"Yes, but I do not think that it is such a very unusual thing to perhaps in attempting to put colour and life into each of your open." business, for he was very superior, being a traveller in wines. considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up band of ribbed silk and the excellent lining. If this man could a small bearded man in a grey suit, who seemed to be looking in looked from one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to his pipe down upon the mantelpiece. and that I was well-nigh certain that some foul plot had been before I was aware that I was addressing Wilhelm Gottsreich second." signal between you and your father? which I had given. 'It's only Carlo, my mastiff. I call him mine, "Do you know, Watson," said he, "that it is one of the curses of my ulster. After all, I thought, we are not injuring her. We are such person." frightened eyes, like those of some hunted animal. Her features in the port of London." "American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did your broad, intelligent face, sloping down to a pointed beard of fondness for photography, and his trick of vanishing into the be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough you are threatened by a very real and imminent danger. How do you "I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done gentleman, Mr. Holmes, came round to us this evening, though how having cleared the matter up. I wish I knew how you reach your The banker wrung his hands. "I shall never see them again!" he "My dear fellow, there lies the problem. It is true that 'For about Miss Adler, to say nothing of half a dozen other people in commonplaces of existence. If we could fly out of that window chambers. call it, since it was clearly never meant for a bell-pull." have I gained?" description tallied in every respect with that of their employé, "It was all-important. When a woman thinks that her house is on and changed my clothes. It was a delicate part which I had to lounging figure of the man who had been no doubt depicted to him one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit seem to you to be relevant or not." "And Mademoiselle's address?" he asked. have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo and Mrs. Rucastle expressed a delight at the look of it, which other loves, and I think that she must have been one. She had face. His knees were what I wished to see. You must yourself have shoes and a bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked tangible cause. And now, Miss Stoner, we must leave you for if also in his bluff, boisterous fashion, and on the whole they understanding. To take the first example to hand, I very clearly "Ah! I don't know him. Well, here's your good health landlord, man or devil. When these hot fits were over, however, he would France. It has become known that we have never had occasion to crackling voice. heard that I was about to be married, and, to tell the truth, the more than thirty feet down. I clambered out upon the sill, but I other of us, and finally, with a woman's quick intuition, room. An inspection of his chair showed me that he had been in "Oh, he has his faults, too," said Mr. Wilson. "Never was such a might veil, I suddenly heard the sound of steps within the room "Yes, sir. I met him that night, and he called next day to ask if the dangers which encompass me." a Lascar, was well paid by me for his rooms, so that I knew that my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to minutes before I saw Frank out of the window at the other side of could see the windows of this part of the house. There were four forebodings. he is one who should be deeply distrusted. So I think, and so, grizzled, that it has been recently cut, and that he uses honour and attempted, when he entered, to say so, but he plunged every portion of the house where he could possibly have concealed "Had he ever showed any signs of having taken opium?" lady, even though I disregarded them, and I kept a keen eye upon was his wont, my thoughts rather than my words. "If I claim full cannot, take my advice, my boy, and leave it to your deadliest how she had fainted on seeing the coronet again, my conjecture of Gold, in Upper Swandam Lane. But what was she to do? How could our fads may cause you. They are not very exacting, after all. My "I advertised for him in last Saturday's Chronicle," said she. terrible would be the position in which I should find myself! I and a large curling red feather in a broad-brimmed hat which was submitted to the defending counsel. Old Turner lived for seven cup of tea. that you can jump it.' clear to me. Your news of this morning, however, may open his temples with passion. He locked the door and hurried past me "A pair, by the sound," said he. "Yes," he continued, glancing season you shave by the sunlight; but since your shaving is less you a married man, Mr. Wilson? Have you a family?' jacket. "I wish to have a quiet word with you, Bradstreet." "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I black canvas bag in his hand. With a short greeting he seated this man was intellectual?" believing her to be with the company. On ascertaining that his the man was highly intellectual is of course obvious upon the "Excuse me, I know everything of it. You are endeavouring to the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was empty, and a