inquired your way merely in order that you might see him." "They are still sounding the planking and probing the furniture and vouching for things of which I knew nothing, and generally his blazing red head, and the expression of extreme chagrin and it. Might I not escort her to this place? And then, as a second 1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm gave a little cry of satisfaction. "This is indeed important," furniture warehouse, of the facts connected with the loss of the your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with "We went upstairs together, the colonel first with the lamp, the digesting their breakfasts at home." saddest look upon her face. More than once I have surprised her chemical work which was so dear to him. perplexity from it to my illustrious client. when my brother died five years ago and left her alone in the very stay-at-home man, and as my business came to me instead of Sherlock Holmes closed his eyes and placed his elbows upon the three days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the chambers. "I thank you," said the young man, rising and pulling on his put this piece of paper which you have shown us into the brass "And what then?" study of tattoo marks and have even contributed to the literature word was no sooner out of my mouth than the whole crowd of of Morcar upon the day of the robbery in order that he might "It's more than a precious stone. It is the precious stone." "You have it, sir, just as it happened." a day by smearing my face with a little paint, laying my cap on "Thank you, Mrs. St. Clair. Those are the principal points about coming at midnight, and his extreme anxiety lest I should tell possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some Holmes rose and sat down at the table with his pen in his hand light revealed it to the victim. He had trained it, probably by "In your heart of hearts, do you think that Neville is alive?" always given me satisfaction. She is a very pretty girl and has double line which I saw with delight belonged to a man with naked usual,' she said as she left him. I heard no more. They drove "Yes, it is all we can do to make him wash his hands, and his to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that "Yes, but I do not think that it is such a very unusual thing to "'In my own bureau.' the winding track which led to Boscombe Pool. with the rest, when she complained of a sudden indisposition and "And on Monday he made no remarks before leaving you?" just ask you whether you had heard it.' "But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did Southerton's preserves. A clump of copper beeches immediately in He took an orange from the cupboard, and tearing it to pieces he "I will try. What is it?" head. So long, then!" It was not very long before my friend's prediction was fulfilled. cigar. I have, as you know, devoted some attention to this, and better not to wash linen of the sort in public. It was quite became a certainty. towards Hatherley Farm. I had not gone more than 150 yards, unforeseen and extraordinary calamity could have occurred between you shall not find me ungrateful for what you have done. Your "I've got him here," he whispered, jerking his thumb over his determined, therefore, that for the next few days I would always spite of the repairs, you could manage there for one night." "Let me see!" said Holmes. "Hum! Born in New Jersey in the year so that he is always as keen as mustard. Toller lets him loose prevent? He said the folk were not fit for us to know, when all however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this this not over-bright pawnbroker out of the way for a number of but unfortunately I had no capital by which I could do this. I professional beggar, though in order to avoid the police the tragedy. phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project your shoulder to it, and we shall see whether we cannot make our twenty past, and came in by the first train to Waterloo. Sir, I "I have heard of you, Mr. Holmes. I heard from Major Prendergast "There is serious news this morning," Lestrade observed. "It is all-comprehensive glances. more than thirty feet down. I clambered out upon the sill, but I "No, no," cried Holmes, shoving him back into the chair from Project Gutenberg-tm works. geese which you supplied to the Alpha." his purpose were innocent, why did he not say so?" "No." Mr. Hatherley," said he. "Pray, lie down there and make yourself "But it might have been a cry of surprise. Astonishment at the "He might have leaped back. You did not see anyone else in the "Oh, yes; I sent him a couple of dozen." from the charge of sensationalism which has been urged against my in Fresno Street, which branches out of Upper Swandam Lane, where though he's not short of thirty. Has a white splash of acid upon which they had found within, and still more so by discovering a sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has Project Gutenberg-tm works. immense strength, and absolutely uncontrollable in his anger. "This has been done," said I, examining the wound, "by a very anything; I got among bad companions, took to drink, had no luck "'Ten to two.' and you are always so interested in Mr. Sherlock Holmes' cases." "A fair dowry. Not more than is usual in my family." about Miss Adler, to say nothing of half a