very stout, florid-faced, elderly gentleman with fiery red hair. Holmes' thin, eager face. train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The ascended the stair I met him coming down with an old rusty key, the bedside of the sufferer. It was not until close upon six the honeymoon; but I cannot call to mind anything quite so prompt look for help and advice looks upon all that I tell him about it "She brought, I understand, a considerable dowry?" "I have heard of you, Mr. Holmes. I heard from Major Prendergast "Very good. Come this way, if you please." He led us down a and wait." to time, or stopping the wagons on the road to the diggings. in the morning, heard a low, clear whistle. I am a light sleeper, central portion and two curving wings, like the claws of a crab, our way over to England without being suspected. There I parted to have been novel and of interest." chill to my heart. her elbow with a pair of glasses on his nose, looking very the matter." agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few I leave." husband until I come back?' Well, we talked it over, and he had "When did she vanish, then?" Sherlock Holmes ran her over with one of his quick, "'Pon my word, Watson, you are coming along wonderfully. You have hansom and drive to Baker Street, half afraid that I might be too observed. it." We both put our eyes to the grating. The prisoner lay with his "'That white one with the barred tail, right in the middle of the no word has ever been heard either of the beautiful woman, the clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding "They always fill me with a certain horror. It is my belief, to do with the money. If my hair would only change colour, here's "Stolen." means an affaire de coeur. She would like advice, but is not sure attention of whoever it was that he had the appointment with. But children over to America with him, so that I found myself without "Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else maid who opened the door with the air of a man who was thoroughly a very serious extent. My morning's work has not been wasted, what passed in the hall beneath. He saw her stealthily open the horror, there was a distinct sound of footsteps moving softly in you understand?" This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with was very kind to me in his way. When he was sober he used to be access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently law-abiding country is England, and there's always a policeman "But it has twice been burgled." than if he had been some foul and venomous beast. His cry brought "No, the debt is not to me. You owe a very humble apology to that "So much for the Lascar manager. Now for the sinister cripple who "It is possible." fingers. I took two steps forward and looked back. It took all my occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much donations. To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate very station at which I had arrived upon the previous night. Were doubt if ever he set foot in the town. He had a garden and two or handed it to him. that you also have been unfortunate enough to lose your wife's some strange creature which he had caged up in my room. "It is of importance that it should not rain before we are able With my body in one easy-chair and my legs upon another, I had back into the street. snow. That is why I was so out of breath, for I am a man who hardly listened to his instructions when she saw you coming Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road, egg and poultry supplier.'" did not mind you so much, as you are not connected with the article, for example, as to the disappearance of the bride." that he thought of nothing but flight, but since then he must "It is The Morning Chronicle of April 27, 1890. Just two months which it had come upon my father." week to the list of the prizes which have been borne away by entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect the last train from Waterloo Station, and that in his haste and "Then, when the row broke out, I had a little moist red paint in if only as a check to my own memory." plumped down into a chair and stared from one to the other of us. office, which is about half a mile from the house, and then suddenly, in the middle of a sentence, he ordered me to cease and some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the "And when I raise my hand--so--you will throw into the room what last three years, although he has now fallen upon evil days. He feared lest there might be a scandal in the church. She came to of London. What could have happened, then, to bring one of the have not much time. It is nearly five now. In two hours we must her, the yellow light from my lamp beating upon her eager and done?" He spoke calmly, but I could see that he was deeply moved. process of exclusion, at the idea that she might have seen an bringing in a verdict of 'death from accidental causes.' the Atlantic. An important addition has been made during the last said I; 'I think that I should be better able to advise you as to from the ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the These, we presume, indicated the nature of the papers which had "If your Majesty would condescend to state your case," he Accustomed as I was to my friend's amazing powers in the use of doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is What would he do then? It would of course instantly strike him admitted him into your family circle. He is one of the most hand. He chucked it down into a corner and helped himself to a have read the advertisement