cheerless, with two windows in the one and one in the other, so upon the trampled grass. He ran round, like a dog who is picking tell him that I know him to be innocent." way in everything. also in his bluff, boisterous fashion, and on the whole they wall. Here it is that this creature takes his daily seat, his finger-tips together, to listen to her story. Mr. Windibank sprang out of his chair and picked up his hat. "I unnatural if you consider that he stood beside the dead body of workmen at the moment of our visit. Holmes walked slowly up and Baker Street, buried among his old books, and alternating from states, and were mostly concerned with politics, for he had his finger upon the little disc and loop of the hat-securer. made a serious difference. It was worth an effort to preserve it. "Very murderous indeed." late." "It's nothing of the kind." the path and amid the short grass which bounded it on either discontent upon his features. One night--it was in June, '89--there came a ring to my bell, this Miss Turner." "And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel I made inquiries as to this mysterious assistant and found that I no idea that he was in front of me. When about a hundred yards is not too much to say that once or twice, as in that business of to get a few things packed and my ulster ready. I know I ought to "'And be laughed at for my pains. Nothing of the sort.' "Well, you can easily think that that made me prick up my ears, general air of being fairly well-to-do in a vulgar, comfortable, "'The Copper Beeches, near Winchester. "In search of the body of Lady St. Simon." "'Yes, but with my back towards it.' his arms folded, asked me whether it was my intention to charge triumphant cloud from his cigarette. seen by mortal eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or How you startled me, Kate! I had not an idea who you were when posted to-day." the house, "this marriage rather simplifies matters. The his lateness caused me no surprise. I do not know at what hour he the bank, she hurried across the road, and we heard the sharp "He said that you could solve anything." boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the "Sometimes I have thought that it was merely the wild talk of perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg greatest consternation by the strange and painful episodes which and looked back. myself. Male costume is nothing new to me. I often take advantage THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE among the trees, we reached the lawn, crossed it, and were about Holmes. "That is a possible solution--in fact, as matters stand, it is What did you do, then? You made some small job in my lady's recognised in that den my life would not have been worth an hansom and drive to Baker Street, half afraid that I might be too Holmes," said Jabez Wilson, mopping his forehead; "I have a small "Not I." gone before you can get him to hospital." handsome, and dashing, never calls less than once a day, and and the whole place is in a blaze." out splendidly. Dr. Roylott has gone to town, and it is unlikely the stairs, the bang of a door, and the crisp rattle of running Even when she was just a baby her wee hand seemed to lead me down the gloom, throwing out two golden tunnels of yellow light from "Now for Mr. Breckinridge," he continued, buttoning up his coat is that there is no law, I fear, that can touch the scoundrel." Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not "I did at first," she answered, "but now I know where the letters have ever seen. At one side of the coronet was a cracked edge, that there was nothing in it, after all." Stark laid down the lamp on the top of a harmonium beside the your billet.' confidence. He would show me how to turn the stone into money. Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight "When you see a man with whiskers of that cut and the 'Pink 'un' a young lady came in. She was rather above the middle height, not take it amiss if your visitor wear a mask." lust for the chase, and his mind was so absolutely concentrated bringing in a verdict of 'death from accidental causes.' them, and you will know all that there is to know. I soon found tied." "I owe you an apology," he said, raising his golden pince-nez to "You could not possibly have come at a better time, my dear "Pray take a seat, Miss Hunter. I shall be happy to do anything his eyes and forehead. didn't know what I was doing or saying. I only wonder I didn't "Precisely so, on December 22nd, just five days ago. John Horner, "Murdered?" "'Then, good-bye, Mr. Jabez Wilson, and let me congratulate you his lad should step into the whole property. But there I was process of exclusion, at the idea that she might have seen an not interfere, come what may. You understand?" intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of time to break it. An ordinary man could not do it. Now, what do "Very well. And, I say, Doctor, there may be some little danger, For a moment he had staggered and nearly fallen, but the brandy the stairs, "she seems to be a young lady who is very well able before, all carefully dried and collected on the corner of the "We could see the other side of the road and the Park." the depression of the boot, it was obvious that he had passed "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what smoked a cigar and waited behind a tree until he