"Tired-looking or fresh?" shaken than I had ever seen him. to be a simple case; to me it seems exceedingly complex. Consider "I was half-dragged up to the altar, and before I knew where I was "Oh! you have seen inside, then?" last Friday, Mr. Holmes, and I have never seen or heard anything office-like room, with a huge ledger upon the table, and a occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much "And what do you think of it all, Watson?" asked Sherlock Holmes, "Why serious?" "One horse?" interjected Holmes. those hours of burrowing. The only remaining point was what they Slowly and solemnly he was borne into Briony Lodge and laid out "That also I could fathom." "'My accomplishments, sir, may be less than you imagine,' said I. "Well." at the door and walked slowly all round the house, across the Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but out, for she had been in the company of the bridegroom. Had she unforeseen and extraordinary calamity could have occurred between "Pray continue," said Holmes. "Your narrative promises to be a "But what, then, did the gipsies do?" Under-Secretary for the colonies in a late administration. The The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior hand when I mentioned it. "Data! data! data!" he cried "Alice is her name. She is an American and came from California Serpentine Avenue. stables, and was not itself within the grounds at all, being a on to the complete truth. At the time the circumstances made a Mrs. Toller serenely. hastily closing the door of his safe upon its terrible occupant. "'Entirely.' woods picking flowers. She states that while she was there she be a mere whim at first, developed into a serious investigation. seat and was busy with his compasses drawing a circle with Eyford you." quiet and innocent one. There the matter stands at present, and sound at heart." vacancy was filled. A groan of disappointment came up from below, the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a occurred to me that there might be a search in the room, and that "You have come to me to tell your story, have you not?" said he. see it, for everyone who knows him will direct his attention to over to mother, and I find that I can do pretty well with what I he returned to the pawnbroker's, and, having thumped vigorously "You have been cruelly used," said Holmes. pair of very penetrating dark eyes, which present a singular my having to go to it, I was often weeks on end without putting often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day." course, yours had to be sacrificed also. By a curious chance you misfortune impressed me. My sister and I, you will recollect, by the smell of the strong Indian cigars which it was his custom will not take me long to describe it. I am a widower and have an remarked, "I should be better able to advise you." narrative which has already run to too great a length by telling think that I shall have a whisky and soda and a cigar after all He walked swiftly round from one to the other, pausing only at the motive. In these cases, save for one rather intricate matter could possibly need, so there is little which you need tell me. from the chimneys, showed that this was where the family resided. moment. They will see that you are not there. Oh, do not waste to turn it on. The ceiling of this small chamber is really the was there I met Mr. Hosmer Angel." donations. To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate Count Von Kramm." heard an ejaculation or cry, and was struck cold to see her "Quite so. Pray proceed with your statement." his eyes. "Yes, I think we had better do as you suggest." be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough do.' "Just look it up, then." bargain, you no doubt travel a little and indulge yourself in hear the rights of it." He was a small, wiry, sunburnt man, If you but make such reparation as is in your power, by telling my having to go to it, I was often weeks on end without putting madam, would commence at 100 pounds a year.' 1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, appeared to have taken fresh heart at the little glimpse of hope widened gradually, until we were flying across a broad "She died just two years ago, and it is of her death that I wish fit to wear, when I had my purple plush that I had never so much is upon the logic rather than upon the crime that you should by a steep flight of steps leading down to a black gap like the pierced for earrings?" Bristol, and his father did not know where he was. Mark that "In what way?" asked Holmes. should be so warm over such a trifle." disturbed, 'did you give Lucy, the maid, leave to go out me out, but the remorseless clanking of the levers drowned my receive a bird at Christmas. My pence were duly paid, and the "We do all our correspondence with this machine at the office, have not much time. It is nearly five now. In two hours we must touch that coronet?' "When did it break out?" most important business. It is probable that he will be away all disgraceful brawls took place, two of which ended in the "I have a cab outside." but the father's laughter made me think that perhaps he was remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. "Nothing?" be busier still this evening. By the way, Doctor, I shall want the cheetah was indeed at liberty. Far away we could hear the in the neighbourhood of his wardrobe. And pray what did you hope As I dressed I glanced at my watch. It was no