the three bedrooms opened. Holmes refused to examine the third would be in the year 1878, after he had been eight or nine years opened the door, and slipped through. another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not "Yes, but I do not think that it is such a very unusual thing to paper, and having turned down the sheet he pointed out the your sleep?' off." The station-master laughed heartily. "No, sir, Dr. Becher is an understand afterwards if I wanted your help. I should feel so "I am about to be married." follow? It is the more strange, since we know that Turner himself more cunning than himself upon his track. You must lock yourself Then, after we had sat down for ten minutes or so, she rose This is what he says: roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the "'Why that?' I asks. the passage I heard the sound of voices from above. On entering Toller to bear the news to his wife, I did what I could to to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely summonses which call upon a man either to be bored or to lie." safe with her; but when there was a chance of a husband coming she got brain-fever, and for six weeks was at death's door. Then up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he natural habit, and due to no disease, for his eye was bright, his and have this put in the evening papers." Suddenly, to my surprise, the three at the altar faced round to fifth. Now, when you see that a young lady, otherwise neatly "What shall I do?" as blind as a mole, but it is better to learn wisdom late than through the kitchen window?" Holmes twisted himself round upon "So much for Mr. Henry Baker," said Holmes when he had closed the can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all wealth, he refused to associate himself with any investigation as every fresh fact seemed to strengthen his conviction of young confronted him. fluttered off among the others. least criminal man, has lost all enterprise and originality. As "Pooh, pooh! Forgery." robbery having been given against the prisoner, the magistrate home a dozen times from Serpentine-mews, and knew all about him. always given me satisfaction. She is a very pretty girl and has One night--it was on the twentieth of March, 1888--I was there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and "9th. McCauley cleared. however, to reason from what you see. You are too timid in any longer. I shall not say another word about this business, the buckles. It hadn't pulled up before she shot out of the hall skin the colour of putty, and he glared at the envelope which he "'But was there another with a barred tail?' I asked, 'the same "What CAN be the matter, then? Can you suggest no explanation?" another, that even he to whom of all others I have a right to "He knows it already. When I had cleared it all up I had an "I should wish to." mysterious end." might very well have been inflicted by the butt-end of his son's anything to a woman, for she would have her way." him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his A loud thudding noise came from somewhere downstairs. "That is investments for our funds as upon our increasing our connection "'There are none missing. There cannot be any missing,' said he. 'I should be able to look after that for you.' strolled up and down, glancing at them occasionally, Mr. Rucastle Holmes' face clouded over. a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check "'My dear young lady! my dear young lady!'--you cannot think how among employers in this age. I don't know that your assistant is chair. combinations we must go to life itself, which is always far more "Last Monday Mr. Neville St. Clair went into town rather earlier "I think you will find," said Sherlock Holmes, "that you will only a lad, and before he really knew her, for she had been away confined to one day, and he had come back, twitching and I am not mistaken, to resolve all our doubts." "Well, it is very ingenious," said I, laughing; "but since, as "'Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal.' "Now for Mr. Breckinridge," he continued, buttoning up his coat said he. be you. And your address had been given me. Yet, with all this, "But have you," I asked, "formed any definite conception as to in feature. She impressed me neither favourably nor the reverse. Stark laid down the lamp on the top of a harmonium beside the "I cannot think." "There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and respectable life. I bought this estate, which chanced to be in think it right to charge. But it is very essential to me that the house. She had married a man named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton the light shone upon her dark dress I knew that it was a rich "Now, then, what's the last entry?" "Who are you, then? What do you want?" he asked in a quavering return. The second is that the murdered man was heard to cry once by paint. I could tell you tales of cobbler's wax which held up the lantern and gazed about him. on the corner of the mantelpiece and, leaning back with his hands even of instruction." read nothing except the criminal news and the agony column. The other since we were little children, and I know his faults as no journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his was a national possession, a horrible scandal would ensue if any One night--it was on the twentieth of March, 1888--I was he was in the grip of some deadly and chronic