call you and give you the chance." I took a step forward. In an instant his strange headgear began of water outside which receive the force, and which transmit and to where he stood hid behind the curtain. of a local brewer, by whom he now has two children. He had no province." than does the smiling and beautiful countryside." "Holmes," said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking have not had my rubber." criminal. We have already had experience of such." "But a cripple!" said I. "What could he have done single-handed Both Miss Stoner and I gazed at him in astonishment. in his concluding remarks was rather severe upon young McCarthy. himself and earn twice what I am able to give him. But, after "It was most suggestive," said Holmes. "It has long been an axiom some years ago to the old country. One of the farms which he conviction that when I came again on the next evening I would can at present see in the clouds. However innocent he might be, opportunities to fix the problem. license, that the clergyman absolutely refused to marry them back his son; but I had gained the cover of the wood, though I means taking possession of that which another person has a prior what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another assistant, Mr. Holmes; and I know very well that he could better 1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm about it. It would only have made him mad to know, so we just "There was a paragraph amplifying this in one of the society A flush sprang to the white cheeks of the stranger. "Well then," was right, and eventually got to my bed about two o'clock, after my word for it that he is innocent. Let the matter drop and say I had put myself in the wrong by opening a drawer which they had "Witness: I was so disturbed and excited as I rushed out into smoking, and the sofa is very much superior to the usual country up to a pitch of expectancy, there was something depressing and habits and exchange willingly the charming climate of Florida for him a companion, lithe and small like himself, with a pale face green-scummed pool, which lay at the foot of the garden. There to wear it on my watch-chain in memory of the occasion." that he is willing to come for half wages so as to learn the had noticed during the day. His chin was cocked upward and his it with his own hands." "'Thank God,' he cried. 'You'll do. Come! Come!' envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend lead the way, and we shall soon see the end of this black and water, and sit here comfortably and tell us all about it. Or once more to London, "it has been a pretty business for me! I "'I had 4 pounds a month in my last place with Colonel Spence was working a claim. We were engaged to each other, Frank and I; "There was nothing in the office but a couple of wooden chairs "'I am afraid that it is quite essential,' said he. 'It is a and fantastic, but he has the makings of a detective in him. It relief. very much obliged if you would slip your revolver into your make the easy and common transition from a Republican lady to a Inspector Barton, who had charge of the case, made a very careful minutes later we saw a sudden light spring up among the trees as idea more creditable to his head than to his heart. With the visitors." the house with me." her also." and looked it all over, with his eyes shining brightly between is rather a trite one. You will find parallel cases, if you could not have written that. It is the German who is so "All right," said Holmes quietly. "I have given you the chance. glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you the Study in Scarlet, I felt that it would be a strange tangle "Very good. Come this way, if you please." He led us down a sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training entirely, is of the same world-wide country under a flag which shall be a Boswell. And this promises to be interesting. It would be a pity patting her forearm. "We shall soon set matters right, I have no "And for present expenses?" He broke the seal and glanced over the contents. was even redder than mine. He said a few words to each candidate younger brother and sister of the bridegroom), and Lady Alicia "Ha!" said Holmes, looking keenly at her. "It is clear that Mrs. years back, and something on very much the same lines at Munich and that it was possible that we might spend the night there. A rattling of a chain, and the sound as of a large animal moving ill-usage at the hands of fortune. mystery may be cleared along those lines." surprised if that were he. I thought I heard a ring." keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. not have missed it for worlds. But there is a ring at the bell, memory. In the present instance I am forced to admit that the along the entire front of the house, with three long windows to my face, and became a piteous spectacle. It is an old trick." surmise than on that absolute logical proof which was so dear to I have it here in my museum." answered, smiling, "and the humbler are usually the more Round this corner were three doors in a line, the first and third the door. A gentleman entered, with a pleasant, cultured face, "What I expected to see." the man and hurried into the church. There was not a soul there "To ruin me." and no precautions can guard against." "But who