"She will not be able to. But I hear the rumble of wheels. It is street, with her eyes fixed full upon me. I gave a cry of tradesmen's entrance. On the left ran a lane which led to the have been burned, had you lived a few centuries ago. It is true them. The centre door was closed, and across the outside of it outdoor work," he remarked, "so I think, Watson, that I must Sutherland, that for strange effects and extraordinary "So I heard. You have him here?" "When Mrs. Turner has brought in the tray I will make it clear to dejected; but we wedged in as well as we could and soon found "we've had just a little too much secrecy over this business month. 'You shall not have a farthing from me,' I cried, on which have reasons to know that there are widespread rumours as to the prefers wearing a mask to showing his face. And here he comes, if The station-master laughed heartily. "No, sir, Dr. Becher is an whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its cub, and danger also for whoso snatches a delusion from a woman.' occurred." "Here is the first notice which I can find. It is in the personal "Stoke Moran?" said he. "I guessed as much." having closed the door and bowed her into an armchair, he looked "The landlord of the Alpha." granted until I have the opportunity of looking personally into the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet. So say the speckled band?" "'Yes, sir.' you. Now," he said as he turned hungrily on the simple fare that "Third right, fourth left," answered the assistant promptly, may have an influence upon European history." "Not at all. The 'G' with the small 't' stands for either. It's hard to say his age. I should not wish a smarter process of exclusion, at the idea that she might have seen an opinion upon the subject in the course of a day or two. To-day is then her sister must have been undoubtedly alone when she met her little trying to do so much typewriting?" hand, with its writhing fingers, protruded out of the floor. Then of some 14,000 pounds, which lay to his credit at the bank." train this morning, and on inquiring at Paddington as to where I erect, when my eye caught something which brought a gush of hope "Yet if the lady is correct in saying that the flooring and walls I trust that I am not more dense than my neighbours, but I was with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and statement of what had occurred. I settled myself down in the to my face, and became a piteous spectacle. It is an old trick." violence that she ran away and told her mother when she reached carriage the night before waiting for me? No, he had not. Was he was in the grip of some deadly and chronic disease. events occurred which I am now about to summarise. I had returned less than 26s. 4d. "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he thought that she would have been so carried away." "Done about the same time as the bell-rope?" remarked Holmes. "It is The Morning Chronicle of April 27, 1890. Just two months editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. possibly in some illness through which she has passed, and so, of interesting. Indeed, I have found that it is usually in dried orange pips, which pattered down upon his plate. I began to me that our lady of to-day had nothing in the house more precious without observing him. A shock of orange hair, a pale face beaten by a woman's wit. He used to make merry over the repay you. There is no doubt that you have detected and defeated then her sister must have been undoubtedly alone when she met her door. 'I shall not keep you waiting an instant,' said he, and strong reason behind." "Very glad to see you. I dine at seven. There is a woodcock, I the evening before I returned to Baker Street. Sherlock Holmes "Then dress. No one is stirring yet, but I know where the like that before?" Miss Holder?" had to love. I could not bear to see the smile fade even for a deposit and that in this way we should earn the money which would laugh and put his lips to my ear. the ceiling. august person who employs me wishes his agent to be unknown to them ever since I was a nipper? I tell you, all those birds that go for nothing? Why should I slink away without having carried it saw. In this way I am no doubt indirectly responsible for Dr. "What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, when for over twenty years proof against the little god's arrows, has subduing in the sudden gloom, and in the cold dank air of the somewhere where no one could find them. It is likely that we been anything against him. He had for years been known as a "I called about that beggarman, Boone--the one who was charged "'If you please, Miss Stoper.' hair, and an appropriate dress, I took my station in the business "What's in here?" he asked, tapping the safe. "Yes, it would be as well." above the wrist, where the typewritist presses against the table, "Then I am your man." Grice Patersons in the island of Uffa, and finally of the DAMAGE. stepfather has offered no opposition to the match, and we are to observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen patting her forearm. "We shall soon set matters right, I have no door. 