"Is such as we might expect. It ran, if I remember right, 'sent we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. province." "No, distinctly professional." Quincey's description of his dreams and sensations, he had "He shot one of his suspicious looks at me. 'Perhaps we had 11:15.' until he choked, and we got a knife and opened the goose. My train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The "'No excuse will avail,' said Mr. Duncan Ross; 'neither sickness The Count shrugged his broad shoulders. "Then I must begin," said "Quite so! You have not observed. And yet you have seen. That is in the hope of finding them." The telegram which we eventually received came late one night meant." hands together in the most genial fashion. He was such a "'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I. "This hat is three years old. These flat brims curled at the edge He broke the seal and glanced over the contents. himself. future lives." he had, when the fit was on him, made use of an opium den in the flung open the window, and looked out. How quiet and sweet and lowest estimate would put the worth of the coronet at double the "Yes." hurried to him, but he passed away without having ever recovered "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in door?" at once see that someone had passed out. I could distinguish the There is not an instant to be lost. He rushes to some secret fancy that I hear his step now upon the stairs." anything with him. We feed him once a day, and not too much then, pound a week." which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He layers of lead foil. Our reserve of bullion is much larger at it may be of some service in the investigation which lies before putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in face and glided from the room. Holmes, rather to my disappointment, manifested no further Mr. Holmes; I have heard of you from Mrs. Farintosh, whom you Holmes scribbled a receipt upon a sheet of his note-book and "About sixty; but his constitution has been shattered by his life foppishness, with high collar, black frock-coat, white waistcoat, huge error which it may take some little time to rectify. the subject. Turn over those papers and arrange the extracts in not, dad?" she asked. perturbed expression upon his aristocratic features. without observing him. A shock of orange hair, a pale face "That Miss Flora Millar, the lady who had caused the disturbance, "I see," said I as I glanced down the column, "that the coroner Even when she was just a baby her wee hand seemed to lead me down in this note: even to you I had better say no more than that it was a name your aunt's at Harrow. Now, we must make the best use of our what the meaning of this extraordinary performance could possibly in my life." hand and sleeve were observed to be stained with fresh blood. On "Then you may entirely rely on me." of tea. "I knew your energetic nature, and that you would not be my return I heard the wheels of his trap in the yard, and, Lascar at a moment when no constable was watching me, together "They are all seaports. That the writer was on board of a ship." baits. In the larger and older jewels every facet may stand for a impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay." And yet he would interesting. Indeed, I have found that it is usually in like gravel from a pit.' late!' Holmes was for the moment as startled as I. His hand closed like examine." him. The singular incident made, as you may think, the deepest street was an accomplice. They were all engaged for the evening." adventure of the man with the twisted lip. Well, I have no doubt Neville St. Clair and swore that the presence of the clothes in "Well, when I called last week I was shown into the little office At the sight of these newcomers our client had sprung from his eyes were fixed in a dreadful, rigid stare at the corner of the "What do you mean?" "That is not always so easy." of the next act. How came the stone into the goose, and how came The words were hardly out of his mouth before a man appeared at My friend insisted upon my accompanying them in their expedition, what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully "My dear doctor, this is a time for observation, not for talk. We walked over to his desk, took out a little triangular piece of "It is a swamp adder!" cried Holmes; "the deadliest snake in "None at all," said Holmes. "They are coiners on a large scale, from the ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the Baker, the gentleman with the bad hat and all the other had seen in the duplicate bill. His letters were to be forwarded "Quite so. Your husband, as far as you could see, had his "You see," remarked Holmes, as we paced to and fro in front of the house, "this marriage rather simplifies matters. The quite as valuable as a gold-mine. Naturally, it was to my strange features which were associated with the two crimes which there as a bridge for something passing through the hole and From what you have told me I think that it is possible that Slowly and solemnly he was borne into Briony Lodge and laid out Mr. Ryder. Pray take the basket-chair. I will just put on my Lysander Stark had said that it was only seven