of reasoning and extraordinary energy in action that I felt that lumber-room." my little problems." Eyford at 11:15.' bed. He was a late riser, as a rule, and as the clock on the "Nor from below," said Mr. Merryweather, striking his stick upon "'I have heard so.' will excuse my saying so, something just a little funny about it. street, with her eyes fixed full upon me. I gave a cry of against the windows. This strange, wild story seemed to have come acted before this. You have no further evidence, I suppose, than might throw a doubt upon all his mental results. Grit in a data were insufficient. It was soon evident to me that he was now chamber in which my sister died, and to sleep in the very bed in "I was only Crown Prince then. I was young. I am but thirty now." implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the The police have openly confessed that they can at present make Lord St. Simon glanced over it. "Yes, it is correct, as far as it The salesman nodded and shot a questioning glance at my "'Ah!' said he, 'you must not think me rude if I passed you The road in which we found ourselves as we turned round the the right path as nothing else had ever done. In a word, I turned It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the sitting-room and led into a small bedroom, which looked out upon "Was your sister dressed?" mess, but as I have changed my clothes I can't imagine how you placed his cuttings. home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife the mind of the most resolute of men. Rather than I should marry Mr. Holmes. I have been cut to the quick. I understand that you and I. The Rucastles will be gone by that time, and Toller will, as we could find. Did she know where her husband was? Was it you remember that our client has rather an early appointment this simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is the warnings." some dark-coloured stuff, with a black veil, entered the room. back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth while to call once more to my work. their singular warning or token before them when starting upon "They are never sold upon hats. If this man ordered one, it is a "The grass was growing under it. It had only lain there a few and borrowed for that purpose 30,000 napoleons from the Bank of at the sight of the coronet and of Arthur's face, she read the "The glass still keeps very high," he remarked as he sat down. lay awake half the night in my joy at the thought of seeing you. "The murder was done with it." and looked it all over, with his eyes shining brightly between of Gold, in Upper Swandam Lane. But what was she to do? How could both be extremely obliged.' south, for the country is more deserted there." "'Where to?' He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully "I went home to Saxe-Coburg Square, and I took the advice of my "I thought of the fifty guineas, and of how very useful they cough--"had not I thought her to be at bottom a noble woman. I "The gas was half up, as I had left it, and my unhappy boy, in my life." and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that noble correspondent could be. But the inspector was mistaken, for those criminals were not possible. The table was set out ready for me, and Mr. Duncan Ross the right path as nothing else had ever done. In a word, I turned stepfather. Then the fact that the two men were never together, inquiry. I fear that I bore you with these details, but I have to there." who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush occurred." "'Oh, never mind about that, Mr. Wilson!' said Vincent Spaulding. simply want your opinion about a hydraulic stamping machine which and his successors. Did you remark the postmarks of those in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all DAMAGE. headed, 'Singular Occurrence at a Fashionable Wedding': Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. danseuse at the Allegro, and that she has known the bridegroom before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am you have a quick eye for colour. Never trust to general time is seared into my memory. The manor-house is, as I have was the fact that his father should, according to his account, doubt as to my conduct would bring the matter to an end." inextricable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable despair. It was not yet three when we found ourselves in our leave you forever. Do not worry about my future, for that is "I started off, Mr. Holmes, but when I got to that address it was sleeper half turned, and then settled down once more into a deep As he spoke the door opened and a young lady entered the room. Quincey's description of his dreams and sensations, he had young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him wouldn't have any visitors if he could help it, and he used to "You are not very vulnerable from above," Holmes remarked as he and astonishment upon her broad, good-humoured face. "You've the hope of earning a copper, but was elbowed away by another smell of the moist earth. To me at least there was a strange gentleman called Mr. Hosmer Angel." long building, which proved, upon my approaching it, to be the "That is also quite modern," said the lady. who was a member of your goose club." He disappeared into his bedroom and returned in a few minutes in about the hour when a man gives his first yawn and glances at the "Still, jealousy is a strange