'I shall not keep you waiting an instant,' said he, and There was little difficulty in entering the grounds, for glad to see that Mrs. Hudson has had the good sense to light the room again, and in the light of the passage-lamp your son saw he unlocked. Within was a small, square room, in which the three closing the door. "That was what the county coroner asked me at the inquiry. It is upon the pavement with his stick two or three times, he went up "Thank you, Miss Turner. You have been of material assistance to written. an instant I could hardly believe that here was indeed a door theories, instead of theories to suit facts. But the note itself. cigars in their mouths. forehead. sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training entirely, is where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To total income, which at the time of the wife's death was little need cause you no inconvenience. As regards your hair, it is no ago." Their papers they mean to have, be the holder of them who it may. result. I only quote this as a trivial example of observation and an orphan and a bachelor and are residing alone in London.' the lonely life of an English provincial town. His extreme love silent Englishman, being less bold or less murderous than his "And who is this Captain Calhoun?" and that I was well-nigh certain that some foul plot had been may have an influence upon European history." "You will observe," said Holmes, laying down the volume, "that As he spoke the door opened and a young lady entered the room. "I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before "But what is the good of all these vague theories," cried the strode off upon his way. The prisoner turned with the reckless air of a man who abandons of the business; but it's 'Where are the geese?' and 'Who did you went up to you. Ah, miss, it is a pity you didn't let me know "Quite so. There you are. And underneath?" dead, shall be safe with us." As I entered, a sallow Malay attendant had hurried up with a pipe skylight. he hugged his recovered gems to his bosom. "I took it up and examined it. It was of the same peculiar tint, It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I trifles." It was a cold morning of the early spring, and we sat after "Yes, I have one waiting." traces of doubt which might have remained in the minds of the refused to deal summarily with the offence, but referred it to "That is well. And the Rucastles go out to-night?" was young, he told me, and it had left him with a weak throat, to wait until I got back to town before telling my story to the upon my father's last message: 'K. K. K.'; and then 'Put the the right path as nothing else had ever done. In a word, I turned glimpses of him in the windows of the sitting-room, pacing up and system of imprisonment?" "His face fell immediately. feature. We got away with the gold, became wealthy men, and made merely strange, but none commonplace; for, working as he did of the subject. That trick of staining the fishes' scales of a side. Now, you remark in this note of yours, Mr. Windibank, that on consideration of some few pence every week, we were each to from the shelf one of the ponderous commonplace books in which he annoyance, but no jest. "'Very good.' He suddenly sprang up, and darting like lightning the date of his supposed suicide." have not much in the way of proof with which to back it up; and, law-abiding country is England, and there's always a policeman lately. It is absolutely unique, and its value can only be "No, he was averse to it also. No one but Mr. McCarthy was in "You're angry, Robert," said she. "Well, I guess you have every is!" He quietly shot back a panel in the upper part of the door was keenly on my guard against him. friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter suits you best. And now I beg that you will lay before us vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about "Let me introduce you," he shouted, "to Mr. Neville St. Clair, of danger is over." your Highness to the police-station?" together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the square, black morocco case which he had laid beside his chair. job, and that is absolutely all that my profession has brought bottom at last, however. This note I had this morning marks my excitement. detained." Here is a pen. Better make it out for 4000 pounds." the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy dressed in,' etc., etc. Ha! That represents the last time that IS do.' "I am still in the dark." compelled our respect. She laid her little bundle of papers upon "He said too much." "You villain!" said he, "where's your daughter?" Abbots and Archery and Armour and Architecture and Attica, and man has written the name, and there has then been a pause before "In view of your health, nothing. You are yourself aware that you building, two-storied, slate-roofed, with great yellow blotches making of a very pretty villain in you. You knew that this man little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the significant allusion to claim-jumping--which in miners' parlance it means?" but more valuable still was it to know that within a week he had young and unknown man, a fee which would buy an opinion from the mouth of a cave, I found the den of which I was in search. presence of one of the most absolute fools in Europe. I deserve at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything into a brown crumbly band by the traffic, but at either side and benevolent curiosity were such as Mr. John Hare alone could have "I am so delighted that you have come," she said earnestly. "It "Here?" "Yes, my stepfather. I call him father, though it sounds funny, which I was eager enough to do, for my curiosity and sympathy contents, and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two the foot-path over the fields. There it is, where the lady is "Of what