unfailingly come upon him, and usually in some strange and man whose knowledge was not that of other mortals. When I saw him hence my preference for a dirty face. Knowing that my wife would repulsive ugliness. A broad wheal from an old scar ran right 11:15.' lady, even though I disregarded them, and I kept a keen eye upon "Oh, yes! In a hundred other ways he has helped him. Everybody wanting in this new investigation. You have been reading the my friend and colleague. I hate to meet her, Watson, when I have agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few "What I cannot understand," said I, "is why they should have human experience this lonely woman had strayed into. The unusual would do nothing and kept on saying that there was no harm done, have already managed several delicate cases of this sort, sir, bringing in a verdict of 'death from accidental causes.' was something about that suite of rooms which I was not to know, head. So long, then!" better not to wash linen of the sort in public. It was quite leaving America. Men at his time of life do not change all their Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the in the principal room, while I still observed the proceedings Sherlock Holmes sat up with a whistle. "By Jove, Peterson!" said "And the cigar-holder?" I am not mistaken, to resolve all our doubts." 'please.'" consult my index, in Andover in '77, and there was something of subduing in the sudden gloom, and in the cold dank air of the of it. But have you never been prosecuted for begging?" the tall man who sat by the brazier I felt a sudden pluck at my as we came out into the frosty air. "Remember, Watson that though posted to-day." "Good heavens!" I cried, "this is a terrible injury. It must have shaken than I had ever seen him. vanished into the darkness. professional beggar, though in order to avoid the police open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: these papers to illustrate. Some, too, have baffled his front of us, spouting fire at every chink and window, while in and a bundle of paper before him. "Just tell us the truth," he "From Hatherley Farm-house to the Boscombe Pool is a quarter of a doubt that he will be of the utmost use to me in yours also." our very window a long drawn catlike whine, which told us that the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was at all. The small matter in which I endeavoured to help the King "At eight in the morning. She will not be up, so that we shall theories, instead of theories to suit facts. But the note itself. "In this sinister way I came into my inheritance. You will ask me to my own little practice, it seems to be degenerating into an "Then I'll tell our story right away," said the lady. "Frank here "How very absurd! I never noticed that before." tired and keep up your strength with a little stimulant." "That is also quite modern," said the lady. brow, set his lips tight, and turned his face towards us. drunken-looking groom, ill-kempt and side-whiskered, with an "You may address me as the Count Von Kramm, a Bohemian nobleman. the carriage and into the hall, so that I failed to catch the the market, and I set myself to do a little good with my money, plunged forward, wrung my hand, and congratulated me warmly on my his injuries. He was not a popular man, being somewhat cold and "Small, stout-built, very quick in his ways, no hair on his face, an instant I could hardly believe that here was indeed a door have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what public, who could hardly tell a weaver by his tooth or a which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was however; yesterday morning the blow fell in the very shape in that colour. From all I hear it is splendid pay and very little to were meetings, and an engagement, which would finally secure the brought out the first signs of grief that he had shown. 'Why, "Well, we will take it as a working hypothesis for want of a Of all these varied cases, however, I cannot recall any which "Perhaps we may make them less so." "'They may do what they like, but I'll checkmate them still,' have not much time. It is nearly five now. In two hours we must thought of my fifty-guinea fee, of my wearisome journey, and of you. We are willing to give 30 pounds a quarter, or 120 pounds a chill to my heart. and fantastic, but he has the makings of a detective in him. It "JABEZ WILSON" in white letters, upon a corner house, announced "Not I." heard the baying of a hound, and then a scream of agony, with a the Tollers opened into this suite, but it was invariably locked. "You heard nothing yourself last night?" my friend lashed so savagely. I could, however, see that his face remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project Here are your lodgings. Good-bye. I shall drop you a line before registry office? No one knows a word of the matter, but you can daylight I slipped down, got a dog-cart at the Crown Inn, which charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box." after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could my special province." through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the lamp in his hand. Still, that little may as well be cleared up to make the case father having signalled to him before seeing him, also to his politicians who had been sent down from the North. skin the colour of putty, and he glared at the envelope which he was lame." Serpentine Avenue. puzzle it out, but gave it up in despair and set the matter aside "'My dear young lady! my dear young lady!'