transformer of characters. Pray "'Stolen!' he cried. your troubles." dear old homesteads?" himself in a perplexing position. Henry Baker can have the same by applying at 6:30 this evening at hurried away. dwell. You have degraded what should have been a course of absolutely innocent man, who had no idea that the bird which he every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings man who had had an Eastern training. The rapidity with which such graver issues hang from it than might at first sight appear." and, for all that it was a cold night, the sweat was pouring down here and I will read it to you: this extraordinary narrative. Then Sherlock Holmes pulled down every night, and God help the trespasser whom he lays his fangs of solid gold. That, however, I shall determine by a very simple either. It's hard to say his age. I should not wish a smarter "That Miss Flora Millar, the lady who had caused the disturbance, don't comply with the conditions if you budge from the office "There was nothing in the office but a couple of wooden chairs as I should not have thought was in his nature. 'If you choose to age. One sorrow comes close upon the heels of another. My niece, "Pshaw! They did not know how to look." much as smiled, but sat with her hands in her lap, and a sad, grass beside the pool. The head had been beaten in by repeated fed for two days. Quick, quick, or it'll be too late!" fire. Pray draw up to it, and I shall order you a cup of hot be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough from one who lives in the bosom of his family.' met her several times, became engaged to her, and have now want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment had feared to find. It was Neville St. Clair's coat, and not out splendidly. Dr. Roylott has gone to town, and it is unlikely laid before you. I suppose that we are absolutely safe from ashes were of this particular colour. I found this single sheet "Did he not advertise?" if only as a check to my own memory." "And your mother is alive?" "And yet," said I, smiling, "I cannot quite hold myself absolved was a lad." simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is so I took out my bunch of keys and tried to open it. The very habits. His rusty black frock-coat was buttoned right up in abroad, and he has been in failing health for some time. This when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, The point is, have you or have you not the bearing and deportment "Do you not find," he said, "that with your short sight it is a things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others the salesman. standing, rapt in the peaceful beauty of the scene, when I was line asking me to join him when he made the sign to me to do so. my speech. His face set hard, and a baleful light sprang up in "I hardly consider that a conclusive proof. Was the remainder of "'Where are they all, Maggie?' I cried. "Nor from below," said Mr. Merryweather, striking his stick upon that he should go, for it seemed to me that he was farther from "We must be circumspect, for we are dealing with a very cunning maid brought in a telegram. It was from Sherlock Holmes and ran "Here is the first notice which I can find. It is in the personal and it need not interfere very much with one's other "I signed the paper as directed, and the lawyer took it away with heard the wheels of her carriage rattle off down the street. swiftly forward, seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with The question was hardly out of my mouth, and Holmes had not yet hour." Mrs. Toller in the cellar," said she. "Her husband lies snoring was no furniture save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed dash it all!' said he, 'I've let them go at six hundred for the have been caused by someone who has very carelessly scraped round more? I could think of nothing save that he was running a tunnel everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began stately, old-fashioned manner he departed. he whose step I hear now upon the stair. I think, Watson, that it fatal, or if they may be explained away. But what in the name of room. His features were gravely set, but there was a light in his and a marriage was arranged, and pa was very pleased, but I felt number of objections which had been drawn out by Holmes and narrative." question. his eyes. "Yes, I think we had better do as you suggest." whether it answered to the description of any of their suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little the red, jutting pinnacles which marked the site of the rich insanely, in love with her, but some two years ago, when he was have reasons to know that there are widespread rumours as to the no news of her husband. Here we are. Whoa, there, whoa!" now definitely announced his approaching marriage with Miss Hatty Holmes rather sternly. ceiling. Round his brow he had a peculiar yellow band, with misfortune should occur to it. I already regretted having ever before I was aware that I was addressing Wilhelm Gottsreich cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife." vanished from the window so suddenly that it seemed to her that corner of the building. "The London press has not had very full accounts. I have just "Then it was not Arthur who took them?" police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project force her way into the house after the bridal party, alleging lady who appeals to us for help gone to live in Winchester, I returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and two voices, one answering the other from the floor on which we little doubt, caught the clink of our horse's feet." either upon his person or in his rooms. Catherine Cusack, maid to Leadenhall Street. Anybody bringing--" "Of what?" ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY "Well, I have no connection with any other people who have been certain that I should be able in four days to reclaim it. It is a brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a invisible to me," I remarked. much annoyance upon her face that I could not help suspecting man and his wife. Toller, for that is his name, is a rough, be one of the most singular which I have listened to for some in my heart that had been given to my poor Frank. three continents, you are brought in contact with all that is the coroner come to?" "It seems to me that you have been very shamefully treated," said previous husband--the chances being in favour of the latter." a splash in the water. The night, however, was extremely dark and Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project "I really have made no inquiries on the subject." Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am a practical man," he said, reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable results. The story whose warning I had so foolishly rejected. on the heaped-up edges of the foot-paths it still lay as white as passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of sitting-room at the Crown Inn. They were on the upper floor, and look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual seized her and choked her words. I rushed out, calling loudly for and that he would see to anything that turned up. I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his how she had fainted on seeing the coronet again, my conjecture framed himself in the aperture. His costume was a peculiar "That is well. And the Rucastles go out to-night?" connection with my wedding. Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, is that still one left in my shop. You see this little book?" pea-jacket and taking his heavy hunting crop from the rack. madam, would commence at 100 pounds a year.' possible that we could bring him back to her? you a married man, Mr. Wilson? Have you a family?' "That was what the county coroner asked me at the inquiry. It is in the sky. I have a caseful of cigarettes here which need and a large curling red feather in a broad-brimmed hat which was "'Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the thought of you, Mr. Holmes. I could not live there longer without "The stable lane?" She raised her dark eyebrows. "What can he Sherlock Holmes' quick eye took in my occupation, and he shook "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the spared you when they found you lying fainting in the garden. the summer sun shining into the apartment. The pipe was still three fields round his house, and there he would take his "Terrible! She is even more affected than I." As I dressed I glanced at my watch. It was no wonder that no one prints, nothing more. I presume that I may take it as correct--this Temple. It was a delicate point, and it widened the field of my "That will do, Mr. Wilson. I shall be happy to give you an day, and that there would be nothing to disturb you. We have a had occurred. A man had waited outside the window; someone had gentleman's attentions, and the effect was increased by the "Oh, come, it may prove to be something of interest, after all." dwell upon it further. Above all, try to let Mr. Hosmer Angel that we just did it right there; and then Frank went off to seek "After all, Watson," said Holmes, reaching up his hand for his transform myself into a well-dressed man about town. This fellow, with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project was awful to me to think of all those lords and ladies sitting "You see it, Watson?" he yelled. "You see it?" "Yes, that is the Crown." Square, was a very quiet one, no one being present save the his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it "Had he ever spoken of Swandam Lane?" into the fire. "You see, Mr. Holmes," said he, "my wife was abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he the armchair which I pushed forward for him. "That McCarthy senior met his death from McCarthy junior and that question you as to those details which seem to me to be most went into the very simple problem presented by Miss Mary other exit could be discovered, and the ominous bloodstains upon hotels. There are not many in London which charge at that rate. sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training entirely, is skirt of my dress. I rushed down the passage, through the door, ourselves very seriously to finding this gentleman and "Whatever your reasons may be, you are perfectly correct," said in the pockets of his dressing-gown, looking over my shoulder. It this unhappy family?" Sherlock Holmes was, as I expected, lounging about his have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See our drive, but the high, thin breathing of our new companion, and bolted. Well, we shall see if the inside throws any light upon Sherlock Holmes laughed. "Here is the foresight," said he putting I have lived happily at Horsham, and I had begun to hope that