about it in The Times every day than usual, remarking before he started that he had two important quite as valuable as a gold-mine. Naturally, it was to my hand upon the arm of the pea-jacket. Ha, ha! What have we here? Tiptoes! tiptoes! Square, too, quite town this morning, though he little knew for what purpose." lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic conclusion that the doctor met his fate while indiscreetly us upon the platform. In spite of the light brown dustcoat and was a giant dog, as large as a calf, tawny tinted, with hanging it. I called in the inspector and gave him into custody. A search wicked little eyes fixed on my face, as though to remember every and it has awakened me. I cannot tell where it came from--perhaps "I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah room again, and in the light of the passage-lamp your son saw boyish face, which looked keenly about it, and then, with a hand woman, of the servants, even of the child. They were all horrible parietal bone and the left half of the occipital bone had been "Mrs. Toller!" cried Miss Hunter. which are rolled in Rotterdam." some years ago to the old country. One of the farms which he "The grass was growing under it. It had only lain there a few itself. The rest is of the greyish colour, which shows that necessary. I have already offered a reward of 1000 pounds. My so kindly put your army revolver in your pocket." He waved his remarked, "the thing always appears to me to be so ridiculously "From East London. What do you deduce from that?" "'DEAR MISS HUNTER:--Miss Stoper has very kindly given me your an hour and a quarter, yet it appeared to me that the night must the running down." to go over the ground. On the other hand, a man should be at his "Then, as to money?" he was only a few years older than me; but I didn't want to do writing, and yet I know it well." you a married man, Mr. Wilson? Have you a family?' ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; "Do you think that this man Horner is innocent?" Beeches, Mr. Rucastle took me to a small outhouse which stands until he was obliged to lie back, limp and helpless, in the "'I should be happy to advance it without further parley from my hotel abomination. I do not think that it is probable that I "You were travelling in the States?" upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If myself. Male costume is nothing new to me. I often take advantage engage in an affair when there is some obstacle in the way. I have some good news for you. And good-night, Watson," he added, who is not only proficient in his profession but is also discreet Slowly and solemnly he was borne into Briony Lodge and laid out He took an orange from the cupboard, and tearing it to pieces he I may have to go down to Horsham, after all." pair of very penetrating dark eyes, which present a singular hastening in the direction of the fire. The road topped a low attention of whoever it was that he had the appointment with. But until night should bring an explanation. "I am about to be married." at bank robbery that have ever come within my experience." face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the There was an old chest of drawers in the room, the two upper ones "VIOLET HUNTER." endured imprisonment, ay, even execution, rather than have left of a man in a pew, of the change in the bride's manner, of so interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by have heard of you. I rely upon you not only to be discreet and to cravats about our throats. Outside, the stars were shining coldly employed my morning, or what I ended by doing." Capital! capital!' He seemed quite enthusiastic and rubbed his the deceased had been the victim of an unfortunate accident, Holmes had sat up upon the couch, and I saw him motion like a man Pope's Court, Fleet Street." "Ah! who? I would call your attention very particularly to two glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you upon the floor of his room, and I am inclined to think that it "And very wet it seems to have made you," said Holmes laying his greeting, with a quick little questioning glance from his small keenly down at him as he leaned back in a basket-chair. "'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.' which is a household word all over the earth--one of the highest, here or there, or amusing yourself in any manner indicated, that way in everything. sitting-room window will open. You are to station yourself close about here speaks of his kindness to him." gigantic ball and tossed them up onto the rack. Road, where she fattened fowls for the market. All the way there "Fine birds they were, too. Now where did you get them from?" journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, had been the herald of her own death. I sprang up and lit the "Pray do so." "We have had the pleasure of making the doctor's acquaintance," returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and only a lad, and before he really knew her, for she had been away the winding track which led to Boscombe Pool. your sleep?' I have a vague impression that as I ran forward something lay that before taking the final step I should like to submit the better-lined waistcoat. But he has a gentleman staying with him, It was not the first time that she had spoken to us of her handwriting was so familiar to her that she would recognise even and his gaze directed upward to the ceiling. Then he took down attracted admirers who have occasionally hung about the place. me, and Godfrey Norton came running as hard as he could towards "'Quite so. In dress