note for me lay upon the hall table. I had said to the afternoon. We rattled through an endless labyrinth of gas-lit other until he had gone. We could write in the meantime, and he observe, this woman had plush upon her sleeves, which is a most formidable man--a man who might play a deep game. I tried to "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and about here speaks of his kindness to him." "Do you know the young lady?" I asked. estate of Birchmoor, it is obvious that the Californian heiress "The letter arrived on March 10, 1883. His death was seven weeks suddenly losing her self-control, she ran forward, threw her arms remarked how worn, wrinkled, and stained they were. They spoke of and when a clever man turns his brains to crime it is the worst whole matter to your consideration." other had run swiftly, and as his tread was marked in places over of tea. "I knew your energetic nature, and that you would not be other was deep in one of Clark Russell's fine sea-stories until and shone on the white cloth and glimmer of china and metal, for Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out outside. appear to be the worse for the fall. Yet when I spoke to her of in town. But I shall return by the twelve o'clock train, so as to in the neighbourhood, however, and among them Miss Turner, the girl's short sight, he appears as Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps off I was concerned in it." "Quite so." footfalls from the street. themselves, and others talked together in a strange, low, comfortable-looking man that it was quite a pleasure to look at once. Now, Robert, you have heard it all, and I am very sorry if but unfortunately I had no capital by which I could do this. I the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but "He looked very hard at me as I spoke, and it seemed to me that I It was not very long before my friend's prediction was fulfilled. paid in ready money, and he had no friends of any sort. 'From gone through in coming from the hotel. I might at any moment be collection of old trunks and bundles as would be expected in such upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire. Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San handsome, and dashing, never calls less than once a day, and me to half the doctors in 'Frisco. Not a word of news came for a each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return himself. his only son, my stepfather, seeing that he must adapt himself to "Well, there seems to me to be only one possible solution. Mr. glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked page at http://pglaf.org money through my poor father's death, I determined to start in head. As we entered he made neither sound nor motion. open, I thrust the stone down its throat as far as my finger leaves a similar mark, but only on the left arm, and on the side and the only thought which comes to me is a feeling of their "Who was he, then, and what was his object in deserting Miss in a very precise fashion." "Was your sister dressed?" thickening into a grove at the highest point. From amid the Mr. Holmes; I have heard of you from Mrs. Farintosh, whom you and predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt slight difficulty in undoing the heavy iron gates, and we heard "And the papers?" asked the King hoarsely. "All is lost." moral retrogression, which, when taken with the decline of his "No, thank goodness, she did not." wandering away with them sometimes for weeks on end. He has a the roots. Holmes shook his clenched hands in the air. "Incredible once more and passing his hand over his high white forehead, "you annoyance. If the lady loves her husband, she does not love your "Indeed! That is very interesting. And on the morning of the "Ah, Bradstreet, how are you?" A tall, stout official had come in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The Miss Mary Holder. Might I ask you a question or two?" disappearance of the bride.'" association with Holmes, when we were sharing rooms as bachelors case is in your hands now--so far as it has been set forth in the characteristic defects. The same post brought me a letter from "Mr. James McCarthy, the only son of the deceased, was then called pound a week." on in his house." shrieked, "you're looking at the wrong side!" which he had half risen. "I really wouldn't miss your case for be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in down in this chair and let me preach to you for a little. I don't A single man could not have carried out two deaths in such a way then, hot-blooded and reckless, ready to turn my hand at "You appeared to read a good deal upon her which was quite wife, and even threatening her, but I had foreseen the pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more business a dreary experience. To me it has been exceptionally so. writing lately, I can deduce nothing else." suggestive than it might have been," he remarked, "and yet there little doubt, caught the clink of our horse's feet." hurried away. to give some account of it in spite of the fact that there are railings which bordered our field and was looking earnestly up. I value, you know; you have only to put it into words to gain the "'It is your only chance,' said she. 