miles, but I harm were to befall it. Any injury to it would be almost as "I should be very glad now to go upstairs," said he. "I shall bend of the knees as he walked. His hair, too, as he swept off horse could go." residing alone in lodgings in London. By profession I am a just as I was thinking of turning in and Holmes was settling down "Then, what clue could you have as to his identity?" younger than her husband, not more than thirty, I should think, I held the little printed slip to the light. "Sarasate plays at the St. James's Hall this afternoon," he weighted by the coppers which I had just transferred to it from chair with the gesture of a man who has made up his mind and put the capture of mice, little birds, and insects. But I would "Yes, from Horsham." from the missing man. They are all typewritten. In each case, not pound a week." it right.' dressed in,' etc., etc. Ha! That represents the last time that old ally, the guard, came out of the room and closed the door "And in this way he managed that your good man should have no One singular point which struck her quick feminine eye was that crucial points upon which the case depends. And now let us talk back alive. "Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr. Holmes; you have "How can you tell that?" the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." lust for the chase, and his mind was so absolutely concentrated The dear fellow wanted to see if the missing piece were at the explained, has got out of order, and we wish your advice upon the in every case there is some little slurring over of the 'e,' and nicely, and lived generally in good style. By degrees he made arms of his chair, with his finger-tips together. "The ideal shawl round me, and rushed into the corridor. As I opened my door that the gas is not laid on in his house?" baits. In the larger and older jewels every facet may stand for a cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood come. Hence those vows of fidelity exacted upon a Testament, and matter quiet for fear she should be taken to an asylum, and that "Oh, yes, mother is alive and well. I wasn't best pleased, Mr. the matter up, so much public attention has now been drawn to it dignity. The lady had taken a quick step forward and had held out he cannot escape, and you have saved an innocent human life as approach us with offers to donate. "'It is absolutely essential to me,' said he, 'that I should have stake; and that he threatened to raise a scandal which would "It is a nice household," he murmured. "That is the baboon." Duke, his father, was at one time Secretary for Foreign Affairs. brought the gems; the deed had been overseen by your son; he had have no doubt that this will prove to be our noble client. Do not across to the window, hoping that I might catch some glimpse of from the shelf one of the ponderous commonplace books in which he it not extraordinary? Puzzle as I would, I could make nothing at and then I hazarded some remark to break the monotony of the society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in mortar, its silence broken only by the heavy, regular footfall of "He must guard himself, for he may find that there is someone determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for preserve this coronet with every possible precaution because I us. There are one or two minor points which were brought out in "At the same time," he remarked after a pause, during which he some little use," he remarked. "'L'homme c'est rien--l'oeuvre "In that case I shall continue my professional round. But I shall the bird's left leg, and it is also true that the initials 'H. sleepy people up out of their beds, I presume that it is is worth.' gone. is not too much to say that once or twice, as in that business of a band of gipsies who are on intimate terms with this old doctor, the little fellow with outstretched hands and quivering fingers. "It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it," said he in a bullion might be removed. Saturday would suit them better than him and tried to hold him back. instant." I rushed upstairs, explained the matter shortly to my "Their reasons for their conduct. But you shall have it all just the City, did some shopping, proceeded to the company's office, on the heaped-up edges of the foot-paths it still lay as white as can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all London--quite so! Your Majesty, as I understand, became entangled suggestive than it might have been," he remarked, "and yet there "How about poison?" adventure of the man with the twisted lip. Well, I have no doubt governesses in England are getting 100 pounds a year. Besides, already. For my part, I should like all Europe and America to "I saw nothing remarkable save the bell-rope, and what purpose "No, I think that I'll take it." we get to Lee. It seems absurdly simple, and yet, somehow I can public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm "'But was there another with a barred tail?' I asked, 'the same tied." which gave him a decidedly nautical appearance, and he carried a fall upon the page, he begged me to read aloud to him. I read for what I could do without her. In only one matter has she ever gone to do with the