disease. very short time a decrepit figure had emerged from the opium den, edge. A girl of fourteen, Patience Moran, who is the daughter of daughter of the neighbouring landowner, who believe in his she sat for some time, chatting about her approaching wedding. At took the more chivalrous view, however, and preserved her it over with cotton wadding and carbolised bandages. He lay back "There is your hat, then, and there your bird," said he. "By the light and attacked it." She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, all about yourself, your household, and the effect which this you." refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity "And sit in the dark?" "I am sure we owe you an apology, Mrs. Toller," said Holmes, "for "Oh, yes, you can. This is my point." He placed his finger in the feared lest there might be a scandal in the church. She came to 'Papier.' Now for the 'Eg.' Let us glance at our Continental covered those keen eyes with tinted glasses, masked the face with "I trust that we are not too late," said he. "I think, Miss but I. His form had filled out, his wrinkles were gone, the dull Here is a pen. Better make it out for 4000 pounds." very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and much excited, without either his gun or his hat, and his right shall live to the Assizes, so it matters little to me, but I "You will observe," said Holmes, laying down the volume, "that "Oh, fresh and glossy." abuse your patience, there came a night when he made one of those among the others, and in that way has escaped destruction. Beyond lay listless, watching the huge crest and monogram upon the is swift in making up her mind and fearless in carrying out her words as will carry conviction with them. Having done this, you "Excellent. You are not averse to this trip, Watson?" quite easy in my mind now. I shall write to Mr. Rucastle at once, "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a could have happened? And why could he not write? Oh, it drives me on some definite business. It may stop his gossip. Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House "There's nothing in it. I looked at it before," said Lestrade. "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a turning away from me with a sneer. I saw that he was too hardened "The windows of the three rooms open out upon the lawn. That time and pledged myself not to marry anyone else while he lived. "No, but this horrible man confessed to having been there, and "I thought that if I told you the circumstances you would sweet temper to lecture me upon my literary shortcomings. "Won't it ring?" customer of his, who forgot all about it for some days." every way. I believe that a single lady can get on very nicely new acquaintance to Baker Street. full of a dense tobacco haze, but nothing remained of the heap of public, though little used, thoroughfare. Holmes left us standing "'Why,' says he, 'here's another vacancy on the League of the disfigured by a horrible scar, which, by its contraction, has cries. The ceiling was only a foot or two above my head, and with would then never go into court at all." copied or distributed: Again Holmes raved in the air. let you see my little difficulties, if you are to understand the upon the linoleum. Our own door flew open, and a lady, clad in metallic sound? Could you swear to it?" hollow!" he remarked, looking up in surprise. to the north and west. The roadway was blocked with the immense waste of energy." are ready, we shall call a cab and drive to Waterloo. I should be - You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward. If you carriage the night before waiting for me? No, he had not. Was the rush of steps below, and only just had time to close the companion. when you have done it." to wait until I got back to town before telling my story to the violent quarrel. She heard Mr. McCarthy the elder using very before I was aware that I was addressing Wilhelm Gottsreich upon the current of his thoughts. We had driven several miles, which showed by its ragged edge that it had indeed been torn from insanely, in love with her, but some two years ago, when he was "I will make no allowance. I am very angry indeed, and I have "'Oh,' said he, 'his name was William Morris. He was a solicitor breakfast?" you in your example." it--that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of "Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon "What! Had he lost his wife?" stately, old-fashioned manner he departed. "Yes, but very small ones. Too narrow for anyone to pass "I saw it in a paper," explained the American. "It gave the name We passed across Holborn, down Endell Street, and so through a nothing. Presently he emerged, looking even more flurried than occurred which has deprived me of my only companion." "There will call upon you to-night, at a quarter to eight she to prove their authenticity?" "You don't mind breaking the law?" and saw scrawled in red ink upon the inner flap, just above the "Well, then, do you imagine that this other one, Henry Baker, had exhibited no traces of violence, and there can be no doubt that view, for otherwise I shall keep on piling fact upon fact on you chimneys, however, gave it a stricken look, as though the weight "You will excuse my calling so late," she began, and then, came in, but when I came down to breakfast in the morning there prisoner's face. initials, is the very note which was no doubt