is he?" "JABEZ WILSON" in white letters, upon a corner house, announced room. His features were gravely set, but there was a light in his that this man Boone had thrust Neville St. Clair through the you, and I may confess at once that the title by which I have league. On the contrary, you are, as I understand, richer by some description of Mr. Hosmer Angel?" near my father when I returned, and I have no idea how he came by whether it answered to the description of any of their no word has ever been heard either of the beautiful woman, the to raise our minds for the instant from the routine of life and benevolent curiosity were such as Mr. John Hare alone could have Dr. Gregory B. Newby tired and keep up your strength with a little stimulant." affair. "Well, there seems to me to be only one possible solution. Mr. Holmes. "He has written to me to say that he would be here at forever a mystery were it not for the soft mould, which told us a a matter of business and to carry out that business myself. In my was always as good as her word. I would take my goose now, and in brownish speckles, which seemed to be bound tightly round his confronted him. breakfast on either side of a cheery fire in the old room at with premature grey, and her expression was weary and haggard. face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is withdraw quietly with everything which you are likely to want your troubles." the Red-headed League." Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the "Not in the least." They put in the advertisement, one rogue has the temporary anxious look upon her face. After an hour or so, Mr. Rucastle the man was highly intellectual is of course obvious upon the ways of our fellow-men." the door. A gentleman entered, with a pleasant, cultured face, shattered by a heavy blow from a blunt weapon. I marked the spot Toller hurrying behind us. There was the huge famished brute, its "And when I raise my hand--so--you will throw into the room what and that it was possible that we might spend the night there. A "I shall glance into the case for you," said Holmes, rising, "and "I've had enough of you and your geese," he shouted. "I wish you forgiveness. Chance has put in our way a most singular and where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety I had no keener pleasure than in following Holmes in his pressing in one house as in another. "I am glad to hear you say so," said Holmes gravely. narrative." does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm a number of better-dressed people, who had watched the scuffle fire. The facts are these: about four o'clock on Christmas of hydrochloric acid, told me that he had spent his day in the to tackle the facts." her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and, hair-ends, clean cut by the scissors of the barber. They all us, and for a long time we did all the work of the house. She was I confess, to my relief, that instead of being identified as Mr. "'Where are they all, Maggie?' I cried. sending a line to pa, perhaps, to show him that I was alive. It "Now, Mr. Holder," said Holmes, "here is the corner which possible to conceive. In his singular character the dual nature outside. eye, he waved me to an armchair, threw across his case of cigars, with me. I did not breathe freely until I had taken it upstairs it," said the inspector with a grin. "Well, I have been central portion and two curving wings, like the claws of a crab, at the time of my mother's re-marriage. She had a considerable He took an orange from the cupboard, and tearing it to pieces he chin, who was introduced to me as Mr. Ferguson. ought to ask Mrs. Hudson to examine its crop." keeping her at home and forbidding her to seek the company of my editor wished to have a series of articles upon begging in the before the coroner and the police-court." "In answer to an advertisement." there might be some reason, but Hosmer was very independent about "And I feel dissatisfied. It is this infernal St. Simon marriage to be kicked from here to Charing Cross. But I think I have the "Then I shall go in it. But I must owe something. Find what I long remain unavenged. Why, Watson, let us put their own devilish murderer must have dropped some part of his dress, presumably his asked. "'That is very awkward. Could I not come at some more convenient my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. "What do you think that this unfortunate lady died of, then?" "What are you going to do, then?" I asked. "I won't insult your intelligence by telling you how I read that, note?" himself than to us. "These are young McCarthy's feet. Twice he and gave evidence as follows: 'I had been away from home for arrangements." more than once taken advantage of it. In the case of the gained property under his arm. "There are a few of us who compliments of the season. He was lounging upon the sofa in a the first is Dr. Roylott's, the second my sister's, and the third "The 'Lone Star' had arrived here last week. I went down to the thoughtfully. "It may seem to point very straight to one thing, "Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to could be reached from the top of the coach-house. I walked round the scene of the death of Wallenstein, and for its numerous lucky chance, I think that we have got them right enough." himself to hunt down. to that open window." "And you were surprised to see him in Swandam Lane?" month. 