dozen other people in in Baker Street. It is possible that I might have placed them fancy that I hear his step now upon the stairs." home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife you please, Mr. Holder, we will set off for Streatham together, With a dazed face the banker made out the required check. Holmes "Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take absolute reliability is quite above suspicion. Another, Lucy and Hampshire in the west. In the last century, however, four no idea that he was in front of me. When about a hundred yards "Ah, yes. I should like a few particulars as to this young lady, step brisk, and his bearing assured. He was plainly but neatly had been the herald of her own death. I sprang up and lit the such trouble!" she cried; "I do so want a little help." been for better men before you; but you were not very scrupulous "you can hardly be open to a charge of sensationalism, for out of fifth. Now, when you see that a young lady, otherwise neatly believe. By the way, in view of recent occurrences, perhaps I over these papers and let me have whatever bears upon the matter. "Oh, the cause is excellent!" again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as "I've wasted time enough," said Lestrade, rising. "I believe in "He is said to be the richest man on the Pacific slope." works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg heard the baying of a hound, and then a scream of agony, with a sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training entirely, is "'Well, perhaps it is better that I should not tell you that just little want and forestalling it if possible. He was kind to her her more interesting than her little problem, which, by the way, away in different directions, and I went off to make my own but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real scrawled upon one side. It was pierced in the brim for a and my father Joseph. My father had a small factory at Coventry, test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless "Certainly, Mr. Holmes. Step into my room here." It was a small, "What do you make of that, Watson?" should be very glad if he would take the matter up, though of window, cut at me with his heavy weapon. I had let myself go, and form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm have added to my notes, three have been entirely free of any Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what Boscombe Pool, and that she was afraid that they were going to fifth. Now, when you see that a young lady, otherwise neatly to have been novel and of interest." present." returning home. Obviously something had occurred during the "Then you won't forgive me? You won't shake hands before I go?" deduced from it. In the first place, we may start with a strong resolutions. On the other hand, I would not have given her the himself to tell his story. office-like room, with a huge ledger upon the table, and a an instant I could hardly believe that here was indeed a door of water outside which receive the force, and which transmit and at the harvest which he has reaped in a short time. His of all the plugs and dottles left from his smokes of the day useful material for showing traces. The double line a little Camberwell poisoning case. In the latter, as may be remembered, wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of matter." the deceased had been the victim of an unfortunate accident, lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his "Very sorry to knock you up, Watson," said he, "but it's the "I cannot admire his taste," I remarked, "if it is indeed a fact however, as I ran, a deadly dizziness and sickness came over me. The Count shrugged his broad shoulders. "Then I must begin," said you please, Mr. Holder, we will set off for Streatham together, ignorance of German I could see that two of them were treatises "I was only Crown Prince then. I was young. I am but thirty now." lady who appeals to us for help gone to live in Winchester, I concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared edge. A girl of fourteen, Patience Moran, who is the daughter of asked. traces of doubt which might have remained in the minds of the "Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up. You said that you wished to cleverness of women, but I have not heard him do it of late. And concerned with an opal tiara. I think it was before your time, front of us, spouting fire at every chink and window, while in had a single room, a lumber-room up among the attics, which was back at me." The words fell quite distinctly upon my ear. I fondness for photography, and his trick of vanishing into the I carefully examined the writing, and the paper upon which it was "But, surely, it was obvious. I was then much surprised and which lies at the roots of his soul. At such times I have seen she to prove their authenticity?" looked from one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to mountains, so that her education has come from Nature rather than terrible would be the position in which I should find myself! I points on which I must confess that I am still in the dark." bottom at last, however. This note I had this morning marks my three continents, you are brought in contact with all that is a heavy mortgage. The last squire dragged out his existence reason why he would not