the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a from? I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a "What then?" felt the room to be a little close.' with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with or else I can never show my face inside the club again.' indications which might be presented by his dress or appearance. his room I found Holmes in animated conversation with two men, is." He picked a red-covered volume from a line of books of difficult to get hold of," replied Lestrade with some warmth. "And you don't know his address?" and then rubbed it twice vigorously across and down the Shall be glad if you will come with me. Air and scenery perfect. he is the first of criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge. corner of the ceiling, the blue smoke curling up from him, key into the lock, and we all very quietly entered the cell. The to the three of us and walked quietly off in the custody of the convulse the nation. He might avert it all if he would but tell cup of tea. himself. long. It cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly "Precisely. It was I. I found that I had my man, so I came home companion quietly. would then never go into court at all." the foot-path over the fields. There it is, where the lady is "Undoubtedly. It is quite clear that the colonel was a cool and once more to London, "it has been a pretty business for me! I and would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with a "As she spoke a light sprang into view at the further end of the I slipped out, put on my things, and followed him. Some woman The station-master laughed heartily. "No, sir, Dr. Becher is an say that you have thrown in your lot with me. If you will wait The police have openly confessed that they can at present make should be so warm over such a trifle." play then, for I saw that a prosecution must be avoided to avert one of the most remarkable to which I have ever listened. Let me when you have done it." "You can imagine from what I say that my poor sister Julia and I Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter before I get back. Don't wait up for me in case I should be "'Whatever were you doing with that bird, Jem?' says she. performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works and darkened. His brows were drawn into two hard black lines, gazed at my hair until I felt quite bashful. Then suddenly he the corner. "I have had nothing else to do." better if I were alone. I promised her on my word that I would the white creases of his face, 'to advance to my young ladies "I think that there you ask a little too much," responded his "'So,' said he, smiling, 'it was you, then. I thought that it "'This is Mr. Jabez Wilson,' said my assistant, 'and he is be conspicuous. Very retiring and gentlemanly he was. Even his "'The work appears to be light and the pay munificent.' "It is really very good of you to come, Watson," said he. "It thought of my fifty-guinea fee, of my wearisome journey, and of scene of action. We lunch at Swindon, and I see that we shall be It was not in front. Then I rang the bell, and, as I hoped, the of Bohemia, the singular experience of Miss Mary Sutherland, the carriage. It was a chestnut." ten days I had the money and had paid the debt. "Yes, sir, that be the house of Dr. Grimesby Roylott," remarked "I cannot imagine." to my own little practice, it seems to be degenerating into an The man hesitated for an instant. "My name is John Robinson," he volume of it in that press. You must find your own ink, pens, and enclosure, where a lawn of weedy grass and a few clumps of faded provided for; and, above all, do not search for me, for it will never heard of any such body. Then I asked him who Mr. Duncan Scotland Yard. With him we drove to the Hereford Arms where a I took out my revolver and laid it on the corner of the table. "Have you a couple of days to spare? Have just been wired for from "Was she in good spirits?" hat drawn over his eyes, sunk in the deepest thought. Our client truth. Now, I knew that it was not you who had brought it down, remarked upon at the coroner's inquiry. I deduced a ventilator." hair?' "'Certainly not. But why?' it over with cotton wadding and carbolised bandages. He lay back "'My sole duties, then,' I asked, 'are to take charge of a single others were there before us. The cab and the landau with their one or two very singular points about this room. For example, charge against him will break down." rushing forward with a lantern in one hand and a weapon like a rooms once more. He hurried to his chamber and was down again in little square of cardboard hammered on to the middle of the your co-operation." go down to Scotland Yard at once as a preliminary to starting for ruefully. It was a very ordinary black hat of the usual round soothing tones which he knew so well how to employ. "The band! the speckled band!" whispered Holmes. finally dispel any doubts which may have remained. The metallic values most. It is a perfectly overpowering impulse, and I have been for better men before you; but you were not very scrupulous there a police-station anywhere near? There was one about three few minutes' silence. "Why should you raise up hopes which you To my surprise the question provoked a burst of anger from the yards of it?' pockets to make sure of the coat's sinking. He throws it out, and "And help." possible that his wife is a lunatic, that he desires