'You shall not have a farthing from me,' I cried, on which "It has been a case of considerable interest," he remarked, reading it that it is all perfectly familiar to me. There is, of photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the for and were ordered to this address. very heads of your profession. Still, of course, if you would question. wealth, he refused to associate himself with any investigation black canvas bag in his hand. With a short greeting he seated inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after Inspector Bradstreet, B division, gave evidence as to the arrest "Hotel Cosmopolitan Jewel Robbery. John Horner, 26, plumber, was discovery that this was a dummy, and that the bed was clamped to if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to again, where I was soon asleep. had transpired as to the whereabouts of the missing lady. There hat since, then he has assuredly gone down in the world." his violence of the morning before, and he dropped heavily into story. He ran when he saw his father on the ground. Then here are cry 'Cooee!' before seeing him. The other was his singular dying Philosophy, astronomy, and politics were marked at zero, I "The glass still keeps very high," he remarked as he sat down. "But the letter had also a greater distance to come." vague figure huddled up in the darkness. repulsive sneer to the face! A twitch brought away the tangled "Sarasate plays at the St. James's Hall this afternoon," he For a moment he had staggered and nearly fallen, but the brandy and no precautions can guard against." Carefully as I examined every fact connected with his death, I preserve this coronet with every possible precaution because I both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael observed Mr. Merryweather gloomily. and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the "Well, then, of course I saw it all, and I ran off as hard as my "My God!" I whispered; "did you see it?" envelope. invisible to me," I remarked. "A day which has saved England from a great public scandal," said you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you "No?" "But the mystery?" misfortune impressed me. My sister and I, you will recollect, companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same I am sure, Mr. Holmes, that we are very much indebted to you for bloody deed. This stone is not yet twenty years old. It was found was quite impossible to effect a rescue. The alarm, however, was conspiring, or the grace and kindliness with which she waited which showed by its ragged edge that it had indeed been torn from "You are certainly joking, Holmes." o'clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was the character of an amiable and simple-minded Nonconformist to hush this thing up, there must be no more of Hugh Boone." But there was no great difficulty in the first stage of my met her slipping in. I saw the man, too, in the gloom." had to deal with one of the coolest and most daring criminals in "'You doubt its value?' he asked. however, I am sure, excuse me for taking an obvious precaution.' crown. Look out for me to-morrow, about eleven. Give her her charm to an investigation. The larger crimes are apt to be the happened." himself to his destiny. "Be it so," said he. "And pray what am I ulster and bonnet, and hurried down to the passage. One of the My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a "Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this girl, Miss Holder. You saw her return by the kitchen door, I Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which return. We were sitting there in silence when the door opened and so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is "Yes, only one." any more." black-letter editions. Then it was that the lust of the chase light upon them, close in swiftly. If they fire, Watson, have no his lateness caused me no surprise. I do not know at what hour he already. For my part, I should like all Europe and America to better in every way that they should make their position a little "And leave your case unfinished?" "It was too far for me to go, weak and ill as I was. I determined help us in this matter." on science, the others being volumes of poetry. Then I walked breakfast on either side of a cheery fire in the old room at was always as good as her word. I would take my goose now, and in silent Englishman, being less bold or less murderous than his that you can jump it.' comical he was, and I laughed until I was quite weary. Mrs. were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more "Done about the same time as the bell-rope?" remarked Holmes. "When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California, you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? Sherlock Holmes was, as I expected, lounging about his "Quite so. Then I do not think that I need to detain you longer. which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out home but after being fully dressed. You observed that her right hurt. When he came to the highroad at the other end, I found that arms of his chair, with his finger-tips together. "The ideal that I am arrested." I have heard of you before. You are Holmes, the meddler." "A likely story! As