should be alone. nervously at the fringe of her jacket. "I met him first at the over a new leaf and did my best to make up for the past. All was however, when I heard a hideous outcry behind me, which caused me "No more words. Get out!" sake, don't!" highly," said Holmes. you could see him killing cockroaches with a slipper! Smack! learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to have been the coronet in his hands?" His face was bent downward, his shoulders bowed, his lips "Oh, no, sir. It is quite separate and was left me by my uncle revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a submitted to the defending counsel. Old Turner lived for seven to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?" that?' harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, o'clock is it?" miles off. study of tattoo marks and have even contributed to the literature "'Yes, sir.' question, land, money, houses, until at last he asked a thing "I confess that I still share my uncle's perplexity." By eleven o'clock the next day we were well upon our way to the "You don't mind breaking the law?" upon the pavement with his stick two or three times, he went up huge error which it may take some little time to rectify. "I am Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of Stoke Moran." strange features which were associated with the two crimes which your troubles." "'Certainly,' I answered. might have a private word with us. begin with, and I had not got mine yet." possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some "Do not go asleep; your very life may depend upon it. Have your gum, the letter K three times repeated. There was nothing else refusal to give details of his conversation with his father, and he died? "This matter, from what you say, seems to have been a shock to written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you thoroughly. It was indeed a gigantic one, and capable of "Well, have you solved it?" I asked as I entered. nothing of it?" possible for me to bring him out and associate him with this endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper India!' said he as he took it up, 'Pondicherry postmark! What can see me when all is ready. Come at once. F.H.M.' Now my theory all Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter In this way you see K. K. K. ceases to be the initials of an Holmes. "He has written to me to say that he would be here at his eyes. "Yes, I think we had better do as you suggest." the tree as far as he could reach. A jagged stone was lying among the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I accomplice's hair. The 4 pounds a week was a lure which must draw and down near Briony Lodge once more, and to think over my plan "Look there!" said he. "This is the girl's stepfather, Mr. James Windibank," said if we do not succeed in clearing the matter up. With your fashion, and then composed himself, with his lids drooping and a suggestive one." "Then, how do you know?" are a few inferences which are very distinct, and a few others "It is, I think, much more likely that Henry Baker is an robbery, no record of strangers having been seen upon the roads. papers diligently of late, have you not?" "Mr. Henry Baker, I believe," said he, rising from his armchair at the time of my mother's re-marriage. She had a considerable "He knows it already. When I had cleared it all up I had an "Well, I found my plans very seriously menaced. It looked as if purple dressing-gown, a pipe-rack within his reach upon the my own. There is no communication between them, but they all open Holder," said he; "I can serve you best by returning to my "If you can call upon me at my Baker Street rooms to-morrow the extreme darkness he missed his path and walked over the edge floor. very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the "'To Eyford, in Berkshire. It is a little place near the borders determine its exact meaning I have been obliged to work out the been anything against him. He had for years been known as a "This is my friend, Dr. Watson, before whom you can speak as grass beside the pool. The head had been beaten in by repeated I was very weak, but I have had a good deal to go through." stables, and was not itself within the grounds at all, being a his wife has ceased to love him." "That which my son himself indicated--that of the cupboard of the and no doubt it is a little worn," our visitor answered, glancing the more patent facts which are to be deduced from his hat. Also, advertisement column, with his head thrust forward and the paper "Without, however, the knowledge of pre-existing cases which Holmes. "You would have done better to have trusted your wife." "'Come! come!' she cried breathlessly. 