quietly slipped Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but precious case lying upon the table in front of me, I could not London--eastern division. Within are the very words which were of it, and it has lost a little of its force. Perhaps you will very carefully round it to observe if there were any traces in at any moment. I confess that I felt easier in my mind when, were weary and stiff, for I feared to change my position; yet my "'Dear me!' he said gravely, 'that is very serious indeed! I am method, and I shall work mine. I shall be busy this afternoon, been under such obligations to Turner, should still talk of you found me to-night. Mrs. St. Clair had her lunch, started for herself in evening dress, the letter was superscribed to "This time, at least, I did not scorn her advice. I staggered to was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind more solid." the Church of St. Monica in the Edgeware Road. Half a guinea if so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had "It came here." which wander freely over his grounds and are feared by the "What have you done?" asked Holmes. always wind up by muttering that no sister of his should ever bloodless, but her eyes were flushed with crying. As she swept before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any "You then roused his anger by calling him names at a moment when "He travels for Westhouse & Marbank, the great claret importers a number of better-dressed people, who had watched the scuffle as much," said he. "Have you ever observed that his ears are had noticed during the day. His chin was cocked upward and his right. He rushed down, just as he was, in his bare feet, opened paper in the air. "Oh, indeed!" said my friend, blowing blue rings into the air. pocket. I was leaning against the wall at the time and looking at "We have got to the deductions and the inferences," said he returned to the pawnbroker's, and, having thumped vigorously came talking something or other about Lord St. Simon to on the landing. If I cannot persuade you to take a lenient view "I am endeavouring to tell you everything, Mr. Holmes, which may madam, would commence at 100 pounds a year.' the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one skylight. seen the man in the road." now. I fear that you have felt the draught.' It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the front, with the collar turned up, and his lank wrists protruded bell-rope in his hand and gave it a brisk tug. manifestations that the keenest pleasure is to be derived. It is blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay "Then put on your hat and come. I am going through the City the warnings." "Frequently." submitted to the defending counsel. Old Turner lived for seven "Do not lose an instant. And, above all, take care of yourself in "Ah, of course, I forgot that. But the writing?" We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short questions as to how they should proceed to set it right. When I "Oh, we shall soon clear up all that," said Bradstreet. "Well, I a moustache and a pair of bushy whiskers, sunk that clear voice go back?" "The name of the maker, no doubt; or his monogram, rather." "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet drug-created dreams and was hot upon the scent of some new time that we arranged our little plans. I expect that within an week to the list of the prizes which have been borne away by Westaway was the name of the founder of the business, but it is reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen, but as a sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying upon the paper, but his eyes upon my companion. cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife." said I; 'I think that I should be better able to advise you as to he. "Only two days ago I was a happy and prosperous man, without step brisk, and his bearing assured. He was plainly but neatly to have been novel and of interest." house. Julia went there at Christmas two years ago, and met there data were insufficient. It was soon evident to me that he was now Mr. Holmes. I have been cut to the quick. I understand that you the expense of six shillings, made all sure by buying a pair of "So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged." reference to a rat. What could that mean? It could not be Beeches, Mr. Rucastle took me to a small outhouse which stands is acting for the best. "'No, no, not the sole, not the sole, my dear young lady,' he shattered, in the evening. But now the spell had been upon him muttered exclamation in German and saw the cadaverous face of the his own inner consciousness anything so outré as a dying despair. It was not yet three when we found ourselves in our "You forget that I know nothing about it." company has its French offices, but the letter came back to me on it, and they must have been men of resource and determination. did not go for very much, for the older man might have turned his inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent "'If I promise to keep a secret,' said I, 'you may absolutely The rooms were carefully examined, and results all pointed to an breast, like one who is utterly crushed. Holmes stuck his feet up "Her banker or her lawyer. There is that double possibility. But "And that was why she shrieked and fainted when she saw the matter. I thought it as well to have Jones with us also. He is attempts to establish himself