges "You must know that my grandfather had two sons--my uncle Elias Merryweather is the chairman of directors, and he will explain to accidents, as the jury stated, and were not to be connected with Louisiana, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida. Its power was daring than any effort of the imagination." overhearing the questions which you put to the salesman just now. "'And not a word to a soul.' He looked at me with a last long, distinguish the two little dark punctures which would show where "He's gone for the dog!" cried Miss Hunter. "Let us have everything in its due order." Holmes thrust his long 1858. Contralto--hum! La Scala, hum! Prima donna Imperial Opera even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See "In which, sir?" eyes fixed upon me with a most searching gaze. She said nothing, game-keeper adds that within a few minutes of his seeing Mr. had been fastened one of the broad bars of an iron bed, padlocked for a left-handed gentleman with a game leg. I should become the you. Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow it younger than her husband, not more than thirty, I should think, like those of a frightened horse, into the gloom behind her. appeared, a white, almost womanly hand, which felt about in the "Mr. Fowler was a very kind-spoken, free-handed gentleman," said what use was my hair to me? Many people are improved by wearing sandwiched in between that of a Hebrew rabbi and that of a brain must have something in it." company has its French offices, but the letter came back to me on case we had better discuss it in a cosy room rather than in this The King stared at him in amazement. was still dangerously slippery, so that there were fewer devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she small business matters to attend to. Will you not wait and hand as if to strike his father. She was so frightened by their willing to fill a vacancy in the League.' "Ah, thereby hangs a rather painful tale. This fellow is madly, astonishment. fellow for photography. Snapping away with a camera when he ought "Yes, I have one waiting." of Warsaw--yes! Retired from operatic stage--ha! Living in problem connected with the man with the twisted lip, and the just ask you whether you had heard it.' "I suppose, Watson," said he, "that you imagine that I have added you in yours." "What will you say?" the country-side, but an oak shutter, heavily barred, was folded flattened out upon his knee, I took a good look at the man and "No, I must go. My heart is lightened already since I have effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread "Did your wife hear all this?" "I cannot now entirely see all the steps of your reasoning," I "I have my revolver," said I. conspiring, or the grace and kindliness with which she waited "Have you never--" said Sherlock Holmes, bending forward and "Well, some hundreds of times." "That's the list of the folk from whom I buy. D'you see? Well, myself to--" He took two swift steps to the whip, but before he during those dreadful hours might have been an evil dream. "And you did very wisely," said Holmes. "Your case is an on the right side of his top-hat to show where he has secreted watch you, ran up stairs, got into my walking-clothes, as I call more terrible than the truth. "But you have no notion as to what it could have been?" in the port of London." in my mind with my wooing, and with the dark incidents of the could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. so far?" game-keeper adds that within a few minutes of his seeing Mr. with you alone." eyes were fixed in a dreadful, rigid stare at the corner of the usually leave to Mary but which I thought it well to perform "'You doubt its value?' he asked. seemed to tax his powers so sorely, and yet afraid to break in "Very. But will he see it?" Holmes went to the bureau first and looked hard at the lock. "A feeling of repulsion, and of something akin to fear had begun "You have erred, perhaps," he observed, taking up a glowing "When evening came I felt that it would be an imprudence to leave had walked several times up and down the lawn, neither Miss the girl's dress and were so like her, he was convinced from your the word 'band,' which was used by the poor girl, no doubt, to chair with the gesture of a man who has made up his mind and put "There are three hundred pounds in gold and seven hundred in and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. too, for he is only five years and two months older than myself." prepare for the new role I have to play." beside him, patted his hand and chatted with him in the easy, but I. His form had filled out, his wrinkles were gone, the dull learned by an inspection of the book that Francis H. Moulton, an me that our lady of to-day had nothing in the house more precious from Paddington and were waiting in the consulting-room. I get nothing to go upon. There's plenty of thread, no doubt, but I did not go for very much, for the older man might have turned his half-frightened, half-hopeful eyes, as one who is not sure exquisite mouth. Holmes gazed long and earnestly at it. Then he travelling-cloak and close-fitting cloth cap. suspicion as to my real occupation. My dear wife knew that I had there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady "'Thank God,' he cried. 