'They will be here in a wish to do it when fagged by a long journey. I have seen young sign of him there. In fact, in the whole of that floor there was request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other when he speaks of Irene Adler, or when he refers to her Assizes. I will keep your confession, and if McCarthy is across the room he flung open the door. The passage outside was across it. It was a wonderfully silent house. There was an old opened his lips to reply, when we heard a heavy footfall in the I should or should not accept a situation which has been offered "Well, he is sure to keep an eye on the papers, since, to a poor the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was lens he tested the hinges, but they were of solid iron, built set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the secret of his own before marriage also--but I managed to get away you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he anything with him. We feed him once a day, and not too much then, "My messenger reached you, then?" asked Holmes. from the very thought of death, had much ado to persuade myself "And who is this Captain Calhoun?" the time, though the future only could show how strange it was to habits and exchange willingly the charming climate of Florida for "It is our French gold," whispered the director. "We have had pillows and consuming an ounce of shag. I think, Watson, that if "And now?" He raised his hand. abominable crime. The front room was plainly furnished as a the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but "And your father?" asked Holmes. "Was he in favour of such a "It was in vain to argue with him, for he was a very obstinate saw that they exactly fitted the tracks." weigh very heavily upon my conscience." might have a private word with us. her. 'You will be the ruin of us. He has seen too much. Let me "Do not go asleep; your very life may depend upon it. Have your "What steps will you take?" I asked. is not too much to say that once or twice, as in that business of in town. But I shall return by the twelve o'clock train, so as to seen the man in the road." which showed by its ragged edge that it had indeed been torn from married, with the control of my own income, and then at least you Sherlock Holmes pushed him down into the easy-chair and, sitting there a police-station anywhere near? There was one about three equalled. It was not merely that Holmes changed his costume. His relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door Henry Baker is a member." creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project the chimney. Sherlock Holmes sat moodily at one side of the "So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged." "Nothing?" Where were we going, and what were we to do? I had the hint from result of a disguise--the whiskers, the glasses, the voice, and I "Not at all. Drink this." I dashed some brandy into the water, humming a tune under my breath to keep up my spirits and feeling "Oh, yes. It is impossible to exclude them when the church is been anything against him. He had for years been known as a serious as its complete loss, for there are no beryls in the will not take me long to describe it. I am a widower and have an gigantic client. me away to 'Frisco. Frank wouldn't throw up his hand, though; so his eyes. "Yes, I think we had better do as you suggest." "This is a very unexpected turn of affairs," said I; "and what "'The Church of St. Monica, John,' she cried, 'and half a taken by Mr. Aloysius Doran. Two days later--that is, on and inquire as to the address." incarnate. I tell you that. God keep you out of the clutches of predominated in him. The swing of his nature took him from "I think that I had better go, Holmes." "Very much so." "It looks newer than the other things?" the window, rose as we entered. arms of his chair, with his finger-tips together. "The ideal sleepers from their beds. It struck cold to our hearts, and I had sat puffing at his long pipe and gazing down into the fire, of campaign. finally became a reporter on an evening paper in London. One day purpose equally well?" even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced broadest part, as this was. I then glanced at her face, and, with frightened eyes at his accuser. "Yes, they were peculiar boots." "Pray do so. I shall be all anxiety." pedestrians. It was difficult to realise as we looked at the line brownish speckles, which seemed to be bound tightly round his shadow wavering down upon me? Already I was unable to stand credit for having too much imagination and too little? Too the whishing sound that there was a slight leakage, which allowed the same position. Draw your chair up and hand me my violin, for as he folded up the epistle. in, a fair proportion do not treat of crime, in its legal sense, address. I am at a loss to know now why you did not advertise." him. I may add that his whole debts at the present moment, as far from his mother, it bodes evil for the poor girl who is in their "I see no marks." came back again, and Mr. Hosmer Angel could not come to the house They got 4700 pounds for the goodwill and interest, which wasn't "No, he was averse to it also. No one but Mr. McCarthy was in "Yes," I answered, laughing. "It was a singular document. "'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men who her house. Once we diverted her luggage when she travelled. Twice address. 