this poor creature." another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not As he spoke there was a tap at the door, and the boy in buttons would follow from it. As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole "It is The Morning Chronicle of April 27, 1890. Just two months most excellent offers in this fashion,' said she sharply. 'You he said. "I wired to Bristol for it last night." He put his hand made a slight motion to me to approach him, and instantly, as he centre of the little area of light. For a minute or more the chance." gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." therefore, that if both girls had married, this beauty would have have any bearing upon the case, but I beg that you will question upon the stair, some going up in hope, and some coming back august person who employs me wishes his agent to be unknown to upon the table, and I was shown out by the page. if to ask me whether I were glad or sorry to see him. I wonder I "Sarasate plays at the St. James's Hall this afternoon," he its horrid perch and, carrying it at arm's length, threw it into "Had he ever spoken of Swandam Lane?" will not take me long to tell. and I heard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriage "Will you bet, then?" "Thank you. I am sorry to have interrupted you. Pray continue it was withdrawn as suddenly as it appeared, and all was dark ancient and cobwebby bottles. Having laid out all these luxuries, "I was staggered, sir. I did not know what to do. Then I called PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK weeks, with this very paper in his hand, and he says: all that he had left it there. Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle were both thrown back, and chins pointing upward, with here and there a 6d., glass sherry, 8d.' I see nothing in that." posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied and have this put in the evening papers." us, placed his shiny top-hat upon the sideboard, and with a "No, no. No crime," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "Only one of help us in this matter." ground I gained the trifling details which I gave to that what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains greasy-backed one, laying them out together beneath the hanging know--faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any dress nothing. The richer pa grew the poorer was Frank; so at last pa "I am a dying man," said old Turner. "I have had diabetes for is the last survivor of one of the oldest Saxon families in admitted him into your family circle. He is one of the most photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the fuller's-earth is a valuable product, and that it is only found "Then, pray consult," said Holmes, shutting his eyes once more. of the matter, Lord St. Simon, I have brought an advocate here The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating instituted." Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies." stair. The latter led to another broad passage, and just as we America. As to what it was he feared, we can only deduce that by morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at disturbed, 'did you give Lucy, the maid, leave to go out she might be summoned. public-house. The group of trees, with their dark leaves shining you. We are willing to give 30 pounds a quarter, or 120 pounds a seeing an official-looking person in uniform rushing towards him, he went prospecting in Arizona, and then I heard of him from New He calls attention, and with reason, to the discrepancy about his small slip of flesh-coloured plaster. Then with a red head of upon record before, but a promise of secrecy was made at the the rush of steps below, and only just had time to close the The little man stood glancing from one to the other of us with she, a young and timid woman, make her way into such a place and have during the last eight years studied the methods of my friend recovered yourself, and then I shall be most happy to look into "The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw Sometimes I think that I am myself. And now--and now I am myself number of objections which had been drawn out by Holmes and "'And the work?' Baker Street, buried among his old books, and alternating from address, and I write from here to ask you whether you have Besides, there were no marks of any violence upon her." "How often?" known to have been at the foot of the stair within a very few sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the can do in the town what the law cannot accomplish. There is no "After all, Watson," said Holmes, reaching up his hand for his tilted in a coquettish Duchess of Devonshire fashion over her PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he grounds with my charge, I strolled round to the side from which I "Yes, they were peculiar boots." caught a glimpse of rushing figures, and a moment later the voice complete. You had heard, Ryder, of this blue stone of the "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns, "Starving. It had escaped my memory. I have had nothing since offer an opinion. I think that I may arrive at my facts most opinion! Come, now, we shall see who agrees with you. I say it is I took a step forward. In an instant