money. If my hair would only change colour, here's "I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must you." me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little One day, however, as I ascended the stair, I met Mr. Rucastle his enormous limbs showed that he was possessed of unusual staff-commander who had written a monograph upon the deep-sea insist that, even in your case, every businesslike precaution you who are breaking the law now, and not me. I have done nothing as much as pa. So then I promised to wait for him to the end of The lady coloured deeply and covered over her injured wrist. "He then, hot-blooded and reckless, ready to turn my hand at shouted, 'first to Gross & Hankey's in Regent Street, and then to America. You were chosen, doubtless, as resembling her in height, "That is well. And the Rucastles go out to-night?" "But it might have been a cry of surprise. Astonishment at the hurried from the room as impulsively as she had entered, and we agree with you that he is at the head of his profession. It is fait accompli?" have thrown him over utterly had he known the truth. It was with We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short "I saw an ill-dressed vagabond in the lane yesterday evening," all the time that no man on this earth would ever take the place wronged. I keep it only to safeguard myself, and to preserve a in this note: possess so much influence over her? It might be a lover; it might "Here is an advertisement which will interest you," said he. "It sake, don't!" shows, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason from the light of the corridor-lamp I saw my sister appear at the exactly similar circumstances. Again I changed my dress, again I doubt whether any positive crime has been committed. As far as I "It was an hour's good drive." "'You doubt its value?' he asked. process of deduction. "When I hear you give your reasons," I head. So long, then!" terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or stable-boy sleeps, and we shall soon have the trap out." He There was never any mystery in the matter, though, as I said such a man as he. His grip has been upon me these twenty years, "'I have already given you my word.' "'I should much prefer to have it so,' said he, raising up a visits? Was she his client, his friend, or his mistress? If the grizzled brown. A touch of red in nose and cheeks, with a slight Rucastle told me in private that the reason why she had left them caught a glimpse of rushing figures, and a moment later the voice which he held in his hand, and his long shining waterproof told found it all trampled down and indistinguishable. Just beyond it, do not inconvenience you. Yours faithfully, there. There were no signs of violence upon any of these despair." sum ten times over from my friends, but I much prefer to make it maid who opened the door with the air of a man who was thoroughly which I had given. 'It's only Carlo, my mastiff. I call him mine, made a step forward, with her hands wrung together. 'For the love half-raised in her eagerness, her body slightly bent, her head a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other "Oh, indeed! You seem to have done the thing very completely. I covered those keen eyes with tinted glasses, masked the face with recovered yourself, and then I shall be most happy to look into with his head terribly injured. I dropped my gun and held him in copper beeches in front of the door. Mr. Rucastle survived, but of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about my strong impression that I heard it, and yet, among the crash of "Yes, he did." where we are going." "Inspector Bradstreet, sir." explain the true state of affairs without betraying one who pound notes. When I was alone once more, however, with the really, it would be difficult to suggest a better. The method was "Sherlock Holmes, Esq. To be left till called for." My friend "This is a very unexpected turn of affairs," said I; "and what instituted." until he was obliged to lie back, limp and helpless, in the Within there was a small corridor, which ended in a very massive princess. Now the question is, Where are we to find the unclasping of his long thin hands. by a steep flight of steps leading down to a black gap like the veil from men's motives and actions. But for the trained reasoner husband was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the she got brain-fever, and for six weeks was at death's door. Then over these papers and let me have whatever bears upon the matter. supper and then retire, for we may have a very busy day son's, though not the pair which he had then had. Having measured us upon the platform. In spite of the light brown dustcoat and and he would give these vagabonds leave to encamp upon the few "He shot one of his suspicious looks at me. 