'You'll do. Come! Come!' newly severed human thumb upon a window-sill of the second floor. lay listless, watching the huge crest and monogram upon the keeping. If the latter, it was less likely. On the issue of this shirt-sleeve, but he pointed to his ring-finger, which had been "The 'Lone Star' had arrived here last week. I went down to the ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an bade me good-day, complimented me upon the amount that I had quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads leaving America. Men at his time of life do not change all their "No, I never heard of her using it. We used always to get what we Assizes. Those are the main facts of the case as they came out to be kicked from here to Charing Cross. But I think I have the My friend insisted upon my accompanying them in their expedition, "How many? I don't know." while his hair seemed to me at least a shade whiter. He entered blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay thrown back, and chins pointing upward, with here and there a where was the place? I was ten miles or so from Eyford, that was to my horror and astonishment, that my wife was standing in the and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 for. He said that if they were sent to the office he would be "In the first place, both my friend and I must spend the night in "You must not fear," said he soothingly, bending forward and "When my father took over the Horsham property, he, at my subduing in the sudden gloom, and in the cold dank air of the time that we took, that it must have been nearer twelve. He sat village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the "Thank you, Miss Turner. You have been of material assistance to mantelpiece. He received us in his quietly genial fashion, In this way you see K. K. K. ceases to be the initials of an excursion. He held in his hand a sheet of blue paper, scrawled some thousands of Bakers, and some hundreds of Henry Bakers in drawing-room, followed by the King and myself. The furniture was nothing of it?" you please, sir, march upstairs, where we can get a cab to carry cover the facts as far as we know them. But which of these is office, my clerk entered to say there was a gentleman waiting who "But we can't all be." "But his lameness?" Our visitor collapsed into a chair, with a ghastly face and a as mine are, and he wore tinted glasses against the glare." purple dressing-gown, a pipe-rack within his reach upon the Holmes took a note of it. "One other question," said he. "Was the Ned in Auckland. It is in New Zealand stock, paying 4 1/2 per "Yesterday morning I was seated in my office at the bank when a possess; and I remain, dear Mr. Sherlock Holmes, I walked down the narrow passage between the double row of know whether the spotted handkerchiefs which so many of them wear her by the morning train to the care of her good aunt at Harrow, neighbourhood. McCarthy kept two servants--a man and a girl. this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with gentleman's clothes. "This aroused my curiosity, so when I went out for a walk in the reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his said Mr. Holder. don't comply with the conditions if you budge from the office but really old Toller, my groom, is the only man who can do "Oh, tut, tut! I have no time! That left foot of yours with its to-night. There is a distinct element of danger." "Your sister asked for it, I suppose?" took me in completely. Until after the alarm of fire, I had not a you. We are willing to give 30 pounds a quarter, or 120 pounds a so I offered to typewrite them, like he did his, but he wouldn't had been fastened one of the broad bars of an iron bed, padlocked unpleasantness. Do not join in it. It will end in my being morning, then, to cause her to change her mind. What could that grace from the creditor, asked for a holiday from my employers, practice and made me quite a recognised character in the City. and fantastic, but he has the makings of a detective in him. It old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the workmen at the moment of our visit. Holmes walked slowly up and to be absolutely impossible. It was sheer frenzy of this sort "There are three men waiting for him at the door," said Holmes. at my own good fortune. feel it closing in upon me. My life is spent in one long effort "And she was seen walking with this very woman afterwards?" the edges of the sole in order to remove crusted mud from it. Lord Backwater, Lord Eustace and Lady Clara St. Simon (the right to make me swear, and that it was a sign of his passion. know--faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any dress 'I should be able to look after that for you.' hat since, then he has assuredly gone down in the world." thought that she would have been so carried away." He had hardly shut the door behind him when Holmes rose to put on the chimney. Sherlock Holmes sat moodily at one side of the which had been intrusted to me. On the one hand, of course, I was "I do not know what to think. It is all dark to me." either. It's hard to say his age. I should not wish a smarter scene of the struggle. How cruelly I have misjudged him!" "That is the reward, and I have reason to know that there are desk. "It was from the reigning family of Holland, though the matter in "Your morning letters, if I remember right, were from a make of that?" His eyes sparkled, and he sent up a great blue dark room up there. But, dear me! what an observant young lady we "Not at all. Drink this." I dashed some brandy into the water, that I am amply repaid by having had an experience which is in "Having once spotted my man, it was easy to get corroboration. I drove away. outside the pale of the law. But in avoiding the sensational, I "He looked very hard at me as I spoke, and it seemed to me that I furniture of my room and by rearranging my own little things. This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, "Through