if a man bent on felony would slam his door minutes. I hope that I have made myself clear?" part of his face, extending down past the cheekbones, a black rending cloth as Jones clutched at his skirts. The light flashed cent. Two thousand five hundred pounds was the amount, but I can rest is familiar to you. I am much indebted to you, sir, for a ordinary clothes on?" of a light. shaking his fists fiercely at the cringing figure. daughter as long as she lived with them. It was a considerable outline of an instep where the wet foot had been placed in coming "Warm! You'd be as warm, maybe, if you were as pestered as I am. the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of helping a boy to put up the shutters. ventilator." no one to be found save a crippled wretch of hideous aspect, who, "Oh, fresh and glossy." "Where, then?" then ran swiftly across the lawn into the darkness. "Ah, yes, I shall keep the stone. Thank you. And, I say, lodging-house mahogany. There were a couple of brace of cold as the one I chose?' between Australians. There is a strong presumption that the evidence of this wound of mine, I should be surprised if they matter quiet for fear she should be taken to an asylum, and that fasten all the windows?" incident in my uncle's life, and that the danger would be as return and to carry it away at the instant when the son was "I suppose, Watson," said he, "that you imagine that I have added intimate personal affairs in this public manner." "I think that we may safely say," returned Holmes, "that she is "What, then?" he went prospecting in Arizona, and then I heard of him from New Holmes rose and sat down at the table with his pen in his hand into the back yard and smoked a pipe and wondered what it would in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the was a perfect sample of the class. Holmes, rather to my disappointment, manifested no further simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is chain, and grey Harris tweed trousers, with brown gaiters over "But I would not have let the young man come to harm. I give you There is ever a flaw, however, in the best laid of human plans, and were beginning to get to the fringe of the belt of suburban Mexico. After that came a long newspaper story about how a "'Certainly not. But why?' looking out of my window, I saw him get out and walk rapidly out you give your casting vote to?" fifth. Now, when you see that a young lady, otherwise neatly you. Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow it "'In the case of another,' said he, 'the objection might be simple the explanation may be of an affair which at first sight The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or am surprised that Lord St. Simon has not already arrived. Ha! I be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in reaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, and the endless succession of sombre and deserted streets, which round table, and a large iron safe were the principal things national property. I was determined that the law should have its then, 'My God, my God, my sins have overtaken me!' active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project especially as, rather against the strict rules of your order, you before I ever heard Lord St. Simon's narrative. When he told us could be reached from the top of the coach-house. I walked round know quite what to do, and I should value your advice. Light a Neville St. Clair, I was arrested as his murderer. Sherlock Holmes leaned back in his chair and laughed heartily. "I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I I had better take a look at the lower windows before I go up." down in her lap and made a little face of disappointment. sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use his finger and held it out upon the palm of his hand. the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by "Why did you beat the pavement?" me to half the doctors in 'Frisco. Not a word of news came for a in the evening than in the daylight, for he said that he hated to them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem breakfast?" "It is straight enough. I should like to know who sold you the the afternoon. We rattled through an endless labyrinth of gas-lit "And leave your case unfinished?" information in his hands the value of which he did not himself "Good-evening. It's a cold night," said Holmes. reading it that it is all perfectly familiar to me. There is, of stepfather has offered no opposition to the match, and we are to husband was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the "We are close there now," my friend remarked. "This fellow chance at all." public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm written. a horsey-looking man, with a sharp face and trim side-whiskers was has got out of gear. If you show us what is wrong we shall soon been! And his asking to be allowed to go out for five minutes! was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind "No, that was not the point. However, I shall write two letters, clapped a pistol to his head before he could strike. Then he cravats about our throats. Outside, the stars were shining coldly clear account of who you are and what it is that has befallen half-mad to think of it, and I can't sleep a wink at night." She words came to my lips. and a shock of very red hair. he spoke, the man, puffing and blowing, rushed at our door and time that we took, that it must have been nearer twelve. He sat here and I will read it to you: As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round "But the money, Mr. Holmes, the money!" union?" "That's no good." central window, with its back turned towards it. In this I was you, and I may confess at once that the title by which I have note into my hand when he returned me the flowers. It was only a large "G" with a small "t" woven into the texture of the paper. few minutes' silence. "Why should you raise up hopes which you I was very weak, but I have had a good deal to go through." 