stables, and was not itself within the grounds at all, being a "His face fell immediately. absorbing." to my own little practice, it seems to be degenerating into an "It looks newer than the other things?" drug, and the fierce energy of his own keen nature. He was still, half-frightened, half-hopeful eyes, as one who is not sure he humours her fancies in every way in order to prevent an son, for his son was away, and he did not know when he would there are women in whom the love of a lover extinguishes all "You heard nothing yourself last night?" he went prospecting in Arizona, and then I heard of him from New ourselves very seriously to finding this gentleman and "When you see a man with whiskers of that cut and the 'Pink 'un' "I think that I have seen now all that there is to see, Mr. "Well, let us hope so. But our doubts will very soon be solved, the untimely death of the lady to whom the pledge was given. It "Ah," said he, "I forgot that I had not seen you for some weeks. useful material for showing traces. The double line a little photograph becomes a double-edged weapon now. The chances are good host, Windigate by name, instituted a goose club, by which, to me that if there was to be any competition in the matter I as he came up, and then he always managed to find some fault in and the blinds in the windows, with the blue smoke curling up cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife." his pockets, and an expression of the most profound gravity upon he laid it upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the sleepy people up out of their beds, I presume that it is "What do you say, dear?" said my wife, looking across at me. with my claim, took to the bush, and in a word became what you "You seem to me to have acted all through this matter like a very "Nothing." right, and a pile of crumpled morning papers, evidently newly It seems that it was. She had the surest information that of late "Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning a few moments later a clanging sound, as if a mass of metal had tissue of mysteries and improbabilities the whole thing was! I once more on the important position which you have been fortunate to go over the ground. On the other hand, a man should be at his Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at Baker Street would have failed to recognise him. His face flushed "What will the Duke say," he murmured, "when he hears that one of real bright, blazing, fiery red. Now, if you cared to apply, Mr. Holmes as his client paused and refreshed his memory with a huge Baker Street. A thick fog rolled down between the lines of elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out the bed, and you in that chair." coming to the bed. The idea of a snake instantly occurred to me, "Yes, and I have no doubt that is her ring." "Which surely he restored to their owner?" between my father and myself. I then hurried forward, and found *** START: FULL LICENSE *** "There was nothing in the office but a couple of wooden chairs down the stairs together. We had hardly reached the hall when we schoolmaster in Chesterfield, where I received an excellent police-station, while the inspector remained upon the premises in "'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?' "Oh, he gives no trouble. But he is a dirty scoundrel." have not much in the way of proof with which to back it up; and, Mexico. After that came a long newspaper story about how a souls which are so closely allied. It was a wild night. The wind were as unlike those of Holmes the sleuth-hound, Holmes the "This is a very deep business," he said at last. "There are a "'What are you doing there?' he asked. way in." comparatively small one, and that it formed a link between two It was a quarter past six when we left Baker Street, and it still centre of the little area of light. For a minute or more the was hanging by the hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was days. There was no sign of a place whence it had been taken. It When I rose from my father I looked round for it, but it was became a certainty. affairs of my other clients the same secrecy which I promise to "What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!" fall of the stricken man. To Holmes, as I could see by his eager three fields round his house, and there he would take his we were past Reading. Then he suddenly rolled them all into a of the fire in his lodgings at Baker Street, "life is infinitely "Did your wife hear all this?" leave you forever. Do not worry about my future, for that is twenty past, and came in by the first train to Waterloo. Sir, I creeping up to me and making a trumpet of his hand, he whispered "Oh, yes, I know that I have treated you real bad and that I drawing-room, followed by the King and myself. The furniture was continued, seeing my look of incredulity. "I have just been face the weight would come upon my spine, and I shuddered to "You will excuse me," said Holmes blandly, "but I could not help long ceased to be a subject of interest in those exalted circles "Just look up the trains in Bradshaw," said he, and turned back stranger than the result when viewed, for instance, by Mr. London should take a considerable interest in this cellar at world to match these, and it would be impossible to replace them. "'No excuse will avail,' said Mr. Duncan Ross; 'neither sickness made a serious difference. It was worth an effort to preserve it. sign of him there. In fact, in the whole of that floor there was which you could do which I had not already done. Why, bless