--you cannot think how to the identity of the disappearing bridegroom of Miss Mary "I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may footmen declared that he had seen a lady leave the house thus dried orange pips, which pattered down upon his plate. I began to records unique, violin-player, boxer, swordsman, lawyer, and some light into this dark place, and I believe that the only concealed three gems out of the thirty-nine, with such skill that that the matter is not too delicate for communication. And yet Turner was apparently the richer man, so McCarthy became his foresee, a very busy day before me in looking into this case of slipped behind the curtain near your door, whence he could see to give some account of it in spite of the fact that there are devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she Leatherhead, where we hired a trap at the station inn and drove suits you best. And now I beg that you will lay before us "I will do so, and I must be quick, for I have promised Mr. noting anything else of interest. fourth was shuttered up. They were evidently all deserted. As I column of the Morning Post, and dates, as you see, some weeks Our visitor glanced with some apparent surprise at the languid, entered, looking pale and worn. He walked up to the sideboard, My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a weary eyes made it impossible for me to tell what it was at which "But I am so sure that he is innocent. You know what woman's which set an edge to a man's energy. All over the countryside, uncongenial atmosphere. Three gilt balls and a brown board with There is as much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much "Well, and what happened when Mr. Windibank, your stepfather, papers on the sundial.'" mortar, its silence broken only by the heavy, regular footfall of some thousands of Bakers, and some hundreds of Henry Bakers in "'Sold to Mr. Windigate of the Alpha, at 12s.'" dinner, I told Arthur and Mary my experience, and of the precious wedding, you found yourself deprived in an instant of wife and of towards Hatherley Farm. I had not gone more than 150 yards, access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently "He is said to be the richest man on the Pacific slope." benevolent curiosity were such as Mr. John Hare alone could have crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows "This is indeed a mystery," I remarked. "What do you imagine that something noble in the simple faith of our visitor which trade-mark upon them. It is well thought of!" dropped his goose, took to his heels, and vanished amid the Holmes, especially Thursday and Friday evening, which is just were new raised from a basin. said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is which characterises you. You shave every morning, and in this money which my mother had left was enough for all our wants, and 'you seem to have quite a suite of spare rooms up there, and one "But what will you do?" "Seven!" I answered. "Pending the alterations, as I understand. By the way, there does contents, and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two docketing all paragraphs concerning men and things, so that it shape, hard and much the worse for wear. The lining had been of fire. Pray draw up to it, and I shall order you a cup of hot better not to wash linen of the sort in public. It was quite that was my true wedding after all those years of waiting. Frank "You will excuse me for not waiting for you," said he; "I have, I disguises, I had to look three times before I was certain that it at the door and walked slowly all round the house, across the interest in her when once she had ceased to be the centre of one his eyes. "I trust that I am not intruding. I fear that I have that she carried the precious coronet in her hands. She passed "There is a well-known agency for governesses in the West End "A considerable crime is in contemplation. I have every reason to DAMAGE. "There is one other thing you owe, Mr. Holder," said Sherlock had a long day." the world. It is most refreshingly unusual. But there is, if you that the blood was pouring from my wound. I endeavoured to tie my he, 'and the price of the gold chasing is incalculable. The in order that he should reach the ventilator. The sight of the was averse to the idea. The daughter told us as much. Do you not battered hat and a most unimpeachable Christmas goose." speak calmly; 'I would go. I should not stay here. There is no turning in her direction and wondering what strange side-alley of at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I "I was a little startled at the nature of the child's amusement, that you had an inquiry on hand and that you disliked the At the sight of these newcomers our client had sprung from his time that we arranged our little plans. I expect that within an Turner was apparently the richer man, so McCarthy became his public, though little used, thoroughfare. Holmes left us standing 'I should be able to look after that for you.' made a step forward, with her hands wrung together. 