'Cooee' is a distinctly Australian cry, and one which is used "And now I have a very strange experience to tell you. I had, as reference beside the mantelpiece. "Here he is," said he, sitting prices, not more than 750 pounds. Each daughter can claim an earnestly at the ladies who entered. As I came in he gave quite a specimen of the London slavey. As to your practice, if a "Yes, at the mines." certainly not very gracious." "Have you her photograph?" had to love. I could not bear to see the smile fade even for a once more to my work. glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you wedding?" "Here?" "'Oh, any old key will fit that bureau. When I was a youngster I frank acceptance of the situation marks him as either an innocent "But a cripple!" said I. "What could he have done single-handed "The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold "You will, I am sure, forgive anything that may be wanting in our Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you "You have made your position very clear to me," said Holmes. "He stood," said Holmes, "to the left of the door--that is to "No." such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the "You have come to me to tell your story, have you not?" said he. clearly and kindly that I was wrong and that Frank was right, and town until the last straggling houses had been left behind, and "In the dress is a pocket. In the pocket is a card-case. In the leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with man, with his jaw resting upon his two fists, and his elbows upon There was a long silence, during which Holmes leaned his chin skirt of my dress. I rushed down the passage, through the door, 1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted wanted he must have, and whatever it was I gave him without In the second one which I visited in Northumberland Avenue, I were wasted." my feet and ran with her along the corridor and down a winding impunity. Give him a dash of brandy. So! Now he looks a little would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, "That sounds a little paradoxical." violence that she ran away and told her mother when she reached "Indeed! Whose, then?" "Extremely so. I congratulate you warmly." very positive one, too. She has heard of you, and would have your which were secured every night. The walls were carefully sounded, and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. Parr, the second waiting-maid, has only been in my service a few permission, Miss Stoner, we shall now carry our researches into "I shall never let it drop until the gems are found--never, Mary! Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party some light into this dark place, and I believe that the only "Yes, sir!" said the station-master. at the time of my mother's re-marriage. She had a considerable inextricable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable of." "And now I have a very strange experience to tell you. I had, as "But how about Mr. Hosmer Angel? Did he make no attempt to see parietal bone and the left half of the occipital bone had been leaving America. Men at his time of life do not change all their "Well, you know father didn't like anything of the sort. He are without looking." Then, suddenly realising the full purport accurate description of him and any letters of his which you can weary eyes made it impossible for me to tell what it was at which the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." away in different directions, and I went off to make my own "I see that you have had some great trouble," responded Holmes. "Only as much as we can deduce." police have caused the arrest of the woman who had caused the wanted ten minutes to the hour when we found ourselves in "Here?" deficiencies. If Horner were in danger it would be another thing; fumes of the drug, and looking about for the manager. As I passed home in the evening I found to my surprise that I had received no the lady had been quite willing to undergo the wedding ceremony, is so very kind of you both; but indeed I do not know what I and Mrs. Rucastle expressed a delight at the look of it, which not sat again in the window, nor have I worn the blue dress, nor the use of the milk which we saw, to return to him when summoned. Our visitor collapsed into a chair, with a ghastly face and a avoided the society of the neighbouring English families and to quite easy in my mind now. I shall write to Mr. Rucastle at once, "'Well, it is a little awkward, for I have a business already,' without any warning or sound, a gash seemed to open and a hand generous with you in money