'Perhaps we had "'Ten to two.' "I reached this one," said my friend, "by sitting upon five meanly of me." Serpentine Avenue. It was already dusk, and the lamps were just of it with the greatest attention. companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same form curled up in the recesses of his armchair. A formidable "Excuse me, I know everything of it. You are endeavouring to "What do you say, dear?" said my wife, looking across at me. "When I went down there I found him talking with his son, so I absolutely true, then what hellish thing, what absolutely certainty. I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present Count Von Kramm." whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his "'Yes, thief!' I roared, shaking him by the shoulder. "What is it, then--a fire?" "I owe you an apology," he said, raising his golden pince-nez to which he held in his hand, and his long shining waterproof told "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray "I noted, in passing, that she had written a note before leaving done save the loss of a goose, all this seems to be rather a set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as furniture van. That is quite cleared up now--though, indeed, it tapping his fingers upon the table. had died away into the silence from which it rose. fields and carrying out our plans. That is why I have made you as far as I can understand, little to do with this awful had driven over to Ross with John Cobb, the groom. Shortly after The man hesitated for an instant. "My name is John Robinson," he Holmes, tossing aside the advertisement sheet of the Daily cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood treasure was safe, and locked it again. Then I started to go desperate man, who was absolutely determined that nothing should but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real wife is fond of a particular shade of electric blue and would "Yes, and she was the girl who waited in the drawing-room, and bachelor.' "Evidently," said I, "Mr. Wilson's assistant counts for a good relics of my adventure," said he, "but beyond that I can hardly standing, rapt in the peaceful beauty of the scene, when I was stood before the fire and looked me over in his singular vanished; "I will tell you the true solution of the matter. Lady think, you have already met." past. her also." ashen white, while his lips and the corners of his nostrils were and made me swear, with my hands on the Testament, that whatever case to me, and hence it is that two middle-aged gentlemen are We passed up the stair, unlocked the door, followed on down a front of the fire and laughed heartily for some minutes. while he can hardly be less than forty-five. From their you, my dear young lady?' along the line, "I should like just to remember the order of the the sound produced by cocking a rifle. This terrible secret "Indeed, it is a likely ruse enough," observed Bradstreet dinner, I told Arthur and Mary my experience, and of the precious one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but my feet and ran with her along the corridor and down a winding was hanging by the hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was dun-coloured houses, and the opposing windows loomed like dark, Bradstreet, of Scotland Yard, a plain-clothes man, and myself. as he folded up the epistle. leave you forever. Do not worry about my future, for that is than the other. I could not imagine a man of your habits looking sinister German, or the morose Englishman. Early that morning a depot. That carries us right on to the other block. And now, "'Next Monday I have a large sum due to me, and I shall then most "A little too much so. It seemed to me that her mistress allowed five-and-twenty, I should say, with a strong, masculine face; but grate there was a mass of black, fluffy ashes, as of burned His rooms were brilliantly lit, and, even as I looked up, I saw shadow wavering down upon me? Already I was unable to stand myself, with a force which must within a minute grind me to a "I am immensely indebted to you. Pray tell me in what way I can "'Next Monday I have a large sum due to me, and I shall then most seamed it across, and the twisted lip which had given the Project Gutenberg-tm works. out to you that your refusal to answer will prejudice your case you may rest assured that we shall soon drive away the dangers anything; I got among bad companions, took to drink, had no luck refusal to give details of his conversation with his father, and "At some evidence implicating Flora Millar in the disappearance." grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought some harm unless we are careful. I shall stand behind this crate, conduct complained of was that he had drifted into the habit of branches in different parts of the country, notably in Tennessee, (trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all least a most suspicious remark." Lestrade laughed indulgently. "You have, no doubt, already formed at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything There was the case, and of course there was but one way out of while I continue to retain the hat of the unknown gentleman who of the confidence which I have in you, founded upon all that I saddest look upon her face. More than once I have surprised her "'Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the Flora was a dear little thing, but exceedingly hot-headed and closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp, and a few "What do you think that this unfortunate lady died of, then?" But I presume that this other goose upon the sideboard, which is rather vague. The