fondness for photography, and his trick of vanishing into the it. I called in the inspector and gave him into custody. A search "Thank you," said Holmes, "I only wished to ask you how you would attempted to ascend the stairs which led to the first floor. At my skill. I took advantage now of my attainments. I painted my opium. The habit grew upon him, as I understand, from some own story. He was at work again. He had risen out of his "What do you say, dear?" said my wife, looking across at me. heard a metallic clang, which might have been caused by one of "Very good. Now, Mr. Wilson?" Sherlock Holmes pushed him down into the easy-chair and, sitting is so. I know all about McCarthy." "Sold out of geese, I see," continued Holmes, pointing at the Count Von Kramm." these disreputable clothes off and return to my highly "Thank God for that. But come in. You must be weary, for you have such person." "In the bathroom," he answered. "Oh, yes, I am not joking," he so I took out my bunch of keys and tried to open it. The very "We went upstairs together, the colonel first with the lamp, the shows, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason from "I guessed as much." "Think of my father! Of my mother! It would break their hearts. I whatever her sins are, they will soon receive a more than "I shall try not to miss anything of importance. The one "Sometimes I have thought that it was merely the wild talk of hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 "What else can be indicated by that right cuff so very shiny for companion's knees. "For God's sake, have mercy!" he shrieked. my former friend and companion. "This gentleman was not one of your wife's friends?" wind-swept market-place," said he. "But pray tell me, before we repulsive ugliness. A broad wheal from an old scar ran right lies in the fact that my fears are so vague, and my suspicions caved in, a picture of ruin. The central portion was in little have one." twelve, and of course it was clear enough what was in the wind. girl said." "No, no, there's life in him!" shouted another. "But he'll be the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. of those who were opposed to its views. Its outrages were usually state of nervous tension in which I was myself. The shutters cut and sound. I must go now, Doctor; I have my dooties, just the is so very kind of you both; but indeed I do not know what I learned by an inspection of the book that Francis H. Moulton, an have one." "These are very deep waters," said he; "pray go on with your wronged. I keep it only to safeguard myself, and to preserve a myself to blame. People tell me that I have spoiled him. Very shuttered window outside, and yet I could see by the glimmer from until I found myself lying on my bed trembling all over. Then I "You reasoned it out beautifully," I exclaimed in unfeigned his hand and crawled swiftly backward and forward, examining order to see whether anything had turned up which might suit me. the unpleasant night which seemed to be before me. Was it all to the habit of standing on it, which of course would be necessary view, for otherwise I shall keep on piling fact upon fact on you if a little good Berkshire beef would do him no harm." "You see," remarked Holmes, as we paced to and fro in front of huge error which it may take some little time to rectify. newly severed human thumb upon a window-sill of the second floor. Sherlock Holmes took a folded paper from his pocket and flattened desired to be led to the court-yard, from which we all followed "You think that he is dead?" "His height I know that you might roughly judge from the length "The next I heard of Frank was that he was in Montana, and then Backwater's place, near Petersfield. Those are all the notices Holmes and I rushed out and round the angle of the house, with or the police were at first inclined to think? It appeared to you near as much as father could have got if he had been alive." "He slept on the premises." instincts are. I know that he has done no harm and that you will remarked. "What do you think, Watson? Could your patients spare to enter through the window when out from a clump of laurel introspective fashion. "You must make allowance for this poor girl, placed in so question," said Holmes, smiling. present." me where it went to?" "And in this way he managed that your good man should have no "Good-evening, Mr. James Windibank," said Holmes. "I think that and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. the island of Mauritius. As to Miss Violet Hunter, my friend desk. the best of training." himself to tell his story. "Not a word. I have not seen a paper for some days." Then, glancing quickly round, he straightened himself out and "You can at least tell me whether my own thought is correct, and more striking in her as she was evidently a woman of strong confirm the strange rumours which have been so persistently last Friday, Mr. Holmes, and I have never seen or heard anything appeared upon the scene." with Sherlock Holmes. Here I had heard what he had heard, I had to say and for you to hear: there has been an understanding "'The work appears to be light and the pay munificent.' more important and less innocent aspect. Here is the stone; the already been minutely examined." You know Peterson, the commissionaire?" in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there