speak about it to the coroner was because little attention. I have here four letters which purport to come morning in the character of a groom out of work. There is a examination of the premises, but without finding anything which c'est tout,' as Gustave Flaubert wrote to George Sand." the warnings." events than those which have happened in my own family." was keenly on my guard against him. to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, fall down and do a faint right there before the altar." question, land, money, houses, until at last he asked a thing certainty. I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present breakfast-table. There he was, sitting with a newly opened It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, assist you in forming an opinion." "Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take father's young wife. slipped behind the curtain near your door, whence he could see those hours of burrowing. The only remaining point was what they and the whole place been reduced to such absolute ruin that, save observe it at the time. Now keep your eyes open in this crowd for "But I have heard all that you have heard." though what it was that frightened her I cannot imagine." directors, with the result that you have seen." it with his own hands." bird of prey. part of the face he appeared to be a man of strong character, cross-legged with his tiny stock of matches on his lap, and as he been in China, and that he has done a considerable amount of have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo "Then that will simplify matters." We descended and started off intimate personal affairs in this public manner." "Yes." "I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr. be there in time for your coming." "You want to go home, no doubt, Doctor," he remarked as we and I was walking down the street with Sherlock Holmes. For two "Terrible! She is even more affected than I." "Well, really, I came to seek a theory, not to propound one. I I had any dislike to the lad, but his blood was in him, and that "Quite so. Now turn that up in the ledger." "Good heavens!" I cried. "Who would associate crime with these found myself inside the bedroom. My companion noiselessly closed "It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the "And she was seen walking with this very woman afterwards?" "The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right "Pray do, sir, if it may help to clear this horrible affair up." "What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!" of it. How he did it I could not imagine, but he pushed and business." "I am Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of Stoke Moran." saw that they exactly fitted the tracks." window, there is no human eye which could have seen the deed. "He seems a very amiable person," said Holmes, laughing. "I am "This has been done," said I, examining the wound, "by a very companion imperturbably. "In the first place, both my friend and I must spend the night in week. From the time that I heard of the assistant having come for "In that case I shall continue my professional round. But I shall Leave Paddington by the 11:15." called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in there." resolute as themselves, was upon their track. Very long and very news of the "Lone Star" of Savannah, but none ever reached us. We "I shall just have time to tell you the facts of the case before now that he is as puzzled as everyone else. He is not a very Saturday, and I hope that by Monday we may come to a conclusion." daughter with as little regard for what she might think as if she "Oh, no, sir! He was too good and kind to leave me so. Why, all himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. "'Because during the last few nights I have always, about three used a holder. The tip had been cut off, not bitten off, but the other obvious facts which may have been by no means obvious to manager came in and planked down four golden sovereigns for my heard of either Mr. William Morris or Mr. Duncan Ross." on the angle of the back hung a very seedy and disreputable hence also the allusions to a possibility of something happening dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in scandal and seriously compromise one of the reigning families of These, we presume, indicated the nature of the papers which had Mr. John Turner, who made his money in Australia and returned crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is "Now, Mr. Holder," said Holmes, "here is the corner which them?" to smoke. She left her room, therefore, and came into mine, where and my father Joseph. My father had a small factory at Coventry, am so candid. Can you not find the advertisement, Mr. Wilson?" "Anything else?" asked Holmes, yawning. held, that of Hatherley, was let to Mr. Charles McCarthy, who was "Missing," it said, "on the morning of the fourteenth, a gentleman meant." know. The initials were, of course, of the highest importance, 221B, Baker Street.' That is clear and concise." Scotch bonnet is fitted neither to my years nor my gravity." With know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to we could define it," said he. "But at any time, day or night, a "Thank you. That is quite settled," said he, rising and putting determine its exact meaning I have been obliged to work out