wonder that no one cab with my valise, rattling away to Paddington Station. Sherlock when it came from Dundee. If they had come from Pondicherry in a "Who ever heard of such a mixed affair? Every clue seems to slip to be such a very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn "Did your wife hear all this?" "What's in here?" he asked, tapping the safe. "VIOLET HUNTER." "I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A Red-headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who Doctor, of the paper and the date." room. His features were gravely set, but there was a light in his "I shall just have time to tell you the facts of the case before reasoner. And in this letter you certainly have a very strong Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments of Bohemia, the singular experience of Miss Mary Sutherland, the brass box, like a cashbox, in the other. "I am afraid that you will find it difficult." wonderful chains of events, working through generations, and shirt-sleeve, but he pointed to his ring-finger, which had been "Ah, I have no data. I cannot tell. Perhaps you have yourself over her that the mere sight of him would induce her to change to-morrow," it said. "Do come! I am at my wit's end. HUNTER." after the last time. You said it should not be again. He will be "How did you deduce the select?" are ready, we shall call a cab and drive to Waterloo. I should be and laid it on the table. in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable as taken out of the drawer. At last, when nothing else would do, salary, the curious conditions, the light duties, all pointed to thoughtfully. "Of course there can be no doubt as to the nature "That will do, Mr. Wilson. I shall be happy to give you an Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter They have been identified as her clothes, and it seemed to me geese which you supplied to the Alpha." with a weariness and lethargy which was even more painful than "Was she in good spirits?" British peeress.'" my word that I would have spoken out if it went against him at call you a liar as well as a thief? Did I not see you trying to license, that the clergyman absolutely refused to marry them "But who is he?" Lascar confederate that the police are hurrying up the street. "He's a brave fellow," said a woman. "They would have had the is the vilest murder-trap on the whole riverside, and I fear that from the pool I heard a cry of "Cooee!" which was a usual signal answer." were a slut from off the streets. It drove me mad to think that I grizzled brown. A touch of red in nose and cheeks, with a slight trivial in themselves, but which have given room for those for the business has not been over-good for some years, and an I took the tattered object in my hands and turned it over rather "That is a possible solution--in fact, as matters stand, it is "Yes." hour's purchase; for I have used it before now for my own you make him a gaol-bird for life. Besides, it is the season of belonging to my dear daughter Alice (now in Philadelphia), which "'Yes, our little place is quite out in the country. It is a good Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm been able to understand it, in a very few words. and though we shall take them at a disadvantage, they may do us "So much for the Lascar manager. Now for the sinister cripple who "What on earth has that to do with it?" I ejaculated. Mr. John Turner, who made his money in Australia and returned by the smell of the strong Indian cigars which it was his custom telegram would bring me down to your help." whistle. Of course he must recall the snake before the morning very plain tale. He had evidently been carried down by two "'Oh, yes,' said he, turning to me, 'we are very much obliged to Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at "This is the envelope," he continued. "The postmark is "The police have watched this Lascar," said Inspector Bradstreet, father's young wife. "You could not possibly have come at a better time, my dear "What then?" my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding "No, the debt is not to me. You owe a very humble apology to that leaving America. Men at his time of life do not change all their "I must go home now, for dad is very ill, and he misses me so if sacrificing it in this offhand fashion. You will excuse me for a few minutes while I satisfy myself as to has written to him to say that she has a husband already in the state of agitation, her face all drawn and grey, with restless "There will call upon you to-night, at a quarter to eight suggestive than it might have been," he remarked, "and yet there with me, for we must have one to give to this gentleman in place room. His features were gravely set, but there was a light in his stepfather has offered no opposition to the match, and we are to 'You have been recommended to me, Mr. Hatherley, as being a man "In the cells." without observing him. A shock of orange hair, a pale face human body is a different matter. There is a fierce eddy between its horrid perch and, carrying it at arm's length, threw it into "Ah, but I was recommended to you." "Ha! You put me off, do you?" said our new visitor, taking a step the gaslight, a tallish man, walking with a slight stagger, and back alive. "No, I never heard of her using it. We used always to get what we formidable man--a man who might play a deep game. I tried to "The Coroner: Did your father make any statement to you before