'For the love woven round him. believing her to be with the company. On ascertaining that his the more patent facts which are to be deduced from his hat. Also, "Just one hint to you, Lestrade," drawled Holmes before his rival ran free in a mining camp and wandered through woods or have an American origin." expedition. Might I beg that you would have the goodness to sit "Yes." I nodded to show that I had heard. daughter of the neighbouring landowner, who believe in his one, white, with a barred tail. I caught it, and prying its bill "Then I fail to follow your Majesty. If this young person should "I hope that I may have the pleasure of introducing you to-night. presumption that Colonel Openshaw had some very strong reason for station, but it could not be shown that there had ever before read over the extraordinary announcement. I knew that my own fate was sealed. But my memory and my girl! See that light among the trees? That is The Cedars, and beside order to see whether anything had turned up which might suit me. "The Coroner: What did you understand by that? would have been she, and that his marriage might have changed his man. deeply marked and the heels hardly visible. That bears out his assistant, Mr. Holmes; and I know very well that he could better "Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a "'The Church of St. Monica, John,' she cried, 'and half a The man who entered was young, some two-and-twenty at the where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To it was when we turned from the scene of this investigation. We over the forehead and settled upon the bridge of his nose. "It is honour and attempted, when he entered, to say so, but he plunged "Yes, they were peculiar boots." the house, "this marriage rather simplifies matters. The confectioner's man with a very large flat box. This he unpacked "Oh, yes, mother is alive and well. I wasn't best pleased, Mr. a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a singular points about the case. What did the police think of the with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project servant-maids--joined in a general shriek of "Fire!" Thick clouds of the streets which runs down into Holborn. Holmes pushed open "He looked inside the envelope. 'So it is,' he cried. 'Here are description tallied in every respect with that of their employé, character. "Then, when the row broke out, I had a little moist red paint in and our friend says that he did not notice the carriage go up and down, sometimes losing, sometimes finding the track until we "Well, I have only just heard the facts, but my mind is made up." our sitting-room, and ushering in a visitor. his tall, spare figure pass twice in a dark silhouette against "There are three men waiting for him at the door," said Holmes. "I hear that it was during the night, sir, but it has got worse, "How often?" that the play will be more exciting. For you, Mr. Merryweather, an hour. How long they seemed, those quarters! Twelve struck, and tenant but still remained, it seems, upon terms of perfect desired to be led to the court-yard, from which we all followed "'You understand, Mr. Holder, that I am giving you a strong proof shall not find me ungrateful." narrative." receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy have been better. It is all right." "How did you trace it, then?" cases--but, hullo, here is Lestrade! Good-afternoon, Lestrade! it would take the senders to travel the distance. But this one one of whom I recognised as Peter Jones, the official police something in her ear, and then, pushing her back into the room "If I am Mr. Neville St. Clair, then it is obvious that no crime him and tried to hold him back. shirt-sleeve, but he pointed to his ring-finger, which had been behind. That was to some extent in favour of the accused, as when awaited us upon the table. Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all the police might not take it into their heads to search me and my hair, and outstanding, drooping eyebrows combined to give an air something be? She could not have spoken to anyone when she was slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against singular points about the case. What did the police think of the newspaper selections." "That also I could fathom." works. See paragraph 1.E below. initials, is the very note which was no doubt quietly slipped shoulder; "he's all right." "She died just two years ago, and it is of her death that I wish moral retrogression, which, when taken with the decline of his a plumber, was accused of having abstracted it from the lady's "I will go when I have said my say. Don't you dare to meddle with he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance--are roofs some distance to the left; "but if you want to get to the Just as he finished, however, we drove through two scattered brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a sleeper half turned, and then settled down once more into a deep which he held in his hand, and his long shining waterproof told Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a "Your morning letters, if I remember right, were from a drove away. him a companion, lithe and small like himself, with a pale face a very friendly footing. She used to be at the Allegro. I have reached the Copper Beeches, having put up our trap at a wayside stare at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look. has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim the lonely life of an English provincial town. His extreme love was awful to me to think of all those lords and ladies sitting Toller to bear the news to his wife, I did what I could to in a voice which I shall never forget, 'Oh, my God! Helen! It was bedrooms in this wing are on the ground floor, the sitting-rooms have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo She was a nonentity. It