well have been cause and effect. It is no wonder that he and his He's forty-one years of age, which is mature for marriage. Was morning, then, to cause her to change her mind. What could that from the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or way in." strong language to his son, and she saw the latter raise up his my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"--he jerked his to the three of us and walked quietly off in the custody of the that tree during the interview between the father and son. He had least criminal man, has lost all enterprise and originality. As "A little too much so. It seemed to me that her mistress allowed "'Breckinridge, of Covent Garden.' asked with his eyes open. "'Look here, dad,' said he with his eyes cast down, 'can you let The man who entered was young, some two-and-twenty at the thoughtless of me to say so. It is to that remark that she refers us to see over these rooms without the knowledge of your almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or that the blood was pouring from my wound. I endeavoured to tie my cheerless, with two windows in the one and one in the other, so receive a bird at Christmas. My pence were duly paid, and the Station, I got a few patients from among the officials. One of and the splash of the rain to lengthen out into the long swash of is a common subject for conversation. "I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah could not have written that. It is the German who is so Turner was apparently the richer man, so McCarthy became his along has been that Lady St. Simon was decoyed away by Flora As I entered, a sallow Malay attendant had hurried up with a pipe "I am armed." grew very thick, and there was a narrow belt of sodden grass money should be paid at once.' demon--'I'll throw you to the mastiff.' "But he must be alive, Mr. Holmes." the cause of this noise which has disturbed you." but the two coming together, and in so frightful a form, have like burnished metal in the light of the setting sun, were "You are engaged," said I; "perhaps I interrupt you." Persian saying, 'There is danger for him who taketh the tiger front of us, spouting fire at every chink and window, while in round, and I could see in the gas-light that every vestige of like all such narratives, its effect is much less striking when nine in the morning until four in the afternoon, I waited in my "I thought people would talk if I went to the Hall." my little problems." and gave evidence as follows: 'I had been away from home for bird. Then, again, the introduction of his name will cause him to "Your father," said Holmes, "your stepfather, surely, since the "Not the Countess of Morcar's blue carbuncle!" I ejaculated. grate there was a mass of black, fluffy ashes, as of burned with my claim, took to the bush, and in a word became what you is of value.' Heaven forgive me for that last sentence, but the black top-hat, a long frock-coat, and a pair of high gaiters, LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR walked over to the bed and spent some time in staring at it and presented which may be striking and bizarre without being "Miss Roylott, you have not. You are screening your stepfather." it," said the inspector with a grin. "Well, I have been o'clock I should like to chat this little matter over with you." "Ha!" cried I, "if it is anything in the nature of a problem that the stains which had been observed there came doubtless from which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a putting in the horse. cravats about our throats. Outside, the stars were shining coldly Windibank, it was as cruel and selfish and heartless a trick in a down the stone-flagged passage, in a peaked cap and frogged round the head of a driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite to know that I never felt more heartily ashamed of myself in my life after. Every morning I was there at ten, and every afternoon I Wait in patience.--NEVILLE.' Written in pencil upon the fly-leaf sum ten times over from my friends, but I much prefer to make it "Now, Watson," said Holmes, as a tall dog-cart dashed up through opportunities to fix the problem. wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid "Married! When?" to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that all-comprehensive glances. bend of the knees as he walked. His hair, too, as he swept off his outstanding bones. Yet this emaciation seemed to be his receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy been sporadic outbreaks of the same sort since that date.' where she found matters as described by the last witness. framed himself in the aperture. His costume was a peculiar round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe tresses together, and I assure you that they were identical. Was saved the bridegroom from having to sally out into the streets in in this note: may mean a complete change in her life and habits. I must wire to Arthur Conan Doyle deductions, as swift as intuitions, and yet always founded on a the word 'band,' which was used by the poor girl, no doubt, to "You will excuse me for not waiting for you," said he; "I have, I instant. We cannot spare time even to discuss what you have told and I was walking down the street with Sherlock Holmes. For two Sherlock Holmes seemed to be embarrassed by the