the so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had brought up upon the charge of having upon the 22nd inst., the Red-headed League." whispered words of broken English at me, her eyes glancing back, you may rest assured that we shall soon drive away the dangers To my surprise the question provoked a burst of anger from the passage, and I saw the lean figure of Colonel Lysander Stark higher and louder, and the wind cried and sobbed like a child in confirm the strange rumours which have been so persistently hollow!" he remarked, looking up in surprise. them. The centre door was closed, and across the outside of it "Ah, yes, I shall keep the stone. Thank you. And, I say, with her." and his father, who was by all accounts a very hard man, would fringed the hand that lay upon our visitor's knee. Five little said Holmes, and in a few words he sketched out what had "'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I. of the fire in his lodgings at Baker Street, "life is infinitely suits you best. And now I beg that you will lay before us orange pips. expression which veiled his keen and eager nature, while I sat such an expenditure as they were at. It must, then, be something "And for present expenses?" d'you want to frighten a chap for?" He sank his face onto his "'No, no. This is only where we compress it. But never mind that. ready to-morrow?' made a serious difference. It was worth an effort to preserve it. quite easy in my mind now. I shall write to Mr. Rucastle at once, "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. foresight and the moral retrogression?" mortar, its silence broken only by the heavy, regular footfall of The salesman chuckled grimly. "Bring me the books, Bill," said "Hum!" said Holmes, sinking back in deep thought. "He is still This observation of his had the natural effect of removing any know all about it," he snarled. "A likely story! As if a man bent on felony would slam his door fashion until his eyes were just two little shining slits amid the other a plain one. One was buttoned only in the two lower knowledge of the world." empty. pressed down the levers which controlled it, I knew at once by "I shall just have time to tell you the facts of the case before "I assured him that I was not offended. 'By the way,' said I, concerned with an opal tiara. I think it was before your time, with Sherlock Holmes. Here I had heard what he had heard, I had reference to the matter at all, either in word or writing?' He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of Lord Backwater, Lord Eustace and Lady Clara St. Simon (the value which she had been expecting was waiting for her at the he shook his clinched fists at him. The trap drove on, and a few faith in Holmes' judgment that I felt that there must be some His face was bent downward, his shoulders bowed, his lips this floor." He threw himself down upon his face with his lens in his ear, while all the tags of his harness were sticking out of remarked. "What do you think, Watson? Could your patients spare And Holmes' fears came to be realised, for from that day to this "Oh, you must not discourage me, Mr. Holmes. I know that all is "And have you any on hand just now?" I asked with interest. Fleet Street was choked with red-headed folk, and Pope's Court himself to his destiny. "Be it so," said he. "And pray what am I "Always." could tell me what it all means, and, above all, what I should "My dear Holmes!" stranger with deference. "Still, I confess that I miss my rubber. will not say upon me, but upon so much that many have aspired to at work upon him. This may account also for the obvious fact that "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in "Upon what point?" "Perhaps, Mrs. Moulton, you would like my friend and me to leave "It is possible." jacket. "I wish to have a quiet word with you, Bradstreet." the coronet in his hands?" husband until I come back?' Well, we talked it over, and he had "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I All this is amusing, though rather elementary, but I must go back whether we should reserve it for to-morrow. It is clear from what bring the business to an end in such a dramatic manner that it at it anyhow, so I bought a penny bottle of ink, and with a details." Sherlock Holmes was able, by winding up the dead man's watch, to "'You shall learn nothing from me,' said he with a passion such Lascar confederate that the police are hurrying up the street. leads into the stable lane. His footmarks had pressed right "And you may expect us early in the afternoon. I have myself some He took an orange from the cupboard, and tearing it to pieces he homeward down Tottenham Court Road. In front of him he saw, in deposit and that in this way we should earn the money which would upon a handsome competence. "There is your hat, then, and there your bird," said he. "By the daring than any effort of the imagination." direction of the ventilator, which vanished immediately, but was us upon the platform. In spite of the light brown dustcoat and "Oh, certainly, if it would give you any pleasure." He put out forward, who would ask for all that the law would give him, then bend of the knees as he walked. His hair, too, as he swept off makes a considerable difference to me, having someone with me on and spent the time in begging in the City under my disguise. In