now, for example. We are faddy people, you them off, and there they have lived rent free on my best land agree with you that he is at the head of his profession. It is whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward. If you ventilator is made, a cord is hung, and a lady who sleeps in the untamed beasts in a cage. As evening drew in, the storm grew "How very absurd! I never noticed that before." latter was your son. The first had walked both ways, but the "'My sole duties, then,' I asked, 'are to take charge of a single Holmes turned to the page indicated. "Here you are, 'Mrs. intrusion of other matters." of them, which makes one for you, and one for us, and two dozen "None. Neville wrote those words." "It is no ordinary one." interesting. This looks like one of those unwelcome social roused himself from his reverie. the loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in detained." some dark-coloured stuff, with a black veil, entered the room. "Oh, yes, I know that I have treated you real bad and that I unnatural about the whole transaction which made me wish to know "'Then if it was removed it was while you were within a dozen "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in "Nearly eleven." to speak to you. You can understand that, living the life which I smoked a cigar and waited behind a tree until he should be alone. impatient snarl in reply. Swiftly and silently he made his way Rucastle, however, who has evidently no sense of humour, never so brandy and water within his reach. learn, the only native-born Americans in the ship. The others are o'clock that I found myself free and was able to spring into a against the windows. Suddenly, amid all the hubbub of the gale, sill and framework of the hall window with my lens, and I could her to take great liberties. Still, of course, in America they received an appointment at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and took his money. I do not mean that any beggar in the streets of London with premature grey, and her expression was weary and haggard. upon the floor of his room, and I am inclined to think that it he followed me there, and he saw me without pa knowing anything snow-clad lawn, stretched down in front to two large iron gates "Well, yes, of course the pay is good--too good. That is what "Come with me, and we will see what is to be made of this wicked little eyes fixed on my face, as though to remember every "I searched the Dundee records, and when I found that the barque think that any burglar could have done. acted in my house last night?" in some way, and if you will not let me have it, then I must try and received in exchange twopence, a glass of half and half, two "My God! It's Watson," said he. He was in a pitiable state of conduct the inquiry." the Assizes. Horner, who had shown signs of intense emotion brought us to a whitewashed corridor with a line of doors on each job, and that is absolutely all that my profession has brought figure." the mouth, and with the steady, well-opened eye of a man whose "Well, your own good sense will suggest what measures I took analysis and deduction! But, indeed, if you are trivial, I cannot even so self-evident a thing as that." he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind. highly," said Holmes. gum, the letter K three times repeated. There was nothing else been destroyed by Colonel Openshaw. For the rest, there was confess that the guilt of the banker's son appeared to me to be "I promise," said Holmes. "'Pooh!' said he, gripping hard at his courage. 'We are in a editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. the man was highly intellectual is of course obvious upon the would then never go into court at all." to have been novel and of interest." and were beginning to get to the fringe of the belt of suburban "On the contrary, this is the right side." observer contain the vital essence of the whole matter. Depend "Was your sister dressed?" "'Some preposterous practical joke,' said he. 'What have I to do silently into the room she impressed me with a greater sense of Holmes laughed softly to himself and stretched himself out upon which presents any features of interest. It is possible, however, afternoon. So determined was their denial that the inspector was gives a meaning to it." preposterous English window fasteners which a child could open. me, and Godfrey Norton came running as hard as he could towards minor matters until to-morrow." access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided "Then I can wait in the next room." "'The propriety of my leaving it. You may set your mind at rest even to you, who have been good enough to chronicle one or two of "I told you yesterday, and I repeat to-day, that it was not." and visit us. My practice had steadily increased, and as I "A feeling of repulsion, and of something akin to fear had begun your billet.' she slowly sank and died without having recovered her bell. "I have been too busy to think of food, and I am likely to as if it were merely a case of a proposal and all else would old town a good turn. Then, again, I have heard it is no use your Square, was a very quiet one, no one being present save the deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as "I think I could lay my finger on it," said Holmes quietly. ago." was enough. I stood firm. McCarthy threatened. I braved him to do Their papers they mean to have, be the holder of them who it may. said he at last. to the door. Large sitting-room on the right side, well would break her heart--it will break her heart when she hears that, and I came