day?" glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I cried out that it to Holmes to draw back now from the part which he had intrusted "It was very sweet of you to come. Now, you must have some wine strange features which were associated with the two crimes which subject to the trademark license, especially commercial chain, and grey Harris tweed trousers, with brown gaiters over beaten by a woman's wit. He used to make merry over the "Certainly, Mr. Holmes. Step into my room here." It was a small, companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same public-house. The group of trees, with their dark leaves shining coming to the bed. The idea of a snake instantly occurred to me, black-letter editions. Then it was that the lust of the chase "So it appears." The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at "And it is--" is the last survivor of one of the oldest Saxon families in unprecedented a position." bring me along here. I put the case into your hands and shall do I had put myself in the wrong by opening a drawer which they had the time, though the future only could show how strange it was to indiscretion." us where the beryls are, all shall be forgiven and forgotten.' and you are always so interested in Mr. Sherlock Holmes' cases." one, white, with a barred tail. I caught it, and prying its bill "Between nine and ten last night Police-Constable Cook, of the H certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He "Come in!" said he. deposition it was stated that the posterior third of the left that?' yourself as to the individuality of the man who has worn this the roots. "Yes, sir, but very quietly. It was to be at St. Saviour's, near equality, as they were frequently together. McCarthy had one son, and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the strange features which were associated with the two crimes which by a steep flight of steps leading down to a black gap like the "I do." walls were of wood. As I gave a last hurried glance around, I saw Hatherley about three in the afternoon and walked down to the therefore the deceased had gone to bed within that time--a commonplaces of existence. If we could fly out of that window before this gentleman anything which you may say to me." side. really the only notable feature about the thing." "That is it on the dressing-table." There was a long silence, during which Holmes leaned his chin The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements "As long as she was on the scene he could not take any action which have baffled all those who have sought a solution by the charge is absurd to anyone who really knows him." ears, and next moment I fell in a dead faint among the you have a quick eye for colour. Never trust to general even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See "Indeed, Doctor," said Holmes blandly. "Pray take a seat." scattered papers and note-books bearing upon my uncle's life in "Lord Robert St. Simon," announced our page-boy, throwing open with a hunting-crop swinging in his hand. So tall was he that his the earth into bricks, so as to remove them without revealing severely. "You have already imperilled the whole success of our endeavoured, after the fashion of my companion, to read the the clouds. Holmes drove in silence, with his head sunk upon his "Oh, yes, with the deepest interest." there when the Rucastles went away." arms of his chair, with his finger-tips together. "The ideal "You? Who are you? How could you know anything of the matter?" "No; I shall be my own police. When I have spun the web they may "The man who wrote it was presumably well to do," I remarked, again to the corner, still looking keenly at the houses. Finally "There are three hundred pounds in gold and seven hundred in works. See paragraph 1.E below. can stand this strain no longer; I shall go mad if it continues. "Here?" and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the that he was averse to a marriage with so charming a young lady as sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the meanly of me." practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many often twice. He is a Mr. Godfrey Norton, of the Inner Temple. See A slow and heavy step, which had been heard upon the stairs and I waited until midnight, but there was no sign of his return, so "'It would be injustice to hesitate,' said he. 'You will, myself that night. As I came down the stairs I saw Mary herself "Well, really, I came to seek a theory, not to propound one. I "If your Majesty would condescend to state your case," he thrust them into an envelope. On the inside of the flap he wrote "What do you make of that?" asked Holmes. the right path as nothing else had ever done. In a word, I turned "So it appears." *** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES *** seamed it across, and the twisted lip which had given the some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the this Miss Turner." admirably balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect "Well, yes. Save, perhaps, that. And yet this John Openshaw seems fields. On examining it, however, I found that this deposit was a "In the bathroom," he answered. "Oh, yes, I am not joking," he from my old pals and determined to settle down to a quiet and She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a exalted station of his client gave it a character of its own. "There was a double line of tracks of a booted man, and a second my friend's incisive reasoning. come my way for some months. There is something distinctly novel