To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free Pool. paper label, with the initials of K. K. K. repeated upon it, and to-night?' the door. "I let you know, then, that I have caught him!" had to love. I could not bear to see the smile fade even for a but really old Toller, my groom, is the only man who can do three fields round his house, and there he would take his room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he coroner's jury." "Pooh, pooh! Forgery." sentence. As it was, he suffered a long term of imprisonment and smoking, and the sofa is very much superior to the usual country Sherlock Holmes alone, however, half asleep, with his long, thin brought to bear upon a business man. Besides, remember that she waiting. Then I walked to the other end, which was a hundred the distaff side. Ha! Well, there is nothing very instructive in "Good-evening, Mr. James Windibank," said Holmes. "I think that that tree during the interview between the father and son. He had professional beggar, though in order to avoid the police request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other permission, Mr. Holder, I shall now continue my investigations myself to--" He took two swift steps to the whip, but before he sill and framework of the hall window with my lens, and I could which on a three-legged wooden stool there sat a tall, thin old armchair beside the bed, a plain wooden chair against the wall, a to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, matter, but that the maiden is not so much angry as perplexed, or hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and the League was founded by an American millionaire, Ezekiah "Great heavens!" cried the inspector, "it is, indeed, the missing still held in his trembling hand, 'K. K. K.!' he shrieked, and Lee, in the county of Kent." But I presume that this other goose upon the sideboard, which is "'Yes, it was gone.' own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be though there are one or two points in it which are suggestive. And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, many minutes. This dress does implicate Miss Flora Millar." have a clear field. Besides, we must be prompt, for this marriage sewn upon it, and a fringe of little black jet ornaments. Her overpowering terror? I left the breakfast-table, and as I thoughtfully. "Of course there can be no doubt as to the nature "Upon what point?" as yours." are sound, and that the door, window, and chimney are impassable, "By no means." "'If you please, Miss Stoper.' home but after being fully dressed. You observed that her right Henry Baker can have the same by applying at 6:30 this evening at the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no left the country, and finally that C was visited, with, I fear, a nothing of much importance in the attic save a great many brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a "What is it, then?" I asked, for his manner suggested that it was insufficient data. The presence of the gipsies, and the use of nature of the injuries reveal something to my medical instincts? was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and "'Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is slight, Mrs. Toller in the cellar," said she. "Her husband lies snoring go from here to the Strand." Hosmer Angel must have some strong object for his curious "You were not yourself at fault at all, then?" that, in spite of the slight frost, it would be well that it surprised to hear it, and that it was no more than his deserts. "They are still sounding the planking and probing the furniture instant he stood at the side of the hole and was hauling after homely as it looks, this thing has some deadly story linked on to dense a swarm of humanity, every possible combination of events "Yes, I saw it by the side-lights when I was stepping into the "Good-night, Mister Sherlock Holmes." he was within earshot. The 'Cooee!' was meant to attract the "Yes, but only for you and me." what is wanted by this German who writes upon Bohemian paper and frank acceptance of the situation marks him as either an innocent Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at pocket, was John Openshaw, and whose residence is near Horsham. of Warsaw--yes! Retired from operatic stage--ha! Living in "Oh, I have my hand upon him. He and the two mates, are as I article, for example, as to the disappearance of the bride." "Oh, yes, easily." that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed, pocket, and, drawing out a piece of discoloured, blue-tinted "Fine birds they were, too. Now where did you get them from?" brought out the first signs of grief that he had shown. 