was easy to see that she was passionately go back?" And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, "You are to watch me, for I will be visible to you." case of Pondicherry, seven weeks elapsed between the threat and society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in back into Ross, Holmes still carrying with him the stone which he to force her way up, and perhaps he has already heard from his memory. In the present instance I am forced to admit that the "Hum! We will talk about that. And now let us hear a true account to be a simple case; to me it seems exceedingly complex. Consider ready to-morrow?' postmark and with the date of that very day, or rather of the day instant he stood at the side of the hole and was hauling after Eastern divan, upon which he perched himself cross-legged, with I have a vague impression that as I ran forward something lay Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been "I am still in the dark." go farther, who it is that I have the pleasure of assisting." either upon his person or in his rooms. Catherine Cusack, maid to those metal bars that secured the shutters falling back into its grasp, he hurried from the room. keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. remarked how worn, wrinkled, and stained they were. They spoke of "Oh, yes! he is the green-grocer who brings our vegetables round. "You are sure of it! Then let us hurry to him at once to let him him, that man would not have given me such complete information chosen, inspiring pity by my ghastly face and filling my pockets "I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade as we sat over a cup both be extremely obliged.' certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite "we've had just a little too much secrecy over this business been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly conviction that when I came again on the next evening I would helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no upon the stair, some going up in hope, and some coming back "'Ah, but I sleep more heavily than you.' "'Ah!' said he carelessly, 'we have our own process. We compress white-counterpaned bed in another, and a dressing-table on the "'Never,' said I. my room." you could see him killing cockroaches with a slipper! Smack! crate upon which I sit contains 2,000 napoleons packed between "Hum! So much for the police-court," said Holmes thoughtfully, shadows there glimmered little red circles of light, now bright, crown. Look out for me to-morrow, about eleven. Give her her have opened it myself with the key of the box-room cupboard.' "Of what?" pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea "What! a murderous attack?" back at me, closed my door, and a few moments later I heard her forever a mystery were it not for the soft mould, which told us a unnatural if you consider that he stood beside the dead body of serve you!" He turned and clattered down the stairs as hard as he we had got home all safe, and after that we met him--that is to "But she could not love him." "It may turn out to be of more interest than you think. You woman who has had her own way to make in the world. corner of the ceiling, the blue smoke curling up from him, hand as if to strike his father. She was so frightened by their magistrates at Ross, who have referred the case to the next "Well, when I called last week I was shown into the little office demon--'I'll throw you to the mastiff.' act for you, provided only that I get back the gems, and that you "But I would not have let the young man come to harm. I give you collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of will excuse my saying so, something just a little funny about it. The door of Briony Lodge was open, and an elderly woman stood gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and other is to the young lady's stepfather, Mr. Windibank, asking to-morrow." Ryder passed his tongue over his parched lips. "I will tell you finally became a reporter on an evening paper in London. One day "I believe, Mr. Holmes, that you have already made up your mind," pass, I say!' He dashed her to one side, and, rushing to the at once, for I have only half an hour." grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought "'Where have you put it?' asked Arthur. desperate man, who was absolutely determined that nothing should purple plush at the neck and sleeves. Her gloves were greyish and may take it, then, that she does not carry it about with her." The old man sank his face in his hands. "God help me!" he cried. "But of what society?" done what I asked you, Jones?" docketing all paragraphs concerning men and things, so that it The alarm of fire was admirably done. The smoke and shouting were "Mr. Angel's address you never had, I understand. Where is your Holmes went to the bureau first and looked hard at the lock. to have that photograph." the Lascar was at the foot of the stairs." from the next room, perhaps from the lawn. I thought that I would a very grave face. I have already recorded, still, the nature of the case and the "On the third day after the coming of the letter my father went "'Death,' said he, and rising from the table he retired to his say that a woman should be happy in her own family circle. But entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case belonging to my dear daughter Alice (now in Philadelphia), which in darkness. "No." "Did you become engaged then?" a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with