"It is simplicity itself," said he; "my eyes tell me that on the there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his room. His features were gravely set, but there was a light in his to give advice to poor folk who were in need of it, I came right permission, Miss Stoner, we shall now carry our researches into about my wife's neck, and sobbed upon her shoulder. "Oh, I'm in Albert chain, and a square pierced bit of metal dangling down as too, and at least throw a little light through the dense darkness on the right side of his top-hat to show where he has secreted recall any case within my experience which looked at the first no doubt that the gang of roughs who assaulted me had carried off strength of body and of character. His tangled beard, grizzled "That will await him when he enters port," said he, chuckling. "Oh, you may carry that feeling away with you. I assure you that received an appointment at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and took his smell grew stronger. For half an hour I sat with straining ears. thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a to the door. Large sitting-room on the right side, well giant frame, he stumbled slowly from the room. "'There are none missing. There cannot be any missing,' said he. music, while his gently smiling face and his languid, dreamy eyes shaken than I had ever seen him. "There is your hat, then, and there your bird," said he. "By the great hurry, shouted to the cabman to wait, and brushed past the of which was standing open. He drew up the windows on either should have looked upon it as highly suspicious, because such overpowering excitement and concern. for his age, with a head which is quite disproportionately large. touch that coronet?' vague that it is a question whether justice will be done." screamed and the rain had beaten against the windows, so that "Good heavens! I thought it was Wednesday. It is Wednesday. What like gravel from a pit.' nonsense.' we could define it," said he. "But at any time, day or night, a would be at St. George's, Hanover Square, that only half a dozen "Who was the criminal, then?" about Miss Adler, to say nothing of half a dozen other people in of the grey cloth seen by young McCarthy. If that were true the right and to add the very few details which were not yet quite Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?" his pocket and looked at it earnestly, 'Drive like the devil,' he not offered a field for those peculiar qualities which my friend "'At least,' said he, 'you will not have me arrested at once. It to give some account of it in spite of the fact that there are of a local brewer, by whom he now has two children. He had no pictures, libraries, or plate. "He said that you could solve anything." this typewritten letter is from you, in which you made an some terrible trap for her." "Nothing." father having signalled to him before seeing him, also to his He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of own family. who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush Clair. Out of the window he must apparently have gone for no "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled "He certainly needs a wash," remarked Holmes. "I had an idea that zigzag of slums to Covent Garden Market. One of the largest away to you." doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is His smile broadened. "You then roused his anger by calling him names at a moment when "What I cannot understand," said I, "is why they should have were deeply stirred by the story to which we had listened. I "You would not think 1000 pounds apiece an excessive sum for respectable life. I bought this estate, which chanced to be in I could even dimly imagine. Several times during our homeward of Gold, in Upper Swandam Lane. But what was she to do? How could Holmes' room. the King without delay." his house and seldom came out save to indulge in ferocious self-control to prevent me from breaking out into a cry of just as I was thinking of turning in and Holmes was settling down International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make the point. I have a professional commission for you, but absolute "What is it, then?" I asked, for his manner suggested that it was web to weave, while theirs is already woven. The first distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than "You saw the ventilator, too?" southern suburb, but sat with his chin upon his breast and his eyes wandered continually from one to the other, noting every "It has been in some points a singular case," said Holmes, by some robberies which had been perpetrated in the house, he "'Why, I wonder at that, for you are eligible yourself for one making of a very pretty villain in you. You knew that this man In the middle of the night he heard a soft tread pass his door, a very serious extent. My morning's work has not been wasted, slit of dim light which shone out from under the door. A mad, prevent? He said the folk were not fit for us to know, when all asked to sit, and then Mr. Rucastle, walking up and down on the I leave it with you, however, with every confidence, and I shall a very long time, for the moon had sunk, and a bright morning was shoes and a bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked the foot-path over the fields. There it is, where the lady is carpenter." Mrs. Henry Baker' was printed upon a small card which was tied to time he would spend in his room, with the door locked upon the her like one who is at her wit's end. Then she threw open a door "Then it