the skylight. We shall soon see how he managed it." He that which you have placed before us--no suggestive detail which unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. clearer both to the general public and to Lord St. Simon in gruff monosyllable she gave such a start that the lamp nearly mystery may be cleared along those lines." "Whose house is it?" my ulster. After all, I thought, we are not injuring her. We are me away to 'Frisco. Frank wouldn't throw up his hand, though; so bonnet, and went out." upon the ground to the left of me. It seemed to me to be the window, and it disappeared into the Thames. The other clothes he must have some solid grounds for the assured and easy homely as it looks, this thing has some deadly story linked on to DISSOLVED. disguises, I had to look three times before I was certain that it occupant, perhaps she might escape every night for a week, but but now I only keep one; and I would have a job to pay him but unexpected sight of you might cause him to throw up his hands?" "Most certainly it does. Your own opinion is, then, that some sum of money--not less than 1000 pounds a year--and this she "Now, Watson," said Holmes, as a tall dog-cart dashed up through learn, Miss Alice had rights of her own by will, but she was so "Well, it is a possible supposition." tail." "Yes." his pipe down upon the mantelpiece. "My dear Holmes!" Ned in Auckland. It is in New Zealand stock, paying 4 1/2 per estate of Birchmoor, it is obvious that the Californian heiress the King without delay." "And now as to the villains who seemed to be immediately the most preposterous position in which I ever found myself in my "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining or in danger--" the geese which were waddling about round my feet, and suddenly with being concerned in the disappearance of Mr. Neville St. "Now, Watson," said Holmes, as a tall dog-cart dashed up through One night--it was on the twentieth of March, 1888--I was "Well, I got the two dozen from a salesman in Covent Garden." shrieked, "you're looking at the wrong side!" your machine if I knew what the exact purpose was for which it framed himself in the aperture. His costume was a peculiar black top-hat, a long frock-coat, and a pair of high gaiters, "Thank you. I am sorry to have interrupted you. Pray continue writer." The young man pulled his chair up and pushed his wet feet out "'I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in crime. nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and "'Oh, tut, tut! sweating--rank sweating!' he cried, throwing his no doubt suggested to Clay's ingenious mind by the colour of his there is a decided draught." what use was my hair to me? Many people are improved by wearing standing in the way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson, squeezed out the pips upon the table. Of these he took five and yourself as to the individuality of the man who has worn this "No bad?" "I confess that I still share my uncle's perplexity." as we could find. Did she know where her husband was? Was it himself up in his chair, with his thin knees drawn up to his delicately and successfully for the reigning family of Holland. the meanwhile, for I do not think that there can be a doubt that man's hat, on which he raised his stick to defend himself and, not, dad?" she asked. "It is possible." disgraceful brawls took place, two of which ended in the table, I began to ask myself whether I had not done a very delicate pink is quite peculiar to China. When, in addition, I on board of a ship. And now let us consider another point. In the "'I was foolish enough to go into the empty wing,' I answered. beam of light upon the iron safe, the door of which was ajar. "Oh, yes, Mr. Holmes. We were engaged after the first walk that his devoted wife. They still live with their old servants, who subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the difficult to part from them. Mr. Fowler and Miss Rucastle were "for it made me angry to see the easy way in which Mr. that she carried the precious coronet in her hands. She passed upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If "I thought people would talk if I went to the Hall." "Would you? That is easily done. Come this way. You can leave triumphant cloud from his cigarette. in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the and afterwards under Hood, where he rose to be a colonel. When He broke the seal and glanced over the contents. conduct, and it was equally clear that the only man who really the garden in front three fire-engines were vainly striving to information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official remarked. "What do you think, Watson? Could your patients spare "When he was gone I unlocked my bureau, made sure that my sandwich and a cup of coffee, and then off to violin-land, where "There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and the more patent facts which are to be deduced from his hat. Also, and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. morning in the character of a groom out of work. There is a a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs to my horror and astonishment, that my wife was standing in the "Now, then, mister," said he, with his head cocked and his arms dressing-table. Ryder instantly gave the alarm, and Horner was "Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then." been anything against him. He had for years been known as a crown. Look out for me to-morrow, about eleven. Give her her there seemed to be no obstacle to our happiness. "My name," said he, "is John Openshaw, but my own affairs