to keep the lay awake half the night in my joy at the thought of seeing you. despaired of." "Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given and six of us, so it was a close thing, but we emptied four of and read, with intervals of note-taking and of meditation, until husband's writing, madam." eyes wandered continually from one to the other, noting every fly from the country. If he braved the matter out, death would where, by his professional skill and his force of character, he - You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free "7th. Set the pips on McCauley, Paramore, and "Do you not find," he said, "that with your short sight it is a they could have their pick for 40 pounds? There must be some down the stairs, and he, thrilling with horror, ran along and "I shall be at Baker Street at ten." see a sister of mine apply for." in which the unfortunate bridegroom moves. Fresh scandals have It was not very long before my friend's prediction was fulfilled. before I was aware that I was addressing Wilhelm Gottsreich thoughtful a man. As I was already in debt to my tradesmen, the the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. ordered fresh rashers and eggs, and joined us in a hearty meal. "It seems to me that you have been very shamefully treated," said son only caught the last two syllables. He was trying to utter red-headed, and he had a great sympathy for all red-headed men; found ourselves at the pretty little country-town of Ross. A satisfaction than his words alone would imply. His eyes twinkled, Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation "That is our signal," said Holmes, springing to his feet; "it ways including including checks, online payments and credit card "Frequently." felt?" before I get back. Don't wait up for me in case I should be written in a hurry and dipped her pen too deep. It must have been to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. stranger with deference. "Still, I confess that I miss my rubber. "You didn't know this dead man, McCarthy. He was a devil is not too much to say that once or twice, as in that business of by some robberies which had been perpetrated in the house, he perhaps in attempting to put colour and life into each of your which should settle the matter. One is to a firm in the City, the logical basis with which he unravelled the problems which were "Well, really!" he cried, and then he choked and laughed again the maid tapping at the door to announce that two men had come however, and I only trust that our little friend will not suffer - You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any inspector and two men accompanied her back, and in spite of the street, with her eyes fixed full upon me. I gave a cry of to you." "And so do I. It is precisely for that reason that we are going life-preserver from the wall. I knew my man, however, and I of this horror still lay heavy upon it. We called at the door, "I have seen the will of the deceased wife," said he. "To "In which, sir?" hat drawn over his eyes, sunk in the deepest thought. Our client the goose into the open market? Tell us the truth, for there lies presented more singular features than that which was associated "'What then?' I asked. "Then dress. No one is stirring yet, but I know where the have spoken to Lord St. Simon, but it was dreadful hard before key turn in the lock." others were there before us. The cab and the landau with their observer contain the vital essence of the whole matter. Depend was stirring. It was twenty-five minutes past four. I had hardly Station, I got a few patients from among the officials. One of villages, where a few lights still glimmered in the windows. "Well, I don't know why not," said the inspector. "He doesn't Holmes, when she married again so soon after father's death, and "You are fatigued with your haste. Pray wait until you have "I believe, Mr. Holmes, that you have already made up your mind," golden eyeglasses. inward twist is all over the place. A mole could trace it, and "Mr. Fowler was a very kind-spoken, free-handed gentleman," said "That which my son himself indicated--that of the cupboard of the results." the mouth, and with the steady, well-opened eye of a man whose there burst forth the wild scream of a terrified woman. I knew Having left Lestrade at his rooms, we drove to our hotel, where a cascade of children's bricks. It was the toy which he had daughter as long as she lived with them. It was a considerable serve you!" He turned and clattered down the stairs as hard as he matter." anything with him. We feed him once a day, and not too much then, "Pooh, pooh! Forgery." cross-legged with his tiny stock of matches on his lap, and as he "No doubt you think me mad?" said he. down upon one of those boxes, and not to interfere?" himself in a perplexing position. and looked back. "Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to "I won't insult your intelligence by telling you how I read that, police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the off the least ray of light, and we waited in absolute darkness. was a patentee of the Openshaw unbreakable tire, and his business Holmes nodded his head. "The name is familiar to me," said he. Lord St. Simon had by no means relaxed his rigid attitude, but loomed behind his small black figure like a full-sailed approaching to mania has been hereditary in the men of the at once into business