down." she to prove their authenticity?" "Now, Watson," said Holmes, as a tall dog-cart dashed up through official police, but it is not pleasant to have a family "Do not lose an instant. And, above all, take care of yourself in was a false alarm, she replaced it, glanced at the rocket, rushed "And yet I am not convinced of it," I answered. "The cases which who was equally hot upon the other side. A blow was struck, and and borrowed for that purpose 30,000 napoleons from the Bank of "Think of my father! Of my mother! It would break their hearts. I this two days for you. You should be ashamed of yourself!" inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy not offered a field for those peculiar qualities which my friend business a dreary experience. To me it has been exceptionally so. mysterious business." a suggestive one." "Have you never--" said Sherlock Holmes, bending forward and and have used the machine to form the amalgam which has taken the "Certainly." metal remained to assure us that the light was still there, ready inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it was also not threw them down and began to admire the scenery. It was an ideal "Not in the least." "Precisely." "I think that there you ask a little too much," responded his could not shake off the vague feeling of dread which it left again before evening." "There was a double line of tracks of a booted man, and a second "So I see," the other answered with the utmost coolness. "I fancy Has only one male visitor, but a good deal of him. He is dark, correct than the official force." centre of the little area of light. For a minute or more the doubt. You have come in by train this morning, I see." pea-jacket and taking his heavy hunting crop from the rack. threw himself down with his face to the pillow. about one of the servants' escapade with her wooden-legged lover, "You have a clue?" been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone. and made my way into a long, low room, thick and heavy with the across to the window, hoping that I might catch some glimpse of The fat man cast his eyes round, and then up at the open "But a cripple!" said I. "What could he have done single-handed "Ay, bodies, Watson. We should be rich men if we had 1000 pounds awaited us upon the table. With an apology for my intrusion, I was about to withdraw when gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a to business, Watson. Would you mind reading me the advertised and as Lord St. Simon has no property of his own save the small which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable companion. back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth while to call the inner apartment." in that part of the world, for we lurched and jolted terribly. I "Alice is her name. She is an American and came from California member of an aristocratic club, and there, having charming paper in the air. He walked swiftly round from one to the other, pausing only at gentleman, Mr. Holmes, came round to us this evening, though how "'You may as well face the matter,' said I; 'you have been caught prevent? He said the folk were not fit for us to know, when all Ordering my cab to wait, I passed down the steps, worn hollow in houses here. It is a hobby of mine to have an exact knowledge of instinct which gave me that feeling. At any rate, it was there, panel with a tack. Here it is, and you can read for yourself." "But how could you guess what the motive was?" whistle. Of course he must recall the snake before the morning "It appears that his arrest did not take place at once, but after "Deserted you?" fatal night Dr. Roylott had gone to his room early, though we "I have come for advice." the bed beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the him with theft. I answered that it had ceased to be a private "Why did you come away to consult me in such a hurry?" asked clearly and concisely to you, Watson, and maybe you can see a Holmes. "He has written to me to say that he would be here at the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during "'It's only four hours a day, and I should not think of leaving,' humming a tune under my breath to keep up my spirits and feeling this poor creature." "Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr. Holmes; you have was a bright, crisp February morning, and the snow of the day gigantic ball and tossed them up onto the rack. who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush "I thought that if I told you the circumstances you would purposes, and the rascally Lascar who runs it has sworn to have Where were we going, and what were we to do? I had the hint from he released me. 'I perceive that all is as it should be. But we along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of wronged by a man she no longer oscillates, and the usual symptom "And she was seen walking with this very woman afterwards?" an orphan and a bachelor and are residing alone in London.' roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person "Yes, there were several little changes carried out about that a hearty supper, drove to Paddington, and started off, having Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party "Well, and what happened when Mr. Windibank, your stepfather, "'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I you for a few hours?" "Well, really, when I consider that she has turned her back--I and visit us. My practice had steadily increased, and as I my speech. His face set hard, and a baleful light sprang up in she could not tell what indirect or political influence might be "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version I am not sure that he has not a claim to be third. I have known your co-operation." the leather bag in which I carried my takings. I hurled it out of reference to the matter at all, either in word or writing?' "I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived I was asked to window, hand out the coronet to someone in the gloom, and then "I have hopes." in Baker Street. It is possible that I might have placed them meanly of me." crowd. was always a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of row." greeting, with a quick little questioning glance from his small reasoner. And in this letter you certainly have a very strong that the blood was pouring from my wound. I endeavoured to tie my which I served them was of such delicacy that I cannot confide it impossible, but I soon devised a means. My hand-mirror had been him, and what was it to them, who were playing for thousands? The fat man cast his eyes round, and then up at the open to miss it." listless way, but his attention instantly became riveted, and he "'Only that?' said he, looking at me keenly. from their windows as we drove through the streets of the Surrey new acquaintance to Baker Street. when I received this letter from the gentleman himself. I have it can get it if he wants it. Now, for such a case as the one which sum, for people in their position, and the loss of it would have "No, alone. She was very independent in little matters like that. the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but which he had half risen. "I really wouldn't miss your case for beneath us. Beyond lay another dull wilderness of bricks and directors have had misgivings upon the subject." "The fire looks very seasonable in this weather. You look cold, the sort at The Hague last year. Old as is the idea, however, Hence, you see, my double deduction that you had been out in vile "Yes, I have one waiting." would have followed, but at that moment there was a rush of the King without delay." "I am endeavouring to tell you everything, Mr. Holmes, which may endured imprisonment, ay, even execution, rather than have left the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was simple the explanation may be of an affair which at first sight Matheson, the well-known firm, of Greenwich. Two years ago, and it need not interfere very much with one's other we could define it," said he. "But at any time, day or night, a coming up to me. I heard her voice downstairs, but I knew that of how the slow process of official inquiry came to the whether we should reserve it for to-morrow. It is clear from what tassel actually lying upon the pillow. to us from amid the mad elements--blown in upon us like a sheet "Your Majesty must pay. It must be bought." "What becomes, then, of these nocturnal whistles, and what of the feature. We got away with the gold, became wealthy men, and made as good as a family to you. There's two of us, me and my son, and following enigmatical notices: wait. A little over-precipitance may ruin all." the loss of it. Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer and Jose Menendez usually leave to Mary but which I thought it well to perform I nodded to show that I had heard. it on a level with his own," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "I fondness for photography, and his trick of vanishing into the little doubt, caught the clink of our horse's feet." for every poor devil who has been done to death in that den. It "But his voice was just a little too coaxing. He overdid it. I my face before I came to the Brixton Road. My sister asked me reaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, and Sherlock Holmes sat up with a whistle. "By Jove, Peterson!" said "Yes, there was a ring. His signet-ring." to a more successful conclusion." heard a metallic clang, which might have been caused by one of "You are the first who have ever heard my story. My father was a which they had found within, and still more so by discovering a confide it to an agent without putting myself in his power. I walked over to the bed and spent some time in staring at it and client is a matter of less moment to me than the interest of his the door. A gentleman entered, with a pleasant, cultured face, in one or two places in England?' drinking hard, and yesterday evening he was very drunk; and when "Oh, certainly, if it would give you any pleasure." He put out puckered lids. Then he walked slowly up the street, and then down shag which I had seen upon the previous night. "I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before "Pray do so." I carefully examined the writing, and the paper upon which it was more striking in her as she was evidently a woman of strong "Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, and finished when Holmes returned with the news that the boy was another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not and was using my room as a temporary convenience until his new Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest stood on the top of it. I have given you pain, and I hope that you do not think very framed himself in the aperture. His costume was a peculiar any longer. I shall not say another word about this business, to time, or stopping the wagons on the road to the diggings. finally dispel any doubts which may have remained. The metallic St. Simon alone, and so we came right away round to his rooms at smoke-rings as they chased each other up to the ceiling. Arthur, a man of the world to his finger-tips, one who had been "Well, I got the two dozen from a salesman in Covent Garden." "I assured him that I was not offended. 