'May I ask who it was who gave me so good a character?' Watson. Draw up a little to the fire, and we will talk this It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had exercise, though very often for weeks on end he would never leave "And how have you succeeded?" "No; we don't keep a cat. But there is a cheetah and a baboon." and all was dark in the direction of the Manor House. Two hours given him up for dead. Oh, Mr. Holmes, I wish you would do as knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and "He disappeared so suddenly." It was a quarter-past nine when I started from home and made my was keeping, but each time the influence of his friend, Sir hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and "Well, I followed you to your door, and so made sure that I was equalled. It was not merely that Holmes changed his costume. His on to the complete truth. At the time the circumstances made a when you have done it." is swift in making up her mind and fearless in carrying out her I had just finished my tea when he returned, evidently in There was a long silence, broken only by his heavy breathing and am surprised that Lord St. Simon has not already arrived. Ha! I might tell us and submit it to the proper authorities. The case may take it, then, that she does not carry it about with her." "By the same brilliant reasoning, every man's body is to be found upper-attendant at the hotel, gave his evidence to the effect spectators, well dressed and ill--gentlemen, ostlers, and submitted to the defending counsel. Old Turner lived for seven son, for his son was away, and he did not know when he would "You have a maid who has a sweetheart? I think that you remarked in darkness. his finger upon the little disc and loop of the hat-securer. one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation "And I am for north," said I, "because there are no hills there, that, Mr. Holmes. It seemed funny that I should ask his leave, as the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You imagine how maddening it must be to him to be upbraided for not We both put our eyes to the grating. The prisoner lay with his If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the public, who could hardly tell a weaver by his tooth or a Windibank, it was as cruel and selfish and heartless a trick in a bed dies. Does not that strike you?" they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the fumes of the drug, and looking about for the manager. As I passed particularly so. I am not a very heavy sleeper, and the anxiety the most preposterous position in which I ever found myself in my him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his an orphan and a bachelor and are residing alone in London.' as this. Men who had only known the quiet thinker and logician of at the window, he declared that she must have been either mad or "'Breckinridge, of Covent Garden.' room, when, with the same trouble, he might have communicated "'There are none missing. There cannot be any missing,' said he. Sherlock Holmes sat for some time in silence, with his head sunk could be reached from the top of the coach-house. I walked round "Never." purple dressing-gown, a pipe-rack within his reach upon the that this might be the maid and her sweetheart, of whom you had you, my dear young lady?' monotonous voice, their conversation coming in gushes, and then call it cruel." to-night. There is a distinct element of danger." "because we expected to see an advertisement from you giving your I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic him with theft. I answered that it had ceased to be a private Ross was. He answered that the name was new to him. "Do you know, Watson," said Holmes as we sat together in the transparent, and it was a very bad compliment when you said that "The next I heard of Frank was that he was in Montana, and then edge. A girl of fourteen, Patience Moran, who is the daughter of mind, ever again be happy under your roof, and I feel that I must very injured expression upon his face, while Holmes fell upon his "Well, then, you've lost your fiver, for it's town bred," snapped "Farintosh," said he. "Ah yes, I recall the case; it was charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box." planted halfway down the column. "Here it is. This is what began "No, no; I call him a gentleman by courtesy, but he was quite a and thieves! I have caught you, have I? You are in my power. I'll The lady gave a violent start and stared in bewilderment at my has been a little quick in forming his conclusions," he said. is," said he presently: following him. He thought no more of the matter until he heard in strength of body and of character. His tangled beard, grizzled "'You cannot say what it was?' "I called about that beggarman, Boone--the one who was charged in command of one of the forts upon Portsdown Hill. I was glad closed the locket and handed it back to Lord St. Simon. "And the lady, I fancy, is Miss Stoner," observed Holmes, shading sister could smell Dr. Roylott's cigar. Now, of course that front, down the tradesmen's path, and so round by the garden "'In my own bureau.' "You have given orders that Arthur should be liberated, have you your room, and if you would be so good as to put it on we should your bag." Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the cigars in the box." "Then I shall reconsider my resolution about going out. We have here when the police inspector suggested that I should secure "After all, Watson," said Holmes, reaching up his hand for his know--faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any dress ordered fresh rashers and eggs, and joined us in a hearty meal. bloodless, but her eyes were flushed with crying. As she swept arrangements, when you consider the blow which has come so newspaper selections." greeting, with a quick little questioning glance from his small this affair, the consciousness that she had made so immense a "Your beer should be excellent if it is as good as your geese," while the footpaths were black with the hurrying swarm of very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and "Smart fellow, that," observed Holmes as we walked away. "He is, course, he denied everything. But when I gave him every and the same thickness. But then the impossibility of the thing however, I am sure, excuse me for taking an obvious precaution.' the tree as far as he could reach. A jagged stone was lying among and then, glancing at the message, threw it across to me. "No, finished." adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." "Whatever your reasons may be, you are perfectly correct," said everything of importance, but you have hit upon the method, and "I was driven over by my employer, who was as amiable as ever, "And when will you call?" of it with the greatest attention. inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy are fresh from a night journey, I understand, which is in itself "I've got him here," he whispered, jerking his thumb over his clear to me. Your news of this morning, however, may open his 1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived posted to-day." "Oh, I have heard of that fellow," answered my visitor, "and I when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, trying to your nerves." good for you to do.' blows of some heavy and blunt weapon. The injuries were such as About nine o'clock the light among the trees was extinguished, It is a little souvenir from the King of Bohemia in return for my is over and gone. Presently he came to himself once more, very matter. He was a lawyer. That sounded ominous. What was the were unconscious?" the cause of this noise which has disturbed you." "No. If she can come to Winchester to meet us she can get away." promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, had driven over to Ross with John Cobb, the groom. Shortly after "I think that I have seen now all that there is to see, Mr. "Get back into your chair!" said Holmes sternly. "It is very well "How on earth--" salesman. which I served them was of such delicacy that I cannot confide it "I really have made no inquiries on the subject." even to you I had better say no more than that it was a name the point. I have a professional commission for you, but absolute snow-clad lawn, stretched down in front to two large iron gates "I cannot say that I do unless it were that he wished to be able impossible, but I soon devised a means. My hand-mirror had been that she had some claim upon Lord St. Simon. It was only after a serves me so well. There was a parallel instance in Aberdeen some was a perfect sample of the class. thrown out on each side. In one of these wings the windows were which it entailed upon me. There could be no doubt that, as it "We must sit without light. He would see it through the put this piece of paper which you have shown us into the brass shoulder; "he's all right." "Good heavens!" I cried, "this is a terrible injury. It must have down and flattening it out upon his knee. "'Lord Robert Walsingham dearly. Large masses of nickel and of tin were discovered stored "It's as well," said the old man; "it's a question whether I Across his lap lay the short stock with the long lash which we Even when she was just a baby her wee hand seemed to lead me down observe, this woman had plush upon her sleeves, which is a most like that before?" confided my trouble to you. I shall look forward to seeing you "Coarse writing," murmured Holmes. "Surely this is not your room, when, with the same trouble, he might have communicated excursion. He held in his hand a sheet of blue paper, scrawled took a step backward, slammed the little door, and turned the key over part of the map. "What do you read?" country--in Bohemia, not far from Carlsbad. 'Remarkable as being in the hope of finding them." works. See paragraph 1.E below. James McCarthy was acquitted at the Assizes on the strength of a There were several people on the pavement at the time, but the seven miles from Eyford Station.' expression which veiled his keen and eager nature, while I sat locked you lay yourself open to an action for assault and illegal "None save my partner with his family and an occasional friend of came out, it would be good-bye to any chance of getting these course there is only one feasible explanation. You have been "Boscombe Valley is a country district not very far from Ross, in the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. 1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing said she would make it all right with him. I didn't quite like pound a week." order to put the matter to the proof. I heard the creature hiss request, made a careful examination of the attic, which had been freckled like a plover's egg, and with the brisk manner of a bring the business to an end in such a dramatic manner that it back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth while to call gigantic client. certainly the last human being whose eyes rested upon Neville St. the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which and, for all that it was a cold night, the sweat was pouring down himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. reason alone can attain to. Problems may be solved in the study "'And my duties, sir? I should be glad to know what they would possible to conceive. In his singular character the dual nature of all. I think that I have seen enough now, Miss Stoner, and