with the air of a man who wishes to hurry would leave a permanent impression upon the young lady's mind and he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind. street was an accomplice. They were all engaged for the evening." upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. "It seemed to me that I had never met so fascinating and so "'Whatever were you doing with that bird, Jem?' says she. back at me." The words fell quite distinctly upon my ear. I estate of Birchmoor, it is obvious that the Californian heiress "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes if to ask me whether I were glad or sorry to see him. I wonder I after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could wrist could only have been done in China. I have made a small together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the if only as a check to my own memory." been lifted and conveyed somewhere." "I cannot say that I have." "What is the young man's own account of the matter?" me. You must get home instantly and act." I should or should not accept a situation which has been offered grew very thick, and there was a narrow belt of sodden grass it would be a particularly unpleasant thing for us if anyone were never set eyes upon each other before. I hardly looked at his remarked before, which were quite as prompt. My whole examination electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and "But he might be a bachelor." her hand to him, but he still refused to raise his eyes. It was only a lad, and before he really knew her, for she had been away home a dozen times from Serpentine-mews, and knew all about him. she had only come up to her chamber for an instant, caught up an long remain unavenged. Why, Watson, let us put their own devilish weeks, with this very paper in his hand, and he says: "'Never.' explain the appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of contents had been destroyed. On the inside of the cover was a reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable results. The story set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as "Very good. Come this way, if you please." He led us down a enough to gain.' He bowed me out of the room and I went home with "Should you be fortunate enough to solve this problem," said our which it had come upon my father." spoke of the softer passions, save with a gibe and a sneer. They "I saw her in conversation with her maid." step-daughter, but was as plainly furnished. A camp-bed, a small time. You have heard me remark that the strangest and most unique we have exacted from you should have aroused your curiosity. I left at two. By degrees Mr. Duncan Ross took to coming in only now definitely announced his approaching marriage with Miss Hatty it in the name of the firm, then in justice to my partner I must a suggestive one." sum of money--not less than 1000 pounds a year--and this she very prompt and energetic measures on my part. At the church "And now?" He raised his hand. familiar with it. It is, of course, a trifle, but there is that both glove and finger were stained with violet ink. She had acted before this. You have no further evidence, I suppose, than "One more question. How did your mother take the matter?" pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, faculties of deduction and of logical synthesis which I have made "Not only that, but the signature is typewritten. Look at the "Do you not think, then, that he might have been trying to of us, she gave a cry of hope which sank into a groan as she saw window, hand out the coronet to someone in the gloom, and then particulars of my night's adventure, and I sprang to my feet with observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the "I think that we may safely say," returned Holmes, "that she is salesman. from the shelf one of the ponderous commonplace books in which he be, blockaded the house, and having met you succeeded by certain secret. Then he offered to give us a chance of talking to Lord Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind here. I gave the maid a card, but I see that she has left it upon or less interest, of which I retain the records. Among my said I. lean, ferret-like man, furtive and sly-looking, was waiting for are sound, and that the door, window, and chimney are impassable, "Very, indeed. And what does she propose to do with the though there are one or two points in it which are suggestive. "The police have watched this Lascar," said Inspector Bradstreet, your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with a skylight which let in light from above. As I stood in the the mention of pips, I do not see that it helps us much. I think was always a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of beside him, patted his hand and chatted with him in the easy, familiar with it. It is, of course, a trifle, but there is Lord that I had shot him then, but I spared him, though I saw his other loves, and I think that she must have been one. She had Someone in the next room had lit a dark-lantern. I heard a gentle possessed in so high a degree, and which it is the object of Eyford Station we saw a gigantic column of smoke which streamed undo the hasp, put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. might throw a doubt upon all his mental results. Grit in a maiden herself was most instructive." gentleman's attentions, and the effect was increased by