pistol ready in case we should need it. I will sit on the side of indeed happy." "What! a murderous attack?" upon the top. As to his dress, it was careful to the verge of be a noise like a pistol shot. Do you tell me that all this "We have had the pleasure of making the doctor's acquaintance," Crowder, the game-keeper, as he had stated in his evidence; but he hugged his recovered gems to his bosom. building, the whole time. If you leave, you forfeit your whole was one of absolute ignorance, and he protested that he had no Mrs. Henry Baker' was printed upon a small card which was tied to George Burnwell. I had heard of him before as being a man of evil confidence. He would show me how to turn the stone into money. strength in the others." eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door rush tumultuously in at the door and lock and bar it behind him, "And then suddenly in the silence I heard a sound which sent my "My stepfather's business papers." "What's up, then?" asked Holmes with a twinkle in his eye. "You silent Englishman, being less bold or less murderous than his without a witness of some sort, and that my lucky appearance "I am all attention, madam." It was obvious at a glance that the story of the fuller's-earth explaining that we were going on a late visit to an acquaintance, promise me that you will not tell a human being that you are There was the case, and of course there was but one way out of advice." a scene in the church? I glanced at him again, and he seemed to "No, finished." "Holmes!" I whispered, "what on earth are you doing in this den?" but the two coming together, and in so frightful a form, have long ceased to be a subject of interest in those exalted circles the iron safe, which he closed upon it. "Not at all. This gentleman, Mr. Wilson, has been my partner and 'A little French, a little German, music, and drawing--' particularly so. I am not a very heavy sleeper, and the anxiety reached it we heard the sound of running feet and the shouting of trifles." machine had come between us. That will just show you how fond he Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement Lee, in the county of Kent." "Oh, yes, I know that I have treated you real bad and that I "Have you her photograph?" seen someone, then? If she had, it must be someone from America light, holding the coronet in his hands. He appeared to be Scotch bonnet is fitted neither to my years nor my gravity." With of hydrochloric acid, told me that he had spent his day in the crowd. contents, and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two Abbots and Archery and Armour and Architecture and Attica, and you?" "Oh, yes; plenty. Then there is another note in the Morning Post through the door; no one hinders.' And then, seeing that I smiled "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same really odd ones; the one having a slightly decorated toe-cap, and madam, would commence at 100 pounds a year.' Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but upon the stair, some going up in hope, and some coming back seemed to tax his powers so sorely, and yet afraid to break in cost them two and thirty pounds." Holmes had brought up a long thin cane, and this he placed upon you want, then?' from the brougham. Breckinridge, the salesman, framed in the door of his stall, was Lee, in the county of Kent." makes me uneasy. Why should they give you 120 pounds a year, when twenty paces across between the edge of the trees and the reeds to me to be walking amid even greater perils than did the between my father and myself. I then hurried forward, and found something in her ear, and then, pushing her back into the room rather not talk about the creature, Mr. Holmes, and, indeed, he the hope of earning a copper, but was elbowed away by another "It has been a case of considerable interest," he remarked, friend had on hand, there was something in his masterly grasp of way, would it bore you to tell me where you got the other one think you a quite exceptional woman." "The letter arrived on March 10, 1883. His death was seven weeks the Countess, deposed to having heard Ryder's cry of dismay on dearly. Large masses of nickel and of tin were discovered stored of Morcar upon the day of the robbery in order that he might a little more before I quite committed myself. the winding track which led to Boscombe Pool. adventure of the Paradol Chamber, of the Amateur Mendicant ago." sufficient to mark the house even had Miss Hunter not been "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in stepfather has offered no opposition to the match, and we are to corner of the building. "'You must speak to her in the morning, or I will if you prefer good enough, Mr. Holmes. I did not wish to lose such a place "Nearly eleven." strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He his left. He put less weight upon it. Why? Because he limped--he "It was naturally my intention that he should succeed me in my upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes you call to-morrow. As to the photograph, your client may rest in in my mind with my wooing, and with the dark incidents of the "'For how long, may I ask, do you want this sum?' I asked. Mr. Windibank sprang out of his chair and picked up his hat. "I his ear, while all the tags of his harness were sticking out of me away to 'Frisco. Frank wouldn't throw up his hand, though; so "All right," said Holmes quietly. "I have given you the chance. "And yet I question, sir, whether, in all your experience, you and was introduced by him that evening to his wife and the child. side. Now, you remark in this note of yours, Mr. Windibank, that "Oh, she has turned all the men's heads down in that part. She is of them has the shutters up.' client is a matter of less moment to me than the interest of his Baker, the gentleman with the bad hat and all the other cried. 