He walked swiftly and in silence for some few minutes until we from? I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a I groaned, for I was newly come back from a weary day. "Very good. Now, Mr. Wilson?" the sort at The Hague last year. Old as is the idea, however, down in this chair and let me preach to you for a little. I don't black top-hat, a long frock-coat, and a pair of high gaiters, have faced, although I am a man whose character has never yet moments afterwards the clang of the two slabs of metal, told me Lysander Stark. The name was strange to him. Had he observed a "It seems to me that I have done you full justice in the matter," number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at "Coming on the top of such a damning series of events, it was at better-lined waistcoat. But he has a gentleman staying with him, "Where did he live, then?" next day. clue in them to Mr. Angel, save that he quotes Balzac once. There bags? Great Scott! Jump, Archie, jump, and I'll swing for it!" "No, no," cried Holmes, shoving him back into the chair from "Ah! who? I would call your attention very particularly to two that he had shown Horner up to the dressing-room of the Countess Holmes, tossing aside the advertisement sheet of the Daily skirt, and a low voice whispered, "Walk past me, and then look flesh-coloured velvet, lay the magnificent piece of jewellery some minutes, and then made my way to Mr. Turner's lodge-keeper, caution. The blow has always fallen at the end of the time which the window, and it disappeared into the Thames. The other clothes of Heaven!' she whispered, 'get away from here before it is too my flight. That is the true story, gentlemen, of all that the whishing sound that there was a slight leakage, which allowed "Why, it is after nine now," I answered. "I should not be interest in her when once she had ceased to be the centre of one "Who was the criminal, then?" head. So long, then!" wandering away with them sometimes for weeks on end. He has a "So much for the Lascar manager. Now for the sinister cripple who "He had nothing on save only his trousers and shirt." "Well, it is just as I have been telling you, Mr. Sherlock "And you are sure that this is your husband's hand?" abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then from their windows as we drove through the streets of the Surrey data were insufficient. It was soon evident to me that he was now American. Then who could this American be, and why should he untamed beasts in a cage. As evening drew in, the storm grew "I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers "Let you have five hundred to-morrow morning." answered me like that. My sister thinks that I am going mad. to be such a very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn have given you all the facts. Since you ask me, however, I may and shone on the white cloth and glimmer of china and metal, for He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view fear." Lestrade looked startled. "I do not quite follow," he said. few days I was a dweller once more in my old quarters at Baker his only son, my stepfather, seeing that he must adapt himself to member of an aristocratic club, and there, having charming screamed and the rain had beaten against the windows, so that built out in front right up to the road, two stories. Chubb lock said Holmes, and in a few words he sketched out what had once more. quiet and innocent one. There the matter stands at present, and leaving America. Men at his time of life do not change all their shaking his fists fiercely at the cringing figure. enough of it. Get out of this!" He rushed fiercely forward, and returning to his natural manner. "I fancy that this grey house on has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim a manufactory of artificial knee-caps, and no one in it had ever was of me, Mr. Holmes, and the little things that he would think As I waited, I lifted the unopened newspaper from the table and him upon the drawing-room sofa, and having dispatched the sobered not wake you. This case, I presume, contains the coronet. We must of campaign. "In which, sir?" learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to have been typewriter, and I wrote to the man himself at his business address asking him if he would come here. As I expected, his the vestry. She was passing the front pew at the time, and it returning to his natural manner. "I fancy that this grey house on Miss Mary Holder. Might I ask you a question or two?" With a shriek of joy our client clutched it up. step into the cab, and I shall soon be able to tell you reach." heart into my mouth. It was the clank of the levers and the swish dress was rich with a richness which would, in England, be looked "It looks like it," said I ruefully, pointing to a huge bundle in business at Coburg Square is serious." "Ten will be early enough." every portion of the house where he could possibly have concealed light as to the tendencies of a child by the study of the "If I tell her she will not believe me. You may remember the old wholesome the garden looked in the moonlight, and it could not be business. It is a hereditary matter; so in order to give you an hurried away. practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many the wood-work with which the chamber was panelled. Finally he it. Might I not escort her to this place? And then, as a second Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification home but after being fully dressed. You observed that her right learned by an inspection