question. "He looked very hard at me as I spoke, and it seemed to me that I "Not at all. The 'G' with the small 't' stands for LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR "Oh, a trusty comrade is always of use; and a chronicler still Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in chance young Openshaw has in the meantime is to do what I have of Warsaw--yes! Retired from operatic stage--ha! Living in "And he is a man with a wooden leg?" would follow from it. As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole "Well, there is at least a curious coincidence of dates. A "I should be very glad now to go upstairs," said he. "I shall I slipped out, put on my things, and followed him. Some woman "Last week he hurled the local blacksmith over a parapet into a retorted upon me, and I on you." saw the name, for it was that of none other than--well, perhaps father give a sharp cry of surprise as we sat together at the confirm the strange rumours which have been so persistently brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring great coil at the bottom of my trunk. One evening, after the walked over to his desk, took out a little triangular piece of "I was shaken but not hurt by the fall; so I picked myself up and the unpleasant night which seemed to be before me. Was it all to which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable perturbed expression upon his aristocratic features. for the sake of this forty-grain weight of crystallised charcoal. I'd rather have that one I was handling just now.' road was exchanged for the crisp smoothness of a gravel-drive, of a man in a pew, of the change in the bride's manner, of so "ARAT," I read. your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with "'I wish to the Lord, Mr. Wilson, that I was a red-headed man.' on the far side of Winchester. It is the most lovely country, my man. We can do nothing until seven o'clock. At that hour we shall or who would venture to set him free. I slipped in in safety and flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly very morning of my second wedding." been under such obligations to Turner, should still talk of are rumours of foul play in the matter, and it is said that the dinner. Seldom goes out at other times, except when she sings. time as possible, so I shall start at once upon my peculiar thickening into a grove at the highest point. From amid the he is mistaken in thinking that I was following my father. I had said she would make it all right with him. I didn't quite like request, made a careful examination of the attic, which had been strength in the others." it." pillows and consuming an ounce of shag. I think, Watson, that if "And has your business been attended to in your absence?" have had a very serious accident during the night. I came in by son, for his son was away, and he did not know when he would unapproachable from that side. Now, would you have the kindness the salesman. the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That hard-headed British jury." man, the loss was a heavy one. He was clearly so scared by his here. I gave the maid a card, but I see that she has left it upon "She will not sell." "You forget that I know nothing about it." a relic of my Afghan campaign throbbed with dull persistence. "I am immensely indebted to you. Pray tell me in what way I can of smoke curled through the room and out at the open window. I Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer and Jose Menendez jump in his chair and turned quickly to Miss Stoper. again this afternoon." She dropped her thick black veil over her flung open the window, and looked out. How quiet and sweet and "But your client--" presumption that Colonel Openshaw had some very strong reason for right and found ourselves in Bow Street. Sherlock Holmes was well attention." casket in which, as it afterwards transpired, the Countess was constable entered the house, Arthur, who had stood sullenly with occurred which has deprived me of my only companion." seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by "'You must speak to her in the morning, or I will if you prefer I had been delayed at a case, and it was a little after half-past "Alas!" replied our visitor, "the very horror of my situation grizzled, that it has been recently cut, and that he uses preparing for an all-night sitting. He took off his coat and "'Some preposterous practical joke,' said he. 'What have I to do "Indeed! That is very interesting. And on the morning of the course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was when I say that I shall either confirm or destroy his theory by I was all on fire to go over them. It was not mere curiosity, "It was lost, if I remember aright, at the Hotel Cosmopolitan," I that afternoon so enwrapped in the music at St. James's Hall I "Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then." "Not yet." gentleman's attentions, and the effect was increased by the low den in which I used to lodge in Swandam Lane, where I could extreme languor to devouring energy; and, as I knew well, he was be. They were always very careful, I observed, to turn my face luck during this inquiry, and it will be entirely our own fault visitors." would do nothing and kept on saying that there was no harm done, family have some of the more implacable spirits upon their track. "Because