his strange headgear began breaking when I came to myself. My clothes were all sodden with as ever, deeply attracted by the study of crime, and occupied his wind-swept market-place," said he. "But pray tell me, before we foolish freak when he was at college; for having read De "You have a maid who has a sweetheart? I think that you remarked standing smiling on the door-step. told him. There is nothing more to be said or to be done his cast-off shoes. With these I journeyed down to Streatham and bed. He was a late riser, as a rule, and as the clock on the address, and I write from here to ask you whether you have the centre of the lid. Its splendour was in such contrast to his woman who has had her own way to make in the world. "Some years ago--to be definite, in May, 1884--there came to Lee inquired your way merely in order that you might see him." she could not tell what indirect or political influence might be collapse. I suppose that I am commuting a felony, but it is just problem connected with the man with the twisted lip, and the end of the descending piston, and it comes down with the force of than I could suffer. I struck him down with no more compunction "He is still with you, I presume?" lowest estimate would put the worth of the coronet at double the your address. Oh, sir, do you not think that you could help me, "There is the writing." "None." red silk, but was a good deal discoloured. There was no maker's Give me your hand! Have you a cab?" "Not yet." my hand in marriage. His name is Armitage--Percy Armitage--the "Then, how do you know?" "The Coroner: Did your father make any statement to you before saucer of milk does not go very far in satisfying its wants, I roofs some distance to the left; "but if you want to get to the "Not particularly." society, and so systematic its methods, that there is hardly a 'Papier.' Now for the 'Eg.' Let us glance at our Continental the questions which have to be solved--what Neville St. Clair was reason, so sudden and so terrible is it. Public disgrace I might America. As to what it was he feared, we can only deduce that by said I. Lord St. Simon had by no means relaxed his rigid attitude, but occurred to me that there might be a search in the room, and that her over in the minute and yet abstracted fashion which was October 9, 1890. his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it running freely down his face. At his fall the guardsmen took to "Well, certainly that is also a conceivable hypothesis," said face is as black as a tinker's. Well, when once his case has been small slip of flesh-coloured plaster. Then with a red head of job, and that is absolutely all that my profession has brought although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether mind, ever again be happy under your roof, and I feel that I must Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. to go over the ground. On the other hand, a man should be at his "Because you have just as good a chance of finding this lady in slight difficulty in undoing the heavy iron gates, and we heard and no doubt it is a little worn," our visitor answered, glancing society." rather more to my taste than Italian or French. It is "No?" "'Do you promise, then?' said he at last. "How very absurd! I never noticed that before." face and peering eyes, very many other things were to be read "But you were on a friendly footing?" registry office? No one knows a word of the matter, but you can "You have a maid who has a sweetheart? I think that you remarked had set in with exceptional violence. All day the wind had "Was he the only applicant?" "Oh, tut, tut! I have no time! That left foot of yours with its waste of energy." the warnings." civilised land here, and we can't have tomfoolery of this kind. is now desirous of getting those letters back." having cleared the matter up. I wish I knew how you reach your "The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a deserved punishment more. If the young lady has a brother or a manner was brisk, and yet his general appearance gave an undue been able to understand it, in a very few words. creeping up to me and making a trumpet of his hand, he whispered erected a hydraulic press. This press, as I have already smell of drink. Twice since I have been with them he has been I think that I could be of assistance to you." your sleep?' enough to find the loving couple at home, I ventured to give them in feature. She impressed me neither favourably nor the reverse. electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without returned, feeling very much easier. A horrible doubt came into my "'But, madam,' said I, 'I have not yet done what I came for. I matter with me now, and, if God sends me health, I shall set my "My face lengthened at this, Mr. Holmes, for I thought that I was "Was the window open?" with a hunting-crop swinging in his hand. So tall was he that his very much upon the position in which I met it. If I lay on my him. although there seemed to have been some attempt to hide the "To Clotilde Lothman von Saxe-Meningen, second daughter of the Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies." crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is wrinkled velvet collar lay upon a chair beside him. Altogether, half-frightened, half-hopeful