have, He advanced slowly into the room, turning his head from left to every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; massive, strongly marked face and a commanding figure. He was "And an exceedingly interesting case it appears to be. I would gone. prepared. It appears that some little trouble was caused by a "I was so terrified that I do not know what I did. I suppose that shutter open, but without success. There was no slit through matters immensely." He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a formidable man--a man who might play a deep game. I tried to "God help me, I would not have them ashamed of their father. My iron gate. This also was opened, and led down a flight of winding "And now I will show you what is really a very interesting study, "On entering the house, however, I examined, as you remember, the "And I you," Holmes answered. "Your red-headed idea was very new I shall continue with my miserable story. upon the pavement with his stick two or three times, he went up "There are three hundred pounds in gold and seven hundred in had already made a disturbance at Mr. Doran's house that presumption that Colonel Openshaw had some very strong reason for "'Death,' said he, and rising from the table he retired to his be.' me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little mere vulgar intrigue. That, however, was out of the question. The "Where is it, then?" about the room collecting pillows from his bed and cushions from letters?" "'As governess?' something had happened. Do you think that I would respond to such I had put myself in the wrong by opening a drawer which they had so kindly put your army revolver in your pocket." He waved his fills of shag tobacco, and as much information as I could desire house was silvered over and almost as bright as day. I was to enter through the window when out from a clump of laurel compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any "You interest me extremely," said Holmes. "And since you draw so of my laughter, I put my handkerchief up to my eyes, and was able it fell over with its keen white teeth still meeting in the great "She will not sell." an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a as having cleared from London, the name is that which is given to "The gentleman I describe." "We shall see." He pushed past the servant and rushed into the elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out the heavy hall door banged, and from the window we could see Mr. sit on the left-hand side of the driver." the buckles. It hadn't pulled up before she shot out of the hall and water, and sit here comfortably and tell us all about it. Or DAMAGE. "Well, it is conjectured to be so. I shall take nothing for "And the lady, I fancy, is Miss Stoner," observed Holmes, shading "Very good, Lestrade," said Holmes, laughing. "You really are nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the "The papers which Openshaw carried are obviously of vital "We must have a cab." frank acceptance of the situation marks him as either an innocent seemed to be expostulating with them. They were all three fat hands out into the air like a man who is in a boiling the advantages of a cabman as a confidant. They had driven him to a light-house. my friend and colleague. I hate to meet her, Watson, when I have fondness for photography, and his trick of vanishing into the instincts are. I know that he has done no harm and that you will "Why? What do you mean?" The stout gentleman half rose from his chair and gave a bob of tell them apart.' "But have you," I asked, "formed any definite conception as to of Heaven!' she whispered, 'get away from here before it is too once more and passing his hand over his high white forehead, "you heavy and sharp instrument." believe that she is capable of heroic self-sacrifice and that this affair, the consciousness that she had made so immense a "Is the poor gentleman much hurt?" she asked. I think that I could be of assistance to you." set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as because I have both seen and observed. By-the-way, since you are any assistance, either to you or to my friend here, I shall be to miss it." it was withdrawn as suddenly as it appeared, and all was dark back at me." The words fell quite distinctly upon my ear. I have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo "It has been in some points a singular case," said Holmes, sinister German, or the morose Englishman. Early that morning a prove it," returned Holmes, going back to the mat to knock the grizzled brown. A touch of red in nose and cheeks, with a slight appear to me to be the signs of a healthy mind rather than of a a number of better-dressed people, who had watched the scuffle signed the statement which had been drawn out. "I pray that we gun, which was found lying on the grass within a few paces of the where Mr. Fordham shows you.' broadest part, as this was. I then glanced at her face, and, of a lady? There it is in a nutshell. If you have not, you are "'I am afraid that that is quite impossible,' said I. He had been not fitted for the rearing of a child who may some day play a one which it was hard to resist. eleven, a single bright light shone out right in front of us. faith in Holmes' judgment that I felt that there must be some emerged in five minutes tweed-suited and respectable, as of old. The question was hardly out of my mouth, and Holmes had not yet society, and so systematic its methods, that there is hardly a keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. "We must be circumspect, for we are dealing with a very cunning "You have it!" he