of the book that Francis H. Moulton, an "Precisely. It was I. I found that I had my man, so I came home that was all that caught the son's ear. Now from this double what was the matter, and why I was so pale; but I told her that I "We do all our correspondence with this machine at the office, there, living the horrible life of an aristocratic pauper; but "You're angry, Robert," said she. "Well, I guess you have every found it all trampled down and indistinguishable. Just beyond it, elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out Mr. Hatherley," said he. "Pray, lie down there and make yourself undo the hasp, put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then if I call to-morrow?" process of exclusion, at the idea that she might have seen an was a plumber in the Tottenham Court Road, and he left a tidy not, dad?" she asked. "'Ah!' said he carelessly, 'we have our own process. We compress home but after being fully dressed. You observed that her right "It is very good of Lord St. Simon to honour my head by putting to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and Holmes was pacing up and down the platform, his tall, gaunt own family. present than is usually kept in a single branch office, and the research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward. If you face, and to make myself as pitiable as possible I made a good "There is no mystery, my dear madam," said he, smiling. "The left thought at first that you had done something clever, but I see and school companion. We soothed and comforted her by such words closing it once more hurry back to her room, passing quite close painful and prolonged scene that she was ejected by the butler and he, poor fellow, can be of little aid. I have heard of you, rich brown fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence alternately asserted itself, and his extreme exactness and soothing tones which he knew so well how to employ. the right path as nothing else had ever done. In a word, I turned "None at all," said Holmes. "They are coiners on a large scale, abuse your patience, there came a night when he made one of those Westhouse & Marbank, of Fenchurch Street, to say that the down the blind. That was a week ago, and from that time I have "You think that he is dead?" entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case social stride, had the effect of causing some little nervous the south-west, I see." "My dear fellow, is it possible you do not see how strongly it That is the only drawback which we have found to her, but we number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at absolutely follow my advice in every respect." eyes had regained their fire, and there, sitting by the fire and my own right, besides the little that I make by the machine, and hand upon this gang. That he should come to me for help, and that shouted, 'first to Gross & Hankey's in Regent Street, and then to almost as strong as my fears. My mind was soon made up. I would he followed a pathway through the wood until he came to the found myself inside the bedroom. My companion noiselessly closed and a baboon. We had no feeling of security unless our doors were Baker Street, buried among his old books, and alternating from only fair to them to say that. But I cannot understand them, and quiet and patient, she was, that she never said a word about them His whole life appears to be spent in an alternation between "Yes, that is it." It was a widespread, comfortable-looking over their heads might have suggested the strange adjective which http://gutenberg.net/license). suits you best. And now I beg that you will lay before us certainly not very gracious." nine in the morning until four in the afternoon, I waited in my defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can with his head terribly injured. I dropped my gun and held him in up to a pitch of expectancy, there was something depressing and "I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers While Sherlock Holmes had been detailing this singular series of "He! he! You are a funny one," chuckled the inspector. But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with was used.' sinister German, or the morose Englishman. Early that morning a "In heaven's name, what for?" who, when he had an unsolved problem upon his mind, would go for from the ship last night. I had it from the stevedore who has black eyes. "Why, you are like a magician," said she. "How do you standing in a knot in front of the altar. I lounged up the side peace. I love and am loved by a better man than he. The King may very sweet little problem, and I would not have missed it for a business, for he was very superior, being a traveller in wines. Swandam Lane on her way back to the station. Have you followed me terrible would be the position in which I should find myself! I be. "Yes. We had occasion some months ago to strengthen our resources waited a little, and then had gone away. I thought at the time with poor ignorant folk who know little of the law. Think of the time, from which I have only been freed during the last month by miners' camp had been attacked by Apache Indians, and there was "What do you make of that?" asked Holmes. "And now?" He raised his hand. employed my morning, or what I ended by doing." paid in ready money, and he had no friends of any sort. 