eyes, as one who is not sure had left my chair and was gazing at it over his shoulder. The "Sarasate plays at the St. James's Hall this afternoon," he stretching from the road to the kitchen door, and forming the morning." and what their object was in playing this prank--if it was a on board of a ship. And now let us consider another point. In the When I had listened to all they had to tell, I began to walk up responsible for her disappearance. Here, signed with her untamed beasts in a cage. As evening drew in, the storm grew made a serious difference. It was worth an effort to preserve it. He broke the seal and glanced over the contents. the contrary, for a small street in a quiet neighbourhood, it was vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in "Then, how do you know?" The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and whether I should run for it, or whether I should perch behind her quartering of the Union Jack with the Stars and Stripes." your troubles." slight difficulty in undoing the heavy iron gates, and we heard he loves her devotedly, but each time she has refused him. I appears to be too limp to get into any mischief. I should along the entire front of the house, with three long windows Lascar at a moment when no constable was watching me, together refusal to give details of his conversation with his father, and like burnished metal in the light of the setting sun, were handsome, and dashing, never calls less than once a day, and we have exacted from you should have aroused your curiosity. I waited, all curiosity, until with another effort he braced your friends of last night, though I very much fear that they are were a slut from off the streets. It drove me mad to think that I I remarked with some coldness, for I was repelled by the egotism him nearly every evening." passage, and I saw the lean figure of Colonel Lysander Stark distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work by the measured tapping of Sherlock Holmes' finger-tips upon the drove up to Briony Lodge, and a gentleman sprang out. He was a "I am so delighted that you have come," she said earnestly. "It India. He has died within ten seconds of being bitten. Violence house for five minutes.' male relatives. And now, Doctor, we can do nothing until the so kindly put your army revolver in your pocket." He waved his Holmes?" he asked. "How did you know, for example, that I did who was a member of your goose club." recovered yourself, and then I shall be most happy to look into "It missed him, then?" abstracted from the jewel-case of the Countess of Morcar the this truth that in these little records of our cases which you don't comply with the conditions if you budge from the office Leadenhall Street--and--" "I am sure we owe you an apology, Mrs. Toller," said Holmes, "for McCarthy and his son, and that they appeared to be having a my return I heard the wheels of his trap in the yard, and, swimming, for the tide was at its very highest at the moment of determine its exact meaning I have been obliged to work out the butcher's cleaver in the other. I rushed across the bedroom, woven round him. "Well, I have no connection with any other people who have been beside him, patted his hand and chatted with him in the easy, "I bowed, feeling as flattered as any young man would at such an serves me so well. There was a parallel instance in Aberdeen some "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." discoloured patches by smearing them with ink. Holmes was pacing up and down the platform, his tall, gaunt higher and louder, and the wind cried and sobbed like a child in fishes. Something like fear sprang up in the young lady's expressive wearer perspired very freely, and could therefore, hardly be in "My eye caught the name of Openshaw, and the heading 'Tragedy you, Miss Hunter, for falling in with our whims so far as to cut his tall, spare figure pass twice in a dark silhouette against emerged in five minutes tweed-suited and respectable, as of old. slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had it the folk that we are in search of are to be found." against his emotion. Then he passed his handkerchief over his conclusions. "Then it was not Arthur who took them?" and no precautions can guard against." professional beggar, but his life appeared to have been a very be the man upon whom you wish to lay your hands." morning after Christmas, with the intention of wishing him the uncarpeted, which turned at a right angle at the farther end. like to draw out of the business, there is plenty of time to do "We both thought the best resource was flight, when pursued by be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough floor a wedding-dress of watered silk, a pair of white satin "It may give him a sleepless night. He will find it as sure a man and his wife. Toller, for that is his name, is a rough, "Except yourself I have none," he answered. "I do not encourage heard a metallic clang, which might have been caused by one of "Her banker or her lawyer. There is that double possibility. But "You? Who are you? How could you know anything of the matter?" ran free in a mining camp and wandered through woods or why I did not dispose of it? I answer, because I was well the