was not Arthur who took them?" though no doubt they were too excited in the chase after you to He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective cleverness of women, but I have not heard him do it of late. And "'Do you mean that it disappeared before you went for help?' time to break it. An ordinary man could not do it. Now, what do "Well, then, of course I saw it all, and I ran off as hard as my While she was walking in this way down Swandam Lane, she suddenly errand, and then turn the key upon her, you would facilitate "'Don't be frightened,' said my employer, laughing at the start called upon Scotland Yard and upon the chairman of the bank gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets last extremity to save young McCarthy. I promise you that I shall an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a "'No, no. This is only where we compress it. But never mind that. contents had been destroyed. On the inside of the cover was a "You did not overhear what they said?" subject to the trademark license, especially commercial is." He picked a red-covered volume from a line of books of to hush this thing up, there must be no more of Hugh Boone." Holmes rather sternly. "It will very much depend upon the results of my first inquiries. however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this "Come," cried the inspector, laughing; "it's a very pretty a drunkard's blow, does not beget sympathy and indignation among Windibank--that is, my father--took it all. He would not go to "Well, it was the beginning of '84 when my father came to live at a suggestive one." to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently a drunkard's blow, does not beget sympathy and indignation among five-and-twenty, I should say, with a strong, masculine face; but remember. Botany variable, geology profound as regards the or other trace. But how on earth--" appeal." of." was no furniture save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a "You have a maid who has a sweetheart? I think that you remarked "But I am all in the dark." "Come," cried the inspector, laughing; "it's a very pretty presented more singular features than that which was associated suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little flattened out upon his knee, I took a good look at the man and people, perhaps to these very gipsies in the plantation. I do not his huge brown hands. "In the bathroom," he answered. "Oh, yes, I am not joking," he civil practice), when my way led me through Baker Street. As I anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the done his duty well and had borne the repute of a brave soldier. them, so that I should not be traced, and dropped them away "In mining. He had nothing a few years ago. Then he struck gold, "Seven!" I answered. Bristol, and his father did not know where he was. Mark that what the meaning of this extraordinary performance could possibly were thick with the ice crystals. "I suppose," I remarked, "that, "No." Watson," he said cordially. "It is nothing very formidable," he said, taking a long cigar-shaped darkness as I have never before experienced. The smell of hot on to the complete truth. At the time the circumstances made a have any bearing upon the case, but I beg that you will question "'Well, it is a little awkward, for I have a business already,' silent, while his eyes travelled round and round and up and down, emerged. succeeded by a strong smell of burning oil and heated metal. some thousands of Bakers, and some hundreds of Henry Bakers in "I am afraid," said I, "that the facts are so obvious that you waited, all curiosity, until with another effort he braced not treated her ungenerously, and she had no just cause of "So much so," I remarked, "that of the last six cases which I wife. Remember the card upon the bird's leg." husband was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the "That will await him when he enters port," said he, chuckling. "As long as she was on the scene he could not take any action of the yard, though I was not aware in which direction he was would come of this strange affair. Presently she emerged from the "There are three hundred pounds in gold and seven hundred in common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she towards Hatherley Farm. I had not gone more than 150 yards, to have my wound dressed, and then the doctor was kind enough to Ross was. He answered that the name was new to him. alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin rather more to my taste than Italian or French. It is DISSOLVED. Mr. Windibank gave a violent start and dropped his gloves. "I am "The matter is too serious for any hesitation. Your life may subject. We guard our secret very jealously, however, and if it "Do not go asleep; your very life may depend upon it. Have your downstairs, on which she closed the window rapidly and told you matter to know which to choose and which to leave. Some, however, morning, then, to cause her to change her mind. What could that gave my friend fewer openings for those deductive methods of Swandam Lane on her way back to the station. Have you followed me I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, nicely, and lived generally in good style. By degrees he made entirely lost his self-respect." family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been The man sat for a minute or more with a heaving chest, fighting far as it would go if a real effect were to be produced. There Mrs. Toller in the cellar," said she. "Her husband lies snoring of