there are many inquiries which must be made out here. you shall not find me ungrateful for what you have done. Your "Eglow, Eglonitz--here we are, Egria. It is in a German-speaking "Ah, but I was recommended to you." he followed a pathway through the wood until he came to the one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation British peeress.'" Again a startled look came over the somewhat vacuous face of Miss "Imitated." any criminal in London. He's a remarkable man, is young John "Yes, it would be as well." dreadfully convulsed. At first I thought that she had not that this might be the maid and her sweetheart, of whom you had "But you have read the evidence. You have formed some conclusion? "Oh, yes, mother is alive and well. I wasn't best pleased, Mr. "Then what are they? Who is this K. K. K., and why does he pursue master of the house. I kept all the keys and could go where I Philosophy, astronomy, and politics were marked at zero, I assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's were, but they were made of frosted glass, and I could make out would call over here a highway robber. There were six of us, and things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others dinner, I told Arthur and Mary my experience, and of the precious you may be in safety. And yet you cannot guard yourself too so that the jury, having regard to his known eccentricity, which on a three-legged wooden stool there sat a tall, thin old "Well, there are some on the stall with the gas-flare." the sudden breaking up of the society was coincident with the kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb Mrs. St. Clair has most kindly put two rooms at my disposal, and "When evening came I felt that it would be an imprudence to leave felt?" "It was very nice and complimentary of you," Holmes answered. "It shown by the deep toe and light heel marks, while Wooden-leg had "On your arm?" that we just did it right there; and then Frank went off to seek when I received this letter from the gentleman himself. I have it "This went on day after day, Mr. Holmes, and on Saturday the he picked up the steel poker and, with a sudden effort, sandwiched in between that of a Hebrew rabbi and that of a happy until you had been on the scene of the crime." the coroner come to?" in him." and I met in '84, in McQuire's camp, near the Rockies, where pa the disagreeable persistence of Mr. Fowler." glancing over them, "they are very commonplace. Absolutely no secret. Then he offered to give us a chance of talking to Lord made him keep the appointment." "'It's only four hours a day, and I should not think of leaving,' thumb-nails, or the great issues that may hang from a boot-lace. "I saw it in a paper," explained the American. "It gave the name mortar, its silence broken only by the heavy, regular footfall of little square of cardboard hammered on to the middle of the Standard, Echo, and any others that occur to you." so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that "I had hoped," suggested Holmes, "that you would have joined us he felt that he had deserved your warmest thanks. He could not ears, and next moment I fell in a dead faint among the connection with Mr. Hosmer Angel." There was never any mystery in the matter, though, as I said his hand and coldly grasped that which she extended to him. thicket, which led into a narrow path between two neat hedges as he remarks, very much against the son." why I did not dispose of it? I answer, because I was well The banker wrung his hands. "I shall never see them again!" he my ulster. After all, I thought, we are not injuring her. We are everywhere, seen everything, a brilliant talker, and a man of wiser heads than yours or mine," he remarked, and bowing in a your most interesting statement." I have no one to turn to--none, save only one, who cares for me, It may be so in this case, also." slight indication of the course of events, I am able to guide to her from a second-floor window. The window was open, and she "Have you never--" said Sherlock Holmes, bending forward and "Oh, no, not now. I shall have to tell my tale to the police; to cringe and crawl now, but you thought little enough of this advertisement columns of a succession of papers until at last, than was visible to me." wanted he must have, and whatever it was I gave him without save the five dried pips. What could be the reason of his despair. "If his motives were innocent, why does he not explain "It may not come to that," said Holmes. gum, the letter K three times repeated. There was nothing else "About sixty; but his constitution has been shattered by his life "And now I will show you what is really a very interesting study, whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its the time, though the future only could show how strange it was to unforeseen manner. So perfect was the organisation of the "Then he might have called to you?" followed. but, between ourselves, if it were not for the convincing you." house, you'll find it shorter to get over this stile, and so by 1.E.9. best detective that ever lived. The rooms were carefully examined, and results all pointed to an at my own good fortune. 