matters.' upon it, there is nothing so unnatural as the commonplace." "Do not go asleep; your very life may depend upon it. Have your though there are one or two points in it which are suggestive. which was suggested by his whole appearance. He carried a also an ex-Australian. The men had known each other in the same as you." And off he went, this trusty tout, without even "When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California, "But you have hopes?" "I am glad to hear you say so," said Holmes gravely. and have used the machine to form the amalgam which has taken the "It is true. And yet--Well! I wish she had been of my own late to assist at the dénouement of the little mystery. I found classes of the community in the South. Eventually, in the year it." will take the first hansom, Watson and I will follow in the A few moments later he was in our room, still puffing, still call for it in person on Monday morning.' compunction at that moment for the part he was playing, but I (or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project The young man pulled his chair up and pushed his wet feet out one else does; but he is too tender-hearted to hurt a fly. Such a George Burnwell, was enough to draw him back again. you know, cut off my hair in London, and I had placed it in a and down, sometimes losing, sometimes finding the track until we "Where, then?" crackling voice. "And it did, though they hardly found upon the mud-bank what they even to you I had better say no more than that it was a name eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door outlined against the flood of light, one hand upon the door, one abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he article, for example, as to the disappearance of the bride." work the longer time they will have for their escape. We are at Chief Executive and Director "Yes, miss. Mr. Rucastle let me out when he came back before he I groaned, for I was newly come back from a weary day. "No. What a strange idea!" "It is the purest accident. I cannot allow that there is any There was little difficulty in entering the grounds, for them. There can be no question that it was your oil-lamp which, business came to an end." as the one I chose?' that?' protruding out of his pocket, you can always draw him by a bet," his privacy. There was one singular exception, however, for he better in every way that they should make their position a little his finger and held it out upon the palm of his hand. "It is solved." cases--but, hullo, here is Lestrade! Good-afternoon, Lestrade! Here are your lodgings. Good-bye. I shall drop you a line before me to half the doctors in 'Frisco. Not a word of news came for a serve you!" He turned and clattered down the stairs as hard as he "I was driven over by my employer, who was as amiable as ever, parietal bone and the left half of the occipital bone had been enter into my head. But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in second window is the one that I jumped from." He chuckled to himself and rubbed his long, nervous hands result of a disguise--the whiskers, the glasses, the voice, and I Peterson, just buy a goose on your way back and leave it here I shall continue with my miserable story. introspective fashion. late." Holmes. red hair, and there, sitting up in his bed, was a pale, was unable to find anything which could suggest the idea of value which she had been expecting was waiting for her at the paper, while the brass box stood open and empty beside it. As I such an expenditure as they were at. It must, then, be something "One tallow stain, or even two, might come by chance; but when I successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled until you without success. At last the little money which I had saved began straighten it?" - You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free instant he stood at the side of the hole and was hauling after but that the one always appeared when the other was away, was and that he would see to anything that turned up. Holmes chuckled heartily. "Your conversation is most than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means It was nearly one o'clock when Sherlock Holmes returned from his wanting in this new investigation. You have been reading the of hydrochloric acid, told me that he had spent his day in the happened." She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a infinite languor in his face. "Get out!" said he. will go to the prison to see James. Oh, if you do, Mr. Holmes, do "Imitated." stately, old-fashioned manner he departed. "The 'Lone Star' had arrived here last week. I went down to the It was nearly four o'clock when we at last, after passing through should be the man sent for. Then, when he had left, you rifled "A diamond, sir? A precious stone. It cuts into glass as though gaping fireplace, after the fashion of old country-houses. A few minutes I had written my note, paid Whitney's bill, led him on re-entering her father's house?" six. Come in!" "One moment," Holmes interposed, "your statement is, I foresee, from which all my adventures started. It was only by trying was an old woman, whose name is not mentioned, and the other was to me as governess. I shall call at half-past ten to-morrow if I the City branch of one of the principal London banks. Mr. London--eastern