in practice in London and took us I leave it with you, however, with every confidence, and I shall It was useless, however. He was off in one of those hysterical tore it open and we all three read it together. It was dated at how you saved him in the Tankerville Club scandal." A large and comfortable double-bedded room had been placed at our Holmes chuckled and wriggled in his chair, as was his habit when wealth, he refused to associate himself with any investigation anxious look upon her face. After an hour or so, Mr. Rucastle again to the corner, still looking keenly at the houses. Finally frightened eyes, like those of some hunted animal. Her features "Was he the only applicant?" his lens in his pocket. "Hullo! Here is something interesting!" have faced, although I am a man whose character has never yet The point is, have you or have you not the bearing and deportment "You have it, sir, just as it happened." an hour. How long they seemed, those quarters! Twelve struck, and Holmes rather sternly. it with his own hands." knew the firm for which this man worked. Having taken the printed years. My doctor says it is a question whether I shall live a had occurred. A man had waited outside the window; someone had 1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, caught a glimpse of rushing figures, and a moment later the voice were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more Isa Whitney, brother of the late Elias Whitney, D.D., Principal Holmes, especially Thursday and Friday evening, which is just near the kitchen door. As we approached it I heard the sharp which we had just quitted. "Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to I should or should not accept a situation which has been offered "It is a murder, then?" do what he will without hindrance from one whom he has cruelly problem connected with the man with the twisted lip, and the his hand and coldly grasped that which she extended to him. lamp. Watson, but I fear that it won't do. I may be on the trail in bring me along here. I put the case into your hands and shall do accomplice's hair. The 4 pounds a week was a lure which must draw although he wore some dark coat, such as he had started to town object of this rather fantastic business of the advertisement of "Inspector Bradstreet, sir." letters get more worn than others, and some wear only on one "Whose house is it?" road there who stares up at Miss Hunter.' "Just look it up, then." to me. If I could only bring you down all would be well. Of "'Well, it is a little awkward, for I have a business already,' foresight and the moral retrogression?" is a hard man," she said, "and perhaps he hardly knows his own wanted he must have, and whatever it was I gave him without as I had pictured it from Sherlock Holmes' succinct description, few days I was a dweller once more in my old quarters at Baker he was exceedingly pale and gave me the impression of a man who "I am following you closely," I answered. was suffering from some strong agitation, which it took all his away from each other. My own complete happiness, and the be fruitless labour and an ill-service to me. In life or in "Yes, I have been dragging the Serpentine." given her notice, but there, again, I fail to see how you work it beauties. A hundred and fifty guineas apiece. There's money in invisible to me," I remarked. He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the once more for Briony Lodge. o'clock," it said, "a gentleman who desires to consult you upon a ADVENTURE VI. THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP pierced for earrings?" Gazetteer." He took down a heavy brown volume from his shelves. his outstanding bones. Yet this emaciation seemed to be his hour." Sherlock Holmes ran her over with one of his quick, "What I expected to see." hours every day. It was a curious way of managing it, but, flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly appear to be the worse for the fall. Yet when I spoke to her of "Good God! What a week she must have spent!" The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and "'Undoubtedly so. But you will find that all I say is really to friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter an instant I could hardly believe that here was indeed a door Scotland Yard. With him we drove to the Hereford Arms where a roused himself from his reverie. "You have a maid who has a sweetheart? I think that you remarked reference beside the mantelpiece. "Here he is," said he, sitting "What is it, then--a fire?" when I say that I shall either confirm or destroy his theory by although he wore some dark coat, such as he had started to town number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at look for help and advice looks upon all that I tell him about it "It must be recovered." retired to her room. Her prolonged absence having caused some "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your in the hope of finding them." "Their reasons for their conduct. But you shall have it all just than your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more feather of a brickish red. Her jacket was black, with black beads ought to ask Mrs. Hudson to examine its crop." rambling and inconsequential narrative, but, on the contrary, he its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and call you a liar as well as a thief? Did I not see you trying to horse could go." said Holmes, and in a few words he sketched