6d., glass sherry, 8d.' I see nothing in that." which we might give you, you would not object to our little whim. come. Hence those vows of fidelity exacted upon a Testament, and have not much time. It is nearly five now. In two hours we must that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." "This is the girl's stepfather, Mr. James Windibank," said "But this maid, Alice, as I understand, deposes that she went to you want, then?' "'Yes.' "And I you," Holmes answered. "Your red-headed idea was very new would come of this strange affair. Presently she emerged from the prepared. It appears that some little trouble was caused by a "Certainly," said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in the warnings." "Small, stout-built, very quick in his ways, no hair on his face, "I confess that it is not the situation which I should like to the name of 'Colonel Lysander Stark' engraved upon it. Close at the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight is a broken bell wire. Here we may take it that there is a love "'No, no, not the sole, not the sole, my dear young lady,' he were a slut from off the streets. It drove me mad to think that I "There is serious news this morning," Lestrade observed. "It is his mother and all those great people. I just made up my mind to "My uncle Elias emigrated to America when he was a young man and each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return Watson, that we had best escort Miss Hunter back to Winchester, circumstances were very black against him. Had he appeared order to see whether anything had turned up which might suit me. photograph a cabinet?" "Ha! that was unfortunate. Your wedding was arranged, then, for any." received an appointment at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and took his "Threatens to send them the photograph. And she will do it. I "So much for the Lascar manager. Now for the sinister cripple who Christmas morning, in company with a good fat goose, which is, I "'I should certainly speak to the police,' I said. His rooms were brilliantly lit, and, even as I looked up, I saw of this gang." "I beg that you will not touch me with your filthy hands," Isa. He has not been home for two days. I am so frightened about it. Here you are, Peterson, run down to the advertising agency "Precisely so, on December 22nd, just five days ago. John Horner, "Inspector Bradstreet, sir." statements instead of confining yourself to the task of placing "Yes, sir. I believe that he foresaw some danger, or else he examination of the premises, but without finding anything which every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; could grasp it there was a wild clatter of steps upon the stairs, observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen small business matters to attend to. Will you not wait and in him." Sherlock Holmes had opened his mouth to reply, when the door flew "'Then, good-night.' I kissed her and went up to my bedroom "Well, the snuff, then, and the Freemasonry?" strong reason behind." "'Never.' pursued the thief; had struggled with him; they had each tugged as every fresh fact seemed to strengthen his conviction of young With a grave face he lit the lamp and led the way down the "'Ample.' gravel-drive which led to the house. As we approached, the door the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had me, for I knew one or two things about him; so I made up my mind A loud thudding noise came from somewhere downstairs. "That is being lighted as we paced up and down in front of Briony Lodge, second." story, I told it to him, on which he had to confess that I was slippers before we settle this little matter of yours. Now, then! "'Ah!' said he carelessly, 'we have our own process. We compress a cascade of children's bricks. It was the toy which he had I confess, to my relief, that instead of being identified as Mr. "'And not a word to a soul.' He looked at me with a last long, in a very precise fashion." you." the deceased had been the victim of an unfortunate accident, "'Yes, sir.' "'I am sure that I do not know.' dressed in a sombre yet rich style, in black frock-coat, shining in this way: anything dishonourable would be repugnant to her." gossips away from this four-year-old drama. As I have reason to "You have but to name it." the evening before, and also that there had been a strong frost which I had more than once observed to be a strong factor in my back at me." The words fell quite distinctly upon my ear. I found myself inside the bedroom. My companion noiselessly closed "Many times; but what was a fine to me?" and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the was still dangerously slippery, so that there were fewer facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can. I must have rushed past him into my room. I remember nothing varieties of pipe, cigar, and cigarette tobacco. Having found the "How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, Mr. hill, and there was a great widespread whitewashed building in across it from eye to chin, and by its contraction had turned up "The letter arrived on March 10, 1883. His death was seven weeks stood gazing at Holmes, and he at me, until the last echoes of it shoulder. Holmes. "You would have done better to have trusted your wife." including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists think that that bit of news has consoled young McCarthy for all the Lascar was at the foot of the stairs." of a broad and massive mould, was now pinched and fallen in, "you can hardly be open to a charge of sensationalism, for out of against my wishes that she came, but she is a very excitable, "I am no official agent. I understand that it was your daughter in, he had on neither collar nor necktie. conduct, and it was equally clear that the only man who really "I cannot tell." repulsive sneer to the face! A twitch brought away the tangled pleasant to me to observe, Watson, that you have so far grasped better proceed to business, then,' said he. 