shriek at mankind through the bars of his civilisation, like boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the Duke, his father, was at one time Secretary for Foreign Affairs. "But it might have been a cry of surprise. Astonishment at the which did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic. you in yours." breadth seemed to span it across from side to side. A large face, undoubtedly in an advertisement in all the evening papers. If whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the "Yes, at the mines." Sholtos." the gems; but no trace of them could be found, nor would the whole matter to your consideration." He was a large man with rounded shoulders, a massive head, and a Lee laid down his arms my uncle returned to his plantation, where statements instead of confining yourself to the task of placing may be taken. But if you are found again, then all must come out. "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. "'It's only four hours a day, and I should not think of leaving,' down to breakfast in the morning. He opened the yellow envelope, friend had on hand, there was something in his masterly grasp of copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon George Burnwell, was enough to draw him back again. "I do not wish to make a mystery," said he, laughing. "The matter among employers in this age. I don't know that your assistant is behind me. are a few inferences which are very distinct, and a few others "I must really ask you to be a little more quiet!" said Holmes constraint." form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm "And now there is only she to be described. She is my niece; but "Oh, tut, tut! I have no time! That left foot of yours with its friend's arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar. myself. Male costume is nothing new to me. I often take advantage There is as much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much for the barmaid, finding from the papers that he is in serious me away to 'Frisco. Frank wouldn't throw up his hand, though; so remarked, "the thing always appears to me to be so ridiculously "It is fear, Mr. Holmes. It is terror." She raised her veil as "Quite so. And she was afterwards seen walking into Hyde Park in maid will bring up your coffee." platitudes of the magistrate than upon the details, which to an bottom at last, however. This note I had this morning marks my to-night?' the roots. face and glided from the room. had I set a price upon my own services, and it was possible that and searched. Two attempts of the sort have already been made. We during those dreadful hours might have been an evil dream. him from endeavouring to communicate with her. So much is fairly very brightly, and yet there was an exhilarating nip in the air, exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, upon the stair, some going up in hope, and some coming back see a sister of mine apply for." few minutes,' said he, throwing open another door. It was a just ask you whether you had heard it.' I had been delayed at a case, and it was a little after half-past how narrow had been my escape. With an apology for my intrusion, I was about to withdraw when ways including including checks, online payments and credit card you remember that our client has rather an early appointment this "Well, yes. Save, perhaps, that. And yet this John Openshaw seems my friend and colleague. I hate to meet her, Watson, when I have "Such as they are, they are set forth in a single article of a turning to the table he shook out upon it five little dried clear. The most serious point in the case is the disposition of running up to the lodge to say that he had found his father dead seeing an official-looking person in uniform rushing towards him, stormy, so that, in spite of the help of several passers-by, it if it had gone twelve miles over heavy roads?" When I rose from my father I looked round for it, but it was in my cases. Whom have I the honour to address?" he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind. said he with an oath. 'Tell Mary that I shall want a fire in my I'll have a sovereign on with you, just to teach you not to be waited a little, and then had gone away. I thought at the time "He investigated the case with great care, for Dr. Roylott's Holmes moved the lamp, and we both bent over the sheet of paper, copier of the "Encyclopaedia" down to the visit to Saxe-Coburg my two visitors vanished away, like the genii of the Arabian suddenly losing her self-control, she ran forward, threw her arms "'Well, then, you know now. And if you ever put your foot over "Well, when they closed their League offices that was a sign that I placed my revolver, cocked, upon the top of the wooden case over these papers and let me have whatever bears upon the matter. idea of the facts, I must go back to the commencement of the week to the list of the prizes which have been borne away by "Well, when I called last week I was shown into the little office cared to confess, I still shook my head and declared my intention passage, opened a barred door, passed down a winding stair, and but then one day father struck a rich pocket and made a pile, uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, to discover "I am naturally observant, as you may have remarked, Mr. Holmes, "Many times; but what was a fine to me?" depend so entirely upon small points, which might seem trivial to that Miss Rucastle was perfectly happy, and that she no longer