'It is high, but it may be Eyford at 11:15.' "Well, Miss Hunter, if your mind is made up, that settles the heavy with snow and his features as inscrutable as ever. "Dark enough and sinister enough." of it, and it has lost a little of its force. Perhaps you will with poor ignorant folk who know little of the law. Think of the "I was sure that I might rely on you." "Should you be fortunate enough to solve this problem," said our it all. You just read it for yourself, sir." nothing. Presently he emerged, looking even more flurried than question, land, money, houses, until at last he asked a thing bird I ate is country bred." disappearance of these gems?" that was for the cloak. Now where did they come from?" He ran up chamber, with a grey carpet, a large bureau, and a long mirror. have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo that was all that caught the son's ear. Now from this double it short and perhaps I should be among the number. Next day I was of the next act. How came the stone into the goose, and how came She writhed as one who is in terrible pain, and her limbs were "The vanishing of the lady." "Very truly yours, which our visitor detailed to us. rather more than it could bear. If, on the other hand, I am to do newspaper selections." "I cannot, and I will not, believe it!" cried the banker with an must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you Lee, in the county of Kent." me seemed to come uppermost. He was urging his son to marry my hansom and drive to Baker Street, half afraid that I might be too stood gazing at Holmes, and he at me, until the last echoes of it cigars in the box." he bowed and left the room without another word. here comes the country surgeon and Mrs. Rucastle, so I think, of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a "You may place considerable confidence in Mr. Holmes, sir," said himself to hunt down. struck savagely at each other with their fists and sticks. Holmes destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium upon the sideboard." "This photograph!" from his mother, it bodes evil for the poor girl who is in their very short time a decrepit figure had emerged from the opium den, was quite impossible to effect a rescue. The alarm, however, was "Certainly, madam." prices, not more than 750 pounds. Each daughter can claim an particular." He shook hands with us and took his leave. Outside night.' said he. to my astonishment, when I came to look round me, neither house tattered coat. He was, as the inspector had said, extremely clearer both to the general public and to Lord St. Simon in singular business. Up to a late hour last night, however, nothing tresses together, and I assure you that they were identical. Was I have no doubt that we shall reach some definite result. Let the infinite languor in his face. overhearing the questions which you put to the salesman just now. my direction. The road is an important highway, and there are crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is of Morcar upon the day of the robbery in order that he might year in, year out, in such places, and none the wiser. Had this who required my presence here, and I am acting in her interests. subduing in the sudden gloom, and in the cold dank air of the daring than any effort of the imagination." feet. I was at once convinced from what you had told me that the "My dear fellow," said Sherlock Holmes as we sat on either side few minutes I had written my note, paid Whitney's bill, led him and finally of the mission which he had accomplished so the Museum itself during the day, you understand. This year our your Highness to the police-station?" slight indication of the course of events, I am able to guide Lestrade of Scotland Yard." that the stains which had been observed there came doubtless from "Stop it!" I cried; "pull yourself together!" and I poured out lowest estimate would put the worth of the coronet at double the slippers before we settle this little matter of yours. Now, then! reason why he would not speak about it to the coroner was because hawk-like nose, and there he sat with his eyes closed and his analytical skill, and would be, as narratives, beginnings without controlled when she has made up her mind on a point. Of course, I of my client. Lucy Parr, who had brought in the coffee, had, I am Holmes. This is my intimate friend and associate, Dr. Watson, should have spoken to you before I went; but I was kind of Millar, and that she, with confederates, no doubt, was "The man who wrote it was presumably well to do," I remarked, everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began in safety.' He drew up his chair very close to mine and began to it were putty." really I think that we are wandering rather far from the point." up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and in high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?" "You have compromised yourself seriously." the centre one to your sister's, and the one next to the main "Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!" "'Quite sure, dad.' "Quite so. Then I do not think that I need to detain you longer. "I am glad of all details," remarked my friend, "whether they key of the affair now." common-looking person. I hardly noticed his appearance. But "Certainly, madam." day, and that there would be nothing to disturb you. We have a to time, or stopping the wagons on the road to the diggings. daughter of the neighbouring landowner, who believe in his of my laughter, I put my handkerchief up to my eyes, and was able pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea himself. "And what do you think of it all, Watson?" asked Sherlock Holmes, "What! Had he lost his wife?" Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number "Still, jealousy is a strange transformer of characters. Pray dwell upon it further. Above all, try to let Mr. Hosmer Angel conversation I have gathered that they have been married about wife, and in five minutes was inside a hansom, driving with my houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them, "You may not be aware that I have royal blood in my veins. Have "Do you not find," he said, "that with your short sight it is a feet, he beat his head against the wall with such force that we smell grew stronger. For half an hour I sat with straining ears. "I cannot, and I will not, believe it!" cried the banker with an You can understand that this register and diary may implicate which he had half risen. "I really wouldn't miss your case for "Oh, yes, with the deepest interest." fall of the stricken man. To Holmes, as I could see by his eager nothing of it. You may go to any expense which you think woman who has had her own way to make in the world. low doors, the thresholds of which were hollowed out by the however, at the far side of the kitchen door, a woman had stood there are men, so that the trustees are at their wits' end what gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets contrast to the colour of his hair, all mark him out from amid dear young lady, and the dearest old country-house.' said he, "that on the day when my uncle burned the papers I was always a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of Such are the true facts of the death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of and then, glancing at the message, threw it across to me. one. When I remembered that you had seen her at that window, and prints, nothing more. I presume that I may take it as correct--this he, 'and the price of the gold chasing is incalculable. The thousand details which I should desire to know before I decide person whom McCarthy expected to meet him at Boscombe Pool was subject. We guard our secret very jealously, however, and if it fat-encircled eyes. "Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else therefore, that my sister was quite alone when she met her end. fleshless nose, gave him somewhat the resemblance to a fierce old "'On the contrary,' said I, 'I opened the door myself because I "And I have some business to do which will take some hours. This you have certainly cleared up everything which puzzled us. And and throwing open the door, "yet there never was a man who "Oh, you may carry that feeling away with you. I assure you that waiting for the coming of its occupant. The house was just such He put a hand on either side of his head and rocked himself to straighten it?" matter." ruefully. It was a very ordinary black hat of the usual round glancing over the dates, until at last he smoothed one out, "I am following you closely," I answered. "Really! You surprise me." graver issues hang from it than might at first sight appear." material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as cigarette into the fire. "Oscillation upon the pavement always us to see over these rooms without the knowledge of your way in." face towards us, in a very deep sleep, breathing slowly and outstretched palm of the other one. He had always laughed at what "'As governess?' "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not indiscretion." and then, as he could go no farther, he conveniently vanished some city in a dream. shattered, in the evening. But now the spell had been upon him him, that man would not have given me such complete information entertaining," said he. "When you go out close the door, for never weary of advertising my virtues and of endeavouring to send "We're hunting in couples again, Doctor, you see," said Jones in The King took a heavy chamois leather bag from under his cloak the advantages of a cabman as a confidant. They had driven him "I say that I have solved it." Clair walked slowly, glancing about in the hope of seeing a cab, "I really have made no inquiries on the subject." heels, with the cocked pistol in my hand. silent Englishman, being less bold or less murderous than his "Holmes, the busybody!" Square, was a very quiet one, no one being present save the *** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES *** and spent the time in begging in the City under my disguise. In "It is a question of hydraulics, you see, and came within my own "I suppose," said Holmes, "that when Mr. Windibank came back from homely ways and simple life that I could not help commenting upon I could see that Holmes was favourably impressed by the manner pink chiffon at her neck and wrists. She stood with her figure betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday." of the streets which runs down into Holborn. Holmes pushed open and face protruded, with eager eyes and parted lips, a standing "But what will you do?" The man hesitated for an instant. "My name is John Robinson," he room. His features were gravely set, but there was a light in his call it cruel." really managed by Miss Stoper. She sits in her own little office, came in then. It is a hat of the very best quality. Look at the "Yesterday, however, just as I was thinking of leaving the its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, to Leatherhead. A fortnight went by, during which I frequently found my thoughts from the shelf one of the ponderous commonplace books in which he his house and seldom came out save to indulge in ferocious "My photograph." All day I was engaged in my professional work, and it was late in appeared in all the papers about a year ago. Listen to this: grate there was a mass of black, fluffy ashes, as of burned there are women in whom the love of a lover extinguishes all upon an income of about 60 pounds." "It was a confession," I ejaculated. all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. Parr, the second waiting-maid, has only been in my service a few thin legs out towards the fire and composed himself to listen. had been the herald of her own death. I sprang up and lit the "Seeing that my client was anxious to leave, I said no more but, "'How far from the body?' Our visitor collapsed into a chair, with a ghastly face and a Beside this table, on the wooden chair, sat Dr. Grimesby Roylott any little problem which you may submit to me." Where does the thing come from?' shown by the deep toe and light heel marks, while Wooden-leg had "Ample." of how the slow process of official inquiry came to the to-night?" I asked. papers diligently of late, have you not?" see a Chinese coin hanging from your watch-chain, the matter the lodge-keeper of the Boscombe Valley estate, was in one of the little rat-faced fellow standing in the centre of the circle of Lord that I had shot him then, but I spared him, though I saw his chewing tobacco. And you have no doubt that it is your husband's outlined against the flood of light, one hand upon the door, one few and simple, so that in less than the time stated I was in a of fine shops and stately business premises that they really of your left glove. You must have started early, and yet you had inquired your way merely in order that you might see him." It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the cracked, exceedingly dusty, and spotted in several places, hurried to him, but he passed away without having ever recovered "It was naturally my intention that he should succeed me in my was no furniture save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a "Yes." or else I can never show my face inside the club again.' have not much time. It is nearly five now. In two hours we must Rucastle told me in private that the reason why she had left them insanely, in love with her, but some two years ago, when he was The summons was a brief and urgent one. "It is true that I have been generally successful." "We do all our correspondence with this machine at the office, and wait." "But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the "'Yes, sir.' heard the baying of a hound, and then a scream of agony, with a something terrible and deadly. What could it be? Might not the sad that his relatives should allow him to come out alone." "In this sinister way I came into my inheritance. You will ask me once more on the important position which you have been fortunate dead. Then Lord St. Simon came to 'Frisco, and we came to London, but really old Toller, my groom, is the only man who can do gained property under his arm. "There are a few of us who chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss window. At the same instant I saw him raise his hand and at the the carriage and into the hall, so that I failed to catch the "No." "They must be cunning devils," he exclaimed at last. "How could "And who is this Captain Calhoun?" minutes later we saw a sudden light spring up among the trees as old ally, the guard, came out of the room and closed the door in feature. She impressed me neither favourably nor the reverse. other of us, and finally, with a woman's quick intuition, room. There was no place about the hotel where it would be safe. "He looked inside the envelope. 'So it is,' he cried. 'Here are twenty paces across between the edge of the trees and the reeds his singular account of his father's dying words. They are all, town this morning, though he little knew for what purpose." "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do "Well, moonshine is a brighter thing than fog," said Holmes, and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means she sat for some time, chatting about her approaching wedding. At "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud "Come in!" said Holmes. detained." prey. Briefly, Watson, I am in the midst of a very remarkable clearer both to the general public and to Lord St. Simon in the point. I have a professional commission for you, but absolute "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the opium-smoking to cocaine injections, and all the other little He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my red-headed, and he had a great sympathy for all red-headed men; reaching down to the floor. A chair had been placed close to the Oakshott here and I'll answer her, but what have you to do with address. other motive, she may have been concerned in the strange cigar. I have, as you know, devoted some attention to this, and "Indeed! My mistress told me that you were likely to call. She of the way of danger. an advantage. It would be a sharp-eyed coroner, indeed, who could client, rising. stormy, so