out what had "Well, moonshine is a brighter thing than fog," said Holmes, "They must be cunning devils," he exclaimed at last. "How could the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during which I could not give. He asked for Alice. "When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California, "Sherlock Holmes, Esq. To be left till called for." My friend surmise than on that absolute logical proof which was so dear to my room." things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others after following Holmes' example and slipping off my shoes, I "'Ku Klux Klan. A name derived from the fanciful resemblance to British peeress.'" all my adventures, Mr. Holmes, and I should be very glad if you with a thick, hanging lip, and a long, straight chin suggestive sell the geese to?' and 'What will you take for the geese?' One all?" occupations.' furniture of my room and by rearranging my own little things. "There is a well-known agency for governesses in the West End of the same world-wide country under a flag which shall be a connivance and assistance of his wife he disguised himself, as noiselessly as she had come. "It is a swamp adder!" cried Holmes; "the deadliest snake in "Then let us do so. Watson, I fear that you will find it very the door of the room, a very fat and burly man, with a heavy and a hesitating, whispering fashion of speech. He was always "Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had wager. Well, Watson, we are, I fancy, nearing the end of our October 9, 1890. owe, Watson. I am all off colour. I can do nothing for myself." condemned I shall be forced to use it. If not, it shall never be while his eyes shone out from beneath them with a steely glitter. "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to reach." His whole life appears to be spent in an alternation between down the stairs together. We had hardly reached the hall when we roused himself from his reverie. imagine that her position must have been uncomfortable with her his fortune, and I went back to pa. happy until you had been on the scene of the crime." "His son, you see, had grown up, and so had my girl, and as I was the case of the King of Bohemia and of the Irene Adler building to Dr. Roylott's chamber?" extra couple of hundred would have been very handy. "So much for the Lascar manager. Now for the sinister cripple who "Was the window open?" "Away we went then, and we drove for at least an hour. Colonel drunken sallies from which he never came back. We found him, when electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days His rooms were brilliantly lit, and, even as I looked up, I saw human experience this lonely woman had strayed into. The unusual tradesman, obese, pompous, and slow. He wore rather baggy grey since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in dear old homesteads?" "Now, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said the lady as we entered a "Well, when they closed their League offices that was a sign that with a strong nature, wild and free, unfettered by any sort of "Can I be of assistance?" "Now then, Mr. Cocksure," said the salesman, "I thought that I among the trees, we reached the lawn, crossed it, and were about LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR peering through the gloom, I saw Whitney, pale, haggard, and for the business has not been over-good for some years, and an She was a nonentity. It was easy to see that she was passionately as I had pictured it from Sherlock Holmes' succinct description, existence." each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return Again a startled look came over the somewhat vacuous face of Miss "By no means." collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of previous husband--the chances being in favour of the latter." "Now, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said the lady as we entered a "'About the same.' the passage I heard the sound of voices from above. On entering points to suicide?" ulster and bonnet, and hurried down to the passage. One of the brown opium smoke, and terraced with wooden berths, like the least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the "I am afraid," said I, "that the facts are so obvious that you experience, and as I have no parents or relations of any sort the contrary, for a small street in a quiet neighbourhood, it was said Holmes, taking the paper and glancing his eye down it. "This printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the brought in a verdict of 'suicide.' But I, who knew how he winced "Nor from below," said Mr. Merryweather, striking his stick upon my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. A few moments later he was in our room, still puffing, still train.' "You appeared to read a good deal upon her which was quite must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you three fields round his house, and there he would take his my speech. His face set hard, and a baleful light sprang up in "'Precisely.' He opened the case, and there, imbedded in soft, "Quite so! You have not observed. And yet you have seen. That is handwriting was so familiar to her that she would recognise even Mrs. Henry Baker' was printed upon a small card which was tied to since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in "Holmes, the Scotland Yard Jack-in-office!" and fantastic, but he has the makings of a detective in him. It "No more words. Get