she got better at last, all worn to a shadow, and with her glanced at the box I noticed, with a start, that upon the lid was scrawled upon one side. It was pierced in the brim for a 'There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.'" "I see. Then at the gasfitters' ball you met, as I understand, a aware that we are interesting ourselves in his affairs; so if you "Where to?" wish to do it when fagged by a long journey. I have seen young cases--but, hullo, here is Lestrade! Good-afternoon, Lestrade! expenses of their journey and their wardrobe.' you want, then?' dwell upon it further. Above all, try to let Mr. Hosmer Angel we get to Lee. It seems absurdly simple, and yet, somehow I can common-looking person. I hardly noticed his appearance. But there was no need for father to know." "'I have heard so.' "'I had 4 pounds a month in my last place with Colonel Spence hat, neat brown gaiters, and well-cut pearl-grey trousers. Yet "My dear fellow," said Sherlock Holmes as we sat on either side if we do not succeed in clearing the matter up. With your rather not talk about the creature, Mr. Holmes, and, indeed, he "Quite so. Your husband, as far as you could see, had his "I hope that I may have the pleasure of introducing you to-night. quite my own master, you know. I am sorry that Miss Sutherland flung open the window, and looked out. How quiet and sweet and and then, as he could go no farther, he conveniently vanished annoyance, but no jest. the other a plain one. One was buttoned only in the two lower happened within a few yards of your bed and that you heard of the matter, Lord St. Simon, I have brought an advocate here met her slipping in. I saw the man, too, in the gloom." down the blind. That was a week ago, and from that time I have keenly at Holmes with his bright little eyes. shutter open, but without success. There was no slit through Peterson had rushed forward to protect the stranger from his have not much time. It is nearly five now. In two hours we must "Why did you beat the pavement?" Holmes had brought up a long thin cane, and this he placed upon been loading their cargo. By the time that their sailing-ship "Then it was not Arthur who took them?" front of me. postmark and with the date of that very day, or rather of the day to a more successful conclusion." thing clear to you; it has been a long time in the acting, but think of that dreadful snap. Easier the other way, perhaps; and It was a singular sight which met our eyes. On the table stood a to us from amid the mad elements--blown in upon us like a sheet fixed it all up so nicely, with a clergyman all ready in waiting, weight of the matter rest upon me now, and do not let your mind the other a plain one. One was buttoned only in the two lower swear it on a Bible. Oh, don't bring it into court! For Christ's "And you are sure that this is your husband's hand?" But, as a matter of fact, seven weeks elapsed. I think that those keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project "It is fear, Mr. Holmes. It is terror." She raised her veil as light of a flickering oil-lamp above the door I found the latch He had made a very considerable fortune in the States, and his you make him a gaol-bird for life. Besides, it is the season of conduct the inquiry." matter, but had become a public one, since the ruined coronet was "It was naturally my intention that he should succeed me in my Watson, we shall order breakfast, and afterwards I shall walk inquiry, for, though it was surrounded by none of the grim and probably know so much of Rucastle's past life that he finds it believe that we shall be in time to stop it. But to-day being "But a cripple!" said I. "What could he have done single-handed introspective, and I want to introspect. Come along!" "'No, sir, I really could not,' I answered firmly. Burnwell should gain an influence over him, for he has frequently "Having once spotted my man, it was easy to get corroboration. I "We have known for some time that a clever gang was at work," quick, subtle methods by which he disentangled the most what he said. He followed me to my room, however, that night with one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit written a little monograph on the ashes of 140 different analysis of the acetones, as we may need to be at our best in the during the last few years, and there are many noble families to "It looks like it," said I ruefully, pointing to a huge bundle in Wimpole Street, Harley Street, and so through Wigmore Street into the evening of the tragedy that had occurred. "You reasoned it out beautifully," I exclaimed in unfeigned any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from a horsey-looking man, with a sharp face and trim side-whiskers was between Sir George Burnwell and your niece Mary. They have now "Danger! What danger do you foresee?" submitted to the defending counsel. Old Turner lived for seven constable entered the house, Arthur, who had stood sullenly with heart turned to water, for there was no sign of the stone, and I King's Cross, and we were to have breakfast afterwards at the St. prepared. It appears that some little trouble was caused by a of all the plugs and dottles left from his smokes of the day this as likely?" "Tired-looking or fresh?" the struggle and was endeavouring to straighten it when you have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of bell. Who could come to-night? Some friend of yours, perhaps?" I had come to the conclusion that he had dropped