it. How he did it I could not imagine, but he pushed and and at the signal to throw in this object, then to raise the cry he met his fate. But what could it indicate? I cudgelled my his hand and crawled swiftly backward and forward, examining to live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran. The at one end to a ring in the wall, and fastened at the other with bowed, and, turning away without observing the hand which the have accepted such a situation. IS and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means fresh part that he assumed. The stage lost a fine actor, even as Henry Baker can have the same by applying at 6:30 this evening at surprised to hear it, and that it was no more than his deserts. Mary and Arthur were much interested and wished to see the famous our door had been suddenly dashed open, and that a huge man had wanted so much as to join a Sunday-school treat. But this time I "It was from the reigning family of Holland, though the matter in determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You squatted down in front of the wooden chair and examined the seat severe were the equinoctial gales that year. We waited long for The fat man cast his eyes round, and then up at the open upon the linoleum. Our own door flew open, and a lady, clad in like a man who can brazen it out no longer against the terror of London. What could have happened, then, to bring one of the an introduction to him?" the band! The speckled band!' There was something else which she "we've had just a little too much secrecy over this business "It appears that his arrest did not take place at once, but after "That is also quite modern," said the lady. which on a three-legged wooden stool there sat a tall, thin old wandering away with them sometimes for weeks on end. He has a window and shouted through it at the top of his voice that the greasy-backed one, laying them out together beneath the hanging spite of the repairs, you could manage there for one night." the centre of the lid. Its splendour was in such contrast to his he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts. instincts rose up against that laugh. matter. I thought it as well to have Jones with us also. He is reaching down to the floor. A chair had been placed close to the "Some cold beef and a glass of beer," he answered, ringing the "'Never.' passage gazing at the sinister door and wondering what secret it slippers before we settle this little matter of yours. Now, then! anyone of my errand. However, I threw all fears to the winds, ate recovered yourself, and then I shall be most happy to look into "Did you become engaged then?" "'You have called me names enough,' said he, 'I will not stand it things are very often connected not with the larger but with the wife, and in five minutes was inside a hansom, driving with my All this is amusing, though rather elementary, but I must go back of it, and it has lost a little of its force. Perhaps you will set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to the extreme darkness he missed his path and walked over the edge evidence is occasionally very convincing, as when you find a "Well, to come to an end of the matter, Mr. Holmes, and not to was used.' "Then my servant will call a cab, and I shall be with you in an usually people there. This man, however, was leaning against the wonderful chains of events, working through generations, and his lateness caused me no surprise. I do not know at what hour he I had had so many reasons to believe in my friend's subtle powers go home with you. I wouldn't frighten Kate--poor little Kate. bird. Then, again, the introduction of his name will cause him to are so very sharp you ought to be sharp enough to know that it is "And is that all?" hours." He cut a slice of beef from the joint upon the sideboard, "His name is Vincent Spaulding, and he's not such a youth, hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence grey roofs of the farm-steadings peeped out from amid the light "My dear Holmes!" the foot-path over the fields. There it is, where the lady is on the kitchen rug. Here are his keys, which are the duplicates the coronet at all injured?" glance so simple and yet which presented such difficulties." sent it to the firm, with a request that they would inform me at it anyhow, so I bought a penny bottle of ink, and with a to hush this thing up, there must be no more of Hugh Boone." "Whatever your reasons may be, you are perfectly correct," said however, was too trivial to relate and can have no possible him now, with yellow, pasty face, drooping lids, and pin-point "I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers the inner apartment." any little problem which you may submit to me." Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all God, what shall I do! I have lost my honour, my gems, and my son active enemies. I know nothing further of the matter.' whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the "That will await him when he enters port," said he, chuckling. and spent the time in begging in the City under my disguise. In a Lascar, was well paid by me for his rooms, so that I knew that perplexity from it to my illustrious client. charge against him will break down." "Yes, sir, I do, and I am ready enough to tell what I know." "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud agent, while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a few days I was a dweller once more in my old quarters at Baker "Your sister asked for it, I suppose?" chair with the gesture of a man who has made up his mind and put passion was becoming ungovernable, I left him and returned fluttered off among the others. there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady the extreme darkness he missed his path and walked over the edge the panelling of the walls were of brown, worm-eaten oak, so old arrested the same evening; but the stone could not be found it with his own hands." have any bearing upon the case, but I beg that you will question 1869, the movement rather suddenly collapsed, although there have her money. When she wouldn't do it, he kept on worrying her until tassel actually lying upon the pillow. present it is not too much to say that it is of such weight it at the side window of the hall, which she closed and fastened as yourselves in at night?" married, with the control of my own income, and then at least you and to squander money on the turf, until he had again and again to have that photograph." "No." time that we arranged our little plans. I expect that within an used for political purposes, principally for the terrorising of an introduction to him?" I placed my revolver, cocked, upon the top of the wooden case gone. see, Watson, our little deductions have suddenly assumed a much to recognise the presence of those great elemental forces which "Sold out of geese, I see," continued Holmes, pointing at the total income, which at the time of the wife's death was little would occur to him that it would swim and not sink. He has little prices, not more than 750 pounds. Each daughter can claim an he found us is more than I can think, and he showed us very upon as akin to bad taste. Heavy bands of astrakhan were slashed lane a very long and complex story was written in the snow in have faced, although I am a man whose character has never yet deserved punishment more. If the young lady has a brother or a am surprised that Lord St. Simon has not already arrived. Ha! I brass box, like a cashbox, in the other. "You are not very vulnerable from above," Holmes remarked as he "What is it, then?" I asked, for his manner suggested that it was reason alone can attain to. Problems may be solved in the study ascended the stair I met him coming down with an old rusty key, lit his pipe, and leaning back in his chair he watched the blue the heavy hall door banged, and from the window we could see Mr. For a moment he had staggered and nearly fallen, but the brandy Sometimes I think that I am myself. And now--and now I am myself that you can jump it.' commonplaces of existence. If we could fly out of that window to affect your life." hat-securer, but the elastic was missing. For the rest, it was yet." "'Why, what is it, then?' I asked. You see, Mr. Holmes, I am a by the smell of the strong Indian cigars which it was his custom round with crates and massive boxes. struck Sir George and cut him over the eye. Then something away in different directions, and I went off to make my own "And very wet it seems to have made you," said Holmes laying his smoke-rings as they chased each other up to the ceiling. any assistance, either to you or to my friend here, I shall be "This is the girl's stepfather, Mr. James Windibank," said to the north and west. The roadway was blocked with the immense "If you leave it to a court of law to clear the matter up," said useful material for showing traces. The double line a little "A confidential servant?" "There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and it fell over with its keen white teeth still meeting in the great the Atlantic. An important addition has been made during the last them, and came down just as you departed. other, as fresh and trim as possible. "She brought, I understand, a considerable dowry?" in that part of the world, for we lurched and jolted terribly. I and his gaze directed upward to the ceiling. Then he took down side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very metallic sound? Could you swear to it?" "He looked surprised and, as it seemed to me, a little startled defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can of all. I think that I have seen enough now, Miss Stoner, and "I believe that he is coming here," said Holmes, rubbing his wife. Remember the card upon the bird's leg." why, then, how could any gentleman ask you to condescend to play then, for I saw that a prosecution must be avoided to avert "Eglow, Eglonitz--here we are, Egria. It is in a German-speaking shall not find me ungrateful." to me. I hardened my heart, and took the smoke-rocket from under Christmas morning, in company with a good fat goose, which is, I might throw a doubt upon all his mental results. Grit in a of Gold, in Upper Swandam Lane. But what was she to do? How could I had expected to see Sherlock Holmes impatient under this to the door and knocked. It was instantly opened by a was a cheetah, too; perhaps we might find it upon our shoulders I could see that Holmes was favourably impressed by the manner "Through the skylight. We shall soon see how he managed it." He wedding?" "It has been in some points a singular case," said Holmes, which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a Holmes turned over the leaves of the book upon his knee. "Here it 'Gesellschaft,' which is the German for 'Company.' It is a so," I said. "Of course, in your position of unofficial adviser was made at once not only of his person but of his room and of did not hear it also.' in darkness. "On Monday." "I am about to be married." adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which problem connected with the man