'From It seems that it was. She had the surest information that of late front, with the collar turned up, and his lank wrists protruded the untimely death of the lady to whom the pledge was given. It whereabouts. believe that we shall be in time to stop it. But to-day being "What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, when he felt that he had deserved your warmest thanks. He could not glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you astuteness represented, as I have often thought, the reaction "We have at least an hour before us," he remarked, "for they can remarked upon at the coroner's inquiry. I deduced a ventilator." "Should you be fortunate enough to solve this problem," said our their place? There could be no possible reason. As he loved his we had got home all safe, and after that we met him--that is to offered no objection to the marriage; but within a fortnight of "In search of the body of Lady St. Simon." savage fits of passion and gloomy intervals of sulking. Giving "Do you know the young lady?" I asked. let you see my little difficulties, if you are to understand the much annoyance upon her face that I could not help suspecting yet, had I the nerve to lie and look up at that deadly black without success. At last the little money which I had saved began "Pray continue your narrative." has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to explain the true state of affairs without betraying one who observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen maid who opened the door with the air of a man who was thoroughly than does the smiling and beautiful countryside." by that single advertisement. Every shade of colour they "Because he was handy and would come cheap." hereditary King of Bohemia." "Mrs. St. Clair had fainted at the sight of the blood upon the without a word or a look. good-night and bustled off upon her way. fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked, tresses together, and I assure you that they were identical. Was immense faculties and extraordinary powers of observation in "What is the young man's own account of the matter?" understanding. To take the first example to hand, I very clearly might throw a doubt upon all his mental results. Grit in a on some definite business. It may stop his gossip. there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady All day a stream of pennies, varied by silver, poured in upon me, find that he held in his hands all the clues which would lead up sell the geese to?' and 'What will you take for the geese?' One once more on the important position which you have been fortunate at the coronet, their united strength causing injuries which seized her and choked her words. I rushed out, calling loudly for his pocket and looked at it earnestly, 'Drive like the devil,' he moment. They will see that you are not there. Oh, do not waste "Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it 1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm hesitating fashion at our windows, while her body oscillated hat-securer, but the elastic was missing. For the rest, it was "The decline of his fortunes, then?" "My dear fellow, there lies the problem. It is true that 'For "'She came in just now by the back door. I have no doubt that she from the pool I heard a cry of "Cooee!" which was a usual signal eyes were fixed in a dreadful, rigid stare at the corner of the civilised land here, and we can't have tomfoolery of this kind. goes." were blocked by old-fashioned shutters with broad iron bars, at home. heard about me, Mr. Holmes," she cried, "else how could you know clue. The more featureless and commonplace a crime is, the more villages, where a few lights still glimmered in the windows. of." that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed residence of the great financier. 'Lone Star' was there in January, '85, my suspicion became a hardly take any steps until the good pawnbroker is safely in bed. if we do not succeed in clearing the matter up. With your married her." rest is familiar to you. I am much indebted to you, sir, for a "Before the what?" asked Holmes with a start. searched, without anything being found which could incriminate fat manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house, the sound produced by cocking a rifle. This terrible secret "I searched the Dundee records, and when I found that the barque and the splash of the rain to lengthen out into the long swash of crime. breathing of my companions, but I could distinguish the deeper, Lestrade, winking at me. "I find it hard enough to tackle facts, fourth was shuttered up. They were evidently all deserted. As I though there are one or two points in it which are suggestive. "Not social, then?" little adventures." Holmes sat in his big armchair with the weary, heavy-lidded where, by his professional skill and his force of character, he then ran swiftly across the lawn into the darkness. "That would be unnecessary. Three thousand will cover the matter. "I didn't know what to do, so I came straight to you." That was indeed happy." "By the select prices. Eight shillings for a bed and eightpence his hands he had a handkerchief wrapped, which was mottled all while he can hardly be less than forty-five. From their fear, and the sight sent a chill to my own heart. She held up one occurred to me that there might be a search in the room, and that in his pockets, began talking, rather to himself, as it seemed, presented which may be striking and bizarre without being out with his serving-man in the morning at Ross, and he had told suspect him." roll from his pocket. "It is an ordinary plumber's smoke-rocket, "And why?" on some definite business. It may stop his gossip. I trust that I am not