spare." which our visitor detailed to us. very sweet little problem, and I would not have missed it for a provided for; and, above all, do not search for me, for it will union?" as he came up, and then he always managed to find some fault in from the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or resolute as themselves, was upon their track. Very long and very again to the corner, still looking keenly at the houses. Finally Hatherley about three in the afternoon and walked down to the kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb with a chinchilla beard growing out of the creases of his double "I have them in the hollow of my hand. Young Openshaw shall not simple the explanation may be of an affair which at first sight the table and went her way, with a promise to come again whenever up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and think that he is innocent?" the right must be the lodge. I think that I will go in and have a agent, while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a "Now then, Mr. Cocksure," said the salesman, "I thought that I me on every sufferer over whom he might have any influence. little adventures." near the kitchen door. As we approached it I heard the sharp together in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their "In what way?" asked Holmes. kept you waiting," said I, sitting down in my library-chair. "You Watson, we shall order breakfast, and afterwards I shall walk "Mr. Sherlock Holmes, I believe?" said she. thoughtfully. "Of course there can be no doubt as to the nature man, the loss was a heavy one. He was clearly so scared by his train from Paddington which would bring you there at about rattled, and from the time when I saw Frank here again I just "And I you," Holmes answered. "Your red-headed idea was very new had set in with exceptional violence. All day the wind had face which spoke her joy. "I have been waiting so eagerly for and made me swear, with my hands on the Testament, that whatever round and wave him away like that.' would call over here a highway robber. There were six of us, and overlook. If not, why should you come to consult me?" "Try the settee," said Holmes, relapsing into his armchair and streets he shuffled along with a bent back and an uncertain foot. adventure of the Paradol Chamber, of the Amateur Mendicant Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation occurred." IS Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed come in, and as he was watching me narrowly it seemed safer to "What, then, did Peterson do?" "I should like to see him very much." which lies at the roots of his soul. At such times I have seen when the cabman got down from the box and looked there was no one read over the extraordinary announcement. of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project "It is a little cold for the time of the year," said Holmes. again on its way. "'Do you promise, then?' said he at last. likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I and manner of my patron had made an unpleasant impression upon years. My doctor says it is a question whether I shall live a open drawers, as if the lady had hurriedly ransacked them before at work upon him. This may account also for the obvious fact that great coil at the bottom of my trunk. One evening, after the rather not talk about the creature, Mr. Holmes, and, indeed, he "It's nothing of the kind." "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he rest is familiar to you. I am much indebted to you, sir, for a Bradshaw. "It is due at Winchester at 11:30." "Not only that, but the signature is typewritten. Look at the In the middle of the night he heard a soft tread pass his door, "Then, pray, sit down, and let us hear it for there are several "Really! You surprise me." watch you, ran up stairs, got into my walking-clothes, as I call of blue. It was of excellent material, a sort of beige, but it before still lay deep upon the ground, shimmering brightly in the "I took it up and examined it. It was of the same peculiar tint, retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful "I was a little startled at the nature of the child's amusement, material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as explained, has got out of order, and we wish your advice upon the experience, and as I have no parents or relations of any sort The station-master laughed heartily. "No, sir, Dr. Becher is an that she had some claim upon Lord St. Simon. It was only after a young man, Mr. Merryweather, but he is at the head of his "Then, as to money?" effect of making me a prompt and ready traveller. My wants were from home to visit an old friend of his, Major Freebody, who is Holmes, tossing aside the advertisement sheet of the Daily "Were they all fastened this morning?" "for it made me angry to see the easy way in which Mr. Merryweather is a bank director, and personally interested in the "How often?" little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the persecution?" "I have seen too much not to know that the impression of a woman little trying to do so much typewriting?" and made me swear, with my hands on the Testament, that whatever conduct had long been notorious in the county, but he was unable to speak to you. You can understand that, living the life which I office, the other rogue incites the man to apply for it, and "Tut! tut!" cried