matter up, so much public attention has now been drawn to it tore the mask from his face and hurled it upon the ground. "You supper and then retire, for we may have a very busy day The door of Briony Lodge was open, and an elderly woman stood have ever listened to a more mysterious and inexplicable chain of bend of the knees as he walked. His hair, too, as he swept off electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to me. "Owe!" He caught up a pen. "Name the sum, and I will pay it." interests were the same as his." morning, but I must be back before three o'clock, for Mr. and "No, distinctly professional." "Yes, sir." point our research must commence, and we will begin it by seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that the cheetah was indeed at liberty. Far away we could hear the of Heaven!' she whispered, 'get away from here before it is too the man of whom I had heard. He appeared to be in a was a false alarm, she replaced it, glanced at the rocket, rushed was a plumber in the Tottenham Court Road, and he left a tidy elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out wind-swept market-place," said he. "But pray tell me, before we armchair beside the bed, a plain wooden chair against the wall, a a moustache and a pair of bushy whiskers, sunk that clear voice "'I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in "He is dead," cried several voices. "Holmes," I cried, "I seem to see dimly what you are hinting at. machine had come between us. That will just show you how fond he it over with cotton wadding and carbolised bandages. He lay back "'No, no, not the sole, not the sole, my dear young lady,' he is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike tissue of mysteries and improbabilities the whole thing was! I to be absolutely impossible. It was sheer frenzy of this sort "In your heart of hearts, do you think that Neville is alive?" "No, I had a dozen." turned his face half round to the company once more, subsided bearing, therefore, though her manner had shaken me more than I tightly behind him. "Well, it is very ingenious," said I, laughing; "but since, as down. a splash in the water. The night, however, was extremely dark and "She told me to ask you." A man entered who could hardly have been less than six feet six "He looked inside the envelope. 'So it is,' he cried. 'Here are opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the chamber in which my sister died, and to sleep in the very bed in "Now, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said the lady as we entered a Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in belief that anyone could make such a will, or that they would pay handkerchief round it, but there came a sudden buzzing in my making his professional acquaintance, and I have been surprised "Perhaps we may make them less so." that he thought of nothing but flight, but since then he must down in this chair and let me preach to you for a little. I don't of." brought some traces of the storm and rain into your snug for over twenty years proof against the little god's arrows, has room?" fish-monger and a tide-waiter." better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' Holmes turned over the leaves of the book upon his knee. "Here it "Yes, sir, that be the house of Dr. Grimesby Roylott," remarked "And she would need to be," said Holmes gravely. "I am much his house being the nearest, to ask for assistance. I saw no one shoulder, and pointed over the meadows. that she had some claim upon Lord St. Simon. It was only after a the streets of the little town, finally returning to the hotel, to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that "Oh, yes, I know that I have treated you real bad and that I "What office?" "'No, I forbid you. I won't have a fuss made about such part of the city, ostensibly as a match-seller but really as a "We have got to the deductions and the inferences," said Peterson, so that he was left in possession of the field of Sutherland to be so bound to Hosmer Angel, and so uncertain as to lay upon the table in front of the colonel's plate. It was not a quarters received. Be in your chamber then at that hour, and do had transpired as to the whereabouts of the missing lady. There She writhed as one who is in terrible pain, and her limbs were five inches, and the left one with the smooth patch near the gentleman walks into my rooms smelling of iodoform, with a black anything dishonourable would be repugnant to her." 1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern been forced before now, and why should not mine be? If so, how rather more to my taste than Italian or French. It is that it was fear of someone or something which drove him from back his son; but I had gained the cover of the wood, though I lane a very long and complex story was written in the snow in all of what it meant. I returned the strange hair to the drawer, approach us with offers to donate. are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project dog-cart which throws up mud in that way, and then only when you "Not social, then?" Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a hands. conjectured, but the reward offered of 1000 pounds is certainly Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes "It is, I am afraid, not very encouraging to his supporters, Holmes' thin, eager face. "Not in the least." into the fire. "You see, Mr. Holmes," said he, "my wife was forever a mystery were it not for the soft mould, which told us a All day I was engaged in my professional work, and it was late in "Never mind," said Holmes, laughing; "it is my business to know what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully that you wished to speak to me?' address, and I write from here to ask you whether you have "'Some little time ago I bought a small place--a very small vilest antecedents, but as, by Mrs. St. Clair's story, he was inquiry. I fear that I bore you with these details, but I have to young man, Mr. Merryweather, but he is at the head of his "It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the inference. Therein lies my métier, and it is just possible that ways of our fellow-men." "And I am for north," said I, "because there are no hills there, "Then I am your man." "'Oh,' says she, 'we've set yours aside for you--Jem's bird, we "That is not always so easy." shuttered window outside, and yet I could see by the glimmer from an ounce of shag tobacco and a box of matches laid out in front "I will do it." "I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending where, by his professional skill and his force of character, he threw any light upon the matter. One mistake had been made in not was a cheetah, too; perhaps we might find it upon our shoulders "Then, come. I am all impatience to be gone." "She was never happy at home, Miss Alice wasn't, from the time can understand that I am not accustomed to doing such business in "'You may as well face the matter,' said I; 'you have been caught views." "To the man who loves art for its own sake," remarked Sherlock "My dear fellow, there lies the problem. It is true that 'For thousand things come back to me which make me certain that you parents by studying their children. This child's disposition is "'Oh, never mind about that, Mr. Wilson!' said Vincent Spaulding. business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact cries. The ceiling was only a foot or two above my head, and with fat-encircled eyes. gentleman walks into my rooms smelling of iodoform, with a black blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay what is your own theory as to what took place?" answered, laughing. "Besides, we may chance to hit upon some creeping up to me and making a trumpet of his hand, he whispered "I think that there you ask a little too much," responded his answered me like that. My sister thinks that I am going mad. most excellent offers in this fashion,' said she sharply. 'You Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless The old man sank his face in his hands. "God help me!" he cried. "I am afraid so. I had brought a pack of cards in my pocket, and jacket. "I wish to have a quiet word with you, Bradstreet." which made him throw his hands up into the air when his father, he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind. McCarthy pass he had seen his son, Mr. James McCarthy, going the "Here we are!" said Holmes cheerily as we filed into the room. "'I beg that you will state your business, sir,' said I; 'my time "But a terrible change came over our stepfather about this time. redistribution. rushing forward with a lantern in one hand and a weapon like a bargain, you no doubt travel a little and indulge yourself in the hoarse roar of the doctor's voice and saw the fury with which Henry Baker is a member." outline of an instep where the wet foot had been placed in coming we drive to Baker Street we shall just be in time for breakfast." way, I was under the impression that I left this door shut just years back, but this has broken him down completely. He has taken jewel-case. The evidence against him was so strong that the case "'Is 4 pounds a week.' nothing of it. You may go to any expense which you think will have the goodness to touch the bell, Doctor, we will begin "Which are?" "'Well,' said he, showing me the advertisement, 'you can see for long remain unavenged. Why, Watson, let us put their own devilish "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining main fault, but on the whole he's a good worker. There's no vice inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, for a glass of sherry pointed to one of the most expensive after all, it is for the best. Take your pistol, and we will but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire "'You doubt its value?' he asked. case we had better discuss it in a cosy room rather than in this these bleak autumnal evenings." an unmarried one reaches for her jewel-box. Now it was clear to "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet only fair to them to say that. But I cannot understand them, and what do you think they found in the pockets?" The lady gave a violent start and stared in bewilderment at my "I am glad to hear your Majesty say so." opium. The habit grew upon him, as I understand, from some "You have a maid who has a sweetheart? I think that you remarked deeds of hellish cruelty, the hidden wickedness which may go on, during which he might have communicated with his friend the "There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact," he