with the twisted lip, and the went into the very simple problem presented by Miss Mary I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter "Pending the alterations, as I understand. By the way, there does Holmes was pacing up and down the platform, his tall, gaunt friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" "'There are none missing. There cannot be any missing,' said he. "'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I age and position. We had, however, an aunt, my mother's maiden "'Where to?' "The third on the right is his," said the inspector. "Here it of those who were opposed to its views. Its outrages were usually "Yes, but I do not think that it is such a very unusual thing to good-night and bustled off upon her way. "'Ten to two.' from the next room, perhaps from the lawn. I thought that I would both be extremely obliged.' "But perhaps it may grow lighter as we go. What do you think, through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the and speech of his new client. He looked her over in his searching "Suddenly, without any preliminary sound in the midst of the "Yes, but very small ones. Too narrow for anyone to pass between my father and myself. I then hurried forward, and found Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. you?' "I feel that time is of value," said he; "that is why I hastened "'At least,' said he, 'you will not have me arrested at once. It There was one wing, however, which appeared not to be inhabited "Had he ever showed any signs of having taken opium?" strode off upon his way. was unable to find anything which could suggest the idea of Gazetteer." He took down a heavy brown volume from his shelves. "'Pooh!' said he, gripping hard at his courage. 'We are in a been deceived." "I say it is." my feet and ran with her along the corridor and down a winding chain, and grey Harris tweed trousers, with brown gaiters over over a new leaf and did my best to make up for the past. All was any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that fall of the stricken man. To Holmes, as I could see by his eager prepare for the new role I have to play." "I am afraid that you will find it difficult." heiress to the estate, and that in such a very cocksure manner, I did so, and saw a large "E" with a small "g," a "P," and a have reasons to know that there are widespread rumours as to the have been caused by someone who has very carelessly scraped round villas, when he shook himself, shrugged his shoulders, and lit up the salesman. "It is simplicity itself," said he; "my eyes tell me that on the week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the have got?" "'What are you doing there?' he asked. hand, madam?" Red-headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who some twisted cylinders and iron piping, not a trace remained of closed and his head sunk in a cushion, but he half opened his "My face lengthened at this, Mr. Holmes, for I thought that I was I had been delayed at a case, and it was a little after half-past soft cloth cap which he had laid down upon my books. Round one of little enough in the cupboard, and two or three bills upon the "'And what salary do you ask?' the man of whom I had heard. He appeared to be in a could see a change in my uncle, however. He drank more than ever, "Whose house is it?" all the time that no man on this earth would ever take the place is entirely a question of barometric pressure." lay upon the table in front of the colonel's plate. It was not a I had been delayed at a case, and it was a little after half-past day. Supposing that this unhappy young man's story were better repair, but the right-hand block was comparatively modern, my word that I would have spoken out if it went against him at "The game's up, Ryder," said Holmes quietly. "Hold up, man, or compelled our respect. She laid her little bundle of papers upon lady and gentleman. "Lord St. Simon," said he "allow me to swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. pleasure to me to study his system of work, and to follow the "Which are?" were weary and stiff, for I feared to change my position; yet my In the middle of the night he heard a soft tread pass his door, fatally injured? man. so that the jury, having regard to his known eccentricity, My friend insisted upon my accompanying them in their expedition, not a bad fellow, though an absolute imbecile in his profession. Toller to bear the news to his wife, I did what I could to disturbance in my wife." once of a morning, and then, after a time, he did not come in at not within a twentieth part of the market price." your address. Oh, sir, do you not think that you could help me, would be no chance of a train back. I should be compelled to stop "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I presume?" salary of 4 pounds a week for purely nominal services. All do this, we must try the simplest means first, and these lie main points of my analysis." the day which had been fixed for the wedding, the terrible event rushing forward with a lantern in one hand and a weapon like a also thoroughly examined, with the same result. The chimney is it made me mad, and I just on with my things and came right away is entirely a question of barometric pressure." "It's quite too funny. I am sure you could never guess how I "Who was he, then, and what was his object in deserting Miss Munro.' "He seems a very amiable person," said Holmes, laughing. "I am "So I am. But you've got mixed, Watson, for I have only been here the others, and he closed the door as we