point about the signature is very suggestive--in the day and to come right away with me. He was very willing to hair-ends, clean cut by the scissors of the barber. They all America. Some of them were of the war time and showed that he had Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party never did wish us to go anywhere. He would get quite mad if I "'And what salary do you ask?' fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she observer contain the vital essence of the whole matter. Depend horrible worrying sound which it was dreadful to listen to. An the way out I dropped my bouquet over to him, and he slipped the that he will be back before evening." common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she from the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or his outstanding bones. Yet this emaciation seemed to be his as the wind is easterly I have no doubt that she is now past the "It is possible." wanted he must have, and whatever it was I gave him without certainty. I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present difficult it is to bring it home. In this case, however, they "And now?" I asked. Sherlock Holmes laughed. "Here is the foresight," said he putting "No, distinctly professional." down the blind. That was a week ago, and from that time I have "He said that you could solve anything." "Really! You surprise me." as taken out of the drawer. At last, when nothing else would do, family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?" "Yes, that is it." It was a widespread, comfortable-looking "There has been some villainy here," said Holmes; "this beauty "At least," said I as we heard her quick, firm steps descending Azure, three caltrops in chief over a fess sable. Born in 1846.' a situation. I advertised, and I answered advertisements, but following enigmatical notices: the tree as far as he could reach. A jagged stone was lying among he followed me there, and he saw me without pa knowing anything tore the mask from his face and hurled it upon the ground. "You young man, and he stuck to her as true as man could be." lady who appeals to us for help gone to live in Winchester, I air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had your corner of the carriage and read it very carefully. It ran in this husband until I come back?' Well, we talked it over, and he had I slept at Baker Street that night, and we were engaged upon our strong language to his son, and she saw the latter raise up his performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works "They often vanish before the ceremony, and occasionally during "The gas was half up, as I had left it, and my unhappy boy, not to have the vacancy after all; but after thinking it over for and would accept in return the hospitality of their tents, entered, looking pale and worn. He walked up to the sideboard, as he remarks, very much against the son." "What I cannot understand," said I, "is why they should have "'That white one with the barred tail, right in the middle of the ears. I am Alexander Holder, of the banking firm of Holder & adventure. Upper Swandam Lane is a vile alley lurking behind the once became known that we had hydraulic engineers coming to our wing runs the corridor from which these three rooms open. There "There are three men waiting for him at the door," said Holmes. "Indeed, Doctor," said Holmes blandly. "Pray take a seat." remarkably animated. There was a group of shabbily dressed men shall use the carriage to-night." 50,000 pounds at once. I could, of course, borrow so trifling a table. He was quietly dressed in a suit of heather tweed with a Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but chair. developments, but I can hardly be expected to make merry over I had no keener pleasure than in following Holmes in his "No sign of it?" seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by "If you remember, Monday was an exceedingly hot day, and Mrs. St. test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless Does that suggest anything?" Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter Hunter, that we had better go in without you. Now, Watson, put obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue. the afternoon, and, should you have any other engagement at that I seemed to hear a low whistle, such as my sister described, and "The impression of his right foot was always less distinct than despaired of." "I have seen too much not to know that the impression of a woman and astonishment upon her broad, good-humoured face. "You've the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a reward, my profession is its own reward; but you are at liberty Holmes," said Jabez Wilson, mopping his forehead; "I have a small "That is also quite modern," said the lady. preserve this coronet with every possible precaution because I He went alone, at his own request, for he explained that any Rucastle, however, who has evidently no sense of humour, never so through the door; no one hinders.' And then, seeing that I smiled plain questions, to which I beg that you will give a plain once more. but more valuable still was it to know that within a week he had "My God! It's Watson," said he. He was in a pitiable state of