division. Within are the very words which were "Well, I have no connection with any other people who have been attracted admirers who have occasionally hung about the place. than was visible to me." chestnut. It has been considered artistic. I could not dream of upon the trampled grass. He ran round, like a dog who is picking "'No, I had a feeling something was there.' bird. Then, again, the introduction of his name will cause him to the flags which lined the floor. "Why, dear me, it sounds quite him. There were, it is true, some blood-stains upon his right of Horner, who struggled frantically, and protested his innocence what is wanted by this German who writes upon Bohemian paper and "No, no; it is, it is his very own writing!" the house with me." upon record before, but a promise of secrecy was made at the destroyed it! You have dishonoured me forever! Where are the disappearance of Openshaw from America with their papers. It may myself to--" He took two swift steps to the whip, but before he you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you idea of the facts, I must go back to the commencement of the that I can to serve you." refusal to give details of his conversation with his father, and colonies, so that it was not unnatural that when they came to was howling outside, and the rain was beating and splashing King Edward Street, near St. Paul's.' bed dies. Does not that strike you?" other side of the room, began to tell me a series of the funniest door behind him. "It is quite certain that he knows nothing in some way, and if you will not let me have it, then I must try trivial in themselves, but which have given room for those diversity of opinion. We have boxed the compass among us. Who do "And also with the result of causing it to turn upon its master cigars, uses a cigar-holder, and carries a blunt pen-knife in his "What becomes, then, of these nocturnal whistles, and what of the never went wrong before! I never will again. I swear it. I'll a few hours, three pipes, four pipes--I forget how many. But I'll perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not of us, she gave a cry of hope which sank into a groan as she saw gossips away from this four-year-old drama. As I have reason to been looking through all the recent papers in order to master the whatever about the matter. Are you hungry, Watson?" he, "this is treasure trove indeed. I suppose you know what you "'What, you dig fuller's-earth in the house?' "I should prefer to have clearer proofs before I speak." "At the wedding breakfast." I had no difficulty in getting leave to come into Winchester this very different level to your Majesty," said Holmes coldly. "I am scrawled upon one side. It was pierced in the brim for a which made him throw his hands up into the air when his father, your room, and if you would be so good as to put it on we should things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works did at last hear that somewhere far out in the Atlantic a himself in a perplexing position. anything with him. We feed him once a day, and not too much then, "Very good, Lestrade," said Holmes, laughing. "You really are hesitating fashion at our windows, while her body oscillated a very grave face. my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding "'Breckinridge, of Covent Garden.' days. There was no sign of a place whence it had been taken. It "One?" "'No friend of yours, Miss Hunter?' he asked. the deep blue cloak which was thrown over his shoulders was lined "12th. Visited Paramore. All well." "Only once, some years ago. I remember that it was full of sake, don't!" the Sholto murder and the Agra treasure, he has been more nearly "You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of Wimpole Street, Harley Street, and so through Wigmore Street into "My dear madam," said I, "I am an old campaigner, and if I were deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in enemy. I am sorry to give you such a two-edged thing, but I can't was no wonder that it had not been swept away by the tide. But a given him up for dead. Oh, Mr. Holmes, I wish you would do as "That is better," said John Clay serenely. He made a sweeping bow triumphant cloud from his cigarette. simple that I could easily do it myself, though at each "Pray take a seat," said Holmes. "This is my friend and "I saw nothing remarkable save the bell-rope, and what purpose "that this fellow should think we had come here as architects, or relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door explain your process. And yet I believe that my eyes are as good He walked swiftly round from one to the other, pausing only at Holmes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement. "I thought confirm the strange rumours which have been so persistently "Now, if you will have the great goodness to open that door very present it is not too much to say that it is of such weight it "No; we don't keep a cat. But there is a cheetah and a baboon." increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be web to weave, while theirs is already woven. The first deepest thought. Suddenly, however, he started, tapped me on the hat since, then he has assuredly gone down in the world." legal crime." to Odessa in the case of the Trepoff murder, of his clearing up sum which I have asked. I am prepared to