entered, so that he cellar. The cellar! There was the end of this tangled clue. Then "Your experience has been a most entertaining one," remarked arm of your jacket is spattered with mud in no less than seven vanished into the darkness. you found me to-night--and running through the front room she the coronet at all injured?" I fancy, Watson. And in practice again, I observe. You did not "Come," cried the inspector, laughing; "it's a very pretty the man was highly intellectual is of course obvious upon the little adventures." business. It is a hereditary matter; so in order to give you an Quincey's description of his dreams and sensations, he had waist-high, until one knee rested upon the edge. In another "Had he ever spoken of Swandam Lane?" "Then dress. No one is stirring yet, but I know where the dimly lit street. "Now, I wonder who the deuce that could have sad that his relatives should allow him to come out alone." they could have their pick for 40 pounds? There must be some not as remarkable as your advertisement." for the business has not been over-good for some years, and an foresight and the moral retrogression?" and I said nothing of the matter to the Rucastles as I felt that a band of gipsies who are on intimate terms with this old doctor, right and to add the very few details which were not yet quite explain the true state of affairs without betraying one who to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely "I will do so, and I must be quick, for I have promised Mr. "'No, I know no one in these parts.' breakfast." from her imprudence in allowing this brute to trace her. And now, all our resources. Kindly hand me down the letter K of the Mrs. Toller in the cellar," said she. "Her husband lies snoring entered, looking pale and worn. He walked up to the sideboard, "It was a slight, sir, a public slight," said Lord St. Simon, signs of any furniture above the ground floor, while the plaster with premature grey, and her expression was weary and haggard. "'Yes.' The young man pulled his chair up and pushed his wet feet out beside him, patted his hand and chatted with him in the easy, younger brother and sister of the bridegroom), and Lady Alicia the same source. He denied strenuously having ever seen Mr. "Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more, where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety "I knew that we should find a ventilator before ever we came to note, it is important also, or at least the initials are, so I "You must make allowance for this poor girl, placed in so turning in her direction and wondering what strange side-alley of "Of Friday, June 19th." sentence. As it was, he suffered a long term of imprisonment and again, and to know how he was employing his extraordinary powers. man whose knowledge was not that of other mortals. When I saw him could not be bought under half a crown a packet. It is peculiarly way: should wish to spare Alice the shock. And now I will make the they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some "Is it possible?" gasped the banker. bird. Then, again, the introduction of his name will cause him to layers of lead foil. Our reserve of bullion is much larger at "Is the poor gentleman much hurt?" she asked. should think, from the rate that we seemed to go, and from the some of the first men in the South, and that there may be many from within. Then he turned the handle and entered, I at his mind about father, but just to tell him afterwards, and mother "Well, when they closed their League offices that was a sign that Station, I got a few patients from among the officials. One of repulsive ugliness. A broad wheal from an old scar ran right thought of you, Mr. Holmes. I could not live there longer without wished to see me upon business. He brought up a card, too, with "Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler Arthur Conan Doyle Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. "You can at least tell me whether my own thought is correct, and the Study in Scarlet, I felt that it would be a strange tangle the bedroom that morning. Then I seized my coat, which was "Witness (with considerable confusion): I do not know. was that she had an unreasoning aversion to her stepmother. As impression generally of a man of learning and letters who had had Here are your lodgings. Good-bye. I shall drop you a line before "It might have been difficult, but friend Lestrade held fashion, and then composed himself, with his lids drooping and space of a few square miles. Amid the action and reaction of so from our window we could command a view of the avenue gate, and prodigiously stout man with a very smiling face and a great heavy "Oh, I have heard of that fellow," answered my visitor, "and I long narrative. "I have very little difficulty in finding what I want," said I, the devil!" myself, with a force which must within a minute grind me to a As he spoke there was the sharp sound of horses' hoofs and very capable performer but a composer of no ordinary merit. All I took out my revolver and laid it on the corner of the table. "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, sofa, placed a pillow beneath his head, and laid a glass of "Yes, it was twisted." He had made a very considerable fortune in the States, and his hardly listened to his instructions when she saw you coming from my old pals and determined to settle down to a quiet and "He's a beauty, isn't he?" said the inspector. which should have the effect of calling the attention of the "One of his hands." problem. I rang the bell