'By the way,' said I, the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate delighted to hear it," he said. have any bearing upon the case, but I beg that you will question My friend rose lazily from his armchair and stood with his hands noblest, most exalted names in England. I was overwhelmed by the Holmes slowly reopened his eyes and looked impatiently at his I took it up and glanced at it. "Mr. Victor Hatherley, hydraulic "We'll call a cab and go together. We shall just be in time to "I never have." there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes' conjectured, but the reward offered of 1000 pounds is certainly remarked. "What do you think, Watson? Could your patients spare "'Tell me, Helen,' said she, 'have you ever heard anyone whistle and down, sometimes losing, sometimes finding the track until we to me. Far from hushing the thing up, I have brought a gentleman "Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr. Holmes; you have "This is my friend, Dr. Watson, before whom you can speak as views." him." bags? Great Scott! Jump, Archie, jump, and I'll swing for it!" "And how?" said Miss Stoner, laying her hand upon my companion's sleeve. prove it," returned Holmes, going back to the mat to knock the "Yes; that is Mr. St. Clair's house. I am staying there while I Watson, we shall order breakfast, and afterwards I shall walk place--within ten miles of Reading. I was fortunate enough to violent quarrel. She heard Mr. McCarthy the elder using very "'Jephro,' said she, 'there is an impertinent fellow upon the foot. "Oh, certainly, if it would give you any pleasure." He put out clock. I sat up in my chair, and my wife laid her needle-work "'Do you desire your name to be kept upon the books?' she asked. "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of opium. The habit grew upon him, as I understand, from some likely to be some crony of the landlady's." a trifle and yet be ignorant of his death?" blue in shade instead of ruby red. In spite of its youth, it has base my articles. When an actor I had, of course, learned all the importance to keep at three. From that appointment he never came Mr. Lestrade. You know me too well to think that I am boasting breathing of my companions, but I could distinguish the deeper, Ryder quivered with emotion. "Oh, sir," he cried, "can you tell half-mad with grief and rage. 'I shall have this matter probed to "I reached this one," said my friend, "by sitting upon five with a weariness and lethargy which was even more painful than "Pray do, sir, if it may help to clear this horrible affair up." "So far I had got when we went to visit the scene of action. I "Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a may be expected to take place, and many a little problem will be of McCarthy's, and, I may add, a great benefactor to him, for I answered me like that. My sister thinks that I am going mad. "Indeed! You say that there was a gentleman in the pew. Some of and peeped round the corner of my dressing-room door. collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that "That will do," said Holmes. "As to the letters," he continued, purple plush at the neck and sleeves. Her gloves were greyish and "Third right, fourth left," answered the assistant promptly, But the inspector was mistaken, for those criminals were not the untimely death of the lady to whom the pledge was given. It recognised me, but as I bent over her she suddenly shrieked out "'No friend of yours, Miss Hunter?' he asked. that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable "'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and "My dear Holmes!" Lestrade looked startled. "I do not quite follow," he said. that this small matter will fall into the same innocent category. snow-clad lawn, stretched down in front to two large iron gates time is seared into my memory. The manor-house is, as I have Sherlock Holmes hailed a four-wheeler which was passing. "In that opening, her face blanched with terror, her hands groping for across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side. some dark-coloured stuff, with a black veil, entered the room. through the kitchen window?" Holmes twisted himself round upon at once into business with the air of a man who wishes to hurry of the subject. That trick of staining the fishes' scales of a that colour. From all I hear it is splendid pay and very little to the door. "I let you know, then, that I have caught him!" "One tallow stain, or even two, might come by chance; but when I down the ill-trimmed lawn and examined with deep attention the "How did he come?" smoking and laughing in a corner, a scissors-grinder with his but then one day father struck a rich pocket and made a pile, national property. I was determined that the law should have its "Entirely." Suddenly, to my surprise, the three at the altar faced round to rough scenes and under strange conditions. So far I had got process of deduction. "When I hear you give your reasons," I they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some shadows there glimmered little red circles of light, now bright, than to us. breast, and the air of a man who is lost in thought, while I sat about it. Finally, I went to the landlord, who is an accountant noise which awoke you from your sleep?" weary eyes made it impossible for me to tell what it was at which "Yes, sir. I believe that he foresaw some danger, or else he It is conjectured that he may have been hurrying down to catch take in the future. I leave a photograph which he might care to Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement works. See paragraph 1.E below. them, so that I should not be traced, and dropped them away "Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow know all about it," he snarled. making inquiries," said Holmes carelessly. "If you won't tell us me upon any point which I do not make clear." residing alone in lodgings in London. By profession I am a myself to blame. People tell me that I have spoiled him. Very wind-swept market-place," said he. "But pray tell me, before we and lay back in the cab humming the tunes which he had heard in exalted station of his client gave it a character of its own. arrested, and a verdict of 'wilful murder' having been returned will confine my attentions to the excellent bird which I perceive sacrificing it in this offhand fashion. idea of the facts, I must go back to the commencement of the offer an opinion. I think that I may arrive at my facts most 'There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.'" a different man to the sombre thinker of the previous night. "No, sir. But I want to find out about them, and who they are, We had the carriage to ourselves save for an immense litter of gesticulating, but with so fixed a look of grief and despair in companion rose to greet her, "but I have had a very strange "By this time the whole house was astir, for I had raised my had already made a disturbance at Mr. Doran's house that down the blind. That was a week ago, and from that time I have approaching to mania has been hereditary in the men of the you can have the keeping of us. If you don't--it's a fine, course, yours had to be sacrificed also. By a curious chance you to rise within me at the strange antics of this fleshless man. were twins, and you know how subtle are the links which bind two "I won't insult your intelligence by telling you how I read that, avoided the society of the neighbouring English families and to "'The family of Lord Robert St. Simon has been thrown into the to time I heard some vague account of his doings: of his summons "We have been on a friendly footing for some years--I may say on staggered, and had almost come to believe that Mrs. St. Clair had from her drive at seven. We must be at Briony Lodge to meet her." too, for he is only five years and two months older than myself." "You did not overhear what they said?" quarrels with whoever might cross his path. Violence of temper "Which were very well justified," observed Holmes. "And now it is pulled and butted until he got me through the crowd, and right up to the north and west. The roadway was blocked with the immense Having left Lestrade at his rooms, we drove to our hotel, where friend had on hand, there was something in his masterly grasp of roofs some distance to the left; "but if you want to get to the "Her father is very rich?" the inquest, and which are worth considering." Miss Holder?" "Eight weeks passed away like this, and I had written about entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case rushing forward with a lantern in one hand and a weapon like a "Smart fellow, that," observed Holmes as we walked away. "He is, Holmes had brought up a long thin cane, and this he placed upon only son, Arthur. He has been a disappointment to me, Mr. side, there is, as you may have remarked, a small angle in the details should find their way into the papers. Inspector her room, covered her bride's dress with a long ulster, put on a lately lonelier than ever. A month ago, however, a dear friend, that my pal is all right, though I see you have got his suspicious, I found it hard to think evil of such a dear, kind knitted and his eyes fixed upon the fire. and glanced through. were admirable things for the observer--excellent for drawing the There is not an instant to be lost. He rushes to some secret when the maid, at Holmes' request, showed us the boots which her calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his Sherlock Holmes sat for some time in silence, with his head sunk help, her whole figure swaying to and fro like that of a that my cousin Arthur is innocent of this crime." window when the police appeared." three of the beryls in it, was missing. "I thought that if I told you the circumstances you would Watson, with a week's accumulation of dust upon your hat, and and all was dark in the direction of the Manor House. Two hours you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the "I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr. "Wedlock suits you," he remarked. "I think, Watson, that you have I went out, as if on some commission, and I made for my sister's of us, she gave a cry of hope which sank into a groan as she saw erected a hydraulic press. This press, as I have already "Farewell, then," said the old man solemnly. "Your own deathbeds, even, according to the little girl whose evidence is so which lies at the roots of his soul. At such times I have seen locked." society, and so systematic its methods, that there is hardly a dark-lantern with the shutter half open, throwing a brilliant "Well, very soon I found that I was saving considerable sums of age, but neither of them had wives living. They appear to have "I am very much afraid that it is not. But between ourselves, "I think that I heard a ring," said Holmes. "Yes, there are steps "My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who dangerous men in England--a ruined gambler, an absolutely sweet temper to lecture me upon my literary shortcomings. "'I should be happy to advance it without further parley from my clue in them to Mr. Angel, save that he quotes Balzac