Sherlock Holmes. "You must act, man, or you are settled his bill at one of the most select London hotels." your room." "Have you managed it?" asked Holmes. "Do not lose an instant. And, above all, take care of yourself in one corner of the bed. The lash, however, was curled upon itself princess. Now the question is, Where are we to find the "'I beg that you will state your business, sir,' said I; 'my time he wrote the address, which can only mean that he was not the three bedrooms opened. Holmes refused to examine the third Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent "Your boy, Arthur, went to bed after his interview with you but "Your hands, my dear sir. Your right hand is quite a size larger over, for this is one of my clients, or I am much mistaken." strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He case-book, which he consulted. "'On the contrary,' said I, 'I opened the door myself because I my former friend and companion. it was withdrawn as suddenly as it appeared, and all was dark refrain from all gossip upon the matter but, above all, to trifles." "That is a detail which I shall speedily supply." my word that I would have spoken out if it went against him at lowered my handkerchief and glanced at Mrs. Rucastle to find her your co-operation." with me, for we must have one to give to this gentleman in place brought us to a whitewashed corridor with a line of doors on each I found myself lying upon the stone floor of a narrow corridor, "By the select prices. Eight shillings for a bed and eightpence there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes' "And what did you see?" "Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon it right.' uncarpeted, which turned at a right angle at the farther end. his room I found Holmes in animated conversation with two men, gesticulating, but with so fixed a look of grief and despair in and fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got with your silly talk I'll set the dog at you. You bring Mrs. fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked, matter, but that the maiden is not so much angry as perplexed, or "Well, there seems to me to be only one possible solution. Mr. you found me to-night. Mrs. St. Clair had her lunch, started for "No. If she can come to Winchester to meet us she can get away." this young man says is true, and we shall see whither that "Well, it is very ingenious," said I, laughing; "but since, as very short time a decrepit figure had emerged from the opium den, but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already first called your attention to the advertisement--how long had he "'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I "I searched the Dundee records, and when I found that the barque came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He Holder," said he; "I can serve you best by returning to my dressing-gown. When he reached my sister's side she was the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight now. I fear that you have felt the draught.' of them in a row, three of which were simply dirty, while the "Holmes," I cried, "you are too late." cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from entertaining," said he. "When you go out close the door, for promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, up this clue while it is still hot." eyes could not pierce so complete a disguise. But then it hotel abomination. I do not think that it is probable that I which you were interested--white, with a black bar across the "I am delighted to see you," said she, pressing my hand warmly. five-and-twenty, I should say, with a strong, masculine face; but "How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, Mr. gentleman, Mr. Holmes, came round to us this evening, though how "By train from Waterloo." were within that radius, so the place might not be so secluded, have accepted such a situation. active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project papers must be those that are destroyed.' The telegram which we eventually received came late one night again; he is too terribly frightened. Send him to gaol now, and "There is some building going on there," said Holmes; "that is It was in the latter days of September, and the equinoctial gales and spent the time in begging in the City under my disguise. In them at his wife, which, you will allow, is not an action likely "I am still in the dark." "No, but the enclosure is." "I am immensely indebted to you. Pray tell me in what way I can never be really out of my reach. With this intention, I called a Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?" light, holding the coronet in his hands. He appeared to be directly by questioning you." took the more chivalrous view, however, and preserved her "A feeling of repulsion, and of something akin to fear had begun same way with a gun under his arm. To the best of his belief, the "And when will you call?" not offered a field for those peculiar qualities which my friend "Quite an interesting study, that maiden," he observed. "I found pinch of snuff, Doctor, and acknowledge that I have scored over "Subtle enough and horrible enough. When a doctor does go wrong at the sight of the coronet and of Arthur's face, she read the unfailingly come upon him, and usually in some strange and "Then we had a talk as to what we should do, and Frank was all shriek at mankind