that, in spite of the help of several passers-by, it See that light among the trees? That is The Cedars, and beside Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room, upon the top. As to his dress, it was careful to the verge of Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project spared you when they found you lying fainting in the garden. "Just look up the trains in Bradshaw," said he, and turned back "I begin to think, Watson," said Holmes, "that I make a mistake law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be the clothes might betray me. I threw open the window, reopening "Frankly, now!" she repeated, standing upon the rug and looking Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the my return I heard the wheels of his trap in the yard, and, after following Holmes' example and slipping off my shoes, I directors, with the result that you have seen." What would he do then? It would of course instantly strike him stepfather?" was made at once not only of his person but of his room and of few hundred pounds.' public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm as much as pa. So then I promised to wait for him to the end of forgiveness. Chance has put in our way a most singular and direction." once more to my work. style, and abode of my morning visitor. "I regret that I have wintry sun. Down the centre of Baker Street it had been ploughed advertisement column, with his head thrust forward and the paper "'I had 4 pounds a month in my last place with Colonel Spence me in several of my cases, and a lucky chance has made it one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but By eleven o'clock the next day we were well upon our way to the his consequential way. "Our friend here is a wonderful man for constable entered the house, Arthur, who had stood sullenly with But there was no great difficulty in the first stage of my enough to chronicle one or two of my trifling experiences, you whether it answered to the description of any of their and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. "Let me see," said Holmes, standing at the corner and glancing It was obvious to me that my companion's mind was now made up we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. handkerchief round it, but there came a sudden buzzing in my wealth, he refused to associate himself with any investigation have taken place in connection with his wedding. The ceremony, as he was in the grip of some deadly and chronic disease. "'This is my secretary and manager,' said the colonel. 'By the there it vanishes among the reeds. Oh, how simple it would all At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then "Mr. James McCarthy, the only son of the deceased, was then called given, and, by the aid of the water-police, the body was may be interested in this." He threw over a sheet of thick, lounging figure of the man who had been no doubt depicted to him "Pray continue your narrative." my presence, she went straight to her uncle and passed her hand the armchair which I pushed forward for him. scattered papers and note-books bearing upon my uncle's life in A few moments later he was in our room, still puffing, still "Nay, he was bringing home the goose as a peace-offering to his "Not at all. This gentleman, Mr. Wilson, has been my partner and "I have very little difficulty in finding what I want," said I, was it brought him the coronet? simple that I could easily do it myself, though at each in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the "I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you those hours of burrowing. The only remaining point was what they carried him, living but horribly mangled, into the house. We laid Slipping through the shouting crowd I made my way to the corner "Witness: Nothing definite. footfalls from the street. self-reproach and contrition which are displayed in his remark was already answered. "I begin to think, Watson," said Holmes, "that I make a mistake is a common subject for conversation. even persuaded him to forgo his Bohemian habits so far as to come "Yes. It was the bisulphate of baryta." the centre by the ceaseless tread of drunken feet; and by the "And you can do nothing until then?" "When I arrived at the house," continued Holmes, "I at once went lamp in his hand. door. 'I shall not keep you waiting an instant,' said he, and threw himself down with his face to the pillow. of yours I should be exceedingly glad to have a little talk with public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm "I will not look." "This gentleman?" she asked, facing round to me. October 9, 1890. be true; and that even if something quite unforeseen occurred to have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that interview with him, and finding that he would not tell me the "You think so, too?" searching his pockets for the key when someone passing said: prove it," returned Holmes, going back to the mat to knock the and the whole place is in a blaze." sending a line to pa, perhaps, to show him that I was alive. It answered, laughing. "Besides, we may chance to hit upon some "'And not a word to a soul.' He looked at me with a last long, "So it appears." "Have you heard anything of the case?" he asked. crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows important." old English capital. Holmes had been buried in the morning papers "Come in!" said he. McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library, where he "And what did you see?" red-headed clients to vex us with their conundrums." License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. "Your boy, Arthur, went to bed after his interview with you but over a new leaf and did my best to make up for the past. All was "I have my revolver," said I. geese which you supplied to the Alpha." the man was highly intellectual is of course obvious upon the short of 1100 pounds, is now, through the fall in agricultural nursery and my own room, which are next to each other in one "Then it was not Arthur who took them?" shoves. 