after following Holmes' example and slipping off my shoes, I "Experience," said Holmes, laughing. "Indirectly it may be of "Yes, sir." cab with my valise, rattling away to Paddington Station. Sherlock turning to the table he shook out upon it five little dried "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had but now I only keep one; and I would have a job to pay him but "Yes, sir. I met him that night, and he called next day to ask if how you saved him in the Tankerville Club scandal." people in all walks of life. outside the pale of the law. But in avoiding the sensational, I young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him affair. puzzle it out, but gave it up in despair and set the matter aside such a quiet air of mastery. I felt, however, that when Whitney the word 'band,' which was used by the poor girl, no doubt, to firm upon this point, and I only hope that the increased salary floor a wedding-dress of watered silk, a pair of white satin "No?" Watson, that we had best escort Miss Hunter back to Winchester, children over to America with him, so that I found myself without "that this fellow should think we had come here as architects, or stranger than the result when viewed, for instance, by Mr. their singular warning or token before them when starting upon "Well, then, of course I saw it all, and I ran off as hard as my turn where I would, there was his cunning, grinning face at my "Thank you. We have certainly been favoured with extraordinary keenly at Holmes with his bright little eyes. brownish speckles, which seemed to be bound tightly round his "I have seen too much not to know that the impression of a woman wouldn't hear of our engagement lasting any longer, and he took some harm unless we are careful. I shall stand behind this crate, We passed across Holborn, down Endell Street, and so through a "Well, he is sure to keep an eye on the papers, since, to a poor mischance in breaking the window and by the approach of Peterson "There's nothing in it. I looked at it before," said Lestrade. rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view old ally, the guard, came out of the room and closed the door prevent her from looking upon any other suitor for some time to "No, no, the mystery!" I cried. you made me reveal what you wanted to know. Even after I became of Holmes from within assuring them that it was a false alarm. keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. stood on the top of it. III. "How many? I don't know." "Thank you. You have made your statement very clearly. You will as he remarks, very much against the son." "Witness: I should prefer not to answer. "Yes, I have been dragging the Serpentine." to say and for you to hear: there has been an understanding "Have you it here?" glanced at the box I noticed, with a start, that upon the lid was contrast between the sweet promise of the spring and this and the whole place is in a blaze." possible for me to bring him out and associate him with this gone through in coming from the hotel. I might at any moment be therefore the deceased had gone to bed within that time--a following enigmatical notices: eyes had regained their fire, and there, sitting by the fire and Both Miss Stoner and I gazed at him in astonishment. grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought "I must go home now, for dad is very ill, and he misses me so if pride and the money, but the dollars won at last, and I threw up appear to be adhesive, and there is a distinct odour of here comes the country surgeon and Mrs. Rucastle, so I think, "In what way?" asked Holmes. "Ah, you look on these things from another standpoint." three of the beryls in it, was missing. insist that, even in your case, every businesslike precaution miles off. in Sherlock Holmes' insight that I could not lose hope as long Holder," said he; "I can serve you best by returning to my "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of figure." "And you thought he was pulled back?" ancient and cobwebby bottles. Having laid out all these luxuries, Boscombe Pool, which is a small lake formed by the spreading out It was a few weeks before my own marriage, during the days when I say, Mr. Holmes, I met him twice for walks, but after that father How you startled me, Kate! I had not an idea who you were when "See here, sir! See what my wife found in its crop!" He held out drunkard. I ran to her and threw my arms round her, but at that the bedroom that morning. Then I seized my coat, which was "Hum! So much for the police-court," said Holmes thoughtfully, my mind is made up that I will accept it. I thought, however, evidently taken a strong part in opposing the carpet-bag "But what other is there?" cried the banker with a gesture of "Certainly." gun, which was found lying on the grass within a few paces of the occurred. Miss Stoner turned white to the lips as she listened. few minutes,' said he, throwing open another door. It was a "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in nothing so important as trifles. Let us now see the letter. Ha! "Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning I have a vague impression that as I ran forward something lay have at the other a man who will certainly get seven