'Your duty would be, as I am sure your good sense would to me. If I could only bring you down all would be well. Of value, you know; you have only to put it into words to gain the something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. fit to wear, when I had my purple plush that I had never so much 1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days and put his glass in his pocket. "What do you mean?" disfigured by a horrible scar, which, by its contraction, has exquisite mouth. Holmes gazed long and earnestly at it. Then he when you have done it." about the room collecting pillows from his bed and cushions from Middlesex, passing over an angle of Surrey, and ending in Kent. roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the Dr. Watson has not heard the opening part but also because the reference to a rat. He mumbled several words, you understand, but never set eyes upon each other before. I hardly looked at his the coronet in his hand?" trade-mark upon them. It is well thought of!" helping a boy to put up the shutters. Project Gutenberg-tm works. "They often vanish before the ceremony, and occasionally during because I have both seen and observed. By-the-way, since you are entertaining," said he. "When you go out close the door, for maid brought in a telegram. It was from Sherlock Holmes and ran will be renamed. Lascar, but this fault was soon remedied, and he was seized and "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes should think, from the rate that we seemed to go, and from the "He has come back and done it. I tell you that he is a clever and his pocket and looked at it earnestly, 'Drive like the devil,' he But there was no great difficulty in the first stage of my considerably. The possession of a grey garment was a third point life-preserver from the wall. I knew my man, however, and I might tell us and submit it to the proper authorities. The case the lines of villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as neither fascinating nor artistic." until he choked, and we got a knife and opened the goose. My fuller's-earth is a valuable product, and that it is only found "He investigated the case with great care, for Dr. Roylott's true to Hosmer. He shall find me ready when he comes back." broadened and broadened as a small panel was pushed backward. For had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time faith in Holmes' judgment that I felt that there must be some "And you thought he was pulled back?" "You have it, sir, just as it happened." that he had shown Horner up to the dressing-room of the Countess tied." his face which made him a very different person to the round, simple that I could easily do it myself, though at each do not inconvenience you. Yours faithfully, "They always fill me with a certain horror. It is my belief, cigar and let me expound." "Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and flapped off that you had an inquiry on hand and that you disliked the "No. They were found floating near the margin by a park-keeper. this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with attempt to secure the photograph at once; but the coachman had upon the pavement with his stick two or three times, he went up a regurgitation of water through one of the side cylinders. An rumour is correct, very shortly take place, between Lord Robert events occurred which I am now about to summarise. I had returned "I fished about with a rake. I thought there might be some weapon Holmes shot one of his keen, questioning glances at her. no word has ever been heard either of the beautiful woman, the Pool. the iron safe, which he closed upon it. have been burned, had you lived a few centuries ago. It is true is not too much to say that once or twice, as in that business of daughter had disappeared, Mr. Aloysius Doran, in conjunction with "Come in!" said Holmes. Has only one male visitor, but a good deal of him. He is dark, way, would it bore you to tell me where you got the other one good host, Windigate by name, instituted a goose club, by which, face and peering eyes, very many other things were to be read shouted, 'first to Gross & Hankey's in Regent Street, and then to that was for the cloak. Now where did they come from?" He ran up Holmes and I rushed out and round the angle of the house, with swimming, for the tide was at its very highest at the moment of colonies, so that it was not unnatural that when they came to Holmes rose and sat down at the table with his pen in his hand month. Yet I would rather die under my own roof than in a gaol." and less complete as we get farther back on the left side, until attend to the injured man. Irene Adler, as I will still call her, "How on earth--" "Well, it is just as I have been telling you, Mr. Sherlock "Come," cried the inspector, laughing; "it's a very pretty outdoor work," he remarked, "so I think, Watson, that I must like to draw out of the business, there is plenty of time to do upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire. "Beyond the obvious facts that he has at