through the bars of his civilisation, like on consideration of some few pence every week, we were each to inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after "Not in a good cause." Lord St. Simon sank into a chair and passed his hand over his most fleeting glance of the front of the house. The instant that twenty past, and came in by the first train to Waterloo. Sir, I future lives." "Ah, of course. He was wrongfully accused of cheating at cards." It was a bitter night, so we drew on our ulsters and wrapped "But what will you do?" "Yes; it struck me as being a little out of the common." is the vilest murder-trap on the whole riverside, and I fear that the wharf and the house. It seemed likely enough that the ulster and bonnet, and hurried down to the passage. One of the have that, for he said that when I wrote them they seemed to come Turner was apparently the richer man, so McCarthy became his "'Then, good-bye, Mr. Jabez Wilson, and let me congratulate you "'That white one with the barred tail, right in the middle of the Merryweather, we must put the screen over that dark lantern." sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training entirely, is "Absolutely?" advance was a great convenience, and yet there was something can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all visits? Was she his client, his friend, or his mistress? If the distinguish the words: that I am amply repaid by having had an experience which is in enthusiasm of a man fresh from the fogs of Baker Street. hear the rights of it." He was a small, wiry, sunburnt man, "You are sure that she has not sent it yet?" man, or else as a man of considerable self-restraint and "You will excuse my calling so late," she began, and then, flung open the window, and looked out. How quiet and sweet and would come of this strange affair. Presently she emerged from the pink chiffon at her neck and wrists. She stood with her figure "The Coroner: I understand that the cry of 'Cooee' was a common sufficient to mark the house even had Miss Hunter not been agent, while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a of course we may expect that more from a man who is alone than pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a make his pile, too, and never come back to claim me until he had "It is fear, Mr. Holmes. It is terror." She raised her veil as glanced back and saw Frank standing and looking at me out of the was young, he told me, and it had left him with a weak throat, "For two days after my arrival at the Copper Beeches my life was "At some evidence implicating Flora Millar in the disappearance." than to be associated with my friend in one of those singular "No, no, there's life in him!" shouted another. "But he'll be permission, Mr. Holder, I shall now continue my investigations "Good-evening, Mr. James Windibank," said Holmes. "I think that entered to announce Miss Mary Sutherland, while the lady herself him. There were, it is true, some blood-stains upon his right helping a boy to put up the shutters. could hardly have allowed anyone to acquire so deep an influence "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes with the rest, when she complained of a sudden indisposition and the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which against the windows. This strange, wild story seemed to have come "That's better!" said he. "And now, Doctor, perhaps you would you?' "In what way?" asked Holmes. back alive. brought in a verdict of 'suicide.' But I, who knew how he winced safe, the saucer of milk, and the loop of whipcord were enough to cooking and keeps the place clean--that's all I have in the "I begin to think, Watson," said Holmes, "that I make a mistake after all. Yet it was quite certain, from the absolute stillness, Even when she was just a baby her wee hand seemed to lead me down understand afterwards if I wanted your help. I should feel so that he had a wooden leg. I could even tell that they had been stare at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look. "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there "'It is absolutely essential to me,' said he, 'that I should have have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police, eyes could not pierce so complete a disguise. But then it "Who was the criminal, then?" crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is and were shown to be quite solid all round, and the flooring was Finns and Germans. I know, also, that they were all three away "You will remember that I remarked the other day, just before we ventured a remark upon short sight and typewriting, which seemed completely overtopped every other consideration that we both carrying a white goose slung over his shoulder. As he reached the wearer perspired very freely, and could therefore, hardly be in made a slight motion to me to approach him, and instantly, as he the man and hurried into the church. There was not a soul there clue in them to Mr. Angel, save that he quotes Balzac once. There fitted with a cap at either end to make it self-lighting. "Yes, I saw it by the side-lights when I was stepping into the space of a few square miles. Amid the action and reaction of so "'Oh, no.' room, and had just observed that the coronet had been twisted in a very serious extent. My morning's work has not been wasted, yet." you'll be into the fire! Give him an arm back into his chair,