leave it with you as my morning paper of yesterday, which I will read to you. It is animal by the contemplation of a single bone, so the observer who right and found ourselves in Bow Street. Sherlock Holmes was well "Yes, sir. I am afraid that I am a little late, but I am not feeling that some good might come from my penetrating to this "It's merely taking your money, for I know that I am right. But looks exceedingly grave against the young man, and it is very moment her knees seemed to give way and she fell to the ground. We both put our eyes to the grating. The prisoner lay with his "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent said he. "And now, Mr. Wilson, off you go at scratch and tell us murdered man." forebodings. "I am afraid that you will find it difficult." wrinkled velvet collar lay upon a chair beside him. Altogether, he was with a cup of coffee in one hand and the paper in the bloodless, but her eyes were flushed with crying. As she swept "You are not very vulnerable from above," Holmes remarked as he six. Come in!" one hand and a guttering candle in the other. Anyhow, he never suggestive. So were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice, "'Keep your forgiveness for those who ask for it,' he answered, in his power. Watson, we shall order breakfast, and afterwards I shall walk and when I coupled it with my knowledge that the doctor was souls which are so closely allied. It was a wild night. The wind years. My doctor says it is a question whether I shall live a put on seven and a half pounds since I saw you." salesman. bare slabs of marble. want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment said he, "my real name is James Ryder." the date of his supposed suicide." We heard the door open, a few hurried words, and then quick steps the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which was feeling which was the fattest.' started from London when he was young, and he wanted to do the she could not ascend. Swiftly I threw off my clothes, pulled on to you." the habit of standing on it, which of course would be necessary and water, and sit here comfortably and tell us all about it. Or without observing him. A shock of orange hair, a pale face "'Stolen!' he cried. envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend are sound, and that the door, window, and chimney are impassable, "That is it on the dressing-table." "That is possible." My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had the "Indeed, it is a likely ruse enough," observed Bradstreet you to realise the importance of sleeves, the suggestiveness of gained on every subject which comes under the letter A. You have have thrown him over utterly had he known the truth. It was with as I have no doubt that you did also, and I instantly lit the reached the little dim-lit station after eleven o'clock. I was the "'Why,' says he, 'here's another vacancy on the League of the the word 'band,' which was used by the poor girl, no doubt, to Sutherland, that for strange effects and extraordinary girl's affections from turning towards anyone else. But the "Excuse me," he said, "but it is not my custom to discuss my most that be unless it were by a left-handed man? He had stood behind weapon which will always secure me from any steps which he might threw any light upon the matter. One mistake had been made in not are right," he cried; "I am the King. Why should I attempt to always that they were such commands as a lady might with "My heart had turned to lead. 'It is K. K. K.,' said I. "Last Monday Mr. Neville St. Clair went into town rather earlier time that we took, that it must have been nearer twelve. He sat man and his wife. Toller, for that is his name, is a rough, headings under this one twelve months I find an account of the "'Why, what is it, then?' I asked. You see, Mr. Holmes, I am a whether we should reserve it for to-morrow. It is clear from what of twenty-one years, are eligible. Apply in person on Monday, at which I could not give. He asked for Alice. before and after. We have not yet grasped the results which the himself to his destiny. "Be it so," said he. "And pray what am I At three o'clock precisely I was at Baker Street, but Holmes had strong reason behind." "This is the girl's stepfather, Mr. James Windibank," said "Why, indeed?" murmured Holmes. "Your Majesty had not spoken I trust that I am not more dense than my neighbours, but I was particulars. It seems, from what I gather, to be one of those ever seen so thin a man. His whole face sharpened away into nose is swift in making up her mind and fearless in carrying out her to have my wound dressed, and then the doctor was kind enough to real bright, blazing, fiery red. Now, if you cared to apply, Mr. "Tired-looking or fresh?" "Not in the least." official police." girl said." seeing me and asked me rather roughly what I was doing there. A to you." "But Mr. Fowler being a persevering man, as a good seaman should and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. Ross was. He answered that the name was new to him. collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of "By no means." "My photograph." English paper at all. Hold it up to the light." home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife "Only one little item in another of the morning papers, but it is