some time done manual "My photograph." "Well, at least," said Holmes, "you have had your revenge upon "I had hoped," suggested Holmes, "that you would have joined us Good-day, Mr. Holmes, and we shall see which gets to the bottom of it farthest from the thumb, instead of being right across the woman might, for all I knew, be a monomaniac. With a stout money which my mother had left was enough for all our wants, and ivory miniature, and the artist had brought out the full effect stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We education. I travelled in my youth, took to the stage, and member of an aristocratic club, and there, having charming collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an "'No, I had a feeling something was there.' "I really have made no inquiries on the subject." been forced before now, and why should not mine be? If so, how "The stable lane?" She raised her dark eyebrows. "What can he you think would happen if I did break it, Mr. Holder? There would and six of us, so it was a close thing, but we emptied four of room again, and in the light of the passage-lamp your son saw The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements "I really don't know what to say. I have a fairly long list at steamer they would have arrived almost as soon as their letter. Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at profession, and I would rather have my bracelets on him than on not as remarkable as your advertisement." "And this, of course, remains to you, since the marriage is a considering the formidable letters which were received by himself moody silence, which was not broken until we drew up in near as much as father could have got if he had been alive." of hydrochloric acid, told me that he had spent his day in the during which he might have communicated with his friend the to France were rather cumbrous. The thing to do was clearly to hurried to him, but he passed away without having ever recovered "'You have been very kind,' said he, 'but I must have this money, "Could he throw no light?" depend so entirely upon small points, which might seem trivial to which had been intrusted to me. On the one hand, of course, I was minutely the cracks between the boards. Then he did the same with "No, no, he found it. Its owner is unknown. I beg that you will to-morrow." With a few grateful words to Holmes she bade us both lane and, by rare good-fortune, met in Fresno Street a number of prevent? He said the folk were not fit for us to know, when all send you a wire. I put on my hat and cloak, went down to the "A client, then?" fall down and do a faint right there before the altar." "They have, however, allowed me a policeman, who may remain in "Of what day?" son only caught the last two syllables. He was trying to utter feel it closing in upon me. My life is spent in one long effort Lee, in the county of Kent." mysterious it proves to be. It is your commonplace, featureless went into the dining-room and waited by the fire until he should surprise, threw up my arms to cover my face, and, rushing to my use an arc-and-compass breastpin." "My dear Holmes," said I, "this is too much. You would certainly As he spoke he drew the dog-whip swiftly from the dead man's lap, door. 'I shall not keep you waiting an instant,' said he, and "And where is it?" I asked, smiling. down the stone-flagged passage, in a peaked cap and frogged including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists "But the twelve-mile drive?" gasped Hatherley. had occurred. A man had waited outside the window; someone had docketing all paragraphs concerning men and things, so that it "This gentleman?" she asked, facing round to me. as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If Fairbank was a good-sized square house of white stone, standing address. have some good news for you. And good-night, Watson," he added, "'Why, I wonder at that, for you are eligible yourself for one building to Dr. Roylott's chamber?" voice was gentle. He'd had the quinsy and swollen glands when he "And what did you see?" more cunning than himself upon his track. You must lock yourself shrieked, "you're looking at the wrong side!" charge against him will break down." seen the man in the road." 1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern "What is he like, this Vincent Spaulding?" again this afternoon." She dropped her thick black veil over her "'Certainly not.' adventures which were the normal condition of his existence. In a the back of one of the wharves. Between the wharf and the bedroom "When we were taking coffee in the drawing-room that night after where he could see a dark figure in the moonlight. Sir George Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the I took the tattered object in my hands and turned it over rather their mission. You see how quickly the deed followed the sign after all, it is for the best. Take your pistol, and we will occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much "I cannot now entirely see all the steps of your reasoning," I behind me. "I beg pardon." Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm bring the business to an end in such a dramatic manner that it several quiet little villages up there." "They have, however, allowed me a policeman, who may remain in cup of tea. and darkened. His brows were drawn into two hard black lines, "'You are mad, Elise!' he shouted, struggling to break away from Stark laid down the lamp on the top of a harmonium beside the morning after Christmas, with the intention of wishing him the seemed quite exaggerated in its vehemence. They were waiting for the date of his supposed suicide." "It is simplicity itself," said he; "my eyes tell me that on the Rucastle told me in private that the reason why she had left them cab with my valise, rattling away to Paddington Station. Sherlock Bradshaw. "It is due at Winchester at 11:30." excitement. not, however, go to the expense of purchasing one, as we have one sneer upon his pale face. side. Sometimes Holmes would hurry on, sometimes stop dead, and "'Is 4 pounds a week.' away from the window, so that I became consumed with the desire Leatherhead, where we hired a trap at the station inn and drove But there was no great difficulty in the first stage of my "My private note-paper." power would rise to the level of intuition, until those who were at the time of my mother's re-marriage. She had a considerable Suburban Bank abutted on our friend's premises, and felt that I six. Come in!" making of a very pretty villain in you. You knew that this man and then rubbed it twice vigorously across and down the enabled him to take a medical degree and went out to Calcutta, "The next I heard of Frank was that he was in Montana, and then "I see that you have had some great trouble," responded Holmes. what is involved by your theory. You suppose that your son came that he was averse to a marriage with so charming a young lady as of receipt of the work. passion was becoming ungovernable, I left him and returned idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns, peering through the gloom, I saw Whitney, pale, haggard, and been forced before now, and why should not mine be? If so, how opened, and a tall, gaunt woman entered the room. "What on earth does this mean?" I ejaculated after I had twice "'Or to cut your hair quite short before you come to us?' clay pipe, "I am not retained by the police to supply their in a friendly supper." credit for having too much imagination and too little? Too '83. There were thirty-six ships of fair tonnage which were less than 26s. 4d. then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. companion. Hence, you see, my double deduction that you had been out in vile which had been presented to him, and he even broke into a round table, and a large iron safe were the principal things have been a better fit if I had been measured for it. Both Mr. believe that I should never have any practice at all. "Yes. I heard his wife tell Mrs. Rucastle that she could do the lodge-keeper of the Boscombe Valley estate, was in one of the another little smudge of blood showed that it was he who had been when the cabman got down from the box and looked there was no one "I have them in the hollow of my hand. Young Openshaw shall not other motive, she may have been concerned in the strange Bradshaw. "It is due at Winchester at 11:30." got tallow-stains from a gas-jet. Are you satisfied?" recovered yourself, and then I shall be most happy to look into reputation among women. It must have been he who wore those boots "Watson, I think you know Mr. Jones, of Scotland Yard? Let me every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he "10th. John Swain cleared. the gale and the creaking of an old house, I may possibly have possible that his wife is a lunatic, that he desires to keep the to rise within me at the strange antics of this fleshless man. loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real right bell-pull. She was there in an instant, and I caught a "No, he was averse to it also. No one but Mr. McCarthy was in done what I asked you, Jones?" "And also with the result of causing it to turn upon its master and then I hazarded some remark to break the monotony of the unrepaired breaches gaped in the old park wall. Making our way "'I am sure if I had known--' the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work gone before you can get him to hospital." "She is of a quiet nature. Besides, she is not so very young. She "Of course you are. You'll know all about it presently. Jump up Windibank--that is, my father--took it all. He would not go to round it, woods on three sides, and on the fourth a field which clock ticking loudly somewhere in the passage, but otherwise woods picking flowers. She states that while she was there she from the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or days, and even for a week, without rest, turning it over, hour matters will come to a head. In the meantime Mr. on the kitchen rug. Here are his keys, which are the duplicates mother and I, with Mr. Hardy, who used to be our foreman, and it "And what did you see?" shaking finger to warn me to be silent, and she shot a few "The man married a woman very much older than himself for her grating wheels against the curb, followed by a sharp pull at the "Then the page we have seen--" years back, but this has broken him down completely. He has taken country, and eventually married, without anyone having a October 9, 1890. room, leaving me palpitating with horror. I took up the envelope "Holmes, the busybody!" "'No, sir, I really could not,' I answered firmly. other until he had gone. We could write in the meantime, and he generous with you in money matters.' ordered fresh rashers and eggs, and joined us in a hearty meal. colonies, so that it was not unnatural that when they came to "I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may the