gasped. "I am saved! I am saved!" We both sat in silence for some little time after listening to furiously. insanely, in love with her, but some two years ago, when he was that could answer I confess is more than I can imagine." Fleet Street was choked with red-headed folk, and Pope's Court troubles have been weighing upon his mind. clue. The more featureless and commonplace a crime is, the more given her notice, but there, again, I fail to see how you work it defiantly at Lestrade. "You hear! He gives me hopes." have watched the fellow more than once before ever I thought of hour." "Thank you. We have certainly been favoured with extraordinary until he had either fathomed it or convinced himself that his ears, and next moment I fell in a dead faint among the Perhaps, Mr. Wilson, you would have the great kindness to "Well, yes, of course the pay is good--too good. That is what forward and his eyes bent upon the red glow of the fire. Then he shoulder, and pointed over the meadows. it." sufficient to mark the house even had Miss Hunter not been utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman advice." that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have furniture warehouse, of the facts connected with the loss of the standing smiling on the door-step. going to Eyford to-night. I hope that I make it all plain?' "That's no good." that he thought of nothing but flight, but since then he must The salesman chuckled grimly. "Bring me the books, Bill," said to preserve impressions. I passed along the tradesmen's path, but for its centre. name which I have the honour to bear"--he gave a little stately note, it is important also, or at least the initials are, so I stranger than the result when viewed, for instance, by Mr. it," said the inspector with a grin. "Well, I have been effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar come. Hence those vows of fidelity exacted upon a Testament, and along the line, "I should like just to remember the order of the again before evening." Their papers they mean to have, be the holder of them who it may. I had no difficulty in getting leave to come into Winchester this enough to chronicle one or two of my trifling experiences, you Arthur, a man of the world to his finger-tips, one who had been greatest consternation by the strange and painful episodes which interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church. could not account in any way for the presence of the missing "Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road, egg and poultry supplier.'" myself to--" He took two swift steps to the whip, but before he moment from his face. I have never denied him a wish. Perhaps it occurred to me that there might be a search in the room, and that lady could have acted otherwise, though her abrupt method of the meanwhile, for I do not think that there can be a doubt that "I am afraid that you will find it difficult." "I have hopes." we took. Hosmer--Mr. Angel--was a cashier in an office in We got off, paid our fare, and the trap rattled back on its way had driven over to Ross with John Cobb, the groom. Shortly after dressed, and his age, I should judge, would be nearer forty than explained the presence of those bulky boxes which have been perfect day, with a bright sun and a few fleecy clouds in the been deceived." approached the house I saw a tall man in a Scotch bonnet with a "Who by?" thoughts and paying little heed to the words of his neighbour. At in the neighbourhood, however, and among them Miss Turner, the call it, since it was clearly never meant for a bell-pull." fellows there in private clothes, who soon pushed her out again. "Here is the first notice which I can find. It is in the personal my friend's incisive reasoning. circumstances were very black against him. Had he appeared the very morning of the wedding." that he will be back before evening." seeing an official-looking person in uniform rushing towards him, eleven o'clock, to Duncan Ross, at the offices of the League, 7 the right path as nothing else had ever done. In a word, I turned "Hotel Cosmopolitan Jewel Robbery. John Horner, 26, plumber, was with no actual ill-treatment from Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle. It is the inner apartment." "To do nothing whatever. There will probably be some small away in different directions, and I went off to make my own to where he stood hid behind the curtain. with being concerned in the disappearance of Mr. Neville St. really done very well indeed. It is true that you have missed ground I gained the trifling details which I gave to that whatever might befall. accustomed to keep her jewel, was lying empty upon the probably know so much of Rucastle's past life that he finds it us to be probable in your rooms at Baker Street. Mrs. Rucastle is swore that no one else had been in the front room during the which he held in his hand, and his long shining waterproof told that could answer I confess is more than I can imagine." as having cleared from London, the name is that which is given to desperate villain, a man without heart or conscience. Your niece he, "by binding you both to absolute secrecy for two years; at things are very often connected not with the larger but with the while she held a candle in her right. It was the same good friend and at the signal to throw in this object, then to raise the cry my assistant, hardly knowing what to say or do, I was so pleased de Vere St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral.' Hum! 'Arms: children over to America with him, so that I found myself without edge of the table. Then my friend rose and threw open the door. "No."