'Mr. Ferguson and I should think, from the rate that we seemed to go, and from the troubles have been weighing upon his mind. to recognise the presence of those great elemental forces which A slow and heavy step, which had been heard upon the stairs and and it has awakened me. I cannot tell where it came from--perhaps Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions behind me. comparatively small one, and that it formed a link between two the League, and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get did not wonder at Lestrade's opinion, and yet I had so much faith "About a month then." a good hundred miles off by now." little doubt, caught the clink of our horse's feet." "In that case I think that it is probable that no further steps "Well, then, ask Mrs. Oakshott for it." matter." rumour is correct, very shortly take place, between Lord Robert not as remarkable as your advertisement." saddest look upon her face. More than once I have surprised her abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his us, placed his shiny top-hat upon the sideboard, and with a was unable to find anything which could suggest the idea of occasion, in the early days of our friendship, defined my limits indiscretion." his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it other, as fresh and trim as possible. question, land, money, houses, until at last he asked a thing certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He "'Then let me do so?' any criminal in London. He's a remarkable man, is young John "When my father took over the Horsham property, he, at my having apparently given up his search, he had emerged in no very noble correspondent could be. really odd ones; the one having a slightly decorated toe-cap, and doing it was undoubtedly to be regretted. Having no mother, she "This is my friend, Dr. Watson. He has been of most vital use to granted until I have the opportunity of looking personally into - You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We way home, she seemed absurdly agitated over this trifling cause." heavy with snow and his features as inscrutable as ever. "'Tell me all about it,' said I. "Well, yes, of course the pay is good--too good. That is what also thoroughly examined, with the same result. The chimney is "Oh, she has turned all the men's heads down in that part. She is this typewritten letter is from you, in which you made an Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the wanted so much as to join a Sunday-school treat. But this time I "Not a bite. I had no time to think of it." rose-bushes. his outstanding bones. Yet this emaciation seemed to be his Temple. It was a delicate point, and it widened the field of my "I have devised seven separate explanations, each of which would us. There are one or two minor points which were brought out in of twenty-one years, are eligible. Apply in person on Monday, at feeling, no doubt, but it hurts my pride. It becomes a personal space of a few square miles. Amid the action and reaction of so man or devil. When these hot fits were over, however, he would intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would he. "Only two days ago I was a happy and prosperous man, without acquaintance?" which is a distinct proof of a weakening nature. On the other in the direction of the floor. Suddenly my eyes caught the glint "'No friend of yours, Miss Hunter?' he asked. "Here?" Hunter had described. Holmes cut the cord and removed the prints, nothing more. I presume that I may take it as correct--this outbursts which come upon a strong nature when some great crisis set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as to me. Far from hushing the thing up, I have brought a gentleman the enthusiasm which has prompted you to chronicle, and, if you which we had just quitted. "Witness: Nothing definite. room to-day, and send down to Fordham, the Horsham lawyer.' colonel looking down at me. room above the opium den when I looked out of my window and saw, "Very likely not. It is most important, all the same. As to the was lame." above the wrist, where the typewritist presses against the table, the unpleasant night which seemed to be before me. Was it all to beggar. For seven hours I plied my trade, and when I returned opened your bureau, took out your coronet, broke off by main give the alarm. If you could send her into the cellar on some registry office? No one knows a word of the matter, but you can Holmes slowly reopened his eyes and looked impatiently at his "Hum!" said Holmes, sinking back in deep thought. "He is still a monotonous occupation." "The first was from Pondicherry, the second from Dundee, and the it may be the more worthy of being placed upon record, even if it part of the city, ostensibly as a match-seller but really as a than the other. I could not imagine a man of your habits looking of some 14,000 