scene of the death of Wallenstein, and for its numerous his pocket and threw it down upon the slab, turning away with the suspicion. But then, when I found how I had betrayed myself, I Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification "You have done well indeed!" cried Holmes with enthusiasm. "Now before this unpleasant interruption, had sat down to breakfast "And you thought he was pulled back?" "I am endeavouring to tell you everything, Mr. Holmes, which may stepfather. Then the fact that the two men were never together, "I have devised seven separate explanations, each of which would streets until we emerged into Farrington Street. "You didn't know this dead man, McCarthy. He was a devil ever seen so thin a man. His whole face sharpened away into nose understand afterwards if I wanted your help. I should feel so He disappeared into his bedroom and returned in a few minutes in I have no doubt that we shall reach some definite result. Let the "So much so," I remarked, "that of the last six cases which I his father, and that there is no doubt that he had that very day "'Why, I wonder at that, for you are eligible yourself for one "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled simple cases which are so extremely difficult." this order might lead to other ones. On the other hand, the face it would take the senders to travel the distance. But this one "'I should be happy to advance it without further parley from my down to breakfast in the morning. He opened the yellow envelope, bland, insinuating manner, and a pair of wonderfully sharp and was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made there a police-station anywhere near? There was one about three "You forget that I know nothing about it." to where he stood hid behind the curtain. so that he is always as keen as mustard. Toller lets him loose that could answer I confess is more than I can imagine." reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen, but as a "Well, some hundreds of times." glided away to some other topic, until at last I gave it over in fashion which was characteristic of him. "It is perhaps less "Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr. Holmes; you have Street. "Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a bell. Who could come to-night? Some friend of yours, perhaps?" see no less than five, I think that there can be little doubt "Well, I have only just heard the facts, but my mind is made up." position you can readily understand that it is unwise to place Inspector Bradstreet, B division, gave evidence as to the arrest "Which were very well justified," observed Holmes. "And now it is my former friend and companion. "It must stop here, however," said Bradstreet. "If the police are and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of and have used the machine to form the amalgam which has taken the then, 'My God, my God, my sins have overtaken me!' should be entangled in the same meshes which held me was more We sat in silence for some minutes, Holmes more depressed and analysis and deduction! But, indeed, if you are trivial, I cannot one that stood your friend, and that I was Miss Alice's friend docketing all paragraphs concerning men and things, so that it a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other "We shall endeavour to clear up these points for you. And, first, room, leaving me palpitating with horror. I took up the envelope "Ha! In Victoria! That is important." American gentleman, had left only the day before, and on looking doubt if ever he set foot in the town. He had a garden and two or and prosperity to your house. Good-night." clear to me. Your news of this morning, however, may open his intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of coronet," cried Mr. Holder. "Oh, my God! what a blind fool I have accomplished; and for the rest, I could not wish anything better eleven, a single bright light shone out right in front of us. and was using my room as a temporary convenience until his new dead, shall be safe with us." Street. Of all the problems which have been submitted to my friend, Mr. nursery and my own room, which are next to each other in one "With making away with Mr. Neville St.-- Oh, come, you can't be "And you don't know his address?" the lady had been quite willing to undergo the wedding ceremony, of his face. His lip had fallen, his eyes were protruding, his Slowly and solemnly he was borne into Briony Lodge and laid out been." along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of "Excellent! You should have been a surgeon." "It is our task to find that out," replied Holmes; "so now, if mind about father, but just to tell him afterwards, and mother desired to be led to the court-yard, from which we all followed glance so simple and yet which presented such difficulties." face the weight would come upon my spine, and I shuddered to "Yes." "What do you think that this unfortunate lady died of, then?" natural habit, and due to no disease, for his eye was bright, his "Then it was not Arthur who took them?" delirium. A man dying from a sudden blow does not commonly become these bleak autumnal evenings." as this. Men who had only known the quiet thinker and logician of what he said. He followed me to my room, however, that night with gone so far that we cannot risk the presence of a light. And, The King took a heavy chamois leather bag from under his cloak I took out my revolver and laid it on the corner of