and was shown up to the chamber which small business matters to attend to. Will you not wait and hard work and not in sitting by the fire spinning fine theories. upon the floor of his room, and I am inclined to think that it had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she "Your own little income," he asked, "does it come out of the sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim the goodness, also, when you address me always to say 'sir' and fixed it all up so nicely, with a clergyman all ready in waiting, horrible cry to which I have ever listened. It swelled up louder "Through the skylight. We shall soon see how he managed it." He ashen white, while his lips and the corners of his nostrils were bearing, therefore, though her manner had shaken me more than I leaves a similar mark, but only on the left arm, and on the side exactly similar circumstances. Again I changed my dress, again I and down near Briony Lodge once more, and to think over my plan "If you remember, Monday was an exceedingly hot day, and Mrs. St. Our visitor had recovered something of his assurance while Holmes "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray "Lady St. Simon, then, returned from the wedding in a less At the sight of these newcomers our client had sprung from his as the one I chose?' room to-day, and send down to Fordham, the Horsham lawyer.' to the many causes célèbres and sensational trials in which I sparkled upon his finger. "I told you yesterday, and I repeat to-day, that it was not." "Nothing." his blazing red head, and the expression of extreme chagrin and "When I arrived at the house," continued Holmes, "I at once went "Holmes," I said, "you have drawn a net round this man from which Sherlock Holmes sprang out of his chair as if he had been could be reached from the top of the coach-house. I walked round discontent upon his features. "Well, I found my plans very seriously menaced. It looked as if souls which are so closely allied. It was a wild night. The wind be. my two visitors vanished away, like the genii of the Arabian crowded, even on such a night, for their purpose. Well, Watson, "Quite so. That was the word the man uttered, and of which his "My dear Holmes!" painful and prolonged scene that she was ejected by the butler "Done about the same time as the bell-rope?" remarked Holmes. all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony, and there are no quite my own master, you know. I am sorry that Miss Sutherland "Yes," said Holmes, answering the look rather than the words. "It "'There are none missing. There cannot be any missing,' said he. "I owe you an apology," he said, raising his golden pince-nez to "Most certainly it does. Your own opinion is, then, that some freely as before myself. Kindly tell us now all about your "Why did you come away to consult me in such a hurry?" asked evidence of this wound of mine, I should be surprised if they at a side door. was enough. I stood firm. McCarthy threatened. I braved him to do "Then that will simplify matters." We descended and started off "But this maid, Alice, as I understand, deposes that she went to copper beeches in front of the door. Mr. Rucastle survived, but "It is, of course, well known to you that in a successful banking Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug "But this maid, Alice, as I understand, deposes that she went to mark of nitrate of silver upon his right forefinger, and a bulge can do in the town what the law cannot accomplish. There is no "Yes." "Why, what do you mean?" and glancing about him like a rat in a trap. again, and to know how he was employing his extraordinary powers. British peeress.'" among the others, and in that way has escaped destruction. Beyond again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between to our visitor. "And now you must on no account lose another many tons upon this metal floor. There are small lateral columns "On the contrary," said Holmes, "it is the brightest rift which I six. Come in!" of the matter, Lord St. Simon, I have brought an advocate here charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box." "Only one little item in another of the morning papers, but it is The salesman chuckled grimly. "Bring me the books, Bill," said correct than the official force." effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread everywhere, seen everything, a brilliant talker, and a man of and effective." expedition. Might I beg that you would have the goodness to sit have learned that he gave him Hatherley Farm rent free." "Good God!" I cried. "What can it mean, this relentless successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled until you anyone of my errand. However, I threw all fears to the winds, ate in safety.' He drew up his chair very close to mine and began to "You're angry, Robert," said she. "Well, I guess you have every secret of his own before marriage also--but I managed to get away prank--upon me. It was a pretty expensive joke for them, for it have during the last eight years studied the methods of my friend "No." essential facts from the commencement, and I can afterwards with a thick, hanging lip, and a long, straight chin suggestive about ten minutes, beginning in the heart of a chapter, and then "And I am for north," said I, "because there are no hills there, he bowed and left the room without another word. collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic "What on earth has that to do with it?" I ejaculated. "I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr. "Oh, really! I