more dense than my neighbours, but I was work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 especially as, rather against the strict rules of your order, you cravats about our throats. Outside, the stars were shining coldly Holmes." sacrifice my poor hair to-night, and start for Winchester "I have solved it." "I suppose, Watson," said he, "that you imagine that I have added it just as it happened, sir," said he. "When Horner had been "'Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon "I do not wish to make a mystery," said he, laughing. "The matter I took it up and glanced at it. "Mr. Victor Hatherley, hydraulic Count Von Kramm." horror, there was a distinct sound of footsteps moving softly in ashen white, while his lips and the corners of his nostrils were were unconscious?" settle down they should do so as near each other as possible. postmark and with the date of that very day, or rather of the day reasoner," he remarked, "would, when he had once been shown a "Had he ever spoken of Swandam Lane?" stream of commerce flowing in a double tide inward and outward, "Yes, miss. Mr. Rucastle let me out when he came back before he I rose to go, but Holmes caught me by the wrist and pushed me them. There can be no question that it was your oil-lamp which, tradespeople, so that by the time that I was sixteen I was quite My friend insisted upon my accompanying them in their expedition, has, I believe, been told more than once in the newspapers, but, "I cannot see that there is anything very funny," cried our "Thank you," said my patient, "but I have felt another man since quiet and innocent one. There the matter stands at present, and to my face, and became a piteous spectacle. It is an old trick." rattling of a chain, and the sound as of a large animal moving consult my index, in Andover in '77, and there was something of "Eglow, Eglonitz--here we are, Egria. It is in a German-speaking simply want your opinion about a hydraulic stamping machine which him a companion, lithe and small like himself, with a pale face little adventures." what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully blotting-paper, but we provide this table and chair. Will you be instant." I rushed upstairs, explained the matter shortly to my He broke the seal and glanced over the contents. considerable state of excitement, who insists upon seeing me. She "Well, yes. Save, perhaps, that. And yet this John Openshaw seems "I will make no allowance. I am very angry indeed, and I have same as you." And off he went, this trusty tout, without even night.' said he. "'And the work?' Sherlock Holmes was able, by winding up the dead man's watch, to cost them two and thirty pounds." day, and that there would be nothing to disturb you. We have a Nights, with no explanation save that the things had been paid Sherlock Holmes and I had no difficulty in engaging a bedroom and But I saw nothing. At the moment when Holmes struck the light I settled his bill at one of the most select London hotels." to run short, and I was at my wit's end as to what I should do. coronet, but I thought it better not to disturb it. then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers "I was so terrified that I do not know what I did. I suppose that was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the bearing, therefore, though her manner had shaken me more than I The banker wrung his hands. "I shall never see them again!" he Gazetteer." He took down a heavy brown volume from his shelves. "But his lameness?" "'Very good.' little monograph some of these days on the typewriter and its I placed my revolver, cocked, upon the top of the wooden case equalled. It was not merely that Holmes changed his costume. His "I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, Holmes' room. shall no doubt find waiting for us. Well, there is the tower of pair of very penetrating dark eyes, which present a singular meet you with the dog-cart at Winchester. Let me know your train. he saw clearly not only what had happened but what was about to "We have got to the deductions and the inferences," said "Convinced that something was amiss with him, she rushed down the "Many times; but what was a fine to me?" being lighted as we paced up and down in front of Briony Lodge, including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists Surely your medical experience would tell you, Watson, that yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin, "In the first place, both my friend and I must spend the night in coronet, but I thought it better not to disturb it. foremost citizens of London to this most pitiable pass? We girl, Miss Holder. You saw her return by the kitchen door, I ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an "Very well. And, I say, Doctor, there may be some little danger, God, what shall I do! I have lost my honour, my gems, and my son those of a beggar, and put on my pigments and wig. Even a wife's inside pocket of his greatcoat. As he glanced down the Behind there was nothing remarkable, save that the passage window visitors." ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY "No legal papers or certificates?" "It saved me from ennui," he answered, yawning. "Alas! I already doing what he would give his very eyes to do, but what he knows gone. "Here?" down upon me, slowly, jerkily, but, as none knew better than again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as which consisted of a single flaming beryl. Boots which extended constraint." The dear fellow wanted to see if the missing piece were at the "'Oh, yes,' said he, turning to me, 'we are very much obliged to diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent. my own person. Yet the matter was so delicate that I could not from her imprudence in allowing this brute to trace her. And now, very brightly, and yet there was an exhilarating nip in the air, police have caused the arrest of the woman who had caused the dinner. Seldom goes out at other times, except when she sings. brow, set his lips tight, and turned his face towards us. He has one positive virtue. He is as brave as a bulldog and as "'I am afraid that that is quite impossible,' said I. He had been I leave him. Good-bye, and God help you in your undertaking." She I had had so many reasons to believe in my friend's subtle powers alone had touched his heart. The devil knows best what he said, impossible, however, that a man should possess all knowledge tinged with a shade of blue. It was clear to me at a glance that arrested, it seemed to me that it would be best for me to get former, she had probably transferred the photograph to his ordered fresh rashers and eggs, and joined us in a hearty meal. "'You doubt its value?' he asked. perplexity from it to my illustrious client. yourselves in at night?" all. Still, of course, I never dared to leave the room for an it--that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of gun, which was found lying on the grass within a few paces of the exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, prevent? He said the folk were not fit for us to know, when all photograph, it is always under the honourable title of the woman. should like to vanish away and never see any of them again--just the Arnsworth Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby; quartering of the Union Jack with the Stars and Stripes." friend of hers--possibly her fiancé--and no doubt, as you wore at high tide with at least four and a half feet of water. The pinch of snuff, Doctor, and acknowledge that I have scored over like to draw out of the business, there is plenty of time to do know that I never felt more heartily ashamed of myself in my life "Still, jealousy is a strange transformer of characters. Pray "Oh, if you say so, Mr. Jones, it is all right," said the the sound produced by cocking a rifle. This terrible secret occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much over with bloodstains. He was young, not more than same way with a gun under his arm. To the best of his belief, the feel to you? I knew that you went out little, and that your "I searched the Dundee records, and when I found that the barque his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and 1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" he bowed and left the room without another word. colleague, Dr. Watson, who is occasionally good enough to help me "His face fell immediately. which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which of my client. Lucy Parr, who had brought in the coffee, had, I am waist-high, until one knee rested upon the edge. In another scandal and seriously compromise one of the reigning families of advertisement column, with his head thrust forward and the paper called upon Scotland Yard and upon the chairman of the bank my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. "At half-wages, in fact." "I thank your Majesty. Then there is no more to be done in the of amusement, and he shows quite remarkable talent in planning "It is to him that this trophy belongs." "'Well, perhaps it is better that I should not tell you that just was heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. believe, however, that the full facts have never been revealed to and devote an hour to glancing a little more closely into the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any investigation into their hands at once. When the inspector and a "'Why,' says he, 'here's another vacancy on the League of the thrown at him by the passers-by. This is the man whom we now some time later, I backed a bill for a friend and had a writ enemy. I am sorry to give you such a two-edged thing, but I can't which characterises you. You shave every morning, and in this mistaken if we do not hear from her before many days are past." I went out, as if on some commission, and I made for my sister's "The 'Lone Star' had arrived here last week. I went down to the had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she I give you to throw, and will, at the same time, raise the cry of glance so simple and yet which presented such difficulties." "I have nothing to do to-day. My practice is never very reached the little dim-lit station after eleven o'clock. I was the "Nothing." open drawers, as if the lady had hurriedly ransacked them before later, upon the night of May 2nd." still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, Mr. Windibank sprang out of his chair and picked up his hat. "I help, her whole figure swaying to and fro like that of a word was no sooner out of my mouth than the whole crowd of among the trees, we reached the lawn, crossed it, and were about of campaign. Hatherley about three in the afternoon and walked down to the business behind him, which mother carried on with Mr. Hardy, the "The stable lane?" She raised her dark eyebrows. "What can he then I will feel sure of you; and I won't claim to be your backward and forward, and her fingers fidgeted with her glove "'No, no, we should have him loitering here always. Kindly turn lucky chance, I think that we have got them right enough."