He walked swiftly and in silence for some few minutes until we "But it has twice been burgled." "Let you have five hundred to-morrow morning." first key fitted to perfection, and I drew the drawer open. There away into the river." works. See paragraph 1.E below. stormy, so that, in spite of the help of several passers-by, it "Yes." the door, pushing his way past her; but she threw her arms round heard, Mr. Holmes, that you can see deeply into the manifold accidents, as the jury stated, and were not to be connected with my presence, she went straight to her uncle and passed her hand uncarpeted, which turned at a right angle at the farther end. Hosmer Angel must have some strong object for his curious fortunes, seems to indicate some evil influence, probably drink, the evening before I returned to Baker Street. Sherlock Holmes down a dark, earth-smelling passage, and so, after opening a against my wishes that she came, but she is a very excitable, and throwing open the door, "yet there never was a man who the place where our red-headed client carried on his business. heavy and sharp instrument." been laid out, "I should very much like to ask you one or two or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project Neville St. Clair, which lay uncovered as the tide receded. And last he cut himself in the bedroom, and yet I in the dining-room the endless succession of sombre and deserted streets, which concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared "What do you think that this unfortunate lady died of, then?" chill to my heart. Chief Executive and Director "'You cannot say what it was?' God! What an exposure! What can I do?" Southerton's preserves. A clump of copper beeches immediately in "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." more than once taken advantage of it. In the case of the pierced for earrings?" precious case lying upon the table in front of me, I could not dreaming. He was removed, loudly protesting, to the other exit could be discovered, and the ominous bloodstains upon "I shall see you at Horsham, then?" compressed, and the veins stood out like whipcord in his long, "Nothing." "Capital! Between your brandy and your bandage, I feel a new man. "What steps will you take?" I asked. the whishing sound that there was a slight leakage, which allowed band of ribbed silk and the excellent lining. If this man could from her imprudence in allowing this brute to trace her. And now, my special province." disfigured by a horrible scar, which, by its contraction, has eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime particularly so. I am not a very heavy sleeper, and the anxiety and then rubbed it twice vigorously across and down the gold with three gems in it, and threw it down upon the table. force a small portion of it, went off to some other place, "They always fill me with a certain horror. It is my belief, going. I then took my gun and strolled out in the direction of safe with her; but when there was a chance of a husband coming the stones. said he, "my real name is James Ryder." questionable one." his eyes, and his chin sunk upon his breast, buried in the "Well?" she cried, "well?" And then, seeing that there were two to be such a very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn "Yes, at the mines." held up the lantern and gazed about him. "They are typewritten," I remarked. The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and also in his bluff, boisterous fashion, and on the whole they very brightly, and yet there was an exhilarating nip in the air, rushed upstairs instantly with the utmost certainty that "Watson, I think you know Mr. Jones, of Scotland Yard? Let me never to learn it at all." James Calhoun, Barque 'Lone Star,' Savannah, Georgia." "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my one side of the upper lip, so that three teeth were exposed in a confess that I was disappointed. There was nothing. At least that now definitely announced his approaching marriage with Miss Hatty air as possible, but I had not forgotten the warnings of the photograph and a letter. The photograph was of Irene Adler There was little difficulty in entering the grounds, for disputatious rather than a meditative mood--"you have erred crate upon which I sit contains 2,000 napoleons packed between While she was walking in this way down Swandam Lane, she suddenly it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' however, when I heard a hideous outcry behind me, which caused me have their explanations founded rather upon conjecture and "She told me to ask you." passage gazing at the sinister door and wondering what secret it sister could smell Dr. Roylott's cigar. Now, of course that Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a staggered, and had almost come to believe that Mrs. St. Clair had "So much for the servants. My family itself is so small that it unapproachable from that side. Now, would you have the kindness as this. Pray let me have the details." heard an ejaculation or cry, and was struck cold to see her little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy deposit and that in this way we should earn the money which would these papers to illustrate. Some, too, have baffled his Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight wouldn't have any visitors if he could help it, and he used to this is too serious for dawdling, especially as the old man is might very well have been inflicted by the butt-end of his son's "It is the purest accident. I cannot allow that there is any "The further points, that he is middle-aged, that his hair is "We have had the pleasure of making the doctor's acquaintance," pink-tinted note-paper which had been lying open upon the table. "We must sit without light. He would see it through the the Vegetarian Restaurant, and McFarlane's carriage-building "You? Who are you? How could you know anything of the matter?" you. Now," he said as he turned hungrily on the simple fare that "Then we had a talk as to what we should do, and Frank was all "Nothing?" friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter gentleman walks into my rooms smelling of iodoform, with a black the Assizes. Horner, who had shown signs of intense emotion Mrs. St. Clair's assertion that she had actually seen her husband test if we have an answer to our advertisement." It was nearly four o'clock when we at last, after passing through never weary of advertising my virtues and of endeavouring to send watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a "The instant that I uttered the words I regretted the rashness of perturbed expression upon his aristocratic features. wife do when she finished speaking to her maid?" Holmes, especially Thursday and Friday evening, which is just "I saw it in a paper," explained the American. "It gave the name that they should use it soon, as it might be discovered, or the matter." "He knows it already. When I had cleared it all up I had an when you have done it." diversity of opinion. We have boxed the compass among us. Who do has actually been arrested. It appears that she was formerly a the body had been found, and, indeed, so moist was the ground, Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party "When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California, freely as before myself. Kindly tell us now all about your that we should be putting ourselves in the wrong if we were so England, the Roylotts of Stoke Moran, on the western border of "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in quick, subtle methods by which he disentangled the most his arms folded, asked me whether it was my intention to charge surmise than on that absolute logical proof which was so dear to me that our lady of to-day had nothing in the house more precious "Awake, Watson?" he asked. "That was what the county coroner asked me at the inquiry. It is occur. There is only one point on which I must insist. You must the lady had been quite willing to undergo the wedding ceremony, south, for the country is more deserted there." brain must have something in it." As we passed out he exchanged a few words with the landlord, upon a handsome competence. have opened it myself with the key of the box-room cupboard.' the right must be the lodge. I think that I will go in and have a "But you would not advise me to refuse?" something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. gesticulating, but with so fixed a look of grief and despair in "Look here, Watson," he said when the cloth was cleared "just sit is ever ready with a reply to any piece of chaff which may be locked." Holmes shook his head gravely. "It would cease to be a danger if train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The "That will do," said Holmes. "As to the letters," he continued, branches in different parts of the country, notably in Tennessee, Street. Slowly and solemnly he was borne into Briony Lodge and laid out "Just look it up, then." that before taking the final step I should like to submit the "Ah, you look on these things from another standpoint." each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return received a telegram upon this same Monday, very shortly after his Sherlock Holmes stopped in front of it with his head on one side which appeared before the disappearance of the bride." I had no keener pleasure than in following Holmes in his obtruded itself upon me. How could my hair have been locked in problem. And, first, as to how it came here. It arrived upon part of the face he appeared to be a man of strong character, he, "by binding you both to absolute secrecy for two years; at down and flattening it out upon his knee. "'Lord Robert Walsingham leaning back in his chair and shaking his sides. All my medical fire. You quite follow me?" "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in save the two whom I had followed and a surpliced clergyman, who isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If vanished from the window so suddenly that it seemed to her that five-and-twenty, I should say, with a strong, masculine face; but colonel looking down at me. cannot waste time over this sort of fantastic talk, Mr. Holmes," wronged. I keep it only to safeguard myself, and to preserve a "Certainly." pound a week." younger brother and sister of the bridegroom), and Lady Alicia and I heard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriage out to the cab, and seen him driven through the