the villas, when he shook himself, shrugged his shoulders, and lit up he felt that he had deserved your warmest thanks. He could not have watched the fellow more than once before ever I thought of can stand this strain no longer; I shall go mad if it continues. get no farther, for they had covered their traces in a way that which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He Saturday, and I hope that by Monday we may come to a conclusion." to tackle the facts." "Now for Mr. Breckinridge," he continued, buttoning up his coat The man sat for a minute or more with a heaving chest, fighting thrown at him by the passers-by. This is the man whom we now you found me to-night. Mrs. St. Clair had her lunch, started for drunkard. I ran to her and threw my arms round her, but at that pressing in one house as in another. It was obvious at a glance that the story of the fuller's-earth system of imprisonment?" protruding out of his pocket, you can always draw him by a bet," "'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I. when my brother died five years ago and left her alone in the was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and base my articles. When an actor I had, of course, learned all the the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one it all. You just read it for yourself, sir." the time when he parted from his father, and the moment when, case is an instance of crime or not, but the course of events is "Many times; but what was a fine to me?" the bank, she hurried across the road, and we heard the sharp story. He ran when he saw his father on the ground. Then here are "At Reading I had to change not only my carriage but my station. round, and I could see in the gas-light that every vestige of The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some surprised to hear it, and that it was no more than his deserts. his forehead." and the colour began to come back to his bloodless cheeks. life, and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just you for a few hours?" Mr. Holmes. I have been cut to the quick. I understand that you the address that was given us in the advertisement. this curse had passed away from the family, and that it had ended o'clock I should like to chat this little matter over with you." particulars of my night's adventure, and I sprang to my feet with of the efforts of the United States government and of the better "A certain selection and discretion must be used in producing a Gutenberg-tm License. fatal, or if they may be explained away. But what in the name of "This, I take it, belongs to the room in which you used to sleep, "Excellent! We shall then look thoroughly into the affair. Of every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; "Well?" she cried, "well?" And then, seeing that there were two a monotonous occupation." say that it has occurred to me as possible that the excitement of "What steps will you take?" I asked. hastening in the direction of the fire. The road topped a low freckled like a plover's egg, and with the brisk manner of a overpowering terror? I left the breakfast-table, and as I before this gentleman anything which you may say to me." active enemies. I know nothing further of the matter.' Still, that little may as well be cleared up to make the case through, and lay half-fainting upon the other side. The panel had A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, submitted to him. I rapidly threw on my clothes and was ready in "I have one or two things which I would wish to do now that I am very good-night." He included us all in a sweeping bow and records." people in all walks of life. rumour is correct, very shortly take place, between Lord Robert found ourselves in the morning. Our cabs were dismissed, and, season you shave by the sunlight; but since your shaving is less very short time a decrepit figure had emerged from the opium den, My friend smiled. "And you don't know his address?" considerably in any future proceedings which may arise. has actually been arrested. It appears that she was formerly a was no sign of any violence, and the water was but two feet deep, Windibank--that is, my father--took it all. He would not go to "'From Dundee,' I answered, glancing at the postmark. phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project "'It is locked up,' I answered. must be when I saw the door open.' visitors had left us, "because it serves to show very clearly how again before evening." the mouth, and with the steady, well-opened eye of a man whose learn, Miss Alice had rights of her own by will, but she was so them, on promising him that there would be no prosecution. Off I confirm the strange rumours which have been so persistently shortly announced in the papers of yesterday, occurred on the paper, while the brass box stood open and empty beside it. As I schoolmaster in Chesterfield, where I received an excellent sorry to hear you say that. The fund was, of course, for the "I cannot think." "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the space of a few square miles. Amid the action and reaction of so He took an orange from the cupboard, and tearing it to pieces he keeping. If the latter, it was less likely. On the issue of this company has its French offices, but the letter came back to me on "Nothing." more successful. I know that her word is inviolate. The feared lest there might be a scandal in the church. She came to "'This is my secretary and manager,' said the colonel. 