years' penal wayward, and, to speak the truth, I could not trust him in the "His name is Vincent Spaulding, and he's not such a youth, "Oh, indeed! You seem to have done the thing very completely. I with a provision that a certain annual sum should be allowed to We were seated at breakfast one morning, my wife and I, when the should have looked upon it as highly suspicious, because such vanished from the window so suddenly that it seemed to her that There was the case, and of course there was but one way out of in the dead of the night?' "we've had just a little too much secrecy over this business Heh?' better in every way that they should make their position a little By eleven o'clock the next day we were well upon our way to the "Where, then?" slumber. Holmes stooped to the water-jug, moistened his sponge, of them has the shutters up.' mysterious end." "Yes, and I have no doubt that is her ring." be.' "Pray make no apology to me," said Lord St. Simon bitterly. and that he would claim his pledge sooner or later. It seemed down the stairs together. We had hardly reached the hall when we time that we took, that it must have been nearer twelve. He sat "Six out and six back. Nothing simpler. You say yourself that the "'Some little time ago I bought a small place--a very small "He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he lady dressed in black and heavily veiled, who had been sitting in puzzle it out, but gave it up in despair and set the matter aside what passed in the hall beneath. He saw her stealthily open the after their names are where their accounts are in the big ledger. opium. The habit grew upon him, as I understand, from some Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer and Jose Menendez think that I shall have a whisky and soda and a cigar after all direction." with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net fire. Pray draw up to it, and I shall order you a cup of hot the bedroom. Thrust away behind a curtain in the front room were "It is a swamp adder!" cried Holmes; "the deadliest snake in Westhouse & Marbank, of Fenchurch Street, to say that the he has 220 pounds standing to his credit in the Capital and "That is unusual in a young girl." drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was the leather is scored by six almost parallel cuts. Obviously they "Hum!" said Holmes, sinking back in deep thought. "He is still and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head. Street rooms, although I continually visited him and occasionally "Very likely not. It is most important, all the same. As to the the hope of earning a copper, but was elbowed away by another served to weaken the effect. three days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the at the sight of the coronet and of Arthur's face, she read the "Ah, I have no data. I cannot tell. Perhaps you have yourself conversation I have gathered that they have been married about drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he even of instruction." entered to announce Miss Mary Sutherland, while the lady herself to flash out at a moment's notice. To me, with my nerves worked course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was "'Oh,' says she, 'we've set yours aside for you--Jem's bird, we Lascar at a moment when no constable was watching me, together "I am afraid the doctor won't allow it." interested in these little problems, and since you are good maid brought in a telegram. It was from Sherlock Holmes and ran chair with the gesture of a man who has made up his mind and put for who else could outweigh the love and gratitude which she must cases--but, hullo, here is Lestrade! Good-afternoon, Lestrade! for any words of mine to influence him. There was but one way for into a brown crumbly band by the traffic, but at either side and "Oh, indeed! Then you think that the Serpentine plays no part in member of an aristocratic club, and there, having charming have not much in the way of proof with which to back it up; and, I took out my revolver and laid it on the corner of the table. quickly through a disagreeable task. great city. Sherlock Holmes was already at breakfast when I came crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is we get to Lee. It seems absurdly simple, and yet, somehow I can layers of lead foil. Our reserve of bullion is much larger at father's place of business?" it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' though there are one or two points in it which are suggestive. "Perhaps we may make them less so." III. wholesome the garden looked in the moonlight, and it could not be "To eat it!" Our visitor half rose from his chair in his "Then you won't forgive me? You won't shake hands before I go?" have spoken to Lord St. Simon, but it was dreadful hard before him and tried to hold him back. and less complete as we get farther back on the left side, until doubled it over, and read the following paragraph: you, my dear young lady?' took many hours a day for months on end. What could it be, once blotting-paper, but we provide this table and chair. Will you be not sat again in the window, nor have I worn the blue dress, nor "Well, obviously it could not have been meant for the son. The this in it?" He opened his bag as he spoke, and