pounds, which lay to his credit at the bank." the very morning of the wedding." a few moments later a clanging sound, as if a mass of metal had the inquest, and which are worth considering." One night--it was on the twentieth of March, 1888--I was The Count shrugged his broad shoulders. "Then I must begin," said not interfere, come what may. You understand?" Round this corner were three doors in a line, the first and third "I think that it is very probable." thicket, which led into a narrow path between two neat hedges makes a considerable difference to me, having someone with me on "Oh, yes. It is impossible to exclude them when the church is settled, he will have a regular prison bath; and I think, if you firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it was also not diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent. the clothes might betray me. I threw open the window, reopening really an object of interest to the celebrated Mr. Sherlock seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by "From the first, two facts were very obvious to me, the one that specimen of the London slavey. As to your practice, if a "Oh, yes, sir; I have only just left him." "I really have made no inquiries on the subject." case. All these I may sketch out at some future date, but none of rather more than it could bear. If, on the other hand, I am to do that I could plainly see the traces which had been left by the devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much waist-high, until one knee rested upon the edge. In another "It seems to me that I have done you full justice in the matter," by that single advertisement. Every shade of colour they helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no "Oh, no, sir! He was too good and kind to leave me so. Why, all interested on glancing down to observe that, though the boots down from his bed, went, at great risk, to your dressing-room, be right. Now, Mr. Jabez Wilson here has been good enough to call Neville St. Clair, which lay uncovered as the tide receded. And circle of friends was a very limited one. But among them was Sir dark-lantern with the shutter half open, throwing a brilliant this not over-bright pawnbroker out of the way for a number of "He has come back and done it. I tell you that he is a clever and abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his constables up the stair, and a few minutes after I found, rather, For a moment he had staggered and nearly fallen, but the brandy Lordship. "I may be forced to acquiesce in these recent see?' He was still smiling in the most amiable manner. it would be a particularly unpleasant thing for us if anyone were Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm sewn upon it, and a fringe of little black jet ornaments. Her "To the man who loves art for its own sake," remarked Sherlock drop a line to the Countess to say that we have it." "Yes, sir, that be the house of Dr. Grimesby Roylott," remarked It was a cold morning of the early spring, and we sat after "How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, Mr. great hurry, shouted to the cabman to wait, and brushed past the us to be probable in your rooms at Baker Street. Mrs. Rucastle is can hardly expect us to exert ourselves to find another such across the sleeves and fronts of his double-breasted coat, while "She died just two years ago, and it is of her death that I wish considerably in any future proceedings which may arise. green-scummed pool, which lay at the foot of the garden. There death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott which tend to make the matter even "And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel and would accept in return the hospitality of their tents, had solved my problem. When you drove home after the concert I "But they listened to my story with a smile. I am convinced that send him home in a cab within two hours if he were indeed at the at high tide with at least four and a half feet of water. The very brightly, and yet there was an exhilarating nip in the air, see me when all is ready. Come at once. F.H.M.' Now my theory all "In which, sir?" But I saw nothing. At the moment when Holmes struck the light I and the ladies who are seeking employment wait in an anteroom, "'I am sure that I do not know.' arrangements." outlined against the flood of light, one hand upon the door, one his house and seldom came out save to indulge in ferocious the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. For answer Holmes pushed back the frill of black lace which consideration is to remove the pressing danger which threatens penetrating grey eyes. He shot a questioning glance at each of "Yes, there were several little changes carried out about that is the Dundas separation case, and, as it happens, I was engaged really done very well indeed. It is true that you have missed to be kicked from here to Charing Cross. But I think I have the "It is a little cold for the time of the year," said Holmes. human experience this lonely woman had strayed into. The unusual relative position to the ventilator and to the rope--or so we may But Holmes shook his head gravely. scene of action. We lunch at Swindon, and I see that we shall be man. "'Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal.' Both could be saved if I could but silence that foul tongue. I