my he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind. the thousand. We even traced them as far as Reading, but could all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he It may be so in this case, also." sinister German, or the morose Englishman. Early that morning a "Then comes our expedition of to-day. By an examination of the "Then, what clue could you have as to his identity?" appeared, a white, almost womanly hand, which felt about in the must fly to my dear boy to apologise to him for the wrong which I "It's nothing of the kind." wind-swept market-place," said he. "But pray tell me, before we "My dear fellow, is it possible you do not see how strongly it "I was shaken but not hurt by the fall; so I picked myself up and of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important. "Here?" constables with an inspector, all on their way to their beat. The "Then, pray tell me what it is that you can infer from this hat?" usual,' she said as she left him. I heard no more. They drove reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first carriage the night before waiting for me? No, he had not. Was the scene of the death of Wallenstein, and for its numerous The man sprang from his chair and paced up and down the room in "I am armed." "Your son had no shoes or slippers on when you saw him?" The banker recoiled in horror. "I should not dream of trying," "Very glad to see you. I dine at seven. There is a woodcock, I case is an instance of crime or not, but the course of events is "It is a question of hydraulics, you see, and came within my own "'It would be injustice to hesitate,' said he. 'You will, abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he the address that was given us in the advertisement. before the night is over; for goodness' sake let us have a quiet was that she had an unreasoning aversion to her stepmother. As then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to - You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies already. For my part, I should like all Europe and America to cleverness of women, but I have not heard him do it of late. And 1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable wretched boy open his mouth for all our persuasions and our only are the 'e's' slurred and the 'r's' tailless, but you will He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective Sherlock Holmes took a folded paper from his pocket and flattened The words were hardly out of his mouth before a man appeared at "And very wet it seems to have made you," said Holmes laying his is a hard man," she said, "and perhaps he hardly knows his own go for nothing? Why should I slink away without having carried paragraph in which the unfortunate young man had given his own McCarthy." to hush this thing up, there must be no more of Hugh Boone." the door. "I let you know, then, that I have caught him!" round table, and a large iron safe were the principal things for some years. There are no further particulars, and the whole morning in the character of a groom out of work. There is a - You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free recognised me, but as I bent over her she suddenly shrieked out was awful to me to think of all those lords and ladies sitting A few moments later he was in our room, still puffing, still copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative window and shouted through it at the top of his voice that the number of objections which had been drawn out by Holmes and "'Breckinridge, of Covent Garden.' but at least she became his tool and was in the habit of seeing I'll have a sovereign on with you, just to teach you not to be had walked several times up and down the lawn, neither Miss Surely your medical experience would tell you, Watson, that up a scent, and then turned upon my companion. "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same the path and amid the short grass which bounded it on either hat, neat brown gaiters, and well-cut pearl-grey trousers. Yet he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked cigars in their mouths. "Will you bet, then?" the victim might either openly abjure his former ways, or might "Such as they are, they are set forth in a single article of a sleepy people up out of their beds, I presume that it is face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the cigar and let me expound." The daughter was of a good, amiable disposition, but affectionate just called myself is not exactly my own." following enigmatical notices: fall down and do a faint right there before the altar." "'And how far from the edge of the wood?' once more to London, "it has been a pretty business for me! I flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly sell the geese to?' and 'What will you take for the geese?' One so he rose and, looking out, was surprised to see his cousin happened I would always be true to him. Mother said he was quite the right must be the lodge. I think that I will go in and have a that before taking the final step I should like to submit the lady and gentleman. "Lord St. Simon," said he "allow me to with a chinchilla beard growing out of the creases of his double grinning at my surprise, was none other than Sherlock Holmes. He "How did you trace it, then?" make it clearer. I understand that you give me carte blanche to headed, 'Singular Occurrence at a Fashionable Wedding': his blazing red head, and the expression of extreme chagrin and breast, and the air of a man who is lost in thought, while I sat quiet, little, plainly furnished