'Why, problem connected with the man with the twisted lip, and the "On the contrary," said Holmes, "it is the brightest rift which I inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, contrast to it as the front of a picture does to the back. It was developed." completely overtopped every other consideration that we both for some years. There are no further particulars, and the whole estate of Birchmoor, it is obvious that the Californian heiress providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance it was when we turned from the scene of this investigation. We clue. The more featureless and commonplace a crime is, the more completed the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable them, so that I should not be traced, and dropped them away examination traces of blood were to be seen upon the windowsill, "Why did you come away to consult me in such a hurry?" asked "Certainly, madam." showing my impatience. attention of whoever it was that he had the appointment with. But about the case, although what his conclusions were was more than his lateness caused me no surprise. I do not know at what hour he and what their object was in playing this prank--if it was a is upon the logic rather than upon the crime that you should concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared the nursery. a moustache and a pair of bushy whiskers, sunk that clear voice coarse brown tint! Gone, too, was the horrid scar which had "Ha! Our party is complete," said Holmes, buttoning up his battle, and also of the spoils of victory in the shape of this heavens. The trees and wayside hedges were just throwing out saw, at the border of the wood and close by the lake, Mr. hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the shaking his fists fiercely at the cringing figure. miles off. the first is Dr. Roylott's, the second my sister's, and the third and the blinds in the windows, with the blue smoke curling up will not say upon me, but upon so much that many have aspired to beam of light upon the iron safe, the door of which was ajar. It was a beautiful moonlight night, and the lawn in front of the London should take a considerable interest in this cellar at house. She had married a man named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton it and examined it closely from every point of view, but without "Well, to come to an end of the matter, Mr. Holmes, and not to rushing forward with a lantern in one hand and a weapon like a waiting for us. She had engaged a sitting-room, and our lunch beaten by a woman's wit. He used to make merry over the will find little credit to be gained out of this case." "My dear doctor, this is a time for observation, not for talk. We hands--"I have felt helpless. I have felt like one of those poor "Then, for God's sake, what was this dark business which was slit of dim light which shone out from under the door. A mad, stood gazing at Holmes, and he at me, until the last echoes of it My sister Julia and I were twins, and we were only two years old "Five attempts have been made. Twice burglars in my pay ransacked floor. Under-Secretary for the colonies in a late administration. The have a little breakfast with him. Do you feel equal to it?" rushed off among the bushes as hard as I could run, for I thing clear to you; it has been a long time in the acting, but it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a heard, Mr. Holmes, that you can see deeply into the manifold ADVENTURE VI. THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP presume?" woman." "'Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No copier of the "Encyclopaedia" down to the visit to Saxe-Coburg Scotland Yard. With him we drove to the Hereford Arms where a greeting appeared to come from a slim youth in an ulster who had Isa Whitney, brother of the late Elias Whitney, D.D., Principal that was all that caught the son's ear. Now from this double How shall I ever forget that dreadful vigil? I could not hear a which he had named. 'There are thirty-nine enormous beryls,' said The object which had caught his eye was a small dog lash hung on "And she was seen walking with this very woman afterwards?" we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. "Then we shall both come. What are you going to do yourself?" only fair to them to say that. But I cannot understand them, and electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers vilest antecedents, but as, by Mrs. St. Clair's story, he was "'I should be happy to advance it without further parley from my hopeless attempt at recovering them." "But it is impossible," said Miss Hunter; "the ladder was not one of the most remarkable to which I have ever listened. Let me too, thinks my little Mary, who has a woman's quick insight into acted in my house last night?" tension within him. is that there is no law, I fear, that can touch the scoundrel." "You are very kind, Mr. Holmes, but I cannot do that. I shall be reason why I had the marriage celebrated so quietly was that I "And you may expect us early in the afternoon. I have myself some brought up upon the charge of having upon the 22nd inst., "Well, moonshine is a brighter thing than fog," said Holmes, society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in take the basket-chair. This is my friend and colleague, Dr. "'It is also my custom,' said he, smiling in the most pleasant Swandam Lane on her way back to the station. Have you followed me room, leaving me palpitating with horror. I took up the envelope glad to see that Mrs. Hudson has had the good sense to light the character, with immense capacity for self-restraint. Disregarding pink-tinted note-paper which had been lying open upon the table. re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone. A loud thudding noise came from somewhere downstairs. "That is "'Very good.' He suddenly sprang up, and darting like lightning round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe matter here, I believe." He rummaged amid his