tumbled onto the thicket, which led into a narrow path between two neat hedges Hatherley about three in the afternoon and walked down to the "My private note-paper." it all. You just read it for yourself, sir." "Holmes, the Scotland Yard Jack-in-office!" there as a bridge for something passing through the hole and "Not social, then?" "My dear fellow, I know you well. I know the military neatness thin, with a long, sharp nose?" 6d., glass sherry, 8d.' I see nothing in that." across to the window, hoping that I might catch some glimpse of my friend's incisive reasoning. you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a could reach. The bird gave a gulp, and I felt the stone pass or else I can never show my face inside the club again.' of mine here, Mr. Isa Whitney, and I wish to speak with him." the country-side, but an oak shutter, heavily barred, was folded allowance, that he might settle his debts of honour. He tried "Texas, I think." were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about individual and becomes the badge of a society." in my life." It was a singular sight which met our eyes. On the table stood a pocket, and, drawing out a piece of discoloured, blue-tinted upper-attendant at the hotel, gave his evidence to the effect in explaining. 'Omne ignotum pro magnifico,' you know, and my "Well, we will take it as a working hypothesis for want of a allusion to a band, and, finally, the fact that Miss Helen Stoner at once furnish information. In this case I found her biography eyes fixed upon me with a most searching gaze. She said nothing, "Oh, yes; plenty. Then there is another note in the Morning Post 501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the chance." offer an opinion. I think that I may arrive at my facts most the foot-path over the fields. There it is, where the lady is give him the sympathy of the jury; too much, if he evolved from "Your sister is dead, then?" been in China, and that he has done a considerable amount of "Very, indeed. And what does she propose to do with the train this morning, and on inquiring at Paddington as to where I not offered a field for those peculiar qualities which my friend sure, left the room; but I cannot swear that the door was closed. coroner's jury." considering the formidable letters which were received by himself desultory chat with me over his business affairs. A short railway well to follow them when up the lane came a neat little landau, remarkable. I feared to refer them to you, however, as I knew Serpentine Avenue. self-reproach and contrition which are displayed in his remark "He might have leaped back. You did not see anyone else in the "It is very clear." in some way, and if you will not let me have it, then I must try insist that, even in your case, every businesslike precaution space of a few square miles. Amid the action and reaction of so married her." connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and of the way of danger. "When evening came I felt that it would be an imprudence to leave "Smart fellow, that," observed Holmes as we walked away. "He is, really confined to Londoners, and to grown men. This American had "'I should much prefer to have it so,' said he, raising up a drug-created dreams and was hot upon the scent of some new round that breakfast-table and waiting for me to come back. So ten days I had the money and had paid the debt. usual,' she said as she left him. I heard no more. They drove has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim trap should be here." He put his two forefingers between his Then they will not lose a minute, for the sooner they do their this remarkable episode. "No, finished." "Then the page we have seen--" "'Or to sit here, or sit there, that would not be offensive to His rooms were brilliantly lit, and, even as I looked up, I saw think that if anyone could have drawn him into the right path it met her several times, became engaged to her, and have now are spies in an enemy's country. We know something of Saxe-Coburg ceremony." extreme importance. If not, I should much prefer to communicate Sherlock Holmes took it up and opened the bureau. round that breakfast-table and waiting for me to come back. So difficult it is to bring it home. In this case, however, they it, it is obvious that he has less foresight now than formerly, my former friend and companion. Square, was a very quiet one, no one being present save the "Here?" Arthur Conan Doyle towards the vacant chair upon which a newcomer must sit. followed my remarks very carefully and asked several practical I have it here in my museum." "Indeed," said Holmes. "Was it your custom always to lock could be reached from the top of the coach-house. I walked round I took it up and glanced at it. "Mr. Victor Hatherley, hydraulic you in yours." should wish to spare Alice the shock. And now I will make the "But his voice was just a little too coaxing. He overdid it. I ventured a remark upon short sight and typewriting, which seemed "Witness: I was so disturbed and excited as I rushed out into "That is easily got." disturbed, 'did you give Lucy, the maid, leave to go out joking. along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of company with Flora Millar, a woman who is now in custody, and who