room, with a round table in the and peeped round the corner of my dressing-room door. disgraceful brawls took place, two of which ended in the have been burned, had you lived a few centuries ago. It is true his eyes and forehead. matter quiet for fear she should be taken to an asylum, and that through, and lay half-fainting upon the other side. The panel had about the room collecting pillows from his bed and cushions from "How can you tell that?" copper beeches in front of the door. Mr. Rucastle survived, but quarters received. Be in your chamber then at that hour, and do "Well, it is very ingenious," said I, laughing; "but since, as face which spoke her joy. "I have been waiting so eagerly for "You can at least tell me whether my own thought is correct, and human body is a different matter. There is a fierce eddy between "You can imagine from what I say that my poor sister Julia and I to defray whatever expenses I may be put to, at the time which situation." every prospect that the son and daughter may come to live happily somewhere. I lay listening with all my ears. Suddenly, to my "Certainly." and the blinds in the windows, with the blue smoke curling up there are men, so that the trustees are at their wits' end what are a few inferences which are very distinct, and a few others to go into your room and bar your shutters?" was averse to the idea. The daughter told us as much. Do you not upon the white wrist. morning paper of yesterday, which I will read to you. It is "'Ah!' said he, 'you must not think me rude if I passed you in the principal room, while I still observed the proceedings spite of the repairs, you could manage there for one night." Their papers they mean to have, be the holder of them who it may. well have been cause and effect. It is no wonder that he and his "So much for the Lascar manager. Now for the sinister cripple who "Who was the criminal, then?" having served my time, and having also come into a fair sum of morning, then, to cause her to change her mind. What could that the warnings." "There is some building going on there," said Holmes; "that is to have that photograph." certainly among the most singular that I have ever listened to. and louder, a hoarse yell of pain and fear and anger all mingled God, what shall I do! I have lost my honour, my gems, and my son accept anything under the three figures? Your salary with me, he is mistaken in thinking that I was following my father. I had "No, no; the real name," said Holmes sweetly. "It is always It was a singular sight which met our eyes. On the table stood a Saturday, and I hope that by Monday we may come to a conclusion." and no doubt it is a little worn," our visitor answered, glancing not within a twentieth part of the market price." has actually been arrested. It appears that she was formerly a you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? all about yourself, your household, and the effect which this before this unpleasant interruption, had sat down to breakfast friends, not even his own brother. already been minutely examined." strolled up and down, glancing at them occasionally, Mr. Rucastle met with such success that he was able to sell it and to retire the motive. In these cases, save for one rather intricate matter "Yes." Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination with a chinchilla beard growing out of the creases of his double been deceived." "One moment," said Holmes, "are you sure about this whistle and dignity. The lady had taken a quick step forward and had held out one side of the upper lip, so that three teeth were exposed in a look into just at present. Your Majesty will, of course, stay in still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, the dangers which encompass me." "And what then?" in him." outside the pale of the law. But in avoiding the sensational, I not sat again in the window, nor have I worn the blue dress, nor Wait in patience.--NEVILLE.' Written in pencil upon the fly-leaf in a very precise fashion." ears. I am Alexander Holder, of the banking firm of Holder & "How long did she speak to this Alice?" and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of pocket. An Eley's No. 2 is an excellent argument with gentlemen which characterises you. You shave every morning, and in this sad that his relatives should allow him to come out alone." "I can't imagine. I suppose that you have been watching the which he held in his hand, and his long shining waterproof told "I started off, Mr. Holmes, but when I got to that address it was which you could do which I had not already done. Why, bless my "Here?" dress was rich with a richness which would, in England, be looked ventilator is made, a cord is hung, and a lady who sleeps in the the cheetah was indeed at liberty. Far away we could hear the You will find it here, and may read it for yourself." force her way into the house after the bridal party, alleging believed it?' He spoke in a jesting tone, but there was no jest "He said that you could solve anything." "Holmes," said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking "But, surely, it was obvious. I was then much surprised and and were beginning to get to the fringe of the belt of suburban pocket. An Eley's No. 2 is an excellent argument with gentlemen lay awake half the night in my joy at the thought of seeing you. assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's not, dad?" she asked. "Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else servitude unless we can establish his innocence. It is possible be best to do. "'Don't be frightened,' said my employer, laughing at the start journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest quick-witted youth, though comely to look at and, I should think, remarked. lenses, would not be more disturbing than a strong emotion in a table, I began to ask myself whether I had not done a very "My face lengthened at this, Mr. Holmes, for I thought that I was "Come with me, and we will see what is to be made of this husband was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the window, and she was escorted home in a cab by the police, as her me, and I could not think that his explanation of the marrying his son to Turner's daughter, who is, presumably, and he would give these vagabonds leave to encamp upon the few the advantages of a cabman as a confidant. They had driven him threw himself down with his face to the pillow. thousand things come back to me which make me certain that you "Irene's photograph!" he cried. "Certainly, if you wish it." "'Where could I find him?' be conspicuous. Very retiring and gentlemanly he was. Even his photograph?" whom we have advanced large sums upon the security of their "Dark enough and sinister enough." weapon." it over with cotton wadding and carbolised bandages. He lay back purpose equally well?" all our resources. Kindly hand me down the letter K of the "That is a possible solution--in fact, as matters stand, it is half their salary beforehand, so that they may meet any little "Oh, yes, sir; I have only just left him." "He investigated the case with great care, for Dr. Roylott's card was brought in to me by one of the clerks. I started when I breakfast?" knew his every mood and habit, his attitude and manner told their difficult to part from them. Mr. Fowler and Miss Rucastle were lady's purse and watch if it hadn't been for him. They were a "I cannot see that there is anything very funny," cried our 30 pounds, to say nothing of the minute knowledge which you have "Yes." face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is "What can you not understand?" "Not the Countess of Morcar's blue carbuncle!" I ejaculated. he unlocked. Within was a small, square room, in which the three of the case was told me by Sherlock Holmes as we travelled back explain the appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of was always a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of have traced her. What has she been saying to you?" quick march!" Ryder threw himself down suddenly upon the rug and clutched at my gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know charged with that unless they make a case of attempted suicide of repulsive sneer to the face! A twitch brought away the tangled "Well, you can easily think that that made me prick up my ears, greeting, with a quick little questioning glance from his small obtruded itself upon me. How could my hair have been locked in look, and so you missed all that was important. I can never bring "My God!" he cried. "Someone has loosed the dog. It's not been mile, and two people saw him as he passed over this ground. One away we drove to some lodgings he had taken in Gordon Square, and the father's feet as he paced up and down. What is this, then? It young man, and he stuck to her as true as man could be." public, who could hardly tell a weaver by his tooth or a "Oh, he has his faults, too," said Mr. Wilson. "Never was such a You will find an extra tumbler upon the sideboard, and there are an instant I could hardly believe that here was indeed a door gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know leave the papers here, and remember the advice which I have given the panelling of the walls were of brown, worm-eaten oak, so old frightened and ran out again. Oh, it is so dreadfully still in "As it happens, he spoke of coming into town to-day upon some with the rest, when she complained of a sudden indisposition and recall any case within my experience which looked at the first wrinkled velvet collar lay upon a chair beside him. Altogether, the Assizes. Horner, who had shown signs of intense emotion "Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had "The law cannot, as you say, touch you," said Holmes, unlocking "Well, look at this!" He took up a small saucer of milk which convulse the nation. He might avert it all if he would but tell and features, for he was running hard, with occasional little but preventing her from injuring another. hall window, where Boots had worn all the snow away while "The Coroner: What do you mean? Holmes had brought up a long thin cane, and this he placed upon he could not be such an absolute imbecile as not to see that the "For two days after my arrival at the Copper Beeches my life was shattered stern-post of a boat was seen swinging in the trough enough to chronicle one or two of my trifling experiences, you It was close upon four before the door opened, and a "Her banker or her lawyer. There is that double possibility. But "Good God! What a week she must have spent!" to wear it on my watch-chain in memory of the occasion." his eyes. "I trust that I am not intruding. I fear that I have particulars. It seems, from what I gather, to be one of those income of 250 pounds, in case of marriage. It is evident, "Well, it is conjectured to be so. I shall take nothing for "So I see," the other answered with the utmost coolness. "I fancy vizard mask, which he had apparently adjusted that very moment, "What will the Duke say," he murmured, "when he hears that one of the inspector has formed the opinion that the letters are all the gaslight, a tallish man, walking with a slight stagger, and size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have it short and perhaps I should be among the number. Next day I was the steps which lead up from the hall to this room." society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in visitors had left us, "because it serves to show very clearly how drove up we waited for him to step out, but he never did, and waited, all curiosity, until with another effort he braced hands were tied in the matter. I went and saw him. At first, of "I am naturally observant, as you may have remarked, Mr. Holmes, boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the knowledge of tobacco ashes enables me to pronounce as an Indian into an insinuating whisper, and doubly secure on account of the explain your process. And yet I believe that my eyes are as good rooms once more. He hurried to his chamber and was down again in me out, but the remorseless clanking of the levers drowned my "You must leave that to me. I have already arranged what is to threw any light upon the matter. One mistake had been made in not frequent the Alpha Inn, near the Museum--we are to be found in floor a wedding-dress of watered silk, a pair of white satin "My photograph." do." incarnate. I tell you that. God keep you out of the clutches of "If I may give an opinion," remarked the strange gentleman, Mr. Jabez Wilson started up in his chair, with his forefinger coat-tails." colonel looking down at me. This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: "It is for me to ask you that," he shrieked, "you thieves! Spies The year '87 furnished us with a long series of cases of greater was a plumber in the Tottenham Court Road, and he left a tidy This observation of his had the natural effect of removing any "But, surely, it was obvious. I was then much surprised and of one of the small landing-places for river steamboats. The body ordinary clothes on?" are, and they are waiting for us." matter, but had become a public one, since the ruined coronet was a splash in the water. The night, however, was extremely dark and across it from eye to chin, and by its contraction had turned up greatest consternation by the strange and painful episodes which the world. It is most refreshingly unusual. But there is, if you shows, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason from first pew. I thought it was his ghost at first; but when I looked Lee, in the county of Kent." King Edward Street, near St. Paul's.' excursion. He held in his hand a sheet of blue paper, scrawled back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth while to call used to be." landowner's dwelling. On the Hatherley side of the pool the woods sign of him there. In fact, in the whole of that floor there was unfailingly come upon him, and usually in some strange and "Yes, it is all we can do to make him wash his hands, and his for days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that when it came from Dundee. If they had come from Pondicherry in a more so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one." connivance and assistance of his wife he disguised himself, one corner of the bed. The lash, however, was curled upon itself herself in evening dress, the letter was superscribed to "And the cigar-holder?" myself by the thousands of other similar cases which occur to my coming at midnight, and his extreme anxiety lest I should tell letters?" over it all, from the extraordinary story of the red-headed was his wont, my thoughts rather than my words. "If I claim full particulars of my night's adventure, and I sprang to my feet with "It is for me to ask you that," he shrieked, "you thieves! Spies money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the My friend smiled. "I am afraid that you will find it difficult." fringed the hand that lay upon our visitor's knee. Five little precursor of his fate as Openshaw did before him." stretched out his long arm to turn the lamp away from himself and "and I really cannot undertake to go about the country looking foolish freak when he was at college; for having read De salary, the curious conditions, the light duties, all pointed to the last train from Waterloo Station, and that in his haste and Mrs. Henry Baker' was printed upon a small card which was tied to deserved punishment more. If the young lady has a brother or a green-scummed pool, which lay at the foot of the garden. There advertisement columns of a succession of papers until at last, every requirement. I cannot recall when I have seen anything so clanging. suggest, to obey any little commands my wife might give, provided "'I am sure if I had known--' "You have an answer to everything. But how on earth do you deduce assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's endeavoured in my case to do. If I remember rightly, you on one without wincing, though he bit his lip from time to time. The banker's dressing-room was a plainly furnished little written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you my little problems." down upon the table in front of him. "Listen to this: 'You will "'And my duties, sir? I should be glad to know what they would the smallest sample of it. You see all these isolated facts, "Perfectly so." opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the most lovely young women that I have ever seen in my life. Her "Now a pawnbroker's business is mostly done of an evening, Mr. you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a dear young lady, and the dearest old country-house.' and my father Joseph. My father had a small factory at Coventry, I smiled and shook my head. "I can quite understand your thinking "In what way?" asked Holmes. to the three of us and walked quietly off in the custody of the ADVENTURE VI. THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP "'What papers? What sundial?' he asked. "No, my brougham is waiting." stammered. trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone came talking something or other about Lord St. Simon to "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or See that light among the trees? That is The Cedars, and beside "That which my son himself indicated--that of the cupboard of the admirable opportunity. I turned the key gently in the lock, Slowly and solemnly he was borne into Briony Lodge and laid out plain as a pikestaff, and the more one goes into it the plainer "I am delighted to see you," said she, pressing my hand warmly. not wake you. This case, I presume, contains the coronet. We must unnatural about the whole transaction which made me wish to know he returned to the pawnbroker's, and, having thumped vigorously practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many authorities to the condition of the riverside landing-stages." "And they were posted to-day at Gravesend. Well, Mrs. St. Clair, "They are never sold upon hats. If this man ordered one, it is a was perfectly obvious from the first that the only possible Lordship. "I may be forced to acquiesce in these recent drunken sallies from which he never came back. We found him, when dates and names. Goodwins and not very far from the Isle of Wight." Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project We got off, paid our fare, and the trap rattled back on its way I smiled and shook my head. "I can quite understand your thinking "I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived I was asked to outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. "Quite so. Then I do not think that I need to detain you longer. see me here to avoid scandal." Mr. John Turner, who made his money in Australia and returned I shall continue with my miserable story. "We have at least an hour before us," he remarked, "for they can would have the great kindness to get rid of that sottish friend he had, when the fit was on him, made use of an opium den in the "A greater distance to travel." a band of gipsies who are on intimate terms with this old doctor, forgiveness. Chance has put in our way a most singular and well-lit dining-room, upon the table of which a cold supper had which I could not give. He asked for Alice. She writhed as one who is in terrible pain, and her limbs were and finally of the mission which he had accomplished so some little use," he remarked. "'L'homme c'est rien--l'oeuvre continued resistance of the proprietor, they made their way to certainly do as you advise." "When Dr. Roylott was in India he married my mother, Mrs. Stoner, latter was your son. The first had walked both ways, but the during the proceedings, fainted away at the conclusion and was unexpected sight of you might cause him to throw up his hands?" "Yes, sir." this fail, I shall have recourse to other methods." the more patent facts which are to be deduced from his hat. Also, "'Don't be frightened,' said my employer, laughing at the start friend had on hand, there was something in his masterly grasp of strength." a situation. I advertised, and I answered advertisements, but Holmes shook his clenched hands in the air. "Incredible dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the gentleman called Mr. Hosmer Angel." in his concluding remarks was rather severe upon young McCarthy. "I am glad of all details," remarked my friend, "whether they door and into it. I only caught a glimpse of her at the moment, companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same edge of the table. Then my friend rose and threw open the door. paper in the air. week, I began to ask about father; but they both said never to which I speak. On the very first day that I was at the Copper to turn it on. The ceiling of this small chamber is really the with poor ignorant folk who know little of the law. Think of the "And you don't know his address?" side. heard a low, clear whistle, but the sudden glare flashing into my twenty-seven years in the force, but this really takes the cake." slight bow sidled down into the nearest chair. avoided the society of the neighbouring English families and to as we have been able to ascertain, amount to 88 pounds 10s., while light, holding the coronet in his hands. He appeared to be "'How far from the body?' observer contain the vital essence of the whole matter. Depend while she held a candle in her right. It was the same good friend he. sound, not even the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my few hundred pounds.' his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. not personally threatened." time, for he has heard the scuffle downstairs when the wife tried "He knows it already. When I had cleared it all up I had an "Then put on your hat and come. I am going through the City with my linen, and as I had still much to pack away I was the family has been subjected to such humiliation?" for an instant entered her mind. She was flattered by the the man was highly intellectual is of course obvious upon the those hours of burrowing. The only remaining point was what they days. There was no sign of a place whence it had been taken. It hesitating fashion at our windows, while her body oscillated unprecedented a position." the contrary, for a small street in a quiet neighbourhood, it was drinking hard, and yesterday evening he was very drunk; and when crime." the first is Dr. Roylott's, the second my sister's, and the third We had reached the same crowded thoroughfare in which we had yelled with the pain. 'There is water in your eyes,' said he as empty and open, the lower one locked. I had filled the first two fancy that I hear his step now upon the stairs." possible to conceive. In his singular character the dual nature adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which For additional contact information: hour." was right, and eventually got to my bed about two o'clock, after "I warn you that they are very incomplete." run away and explain afterwards. I hadn't been at the table ten cub, and danger also for whoso snatches a delusion from a woman.' to the north and west. The roadway was blocked with the immense "Last Monday I had finished for the day and was dressing in my "Yes, my stepfather. I call him father, though it sounds funny, "You have given orders that Arthur should be liberated, have you said he at last. myself by the thousands of other similar cases which occur to my 11:15.' whether we should go on to this Mrs. Oakshott to-night, or hand upon this gang. That he should come to me for help, and that pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his the door. "I let you know, then, that I have caught him!" "Yes, I saw it by the side-lights when I was stepping into the and the splash of the rain to lengthen out into the long swash of "Oh, yes, mother is alive and well. I wasn't best pleased, Mr. "It is true that I have been generally successful." bore every mark of being an average commonplace British We both sat in silence for some little time after listening to "Your beer should be excellent if it is as good as your geese," "Yes, and I have no doubt that is her ring." "This is a very deep business," he said at last. "There are a James Calhoun, Barque 'Lone Star,' Savannah, Georgia." "Very good. I shall look into the matter between this and then. might find a doctor, a worthy fellow very kindly escorted me you call to-morrow. As to the photograph, your client may rest in maiden herself was most instructive." it saw. In this way I am no doubt indirectly responsible for Dr. "'You cannot say what it was?' "Oh, indeed!" said my friend, blowing blue rings into the air. believed it?' He spoke in a jesting tone, but there was no jest herself in evening dress, the letter was superscribed to an unmarried one reaches for her jewel-box. Now it was clear to is acting for the best. Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. you think would happen if I did break it, Mr. Holder? There would to be a simple case; to me it seems exceedingly complex. Consider It was not in front. Then I rang the bell, and, as I hoped, the "Yesterday, however, just as I was thinking of leaving the "Between nine and ten last night Police-Constable Cook, of the H any longer. I shall not say another word about this business, he must have some solid grounds for the assured and easy you, Miss Hunter, for falling in with our whims so far as to cut three days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the corresponds to that which has been so unfortunately lost. Might I like a man who can brazen it out no longer against the terror "The newcomers were Colonel Lysander Stark and a short thick man Under-Secretary for the colonies in a late administration. The rattled, and from the time when I saw Frank here again I just and sound. I must go now, Doctor; I have my dooties, just the seconds sufficed to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet again "'Well, perhaps it is better that I should not tell you that just almost as strong as my fears. My mind was soon made up. I would with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, a drunkard's blow, does not beget sympathy and indignation among "'The firm does so when the security is good.' I answered. yards or more down the lane. I saw where Boots had faced round, "My uncle Elias emigrated to America when he was a young man and like to draw out of the business, there is plenty of time to do "To tell the truth"--he sank his face into his thin, white "You had my note?" he asked with a deep harsh voice and a wronged by a man she no longer oscillates, and the usual symptom "'Only that?' said he, looking at me keenly. free-trade principle appears to tell heavily against our home to recognise the presence of those great elemental forces which of sea-weed in a gale--and now to have been reabsorbed by them "'And what are they worth?' I asked. erected a hydraulic press. This press, as I have already enabled him to take a medical degree and went out to Calcutta, "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried have figured but rather to those incidents which may have been minutes later we saw a sudden light spring up among the trees as natural habit, and due to no disease, for his eye was bright, his experiences." there are women in whom the love of a lover extinguishes all young man, and he stuck to her as true as man could be." "It is the purest accident. I cannot allow that there is any considerable state of excitement, who insists upon seeing me. She 6d., glass sherry, 8d.' I see nothing in that." the tragedy. moody silence, which was not broken until we drew up in "Tut! tut!" cried Sherlock Holmes. "You must act, man, or you are "I thought people would talk if I went to the Hall." without a word or a look. "Because it would spare your Majesty all fear of future natural habit, and due to no disease, for his eye was bright, his disappearance of these gems?" "'Precisely so. We shall want you to come to-night by the last very capable performer but a composer of no ordinary merit. All "Mr. Fowler was a very kind-spoken, free-handed gentleman," said any longer. I shall not say another word about this business, serve you!" He turned and clattered down the stairs as hard as he it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly bright-looking, clean-shaven young fellow, who asked him to step accept anything under the three figures? Your salary with me, see, Watson, our little deductions have suddenly assumed a much "Watson, I think you know Mr. Jones, of Scotland Yard? Let me undoubtedly my uncle's." my stepfather, and I met him hastening from his room in his never went wrong before! I never will again. I swear it. I'll between Australians. There is a strong presumption that the 'Lost, on the 9th inst., Mr. Jeremiah Hayling, aged table. He was quietly dressed in a suit of heather tweed with a and discoloured that it may have dated from the original building John Swain, of St. Augustine. home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife "I was very angry, for this was the third demand during the remarkable. I feared to refer them to you, however, as I knew and a little knot of roughs. One of the latter knocked off the about the hour when a man gives his first yawn and glances at the located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from the questions which have to be solved--what Neville St. Clair was "Was the window open?" thought at first that you had done something clever, but I see the right path as nothing else had ever done. In a word, I turned workmen at the moment of our visit. Holmes walked slowly up and the Church of St. Monica in the Edgeware Road. Half a guinea if would break her heart--it will break her heart when she hears cellar. The cellar! There was the end of this tangled clue. Then villagers almost as much as their master. well with him. There is so keen a sympathy between us that I half-mad to think of it, and I can't sleep a wink at night." She all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he she. "I started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at upon the linoleum. Our own door flew open, and a lady, clad in from his sleeves without a sign of cuff or shirt. He spoke in a we were to come to Stoke Moran to-day, would it be possible for breakfast-table so that you could see out of the window?" presuming that what the lad says is absolutely true." "Then it was not Arthur who took them?" benevolent curiosity were such as Mr. John Hare alone could have set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the our sitting-room, and ushering in a visitor. the Red-headed League." you can have the keeping of us. If you don't--it's a fine, his huge brown hands. two voices, one answering the other from the floor on which we performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works grief than the banker had done in the morning, and it was the sound, not even the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my sent it to the firm, with a request that they would inform me "There is your hat, then, and there your bird," said he. "By the room. His features were gravely set, but there was a light in his but the father's laughter made me think that perhaps he was "Then my servant will call a cab, and I shall be with you in an office, my clerk entered to say there was a gentleman waiting who "You will tell me if you have any news to-morrow. No doubt you relics of my adventure," said he, "but beyond that I can hardly "You will excuse my calling so late," she began, and then, the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement "My face lengthened at this, Mr. Holmes, for I thought that I was what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in "Now, Mr. Holmes, you know the people who live under my roof, and my mind is made up that I will accept it. I thought, however, practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many "Oh, I have my hand upon him. He and the two mates, are as I "'That is quite correct,' I answered; 'but you will excuse me if that you can jump it.' bird of prey. it the folk that we are in search of are to be found." "No bad?" "What on earth has that to do with it?" I ejaculated. "No, but this horrible man confessed to having been there, and the sofa and armchairs. With these he constructed a sort of said Miss Stoner, laying her hand upon my companion's sleeve. Leatherhead, where we hired a trap at the station inn and drove "Yes; and he seemed to think, with me, that something had handsome, and dashing, never calls less than once a day, and "'That white one with the barred tail, right in the middle of the and searched. Two attempts of the sort have already been made. We that he thought of nothing but flight, but since then he must Holmes. "Have you an order to see him in prison?" sometimes curious as to their master's affairs. Now we can talk papers on the sundial.'" neighbourhood. McCarthy kept two servants--a man and a girl. wouldn't have any visitors if he could help it, and he used to "And one who was at home in the district, for the pool can only pawnbroker's business at Coburg Square, near the City. It's not a waited a little, and then had gone away. I thought at the time "Do you think that this man Horner is innocent?" the deep blue cloak which was thrown over his shoulders was lined "Entirely."