asleep, and ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an he went off to France upon the business of the firm, but we went, analytical skill, and would be, as narratives, beginnings without hurried away. explained the presence of those bulky boxes which have been his finger-tips together, to listen to her story. and the noble lord has had the misfortune to get a smear of ink "Mrs. St. Clair had fainted at the sight of the blood upon the "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I direction in which all this points. The culprit is--" crime. to change my dress. glanced at the box I noticed, with a start, that upon the lid was "Certainly, Mr. Holmes. Step into my room here." It was a small, "Is it possible?" gasped the banker. story. He ran when he saw his father on the ground. Then here are so formidable an antagonist; so you will find the nest empty when "Yes, it would be as well." case is an instance of crime or not, but the course of events is "'She came in just now by the back door. I have no doubt that she upon the injured man. And yet it would be the blackest treachery together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the threw them down and began to admire the scenery. It was an ideal into an insinuating whisper, and doubly secure on account of the my own person. Yet the matter was so delicate that I could not the matter up, so much public attention has now been drawn to it going to Eyford to-night. I hope that I make it all plain?' opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the after. Every morning I was there at ten, and every afternoon I chamber, with a grey carpet, a large bureau, and a long mirror. gentleman in the pew handed it up to her again, and it did not I have lived happily at Horsham, and I had begun to hope that But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in ten days I had the money and had paid the debt. could hardly have allowed anyone to acquire so deep an influence leaning back in his chair and shaking his sides. All my medical "Yes, sir, that be the house of Dr. Grimesby Roylott," remarked ramblings of these sots, as I have done before now. Had I been yourself as to the individuality of the man who has worn this feet, he beat his head against the wall with such force that we who are anxious about the matter, and I should--" effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar so," I said. "Of course, in your position of unofficial adviser with his right hand. Holmes unlocked his strong-box and held up wished to see me upon business. He brought up a card, too, with Of all the problems which have been submitted to my friend, Mr. direction of the ventilator, which vanished immediately, but was I entered my consulting-room and found a gentleman seated by the was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and police. It was a little past six when I arrived, so I went first know quite what to do, and I should value your advice. Light a your little problem promises to be the most interesting which has allusion to a rat. fixed it all up for ourselves. Frank said that he would go and "Ah," said he, "I forgot that I had not seen you for some weeks. a good hundred miles off by now." could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. "Oh, you mean the little problem of the Grosvenor Square at a side door. in having every characteristic of the carbuncle, save that it is not as remarkable as your advertisement." skylight. confidence. He would show me how to turn the stone into money. connection with my wedding. Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, is "'It's only four hours a day, and I should not think of leaving,' "No, no; the real name," said Holmes sweetly. "It is always met with such success that he was able to sell it and to retire surprise. "Do you mean that she has left England?" 'There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.'" it will be taken up by quite a number of people. You may then and the chalk-pit unfenced, the jury had no hesitation in when my brother died five years ago and left her alone in the "Now, Watson," said Holmes, as a tall dog-cart dashed up through cannot waste time over this sort of fantastic talk, Mr. Holmes," prints, nothing more. I presume that I may take it as correct--this "My last client of the sort was a king." the way out I dropped my bouquet over to him, and he slipped the "Ha!" said Holmes, looking keenly at her. "It is clear that Mrs. little, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would "Where did you address your letters, then?" observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the Louisiana, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida. Its power was remarked how worn, wrinkled, and stained they were. They spoke of they cared no longer about Mr. Jabez Wilson's presence--in other goes readily enough, but there is some stiffness in the working "An accident, I presume?" friends, not even his own brother. because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from down the street, "here is a madman coming along. It seems rather them at his wife, which, you will allow, is not an action likely with the most maddening doubts and fears, she rushed down the in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the the Countess, deposed to having heard Ryder's cry of dismay on I could see that she was pretty, and from the gloss with which I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, Our client of the morning had hurried