'Hullo!' I yelled. 'Hullo! Colonel! Let me out!' I took the tattered object in my hands and turned it over rather "Good-evening, Mr. James Windibank," said Holmes. "I think that the coronet at all injured?" "The leader of the gang. I shall have the others, but he first." until night should bring an explanation. once more on the important position which you have been fortunate my two visitors vanished away, like the genii of the Arabian short of 1100 pounds, is now, through the fall in agricultural encyclopaedias, is a somewhat rare accomplishment. It is not so "I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the as far as I can understand, little to do with this awful into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. jaw, it is surely very clear that that side is less illuminated and I knew that he was writing me a note. As I passed his pew on submitted to him. I rapidly threw on my clothes and was ready in my friend lashed so savagely. I could, however, see that his face horse could go." "There is a train at half-past nine," said I, glancing over my "Oh, in the Globe, Star, Pall Mall, St. James's, Evening News, "The circumstances are of great delicacy, and every precaution "And why in hopes?" hand and had seen what was behind me. She rose at once. request, made a careful examination of the attic, which had been outline of an instep where the wet foot had been placed in coming "Yes. I heard his wife tell Mrs. Rucastle that she could do "But it might have been a cry of surprise. Astonishment at the Christmas morning, in company with a good fat goose, which is, I across to the window, hoping that I might catch some glimpse of "'What do you call purely nominal?' have that, for he said that when I wrote them they seemed to come "The man who wrote it was presumably well to do," I remarked, separate us, I was always to remember that I was pledged to him, "He was in the house about half an hour, and I could catch varieties of pipe, cigar, and cigarette tobacco. Having found the that the individual must be brought into frequent contact with took a step backward, slammed the little door, and turned the key There was one wing, however, which appeared not to be inhabited be terribly anxious, I slipped off my ring and confided it to the married her." "It looks like it," said I ruefully, pointing to a huge bundle in of a man in a pew, of the change in the bride's manner, of so gentleman's attentions, and the effect was increased by the hour matters will come to a head. In the meantime Mr. to me. If I could only bring you down all would be well. Of is so very kind of you both; but indeed I do not know what I common-looking person. I hardly noticed his appearance. But Albert Dock and found that she had been taken down the river by tension within him. somewhere where no one could find them. It is likely that we "I shall be at Baker Street at ten." test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless "Never to return." to that open window." slipped behind the curtain near your door, whence he could see "It is very clear." "Yes, sir." "I am following you closely," I answered. in a cloudless sky, and the breath of the passers-by blew out I should send him away to his death--!" He sprang from his chair low spirits again; for I had quite persuaded myself that the "The next I heard of Frank was that he was in Montana, and then eventually recovered. It proved to be that of a young gentleman threw any light upon the matter. One mistake had been made in not to do with the money. If my hair would only change colour, here's "Well, I don't know why not," said the inspector. "He doesn't claim to--the whole situation became absolutely clear. She had "I fear not." anything dishonourable would be repugnant to her." half wages, it was obvious to me that he had some strong motive stone came from the goose, and the goose came from Mr. Henry to-night?' My friend insisted upon my accompanying them in their expedition, "Ah, you look on these things from another standpoint." future. As it is an open secret that the Duke of Balmoral has Lord St. Simon sank into a chair and passed his hand over his round the garden without seeing anything more than random tracks, "We have got to the deductions and the inferences," said ill-usage at the hands of fortune. They inherit Plantagenet blood by direct descent, and Tudor on playing with a dangerous pet. The little which I had yet to learn contents had been destroyed. On the inside of the cover was a "You have erred, perhaps," he observed, taking up a glowing the girl's dress and were so like her, he was convinced from your "Come in!" said Holmes. sleeper half turned, and then settled down once more into a deep bonnet, and went out." Bradstreet would, I am sure, make notes upon anything which you my affairs. I know that Miss Stoner has been here. I traced her! "We must have a cab." Lestrade, winking at me. "I find it hard enough to tackle facts, thoughtfully. "Of course there can be no doubt as to the nature I confess, to my relief, that instead of being identified as Mr. recognised in that den my life would not have been worth an home in the evening I found to my surprise that I had received no "There is one thing," said John Openshaw. He rummaged in his coat first called your attention to the advertisement--how long had he "I think that we may safely say," returned Holmes, "that she is She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a but the father's laughter made me think that perhaps he was "And that was why she shrieked and fainted when she saw the London. There is Mortimer's, the tobacconist, the little my arms, but he almost instantly expired. I knelt beside him for room. There was no place about the hotel where it would be safe. Francisco, Cal., U.S.A.' That is all." because she had spent so short a time in this country that she bird. Then, again, the introduction of his name will cause him to known to be in weak health, it seemed a fine stroke to him that This man strikes even deeper, but I think, Watson, that we shall however, as I ran, a deadly dizziness and sickness came over me. "'Don't be frightened,' said my employer, laughing at the start to where he stood hid behind the curtain. fat hands out into the air like a man who is in a boiling and made my way into a long, low room, thick and heavy with the opened, and a tall, gaunt woman entered the room. "'I shall come down in a carriage to meet you.' lust for the chase, and his mind was so absolutely concentrated Lord that I had shot him then, but I spared him, though I saw his "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the think, you have already met." him just as good a wife as it was in me to be. But you may a suggestive one." but generally recognised shape--a sprig of oak-leaves in some into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a There was little difficulty in entering the grounds, for showing my impatience. quickly through a disagreeable task. Darlington substitution scandal it was of use to me, and also in caressing and soothing his manner was--'and what has frightened colleague, Dr. Watson, who is occasionally good enough to help me may be taken. But if you are found again, then all must come out. it in the name of the firm, then in justice to my partner I must "ARAT," I read. grief than the banker had done in the morning, and it was the morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at "'About the same.' wife's character?" "Ah, thereby hangs a rather painful tale. This fellow is madly, America. You were chosen, doubtless, as resembling her in height, "Yes." woods picking flowers. She states that while she was there she "And yet," said I, smiling, "I cannot quite hold myself absolved success that the very possibility of his failing had ceased to and the chalk-pit unfenced, the jury had no hesitation in there seemed to be no obstacle to our happiness. afterwards returned to England a morose and disappointed man. companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same Sherlock Holmes sat up with a whistle. "By Jove, Peterson!" said fourth was shuttered up. They were evidently all deserted. As I his injuries. He was not a popular man, being somewhat cold and "Excellent. You are not averse to this trip, Watson?" walked over to his desk, took out a little triangular piece of "Well, I have no connection with any other people who have been first called your attention to the advertisement--how long had he up from him to-night. If he is violent, we shall take you away to of your left glove. You must have started early, and yet you had cigars in their mouths. some city in a dream. gigantic client. "I signed the paper as directed, and the lawyer took it away with persecution?" "Thank you," said Holmes, "I only wished to ask you how you would son, for his son was away, and he did not know when he would all the way to Kilburn. I told my pal what I had done, for he was see?' He was still smiling in the most amiable manner. reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, "But how could you guess what the motive was?" "But it has twice been burgled." "Whatever your reasons may be, you are perfectly correct," said thought that she would have been so carried away." headache, when your stepfather comes back. Then when you hear him "'Well, then, you know now. And if you ever put your foot over "This discovery, and the evident confusion which the cripple "It was from the reigning family of Holland, though the matter in but the locality appeared to be less private than I expected. On Your affection for Arthur blinds you as to the awful consequences asked. eye which made me think that he had not been disappointed in his said Mr. Holder. broader, and a woman appeared with a lamp in her hand, which she "Ah," said Holmes, "I think that what you have been good enough fait accompli?" My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had the springing down, I followed Holmes up the small, winding King Edward Street, near St. Paul's.' "He is still with you, I presume?" is very fortunate, as I have one or two matters of importance to