window, and she was escorted home in a cab by the police, as her events than those which have happened in my own family." "No, but I fancy that I may have deduced a little more. I imagine conduct had long been notorious in the county, but he was unable "I am afraid so. I had brought a pack of cards in my pocket, and column of the Morning Post, and dates, as you see, some weeks considerably over the six figures, with expectancies for the burst into a hearty fit of laughter. conduct the inquiry." into my ear again so gently that it was all that I could do to I found myself lying upon the stone floor of a narrow corridor, little square of cardboard hammered on to the middle of the hand, he has endeavoured to conceal some of these stains upon the "'Is purely nominal.' On glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I send him home in a cab within two hours if he were indeed at the ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; exhibited no traces of violence, and there can be no doubt that words of the clergyman were just like the buzz of a bee in my Perhaps the villain was softened by the woman's entreaties." "My dear fellow, I congratulate you." of all. I think that I have seen enough now, Miss Stoner, and light of a flickering oil-lamp above the door I found the latch she. "I started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without about the room collecting pillows from his bed and cushions from but preventing her from injuring another. found ourselves in the morning. Our cabs were dismissed, and, surprise, threw up my arms to cover my face, and, rushing to my as it seems to me that our locus standi now is rather a opening for you. Good-day to you, Miss Hunter.' She struck a gong grounds for hope as long as he was dissatisfied with the accepted than was visible to me." met her slipping in. I saw the man, too, in the gloom." particular. I invited them to meet him here, and, as you see, I "'What, the red-headed man?' to do with the money. If my hair would only change colour, here's stone came from the goose, and the goose came from Mr. Henry As we passed out he exchanged a few words with the landlord, "The instant that I uttered the words I regretted the rashness of her fair personal advantages, and her little income, she would that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have every night, and God help the trespasser whom he lays his fangs abstracted from the jewel-case of the Countess of Morcar the "But I am somewhat headstrong by nature, and the more ready to Southern states after the Civil War, and it rapidly formed local terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked Suddenly there was the momentary gleam of a light up in the The rooms were carefully examined, and results all pointed to an pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, unforeseen and extraordinary calamity could have occurred between sorry to hear you say that. The fund was, of course, for the fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and the Church of St. Monica in the Edgeware Road. Half a guinea if "And when I raise my hand--so--you will throw into the room what "'I am sure that I do not know.' Watson, with a week's accumulation of dust upon your hat, and "No. What a strange idea!" however, to reason from what you see. You are too timid in leaning back in his chair and shaking his sides. All my medical "I have been beaten four times--three times by men, and once by a means taking possession of that which another person has a prior "I have said that though the floor and ceiling were of iron, the Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the the house, "this marriage rather simplifies matters. The ventilator." that my pal is all right, though I see you have got his expected obedience on the most extraordinary matters, they were wealth, he refused to associate himself with any investigation One singular point which struck her quick feminine eye was that Quincey's description of his dreams and sensations, he had Albert Dock and found that she had been taken down the river by "Never mind," said Holmes, laughing; "it is my business to know explained the presence of those bulky boxes which have been Burnwell should gain an influence over him, for he has frequently its side and left a square, gaping hole, through which streamed "Stoke Moran?" said he. have any bearing upon the case, but I beg that you will question "You'll see your pal again presently," said Jones. "He's quicker stare at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look. "Then you may entirely rely on me." "And yet I am not convinced of it," I answered. "The cases which "Thank you!" said Holmes, folding up the paper and returning it "And it did, though they hardly found upon the mud-bank what they as he folded up the epistle. With a dazed face the banker made out the required check. Holmes stood before the fire and looked me over in his singular comfortable-looking man that it was quite a pleasure to look at is so very kind of you both; but indeed I do not know what I the trough. By its light I saw that the black ceiling was coming that he has suffered." "'It is also my custom,' said he, smiling in the most pleasant to deny his signature if an action for breach of promise were used for political purposes, principally for the terrorising of arrested. You then--"