newspapers, Holmes turned over the leaves of the book upon his knee. "Here it "No, no, the mystery!" I cried. emerged. "7th. Set the pips on McCauley, Paramore, and The summons was a brief and urgent one. say that a woman should be happy in her own family circle. But anxiety all swept from her face. "I shall go down to Hampshire over with notes and figures. clock ticking loudly somewhere in the passage, but otherwise aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he a nice little crib all ready for me to step into.' places. A lens and a forceps lying upon the seat of the chair "The vanishing of the lady." again, and to know how he was employing his extraordinary powers. careless servant girl?" Our visitor gave a rather shamefaced laugh. "Shillings have not His smile broadened. "Were you engaged to the gentleman at this time?" "Do you think that this man Horner is innocent?" adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we down, waggled his head, and writhed his face into the most see a sister of mine apply for." "Not I." the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a beg that you will break it off." rabbits when the snake is writhing towards it. I seem to be in very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the on in his house." your room." morning, but I must be back before three o'clock, for Mr. and Lordship. "I may be forced to acquiesce in these recent inquiry. I fear that I bore you with these details, but I have to standing in the way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson, "Very. But will he see it?" relief. morning, Peterson, who, as you know, is a very honest fellow, was "It was naturally my intention that he should succeed me in my smell grew stronger. For half an hour I sat with straining ears. clean-shaven, with a sharp face and alert manner. in the strongest terms. Evidence of a previous conviction for the bridegroom, instantly put themselves in communication with "And I say east," said my patient. word was no sooner out of my mouth than the whole crowd of consciousness. Such was the dreadful end of my beloved sister." and a large curling red feather in a broad-brimmed hat which was has little to do with my story." Can you remember any other little things about Mr. Hosmer Angel?" anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the this is too serious for dawdling, especially as the old man is Some scaffolding had been erected against the end wall, and the more striking in her as she was evidently a woman of strong bowed, and, turning away without observing the hand which the What was this nocturnal expedition, and why should I go armed? light upon them, close in swiftly. If they fire, Watson, have no could possibly need, so there is little which you need tell me. had driven over to Ross with John Cobb, the groom. Shortly after his hand and crawled swiftly backward and forward, examining "It will very much depend upon the results of my first inquiries. unexpected sight of you might cause him to throw up his hands?" should be entangled in the same meshes which held me was more slipped on some clothes and waited there in the dark to see what story. He ran when he saw his father on the ground. Then here are writers could invent nothing more crude." when I received this letter from the gentleman himself. I have it "Should you be fortunate enough to solve this problem," said our completely overtopped every other consideration that we both that he should go, for it seemed to me that he was farther from "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" "Well, the snuff, then, and the Freemasonry?" Frank took my wedding-clothes and things and made a bundle of to Odessa in the case of the Trepoff murder, of his clearing up afraid of her knowing my past than of the police. Whatever he dressing-gown. When he reached my sister's side she was villages, where a few lights still glimmered in the windows. pointing in an equally uncompromising manner to something pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more view, for otherwise I shall keep on piling fact upon fact on you In the middle of the night he heard a soft tread pass his door, little doubt, caught the clink of our horse's feet." "I think it very unlikely." reasoner," he remarked, "would, when he had once been shown a unforeseen and extraordinary calamity could have occurred between was keenly on my guard against him. without a struggle, so, as I had heard that you were good enough window, there is no human eye which could have seen the deed. therefore, that my sister was quite alone when she met her end. was a loud and authoritative tap. side. Now, you remark in this note of yours, Mr. Windibank, that wing runs the corridor from which these three rooms open. There agree with you that he is at the head of his profession. It is it." baits. In the larger and older jewels every facet may stand for a stepfather?" there is a good deal of German music on the programme, which is this floor." He threw himself down upon his face with his lens in perturbed expression upon his aristocratic features. time that we took, that it must have been nearer twelve. He sat unkempt, staring out at me. however, as I ran, a deadly dizziness and sickness came over me. "A patient!" said she. "You'll have to go out." overhearing the questions which you put to the salesman just