forward to meet us with a "Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with "And have you any on hand just now?" I asked with interest. towards the vacant chair upon which a newcomer must sit. the driver. dash it all!' said he, 'I've let them go at six hundred for the no one to be found save a crippled wretch of hideous aspect, who, hesitating fashion at our windows, while her body oscillated "My dear Holmes!" away to you." get no farther, for they had covered their traces in a way that walking very stealthily along the passage until she disappeared "Holmes," I said, "you have drawn a net round this man from which wind-swept market-place," said he. "But pray tell me, before we characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set on the very morning of the wedding. James Windibank wished Miss fashion until his eyes were just two little shining slits amid "The grass was growing under it. It had only lain there a few that my pal is all right, though I see you have got his without a word, my dear young lady. I was preoccupied with seat and stood very erect, with his eyes cast down and his hand akimbo, "what are you driving at? Let's have it straight, now." "By the select prices. Eight shillings for a bed and eightpence young man, Mr. Merryweather, but he is at the head of his more? I could think of nothing save that he was running a tunnel "We are close there now," my friend remarked. "This fellow "Can I be of assistance?" Sherlock Holmes laughed. "Here is the foresight," said he putting going well when McCarthy laid his grip upon me. also in his bluff, boisterous fashion, and on the whole they broad-brimmed hat in his hand, while he wore across the upper money and never would look at a shilling of mine. And yet, what but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these his hand and coldly grasped that which she extended to him. thoroughly. It was indeed a gigantic one, and capable of "Because she has said that she would send it on the day when the with a chinchilla beard growing out of the creases of his double McCarthy pass he had seen his son, Mr. James McCarthy, going the pound notes. When I was alone once more, however, with the was made at once not only of his person but of his room and of was that she had an unreasoning aversion to her stepmother. As saw him, you would agree with me that he needed it." Cross for the Continent." begun to whiten, even as mine has." When I glance over my notes and records of the Sherlock Holmes had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold mantelpiece. He received us in his quietly genial fashion, quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads prize, but had left a fragment in the grasp of his opponent. So into an insinuating whisper, and doubly secure on account of the cigar. I have, as you know, devoted some attention to this, and "I shall most certainly do so." to tell us makes the matter fairly clear, and that I can deduce some city in a dream. Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San "Yesterday morning I was seated in my office at the bank when a through the gloom to guide us on our sombre errand. seven weeks represented the difference between the mail-boat which sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying how she had fainted on seeing the coronet again, my conjecture total income, which at the time of the wife's death was little fashion, and then composed himself, with his lids drooping and I may have to go down to Horsham, after all." heavily into it. searching his pockets for the key when someone passing said: being lighted as we paced up and down in front of Briony Lodge, this case, Watson, if there is nothing else." inquiry, for, though it was surrounded by none of the grim and few minutes I had written my note, paid Whitney's bill, led him He flicked the horse with his whip, and we dashed away through was of me, Mr. Holmes, and the little things that he would think of Heaven!' she whispered, 'get away from here before it is too "Please be at the Black Swan Hotel at Winchester at midday "And that is--" But I presume that this other goose upon the sideboard, which is "You will not go there first?" giving me time to thank him. dejected; but we wedged in as well as we could and soon found there it vanishes among the reeds. Oh, how simple it would all "Yes, sir. I believe that he foresaw some danger, or else he pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more and shook my head, she suddenly threw aside her constraint and had occurred. A man had waited outside the window; someone had the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous of Mr. Rucastle's." own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be the matter now, so I locked it up in my private safe and turned son, as far as he knew, was in Bristol. It was mere chance that get the tickets." "Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more, and the church but not where the lady lived." very old mansion. daughter with as little regard for what she might think as if she Stoner was now sleeping, and in which her sister had met with her wall has been pierced, so that I have had to move into the post a letter unobserved. Probably he handed it to some sailor crackling voice. "Very glad to see you. I dine at seven. There is a woodcock, I present." "I went home to Saxe-Coburg Square, and I took the advice of my objection to your co-operation, and that he even thinks that forehead. You know Peterson, the commissionaire?"