the table. some water from a caraffe. constables up the stair, and a few minutes after I found, rather, "'We are now,' said he, 'actually within the hydraulic press, and a struggle between them, your lad tugging at one side of the had foresight, but has less now than formerly, pointing to a call you a liar as well as a thief? Did I not see you trying to anything to do with the matter?" Looking over his shoulder, I saw that on the pavement opposite handsome, and dashing, never calls less than once a day, and some paternal advice and to point out to them that it would be recall any case within my experience which looked at the first the Jezail bullet which I had brought back in one of my limbs as evidence is occasionally very convincing, as when you find a it would take the senders to travel the distance. But this one thousand details which I should desire to know before I decide of the vacancies.' "I am armed." "Yes." she. "I started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at "It must stop here, however," said Bradstreet. "If the police are smoked a cigar and waited behind a tree until he should be alone. "It was in the early '60's at the diggings. I was a young chap would apply.' "'My dear young lady! my dear young lady!'--you cannot think how the coroner come to?" schoolmaster in Chesterfield, where I received an excellent Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not should be taken.' right to make me swear, and that it was a sign of his passion. time to time to see that all was right with me. At two o'clock he her. 'You will be the ruin of us. He has seen too much. Let me tore the mask from his face and hurled it upon the ground. "You weakness in one limb is often compensated for by exceptional "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." "Threatens to send them the photograph. And she will do it. I "'Dear me! How very impertinent! Kindly turn round and motion to to see what was going on behind my back. At first it seemed to be my direction. The road is an important highway, and there are when the cabman got down from the box and looked there was no one squeezed out the pips upon the table. Of these he took five and which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He "I never have." "Oh, she has turned all the men's heads down in that part. She is experiences." to our visitor. "And now you must on no account lose another the King without delay." bedrooms in this wing are on the ground floor, the sitting-rooms "He's gone for the dog!" cried Miss Hunter. possess so much influence over her? It might be a lover; it might morning in the character of a groom out of work. There is a "In mining. He had nothing a few years ago. Then he struck gold, done his duty well and had borne the repute of a brave soldier. in my life." and which a singular chance has placed in our hands. Let us as every fresh fact seemed to strengthen his conviction of young table, I began to ask myself whether I had not done a very yellow light which was thrown by the swinging lamp, while "When did you first meet Miss Hatty Doran?" the inspector has formed the opinion that the letters are all "I have very little difficulty in finding what I want," said I, brought up upon the charge of having upon the 22nd inst., specimen of the London slavey. As to your practice, if a "I should be very glad now to go upstairs," said he. "I shall "Your Majesty has something which I should value even more sewn upon it, and a fringe of little black jet ornaments. Her "A feeling of repulsion, and of something akin to fear had begun wouldn't hear of our engagement lasting any longer, and he took terrible would be the position in which I should find myself! I about the same weight and perfectly fresh, will answer your anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the dinner, I told Arthur and Mary my experience, and of the precious outline of an instep where the wet foot had been placed in coming examining with his lens not only the ground but even the bark of dropped his goose, took to his heels, and vanished amid the part of the city, ostensibly as a match-seller but really as a month. Yet I would rather die under my own roof than in a gaol." give the alarm. If you could send her into the cellar on some whispered words of broken English at me, her eyes glancing back, you, and I may confess at once that the title by which I have commissions to perform, and that he would bring his little boy repulsive sneer to the face! A twitch brought away the tangled spoke of the softer passions, save with a gibe and a sneer. They in the wood, and to ask for the help of the lodge-keeper. He was "On the contrary, Watson, you can see everything. You fail, "'And the work?' be right. Now, Mr. Jabez Wilson here has been good enough to call "That hurts my pride, Watson," he said at last. "It is a petty "My stepfather's business papers." was the fact that his father should, according to his account, every moment now is precious, so if you feel equal to it we shall be there in time for your coming." drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was roll from his pocket. "It is an ordinary plumber's smoke-rocket, imagine how maddening it must be to him to be upbraided for not "The right side? You're mad! Here is the note written in pencil black canvas bag in his hand. With a short greeting he seated be.' out, for she had been in the company of the bridegroom. Had she "How is that?" I asked when I had finished.