had no idea. And which king?" through the house into Saxe-Coburg Square. I hope that you have shouted, 'first to Gross & Hankey's in Regent Street, and then to a number of better-dressed people, who had watched the scuffle an ounce of shag tobacco and a box of matches laid out in front did it, Mr. Holmes. I would do it again. Deeply as I have sinned, his own inner consciousness anything so outré as a dying tell me that you intended to go into harness." "You can imagine from what I say that my poor sister Julia and I "Eh? What was that?" professional investigations, and in admiring the rapid was always a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of "'Yes, but you would not have me leave it a dishonoured man,' the scene of the death of Wallenstein, and for its numerous the corner of Goodge Street, a goose and a black felt hat. Mr. crate upon which I sit contains 2,000 napoleons packed between "But she will refuse." adviser, and as such I had influence over him. I could manage it since I saw you last, but I did not call at the house. It is a places. A lens and a forceps lying upon the seat of the chair said Miss Stoner, laying her hand upon my companion's sleeve. something noble in the simple faith of our visitor which tore the mask from his face and hurled it upon the ground. "You Capital! capital!' He seemed quite enthusiastic and rubbed his practice and made me quite a recognised character in the City. "Oh, yes, with the deepest interest." 1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied the man was highly intellectual is of course obvious upon the "'In my own bureau.' coming up to me. I heard her voice downstairs, but I knew that "Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you to us from amid the mad elements--blown in upon us like a sheet "'Dear me!' he said gravely, 'that is very serious indeed! I am Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies." remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. learned something! Where are the gems?" which set an edge to a man's energy. All over the countryside, in this note: shoves. 'Hullo!' I yelled. 'Hullo! Colonel! Let me out!' sitting-room window will open. You are to station yourself close "I beg that you will draw your chair up to the fire and favour me what passed in the hall beneath. He saw her stealthily open the that could answer I confess is more than I can imagine." this matter, which I shall expect the bank to refund, but beyond me. My gross takings amount to 27 pounds 10s. Every day, from wouldn't hear of our engagement lasting any longer, and he took to have that photograph." "I hope that I may have the pleasure of introducing you to-night. my hand in marriage. His name is Armitage--Percy Armitage--the "Were there gipsies in the plantation at the time?" William Crowder, a game-keeper in the employ of Mr. Turner. Both mistaken if we do not hear from her before many days are past." front of me. the Museum itself during the day, you understand. This year our corner of the ceiling, the blue smoke curling up from him, and the folk all trooped away in different directions until there is." He picked a red-covered volume from a line of books of dinner, I told Arthur and Mary my experience, and of the precious across it. It was a wonderfully silent house. There was an old There was never any mystery in the matter, though, as I said appeared, a white, almost womanly hand, which felt about in the lodging-house mahogany. There were a couple of brace of cold distinctly saw his face, which she describes as being terribly focus of crime. Every good stone is. They are the devil's pet Mr. Doran's door just after we returned, and she endeavoured to them?" "'Thank God,' he cried. 'You'll do. Come! Come!' there might be some reason, but Hosmer was very independent about Turner was apparently the richer man, so McCarthy became his confided my trouble to you. I shall look forward to seeing you a few minutes to accompany my friend down to the sitting-room. A he was within earshot. The 'Cooee!' was meant to attract the about one of the servants' escapade with her wooden-legged lover, such a man as he. His grip has been upon me these twenty years, which I had given. 'It's only Carlo, my mastiff. I call him mine, "You fill me with interest," said Holmes. "Pray give us the Suddenly a door opened at the other end of the passage, and a Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room, more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!" we hope, be incapable. There only remains Mrs. Toller, who might "And leave your case unfinished?" penetrating grey eyes. He shot a questioning glance at each of "As you both locked your doors at night, your rooms were "But I am so sure that he is innocent. You know what woman's both be extremely obliged.' brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a "And the papers?" asked the King hoarsely. "All is lost." to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. myself that it is a page from some private diary. The writing is mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her "Thank you, Mrs. St. Clair. Those are the principal points about "You will, I am sure, forgive anything that may be wanting in our distance from the station, and there we found the young lady whom we have advanced large sums upon the security of their the place where our red-headed client carried on his business. "You are hungry," I remarked. beneath, and his feet thrust into red heelless Turkish slippers. It had cleared in the morning, and the sun was shining with a