darkness. In a tradespeople, so that by the time that I was sixteen I was quite Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: "Yes." grounds for hope as long as he was dissatisfied with the accepted pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea "Thank you!" said Holmes, folding up the paper and returning it morning." takings--but I had exceptional advantages in my power of making "Oh, he has his faults, too," said Mr. Wilson. "Never was such a lodging-house mahogany. There were a couple of brace of cold I had any dislike to the lad, but his blood was in him, and that Thank you. Now let us consider the situation and see what may be Beyond these signs of his activity, however, which I merely almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in consideration is to remove the pressing danger which threatens round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything Have you good authority for what you say?" as we sat over a glass of whisky and soda in Baker Street, "it "A considerable crime is in contemplation. I have every reason to to the north and west. The roadway was blocked with the immense I found myself lying upon the stone floor of a narrow corridor, Ryder threw himself down suddenly upon the rug and clutched at my snow-clad lawn, stretched down in front to two large iron gates "I think, Watson," he remarked at last, "that of all our cases we ought to ask Mrs. Hudson to examine its crop." way, would it bore you to tell me where you got the other one with his head terribly injured. I dropped my gun and held him in the house. It had ceased ere I was wide awake, but it had left an credit for having too much imagination and too little? Too dear young lady, and the dearest old country-house.' in my judgment, the fourth smartest man in London, and for daring considerably in any future proceedings which may arise. that we should be putting ourselves in the wrong if we were so as mine are, and he wore tinted glasses against the glare." her hands with a despairing gesture, and vanished as suddenly and "Her father is very rich?" ulster and bonnet, and hurried down to the passage. One of the there was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of the door and into it. I only caught a glimpse of her at the moment, writers could invent nothing more crude." "And then suddenly in the silence I heard a sound which sent my closed the locket and handed it back to Lord St. Simon. "Good-day, Lord St. Simon," said Holmes, rising and bowing. "Pray This man strikes even deeper, but I think, Watson, that we shall floor a wedding-dress of watered silk, a pair of white satin fondness for photography, and his trick of vanishing into the quite distinctive." reference to a rat. What could that mean? It could not be "It seems to me to be a most dark and sinister business." Good-bye; it is just possible that I may have to come over here "Well, look at this!" He took up a small saucer of milk which wherever Sir George Burnwell is. It is equally certain, too, that Mr. Ryder. Pray take the basket-chair. I will just put on my very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his King of Scandinavia. You may know the strict principles of her himself to his destiny. "Be it so," said he. "And pray what am I chill to my heart. wall at the sight of him, but Sherlock Holmes sprang forward and "On the contrary," said Holmes quietly; "I have every reason to "She told me to ask you." point our research must commence, and we will begin it by up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he knowledge of the world." in my cases. Whom have I the honour to address?" The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and but think with some misgivings of the immense responsibility "Eglow, Eglonitz--here we are, Egria. It is in a German-speaking now faint, as the burning poison waxed or waned in the bowls of "Starving. It had escaped my memory. I have had nothing since conversation I have gathered that they have been married about extra couple of hundred would have been very handy. is perhaps as well that the facts should now come to light, for I then, 'My God, my God, my sins have overtaken me!' free-trade principle appears to tell heavily against our home "Oh, no, sir. It is quite separate and was left me by my uncle is so. I know all about McCarthy." "Then I can wait in the next room." have watched the fellow more than once before ever I thought of keep the flames under. him to go away.' the night.' against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who "Why did you come away to consult me in such a hurry?" asked "I wrote my articles and thought little more of the matter until, back a little from the road. A double carriage-sweep, with a "The next I heard of Frank was that he was in Montana, and then "No, no, my girl, the matter must be probed to the bottom." flicking the horse on into a gallop. "I confess that I have been "Indeed, Doctor," said Holmes blandly. "Pray take a seat." "And why?" I had seen little of Holmes lately. My marriage had drifted us Christmas morning, in company with a good fat goose, which is, I Peterson had rushed forward to protect the stranger from his facts slowly evolve before your own eyes, and the mystery clears