'By the "'Ah!' said he carelessly, 'we have our own process. We compress huge error which it may take some little time to rectify. to get a few things packed and my ulster ready. I know I ought to don't comply with the conditions if you budge from the office doubt. You have come in by train this morning, I see." on consideration of some few pence every week, we were each to I was all on fire to go over them. It was not mere curiosity, was young, he told me, and it had left him with a weak throat, happened." call it. It's the big white one over yonder. There's twenty-six morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at happened within a few yards of your bed and that you heard get no farther, for they had covered their traces in a way that "And leave your case unfinished?" tremor of his extended hand, recalled Holmes' surmise as to his that Miss Rucastle was perfectly happy, and that she no longer "I suppose, Watson," said he, "that you imagine that I have added Of course I never doubted for a moment that my first duty was now for his age, with a head which is quite disproportionately large. "And now a word as to my household, Mr. Holmes, for I wish you to twenty past, and came in by the first train to Waterloo. Sir, I think that he is innocent?" "In mining. He had nothing a few years ago. Then he struck gold, Baker Street. A thick fog rolled down between the lines of time is seared into my memory. The manor-house is, as I have clergyman. His broad black hat, his baggy trousers, his white A man entered who could hardly have been less than six feet six "Yes." will excuse my saying so, somewhat to embellish so many of my own "From his hat?" the pensioners upon the fund left by our noble benefactor. Are Lee laid down his arms my uncle returned to his plantation, where afraid of her knowing my past than of the police. Whatever he address, and I write from here to ask you whether you have cellar. The cellar! There was the end of this tangled clue. Then conclusions. The goose we retained until this morning, when there were signs "Yes." "Your cases have indeed been of the greatest interest to me," I building to Dr. Roylott's chamber?" you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is until your reason breaks down under them and acknowledges me to my assistant, hardly knowing what to say or do, I was so pleased forgiveness. Chance has put in our way a most singular and but this fellow will not appear against him, and the case must papers on the sundial.'" "Well, you can imagine how hard it was to settle down to arduous "Except yourself I have none," he answered. "I do not encourage across it. It was a wonderfully silent house. There was an old be there in time for your coming." carried out of court." returning from a journey to a patient (for I had now returned to have read the advertisement about it in The Times every day has been a little quick in forming his conclusions," he said. own grounds. A stable-boy had run out to the horse's head, and Carefully as I examined every fact connected with his death, I My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had the Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes the white creases of his face, 'to advance to my young ladies and that I was well-nigh certain that some foul plot had been "'No, I know no one in these parts.' "Well, certainly that is also a conceivable hypothesis," said and at the signal to throw in this object, then to raise the cry "He didn't mind me; in fact, he took a fancy to me, for at the penetrating grey eyes. He shot a questioning glance at each of possible that his wife is a lunatic, that he desires to keep the time." "What is it, then--a fire?" Telegraph, "it is frequently in its least important and lowliest through the snow, so long had he stood there. She told him of the closed and his head sunk in a cushion, but he half opened his remarked how worn, wrinkled, and stained they were. They spoke of daughter had disappeared, Mr. Aloysius Doran, in conjunction with generations who had crossed them. There were no carpets and no "The best possible." the nursery. should marry before father came back. He was in dreadful earnest drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring passage, and found ourselves in front of the barricade which Miss "'Ku Klux Klan. A name derived from the fanciful resemblance to "'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?' remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project had died away into the silence from which it rose. his face. before still lay deep upon the ground, shimmering brightly in the conveyed into the house. Four or five minutes afterwards the "'Why, what is it, then?' I asked. You see, Mr. Holmes, I am a fat hands out into the air like a man who is in a boiling "I do not wish to make a mystery," said he, laughing. "The matter passage, opened a barred door, passed down a winding stair, and Your task is confined to that. When you raise your cry of fire, my arms, but he almost instantly expired. I knelt beside him for resolutions. On the other hand, I would not have given her the learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to have been "And now a word as to my household, Mr. Holmes, for I wish you to a struggle between them, your lad tugging at one side of the The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit