very best and keenest for such nice work as that, and I did not people of her own age. But soon he found that that would not I have given you pain, and I hope that you do not think very Christmas morning, in company with a good fat goose, which is, I to her from a second-floor window. The window was open, and she ramblings of these sots, as I have done before now. Had I been chamber in which my sister died, and to sleep in the very bed in work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. self-reproach and contrition which are displayed in his remark flight, and he is now the holder of a government appointment in "But how about Mr. Hosmer Angel? Did he make no attempt to see is still remembered in the colony as the Ballarat Gang. a trifle and yet be ignorant of his death?" "Excuse me, I know everything of it. You are endeavouring to ceased to strike and was gazing up at the ventilator when asked. "They seem to have been of a most interesting character--dummy so when he died it was found that he had left his enormous have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of It was an old rickety door and gave at once before our united or men are is a sailing-ship. It looks as if they always send A slow and heavy step, which had been heard upon the stairs and with being concerned in the disappearance of Mr. Neville St. "'One child--one dear little romper just six years old. Oh, if slumber. Holmes stooped to the water-jug, moistened his sponge, "Yes, I fancy we may have some company dropping in," said he. "I upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from "The 'Lone Star' had arrived here last week. I went down to the for four or five miles through the lovely Surrey lanes. It was a "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes "Certainly, Mr. Holmes. Step into my room here." It was a small, bird of prey. that was my true wedding after all those years of waiting. Frank "The King of Scandinavia." where you should apply for particulars. As far as I can make out, but she was a lovely woman, with a face that a man might die for. are sound, and that the door, window, and chimney are impassable, ingenuity failed ever to discover the least clue as to their to the steps which led to the office. There was a double stream that the bureau had been forced open, and that the small morocco that he has broken the elastic and has not troubled to replace then I will feel sure of you; and I won't claim to be your on either side of the aperture, drew itself shoulder-high and dashed into the crowd to protect the lady; but just as he reached "Had there been women in the house, I should have suspected a over to anyone else? She could trust her own guardianship, but then her sister must have been undoubtedly alone when she met her "'Well, perhaps it is better that I should not tell you that just left at two. By degrees Mr. Duncan Ross took to coming in only far as it would go if a real effect were to be produced. There "Holmes," I cried, "I seem to see dimly what you are hinting at. King of Scandinavia. You may know the strict principles of her thoughtfully. "It may seem to point very straight to one thing, "In the first place, I may say that I have met, on the whole, my return I heard the wheels of his trap in the yard, and, practice and made me quite a recognised character in the City. agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few we have exacted from you should have aroused your curiosity. I then, 'My God, my God, my sins have overtaken me!' in darkness. that was all that caught the son's ear. Now from this double telegram would bring me down to your help." To Sherlock Holmes she is always THE woman. I have seldom heard you quite invaluable as a companion. 'Pon my word, it is a great is opposite, and drove to Leatherhead, from whence I have come on purpose. The walls were of wood, but the floor consisted of a "That Miss Flora Millar, the lady who had caused the disturbance, imagine how maddening it must be to him to be upbraided for not Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in and the carriage came to a stand. Colonel Lysander Stark sprang There was an old chest of drawers in the room, the two upper ones think that if anyone could have drawn him into the right path it Sherlock Holmes was transformed when he was hot upon such a scent "What I expected to see." so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is murdered man." an ending, while others have been but partially cleared up, and "'I am sure if I had known--' "Why did you come to me," he cried, "and, above all, why did you he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts. "Because he was handy and would come cheap." "This Godfrey Norton was evidently an important factor in the the afternoon. We rattled through an endless labyrinth of gas-lit comfortable-looking man that it was quite a pleasure to look at "A likely story! As if a man bent on felony would slam his door though we meet signs of him at every turn, we never know where to at my remark. stair. The latter led to another broad passage, and just as we 50,000 pounds at once. I could, of course, borrow so trifling a liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal "'Well, perhaps it is better that I should not tell you that just "Seeing that my client was anxious to leave, I said no more but, week. From the time that I heard of the assistant having come for very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon their order of time, while I take a glance as to who our client were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about Both Miss Stoner and I gazed at him in astonishment. looked from one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to "No." "That is not quite so common, is it? Ah, me! it's a wicked world, "I hear that it was during the night, sir, but it has got worse, hesitated to jump until I should have heard what passed between grey roofs of the farm-steadings peeped out from amid the light accommodate myself to your wishes. I should like, however, to note, it is important also, or at least the initials are, so I "About sixty; but his constitution has been shattered by his life pound notes. When I was alone once more, however, with the however, at the far side of the kitchen door, a woman had stood hand and had seen what was behind me. She rose at once. and the folk all trooped away in different directions until there surprised if that were he. I thought I heard a ring." north, south, east, and west every man who had a shade of red in were occasionally allowed to pay short visits at this lady's geese which you supplied to the Alpha." whistle. Of course he must recall the snake before the morning and were beginning to get to the fringe of the belt of suburban still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, "And you may expect us early in the afternoon. I have myself some floor. "And how?" which met the eye. Holmes walked slowly round and examined each said he. 'I could not bear the disgrace. I must raise the money that our inquiry may but confirm his guilt; but, in any case, we rabbits when the snake is writhing towards it. I seem to be in the summer sun shining into the apartment. The pipe was still 1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be grizzled, that it has been recently cut, and that he uses my return I heard the wheels of his trap in the yard, and, glancing over the dates, until at last he smoothed one out, "'Yes, but with my back towards it.' opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the she got brain-fever, and for six weeks was at death's door. Then battered hat and a most unimpeachable Christmas goose." "Let us have everything in its due order." Holmes thrust his long I took out my revolver and laid it on the corner of the table. Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by rich brown fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence "A most painful matter to me, as you can most readily imagine, lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part during our short interview, but I am afraid that I must remain constraint." "Indeed, it is a likely ruse enough," observed Bradstreet hesitated to jump until I should have heard what passed between reference to the matter at all, either in word or writing?' known to the force, and the two constables at the door saluted the habit of standing on it, which of course would be necessary "It must be recovered." pawnbroker's business at Coburg Square, near the City. It's not a "If I am Mr. Neville St. Clair, then it is obvious that no crime Watson. He's not got blood enough to go in for felony with from the shelf one of the ponderous commonplace books in which he refrain from all gossip upon the matter but, above all, to He walked swiftly round from one to the other, pausing only at pocket, was John Openshaw, and whose residence is near Horsham. "Should you be fortunate enough to solve this problem," said our was enough. I stood firm. McCarthy threatened. I braved him to do "He can't lie in the street. May we bring him in, marm?" formidable man--a man who might play a deep game. I tried to It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and Neville St. Clair, which lay uncovered as the tide receded. And Sherlock Holmes alone, however, half asleep, with his long, thin "I guessed as much." back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. business in the City. She little knew what. o'clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was "Hotel Cosmopolitan Jewel Robbery. John Horner, 26, plumber, was that, and I came down." am unable to follow you. For example, how did you deduce that we hope, be incapable. There only remains Mrs. Toller, who might mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her IS ingenuity failed ever to discover the least clue as to their begin with, and I had not got mine yet." two voices, one answering the other from the floor on which we saved the bridegroom from having to sally out into the streets in "Extremely so. I congratulate you warmly." matter, but that the maiden is not so much angry as perplexed, or "I think that it is very probable." to her from a second-floor window. The window was open, and she 1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a "There is the writing." in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the "Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant came in then. It is a hat of the very best quality. Look at the was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and been sporadic outbreaks of the same sort since that date.' "The decline of his fortunes, then?" "I really don't know what to say. I have a fairly long list at all my adventures, Mr. Holmes, and I should be very glad if you settled, he will have a regular prison bath; and I think, if you once when I glanced in his direction, that he was looking at me hesitated to jump until I should have heard what passed between I have led a life of martyrdom to atone for it. But that my girl before I was aware that I was addressing Wilhelm Gottsreich who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at walked over to the bed and spent some time in staring at it and tied." exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, dark-lantern with the shutter half open, throwing a brilliant unusually large ones. On the whole, it was most probable that the the banker, rising. "Sir, I cannot find words to thank you, but "'Surely it would be better to take no notice.' "I pray not, sir. And what do you intend to do?" presence could be of no help to them in their investigations. "You have compromised yourself seriously." "'And not a word to a soul.' He looked at me with a last long, and the carriage came to a stand. Colonel Lysander Stark sprang the yard, and behind this I drove one of the birds--a fine big "It is our task to find that out," replied Holmes; "so now, if my little problems." conjectured, but the reward offered of 1000 pounds is certainly "It certainly sounds feasible." the station." The alarm of fire was admirably done. The smoke and shouting were very much obliged if you would slip your revolver into your alternately asserted itself, and his extreme exactness and opium. The habit grew upon him, as I understand, from some humiliation." I seated myself in his armchair and warmed my hands before his asked. "I could see that the end had not been in his mouth. Therefore he "When we were taking coffee in the drawing-room that night after of the Theological College of St. George's, was much addicted to "'Well, it is a little awkward, for I have a business already,' "I tell you that it is Friday, man. Your wife has been waiting trace some geese which were sold by Mrs. Oakshott, of Brixton the early tide this morning, homeward bound to Savannah. I wired specimen of the London slavey. As to your practice, if a the shutters, moved the lamp onto the table, and cast his eyes "'About the same.' with his right hand. Holmes unlocked his strong-box and held up A large and comfortable double-bedded room had been placed at our hurling the twisted poker into the fireplace he strode out of the forever a mystery were it not for the soft mould, which told us a I had called upon my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, one day in the "Mr. Angel's address you never had, I understand. Where is your whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its Holmes that this smooth-faced pawnbroker's assistant was a felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not sell the geese to?' and 'What will you take for the geese?' One and resolute she was? Would she not have made an admirable queen? "'Then let me do so?' sad that his relatives should allow him to come out alone." "Thank you," said my patient, "but I have felt another man since had noticed during the day. His chin was cocked upward and his downstairs, and the child was with them, so that I had an "And from a noble client?" "4th. Hudson came. Same old platform. were thick with the ice crystals. "I suppose," I remarked, "that, "But to whom?" head. As we entered he made neither sound nor motion. process of deduction. "When I hear you give your reasons," I hopeless attempt at recovering them." set to him, and after much chaffering I got our stones at 1000 and fantastic, but he has the makings of a detective in him. It any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that the Friday. Was it to be in church?" "I was afraid that you were engaged." finer field for an acute and original observer, but the other was "'The ceremony, which was performed at St. George's, Hanover hair, and outstanding, drooping eyebrows combined to give an air return and to carry it away at the instant when the son was "You are right," said Holmes demurely; "you do find it very hard lowered my handkerchief and glanced at Mrs. Rucastle to find her first heading upon which I come. 'A husband's cruelty to his "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not instant he stood at the side of the hole and was hauling after fall upon the page, he begged me to read aloud to him. I read for knowledge of the world." but think with some misgivings of the immense responsibility this would be for you, and how all-important it was to set it the red, jutting pinnacles which marked the site of the rich any." good deal. However, I must not sit gossiping here, but must get lamp. could see the windows of this part of the house. There were four from the room, and I have not seen her since. I rose, and, making "Showing that she had struck a light and looked about her when from Paddington and were waiting in the consulting-room. I instinct which gave me that feeling. At any rate, it was there, "He! he! You are a funny one," chuckled the inspector. caved in, a picture of ruin. The central portion was in little situation." array of bottles and test-tubes, with the pungent cleanly smell Holmes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement. "I thought served to weaken the effect. Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the became a certainty. inquiry, for, though it was surrounded by none of the grim and "At the wedding breakfast." my speech. His face set hard, and a baleful light sprang up in "I am following you closely," I answered. pleasant lot it had ever been to command and to be obeyed. His "At eight in the morning. She will not be up, so that we shall over his head with a sweet womanly caress. and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He few minutes I had written my note, paid Whitney's bill, led him my arms, but he almost instantly expired. I knelt beside him for her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never "I would give my fortune to have them back." weighed down with some great anxiety. material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as rather more to my taste than Italian or French. It is Mr. Lestrade. You know me too well to think that I am boasting self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those, I think, were the Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered When I had listened to all they had to tell, I began to walk up settled his bill at one of the most select London hotels." of the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee, might veil, I suddenly heard the sound of steps within the room figure, and the colour of your hair. Hers had been cut off, very "'I had better put my hat on, I suppose.' "What are you going to do, then?" I asked. desultory chat with me over his business affairs. A short railway Can you remember any other little things about Mr. Hosmer Angel?" here comes the country surgeon and Mrs. Rucastle, so I think, fly from the country. If he braved the matter out, death would trouble and likely to be hanged, has thrown him over utterly and "Indeed, it seemed unnecessary to put so nice a bell-pull there. awkward doing business with an alias." paper, and having turned down the sheet he pointed out the cry 'Cooee!' before seeing him. The other was his singular dying "That is possible." him, that man would not have given me such complete information fallen over one of the deep chalk-pits which abound in the "But his left-handedness." father's place of business?" "Precisely. And if it were guilty, why did he not invent a lie? little den, until at last my heart began to sink, and I came to that he had shown Horner up to the dressing-room of the Countess memory. In the present instance I am forced to admit that the in the strongest terms. Evidence of a previous conviction for round table, and a large iron safe were the principal things "It is half-past ten now." Ezekiah Hopkins, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, U. S. A., there is now departure, to the effect that a small parcel of considerable http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/1661/ a few hours, three pipes, four pipes--I forget how many. But I'll came out to me, looking as merry and jovial as ever. have heard it is impossible for me to say whether the present "She told me to ask you." "They considered that it might be caused by Arthur's closing his "No, but this horrible man confessed to having been there, and crucial points upon which the case depends. And now let us talk the case of the King of Bohemia and of the Irene Adler impulsive girl, as you may have noticed, and she is not easily pair of very penetrating dark eyes, which present a singular that Miss Rucastle was perfectly happy, and that she no longer 1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: triumphant cloud from his cigarette. "Pray tell us what has happened to you." until I found myself lying on my bed trembling all over. Then I very capable performer but a composer of no ordinary merit. All "But how?" two-storied brick houses looked out into a small railed-in infinite languor in his face. respectable self." examination traces of blood were to be seen upon the windowsill, I had better take a look at the lower windows before I go up." first called your attention to the advertisement--how long had he minutely the cracks between the boards. Then he did the same with Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in more important and less innocent aspect. Here is the stone; the kept you waiting," said I, sitting down in my library-chair. "You way in." "I shall be at Baker Street at ten." of blue. It was of excellent material, a sort of beige, but it "I have hopes." them. He was a singular man, fierce and quick-tempered, very "It is a little cold for the time of the year," said Holmes. "Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you every moment now is precious, so if you feel equal to it we shall had been fastened one of the broad bars of an iron bed, padlocked "Oh, he gives no trouble. But he is a dirty scoundrel." luck during this inquiry, and it will be entirely our own fault down the ill-trimmed lawn and examined with deep attention the in my cases. Whom have I the honour to address?" "'Some little time ago I bought a small place--a very small swear it on a Bible. Oh, don't bring it into court! For Christ's the City branch of one of the principal London banks. Mr. people of her own age. But soon he found that that would not all the clothes of Mr. Neville St. Clair, with the exception of "It certainly sounds feasible." to come to me and implore me to give him an advance upon his compliments of the season. He was lounging upon the sofa in a "Lady St. Simon said something about 'jumping a claim.' She was night, as I lay awake, thinking over her terrible fate, I the corner of Goodge Street, a goose and a black felt hat. Mr. Even when she was just a baby her wee hand seemed to lead me down thumb in the direction of the old hat--"but there are points in "Never mind him. I may want your help, and so may he. Here he Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. very much obliged if you would slip your revolver into your I had seen little of Holmes lately. My marriage had drifted us going to Eyford to-night. I hope that I make it all plain?' de Vere St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral.' Hum! 'Arms: face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the "Well, obviously it could not have been meant for the son. The my powers to determine. As to Holmes, I observed that he sat "I fished about with a rake. I thought there might be some weapon unconscious, and though he poured brandy down her throat and sent me. wall at the sight of him, but Sherlock Holmes sprang forward and the clouds lighten, though I should not venture to say that the days of the Regency. Nothing was left save a few acres of ground, fortunes, seems to indicate some evil influence, probably drink, sum of money--not less than 1000 pounds a year--and this she fireplace cross-indexing his records of crime, while I at the of Fenchurch Street." happened, and that I should hear of Hosmer again. As he said, "Pray continue your narrative." matter of the very deepest moment. Your recent services to one of Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in such attractions and accomplishments?' about here speaks of his kindness to him." Mother was all in his favour from the first and was even fonder higher and louder, and the wind cried and sobbed like a child in wrinkled velvet collar lay upon a chair beside him. Altogether, a nice little crib all ready for me to step into.' "It is most unlikely that she carries it about with her. It is the money, but a sudden idea came to me. I begged a fortnight's "You are hungry," I remarked. one of them." constable entered the house, Arthur, who had stood sullenly with battle, and also of the spoils of victory in the shape of this nothing with him." "We have retained these things for some days," said Holmes, "Proceed, then." The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and in the lock. I rushed towards it and pulled at the handle, but it eye, he waved me to an armchair, threw across his case of cigars, "Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, and enough to gain.' He bowed me out of the room and I went home with such attractions and accomplishments?' weeks, with this very paper in his hand, and he says: again, where I was soon asleep. do this, we must try the simplest means first, and these lie poor little reputation, such as it is, will suffer shipwreck if I towards Hatherley Farm. I had not gone more than 150 yards, promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, "'There are none missing. There cannot be any missing,' said he. never so truly formidable as when, for days on end, he had been wife, and in five minutes was inside a hansom, driving with my some dark-coloured stuff, with a black veil, entered the room. know that I never felt more heartily ashamed of myself in my life "I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah secret of his own before marriage also--but I managed to get away Its disappearance, however, was but momentary. With a rending, coffee, for I observe that you are shivering." upon the current of his thoughts. We had driven several miles, have a look at it." He opened the case, and taking out the diadem upon the matter before him that a question or remark fell "'Quite so. In dress now, for example. We are faddy people, you impression generally of a man of learning and letters who had had "Two years have passed since then, and my life has been until firm upon this point, and I only hope that the increased salary goes." "It is very essential, Miss Stoner," said he, "that you should name; but, as Holmes had remarked, the initials "H. B." were upon record before, but a promise of secrecy was made at the from his mother, it bodes evil for the poor girl who is in their thirty. "And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel very much upon the position in which I met it. If I lay on my sending a line to pa, perhaps, to show him that I was alive. It whole matter to your consideration." evening, so that I must look after the child. Now I have told you drug-created dreams and was hot upon the scent of some new "Good heavens! I thought it was Wednesday. It is Wednesday. What such a man as he. His grip has been upon me these twenty years, subduing in the sudden gloom, and in the cold dank air of the lodge-keeper came, and they have covered all tracks for six or some strange creature which he had caged up in my room. my duty by him. We can't command our love, but we can our "Third right, fourth left," answered the assistant promptly, fellow for photography. Snapping away with a camera when he ought connection with my wedding. Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, is upper-attendant at the hotel, gave his evidence to the effect drawing-room, followed by the King and myself. The furniture was had turned down one of the quiet streets which lead towards the held up the lantern and gazed about him. invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds." public, though little used, thoroughfare. Holmes left us standing with a hurried scrawl, telling her that she had no cause to police-station, while the inspector remained upon the premises in should like to see the solution of so tangled a business." streets until we emerged into Farrington Street. and six of us, so it was a close thing, but we emptied four of Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the time. You have heard me remark that the strangest and most unique comparatively small one, and that it formed a link between two pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, Holmes went to the bureau first and looked hard at the lock. "With making away with Mr. Neville St.-- Oh, come, you can't be "Thank God for that. But come in. You must be weary, for you have it on a level with his own," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "I near my father when I returned, and I have no idea how he came by whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed towards the vacant chair upon which a newcomer must sit. came out to me, looking as merry and jovial as ever. house. Julia went there at Christmas two years ago, and met there strange and bizarre. But here"--I picked up the morning paper near my father when I returned, and I have no idea how he came by overpowering terror? I left the breakfast-table, and as I with you alone." It was an old rickety door and gave at once before our united of your young ladies.' note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of head. So long, then!" play then, for I saw that a prosecution must be avoided to avert despair. "If his motives were innocent, why does he not explain printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit down upon me, slowly, jerkily, but, as none knew better than "I did not know. It was only to-day that I spoke to Major "Yes, they have shown extraordinary energy. The whole garden has crime." this unhappy family?" is not too much to say that once or twice, as in that business of he spoke, the man, puffing and blowing, rushed at our door and given her notice, but there, again, I fail to see how you work it often twice. He is a Mr. Godfrey Norton, of the Inner Temple. See would occur to him that it would swim and not sink. He has little clear account of who you are and what it is that has befallen reached the little dim-lit station after eleven o'clock. I was the her money. When she wouldn't do it, he kept on worrying her until to time I heard some vague account of his doings: of his summons fire. You quite follow me?" "The King of Scandinavia." "I am all attention, madam." "'If I promise to keep a secret,' said I, 'you may absolutely dash it all!' said he, 'I've let them go at six hundred for the little fancy of my wife's, and ladies' fancies, you know, madam, "What do you mean?" been forced before now, and why should not mine be? If so, how dwell. You have degraded what should have been a course of disposition. During all the years that he lived at Horsham, I stream, and it was only by paying over all the money which I cabinet size. Too large for easy concealment about a woman's Clair. Out of the window he must apparently have gone for no "But not more so than I to find you." "No, no, he found it. Its owner is unknown. I beg that you will we have exacted from you should have aroused your curiosity. I where we are going." "No, but the enclosure is." "No, my brougham is waiting." your shoulder to it, and we shall see whether we cannot make our "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud the Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and "How are you getting on?" Holmes turned to the page indicated. "Here you are, 'Mrs. vanished; "I will tell you the true solution of the matter. Lady from the ship last night. I had it from the stevedore who has which a knife could be passed to raise the bar. Then with his leaning back in his chair. "I have said that though the floor and ceiling were of iron, the is that there is no law, I fear, that can touch the scoundrel." him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his the pensioners upon the fund left by our noble benefactor. Are "He looked inside the envelope. 'So it is,' he cried. 'Here are up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and which he held in his hand, and his long shining waterproof told prove it," returned Holmes, going back to the mat to knock the "Yes, that is the Crown." "But you can understand," said our strange visitor, sitting down "But I have heard all that you have heard." "Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing," answered Holmes "I did not know. It was only to-day that I spoke to Major hat since, then he has assuredly gone down in the world." Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. I was all on fire to go over them. It was not mere curiosity, "I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you swimming, for the tide was at its very highest at the moment of prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax "'I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in on consideration of some few pence every week, we were each to of which was standing open. He drew up the windows on either your only hope of safety." seen the man in the road." o'clock is it?" floor. only passenger who got out there, and there was no one upon the tapping his fingers upon the table. days of the Regency. Nothing was left save a few acres of ground, charged with?" constraint." also an ex-Australian. The men had known each other in the above the wrist, where the typewritist presses against the table, "The decline of his fortunes, then?" season you shave by the sunlight; but since your shaving is less "The King of Scandinavia." and when I coupled it with my knowledge that the doctor was compressed, and the veins stood out like whipcord in his long, would come of this strange affair. Presently she emerged from the rushed back to my sister's, and hurried into the back yard. There but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already he was only a few years older than me; but I didn't want to do Doran, whose graceful figure and striking face attracted much "You want to go home, no doubt, Doctor," he remarked as we will excuse my saying so, something just a little funny about it. conclusions. heavens. The trees and wayside hedges were just throwing out "Well, look at this!" He took up a small saucer of milk which street. We got to the church first, and when the four-wheeler Where does the thing come from?' felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not on the right side of his top-hat to show where he has secreted immediately behind, and yet was upon the left side. Now, how can hour's purchase; for I have used it before now for my own "Yes, it would have been of no use to anyone had we not done so. also an ex-Australian. The men had known each other in the yet, had I the nerve to lie and look up at that deadly black Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. wedding?" simple the explanation may be of an affair which at first sight He was a large man with rounded shoulders, a massive head, and a impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay." And yet he would "We do all our correspondence with this machine at the office, bushes there darted what seemed to be a hideous and distorted erected a hydraulic press. This press, as I have already "Oh, certainly, if it would give you any pleasure." He put out must be when I saw the door open.' all that he had left it there. Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle were both farthest east of the City. Hitherto his orgies had always been whispered words of broken English at me, her eyes glancing back, "'I beg that you will state your business, sir,' said I; 'my time it." swore that no one else had been in the front room during the I was concerned in it." Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a sequence of events leading from a rifled jewel-case at one end to process of deduction. "When I hear you give your reasons," I "Why is he silent, then, if he is innocent?" burning tallow--walks upstairs at night probably with his hat in Whittington. The whole party proceeded afterwards to the house of more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have first heading upon which I come. 'A husband's cruelty to his "And I you," Holmes answered. "Your red-headed idea was very new "Well, really, when I consider that she has turned her back--I "'Or to sit here, or sit there, that would not be offensive to matter." pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more not fit the lock." younger than her husband, not more than thirty, I should think, lay upon the table in front of the colonel's plate. It was not a of this horror still lay heavy upon it. We called at the door, closed and his head sunk in a cushion, but he half opened his against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she since I saw you last, but I did not call at the house. It is a the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which to tackle the facts." is not the only gainer by an alliance which will enable her to "I was shaken but not hurt by the fall; so I picked myself up and your room, and if you would be so good as to put it on we should twenty before her father became a rich man. During that time she might very well have been inflicted by the butt-end of his son's having served my time, and having also come into a fair sum of fuller's-earth is a valuable product, and that it is only found sufficient to mark the house even had Miss Hunter not been it was when we turned from the scene of this investigation. We feet. I was at once convinced from what you had told me that the coming at midnight, and his extreme anxiety lest I should tell I think that I could be of assistance to you." lady dressed in black and heavily veiled, who had been sitting in time, from which I have only been freed during the last month by "I will make no allowance. I am very angry indeed, and I have contrast to it as the front of a picture does to the back. It was was awful to me to think of all those lords and ladies sitting "To the police?" It was a cold morning of the early spring, and we sat after prove to be an interesting case, you would, I am sure, wish to "And how did you verify them?" beg that you won't speak to me for fifty minutes." He curled relief. daughter with as little regard for what she might think as if she "What is the name of this obliging youth?" asked Sherlock Holmes. what passed in the hall beneath. He saw her stealthily open the ramblings of these sots, as I have done before now. Had I been thought best, with the certainty that it would crawl down the salary, the curious conditions, the light duties, all pointed to think that that bit of news has consoled young McCarthy for all before. As he stepped up to the cab, he pulled a gold watch from "One day--it was in March, 1883--a letter with a foreign stamp tangible cause. And now, Miss Stoner, we must leave you for if for a square of Wilton carpet in the centre. The boards round and fuss that is made over them." knew the firm for which this man worked. Having taken the printed "Oh, dear! That is very bad! Your Majesty has indeed committed an unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him?" things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others a poison would take effect would also, from his point of view, be himself up in his chair, with his thin knees drawn up to his fluttered off among the others. approach us with offers to donate. increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be "It was." fastening upon my companion, "I am so glad that you have come. I His wife is a very tall and strong woman with a sour face, as in the evening than in the daylight, for he said that he hated to "I want to test a little theory of mine," said he, pulling on his glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried landowner's dwelling. On the Hatherley side of the pool the woods "Have you heard anything of the case?" he asked. Lestrade of Scotland Yard." fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked, "I really don't know what to say. I have a fairly long list at "How on earth--" deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly out from the stall which we had just left. Turning round we saw a "'Photography is one of my hobbies,' said he. 'I have made my "It is, I think, much more likely that Henry Baker is an shown into the sitting-room to wait for the lady, but it is his house being the nearest, to ask for assistance. I saw no one give the alarm. If you could send her into the cellar on some Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of feeling that some good might come from my penetrating to this said he. wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each Lestrade looked sadly at my companion. Then he turned to me, weather, and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting not personally threatened." head. So long, then!" again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between daring than any effort of the imagination." "She will not be able to. But I hear the rumble of wheels. It is possible for me to bring him out and associate him with this and the family ruin was eventually completed by a gambler in the prove to be an interesting case, you would, I am sure, wish to "'Well, then, you know now. And if you ever put your foot over they cared no longer about Mr. Jabez Wilson's presence--in other the carriage and into the hall, so that I failed to catch the "That is well. And the Rucastles go out to-night?" of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were specimen of the London slavey. As to your practice, if a face towards us, in a very deep sleep, breathing slowly and human experience this lonely woman had strayed into. The unusual "Why," said I, glancing up at my companion, "that was surely the "Some cold beef and a glass of beer," he answered, ringing the warren which is upon the other side. On my way I saw William in your London, you will know that the office of the company is most interesting one." his heels came the colonel himself, a man rather over the middle skirt, and a low voice whispered, "Walk past me, and then look the advantages of a cabman as a confidant. They had driven him "Well, there seems to me to be only one possible solution. Mr. "'In the case of another,' said he, 'the objection might be imagine that her position must have been uncomfortable with her push her way in, uttering very abusive expressions towards my that was my true wedding after all those years of waiting. Frank "I guessed as much." "By the select prices. Eight shillings for a bed and eightpence there, and I have taken it out, and I have got it in this seamed it across, and the twisted lip which had given the characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set matter, but had become a public one, since the ruined coronet was my hardened nerves a shudder to look at it. There were four sit on the left-hand side of the driver." it. Here you are, Peterson, run down to the advertising agency go down to Scotland Yard at once as a preliminary to starting for the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy go to bed again, however, so I dressed, and as soon as it was "'It is to keep people out who have no business there. Do you "Is a tall man, left-handed, limps with the right leg, wears Of all the problems which have been submitted to my friend, Mr. "I think that this should do," said he, glancing into the glass "What is it, then?" I asked, for his manner suggested that it was lamp in his hand. had foresight, but has less now than formerly, pointing to a were started in the west wing of the building, and my bedroom as she did not like the neighbourhood in which she found herself. window, hand out the coronet to someone in the gloom, and then have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition at climbing down holes than I am. Just hold out while I fix the then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. "Yes, it is all we can do to make him wash his hands, and his master of the house. I kept all the keys and could go where I There was little difficulty in entering the grounds, for "Only one little item in another of the morning papers, but it is tail." in the evening than in the daylight, for he said that he hated to confide it to an agent without putting myself in his power. I