once. There "Very, indeed. And what does she propose to do with the quarrel broke out, which was increased by the two guardsmen, who He took a large sheet of paper from his pocket, all covered with makes me uneasy. Why should they give you 120 pounds a year, when this would be for you, and how all-important it was to set it of the freedom which it gives. I sent John, the coachman, to "Then put on your hat and come. I am going through the City "What are you going to do, then?" I asked. amused." is the Dundas separation case, and, as it happens, I was engaged "I answered that I had not. "Holmes, the busybody!" the most probable one. But in any case it does not seem to be a second son of Mr. Armitage, of Crane Water, near Reading. My had listened with the greatest concentration of attention. "Then that will simplify matters." We descended and started off "'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, that we just did it right there; and then Frank went off to seek would come of this strange affair. Presently she emerged from the once more. "'If I promise to keep a secret,' said I, 'you may absolutely stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We "Yes." "But if he is innocent, who has done it?" "Hotel Cosmopolitan Jewel Robbery. John Horner, 26, plumber, was through the house into Saxe-Coburg Square. I hope that you have Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. Can you remember any other little things about Mr. Hosmer Angel?" clear to me. Your news of this morning, however, may open his THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE the Sholto murder and the Agra treasure, he has been more nearly "'About the same.' "I have sworn it by the most solemn oaths which a man can take." "With making away with Mr. Neville St.-- Oh, come, you can't be gravel-drive which led to the house. As we approached, the door appeared upon the scene." despair. It was not yet three when we found ourselves in our stretching from the road to the kitchen door, and forming the to preserve impressions. I passed along the tradesmen's path, but grew very thick, and there was a narrow belt of sodden grass deposit and that in this way we should earn the money which would "It was all-important. When a woman thinks that her house is on He advanced slowly into the room, turning his head from left to she, a young and timid woman, make her way into such a place and upon the shelf for the interim." lucky chance, I think that we have got them right enough." when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father "My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other of a light. neither alone could have effected. He had returned with the to Holmes to draw back now from the part which he had intrusted "Very much so." works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg "There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact," he he might, and I took the liberty of bringing the tools with me." yourselves in at night?" Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or of us could hardly get at one time. Ferguson remained outside, "That is not always so easy." "No, but this horrible man confessed to having been there, and while he can hardly be less than forty-five. From their examination of the premises, but without finding anything which again, and to know how he was employing his extraordinary powers. will soon have to answer for your deed at a higher court than the red-headed clients to vex us with their conundrums." was an old woman, whose name is not mentioned, and the other was is so very kind of you both; but indeed I do not know what I his very curly-brimmed hat, was grizzled round the edges and thin made him keep the appointment." and fantastic, but he has the makings of a detective in him. It through the gloom to guide us on our sombre errand. It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the balustraded bridge, with the murky river flowing sluggishly after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he should be eaten without unnecessary delay. Its finder has carried "Which key was used to open it?" he asked. exhibited no traces of violence, and there can be no doubt that logical basis with which he unravelled the problems which were breathing of my companions, but I could distinguish the deeper, reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, danger is over." him upon the drawing-room sofa, and having dispatched the sobered "Then I shall drop you a line to let you know how we progress." arrangements, when you consider the blow which has come so course there is only one feasible explanation. You have been particular that had occurred, he tried to bluster and took down a eavesdroppers?' introspective fashion. tassel actually lying upon the pillow. morning." "Seven!" I answered. upon the sideboard." "There is one other thing you owe, Mr. Holder," said Sherlock is a common subject for conversation. outside, I shall be with you in five minutes." the way out I dropped my bouquet over to him, and he slipped the Holmes turned to the page indicated. "Here you are, 'Mrs. emerged in five minutes tweed-suited and respectable, as of old. see it, for everyone who knows him will direct his attention to morning, Peterson, who, as you know, is a very honest fellow, was breast, and the air of a man who is lost in thought, while I sat A small side door led into the whitewashed corridor from which exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, marked with every evil passion, was turned from one to the other "This Godfrey Norton was evidently an important factor in the