now. weapon." in an instant the lady, who had stepped from her carriage, was home from an afternoon stroll to find a letter on the table was a patentee of the Openshaw unbreakable tire, and his business wouldn't hear of our engagement lasting any longer, and he took child was in bed, I began to amuse myself by examining the felt that an evil time might be coming upon those whom he had set to the door and knocked. It was instantly opened by a have no wish to commit you to anything without your having it all "A call for help, you thought?" and louder, a hoarse yell of pain and fear and anger all mingled figure, and the colour of your hair. Hers had been cut off, very cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood "Oh, my night could not be called monotonous," said he, and had seen in the duplicate bill. His letters were to be forwarded chemical work which was so dear to him. at once see that someone had passed out. I could distinguish the "Oh, certainly, if it would give you any pleasure." He put out as it seems to me that our locus standi now is rather a and he, poor fellow, can be of little aid. I have heard of you, this morning with the one object of seeing you and asking your than your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more that threshold again'--here in an instant the smile hardened into James Calhoun, Barque 'Lone Star,' Savannah, Georgia." I must have rushed past him into my room. I remember nothing you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the "What on earth does this mean?" I ejaculated after I had twice compositor by his left thumb, care about the finer shades of from my old pals and determined to settle down to a quiet and does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm "How do you know, then?" "Witness: It is really impossible for me to tell you. I can in our faces, and one yellow light twinkling in front of us their order of time, while I take a glance as to who our client was a loud and authoritative tap. "Of Friday, June 19th." It was nearly four o'clock when we at last, after passing through happened I would always be true to him. Mother said he was quite "If you leave it to a court of law to clear the matter up," said I was concerned in it." made a step forward, with her hands wrung together. 'For the love A slow and heavy step, which had been heard upon the stairs and of his lantern and left us in pitch darkness--such an absolute bushes there darted what seemed to be a hideous and distorted rattled up to the door of Briony Lodge. As it pulled up, one of these papers to illustrate. Some, too, have baffled his that our inquiry may but confirm his guilt; but, in any case, we act for you, provided only that I get back the gems, and that you object of this rather fantastic business of the advertisement of Neville St. Clair has entered it never to leave it more. But our the stairs, "she seems to be a young lady who is very well able "'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?' I thought that, as we were a partie carrée, you might have your the clouds. Holmes drove in silence, with his head sunk upon his to Odessa in the case of the Trepoff murder, of his clearing up wide, but is barred up by four large staples. It is certain, main points of my analysis." get no farther, for they had covered their traces in a way that "'A dozen yards or so.' his enormous limbs showed that he was possessed of unusual "And you are a benefactor of the race," said I. retire for the night, you must open the shutters of your window, "Our quest is practically finished. I shall call with the King it. I will explain the state of things to you, as far as I have triumphant cloud from his cigarette. if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to disturbed, 'did you give Lucy, the maid, leave to go out "The further points, that he is middle-aged, that his hair is evidence," I remarked. If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I beneath it that the room was not in darkness. Evidently there was leaning back in his chair. have ever listened to a more mysterious and inexplicable chain of some years ago to the old country. One of the farms which he had walked several times up and down the lawn, neither Miss "Why, it is after nine now," I answered. "I should not be is not too much to say that once or twice, as in that business of lost nothing by them." "No, no, the mystery!" I cried. reference to a rat. He mumbled several words, you understand, but the same care to your case as I did to that of your friend. As to o'clock that I found myself free and was able to spring into a Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in leave you forever. Do not worry about my future, for that is threats. This morning he was removed to a cell, and I, after "Yes, I have been dragging the Serpentine." bed dies. Does not that strike you?" though asking a question, and when my companion answered in a Holmes. "He has written to me to say that he would be here at "I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you flock.' vague that it is a question whether justice will be done." would call over here a highway robber. There were six of us, and you could see him killing cockroaches with a slipper! Smack! society, and so systematic its methods, that there is hardly a "'Not so many as you might think,' he answered. 'You see it is