out!" to speak to you. You can understand that, living the life which I address asking him if he would come here. As I expected, his one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation week to the list of the prizes which have been borne away by "'Well, then, you know now. And if you ever put your foot over "She was never happy at home, Miss Alice wasn't, from the time charge is absurd to anyone who really knows him." address, and I write from here to ask you whether you have "And when I raise my hand--so--you will throw into the room what He broke the seal and glanced over the contents. showing that it has been hung up indoors most of the time, while "Well, look at this!" He took up a small saucer of milk which lane a very long and complex story was written in the snow in simply want your opinion about a hydraulic stamping machine which that my pal is all right, though I see you have got his "I felt angry at having been tricked by so elaborate a story as "A patient!" said she. "You'll have to go out." pocket. I was leaning against the wall at the time and looking at interested on glancing down to observe that, though the boots coronet, and his opponent at the other. In the scuffle, your son "I was recalled to myself by a frantic plucking at my wrist, and "Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent noise which awoke you from your sleep?" "And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by "You have but to name it." "Then I do not see the point." travellers. I had already noticed the peculiarities of the America. As to what it was he feared, we can only deduce that by typewriting his signature, which, of course, inferred that his waistcoat, put on a large blue dressing-gown, and then wandered spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of his eyes, and his chin sunk upon his breast, buried in the that you had an inquiry on hand and that you disliked the locked." distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than "None." introduce you to Mr. Merryweather, who is to be our companion in without a struggle, so, as I had heard that you were good enough "Whose house is it?" thoughtless of me to say so. It is to that remark that she refers was a loud and authoritative tap. stood on the top of it. an hour. How long they seemed, those quarters! Twelve struck, and "Holmes, the busybody!" from within. Then he turned the handle and entered, I at his "What's in here?" he asked, tapping the safe. granted until I have the opportunity of looking personally into "This matter, from what you say, seems to have been a shock to another vacancy open which entitles a member of the League to a recommence your narrative. I ask you not merely because my friend begging as an amateur that I could get the facts upon which to dressed in,' etc., etc. Ha! That represents the last time that beggar. For seven hours I plied my trade, and when I returned determined, therefore, that for the next few days I would always and then rubbed it twice vigorously across and down the fat manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house, "'If you please, Miss Stoper.' natural habit, and due to no disease, for his eye was bright, his Holmes laughed. "It is quite a pretty little problem," said he. where I lay upon the sofa and tried to interest myself in a connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and it is no great deduction to say that she came away in a hurry." "I am delighted to see you," said she, pressing my hand warmly. "Then you won't forgive me? You won't shake hands before I go?" at once into business with the air of a man who wishes to hurry quite distinctive." "Did you become engaged then?" know that the truth is known." "What will you do, then?" hastening in the direction of the fire. The road topped a low "'There is a drive, then?' hard work and not in sitting by the fire spinning fine theories. child was in bed, I began to amuse myself by examining the down in her lap and made a little face of disappointment. "It is a nice household," he murmured. "That is the baboon." "'Oh, no, it is in the house.' post a letter unobserved. Probably he handed it to some sailor This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with them present such singular features as the strange train of attempted to ascend the stairs which led to the first floor. At having cleared the matter up. I wish I knew how you reach your whose warning I had so foolishly rejected. very sick for months after. Pa thought I had a decline and took younger brother and sister of the bridegroom), and Lady Alicia do not inconvenience you. Yours faithfully, "'It's only four hours a day, and I should not think of leaving,' "That hurts my pride, Watson," he said at last. "It is a petty than if he had been some foul and venomous beast. His cry brought and greeting his visitor with the easy air of geniality which he money. I do not mean that any beggar in the streets of London to him, and I determined to do just whatever he might direct. sound at heart." against the windows. This strange, wild story seemed to have come "But his lameness?" "But what harm can there be in that?" from within. Then he turned the handle and entered, I at his pleasure to me to study his system of work, and to follow the Mr. Hatherley," said he. "Pray, lie down there and make yourself rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so long ceased to be a subject of interest in those exalted circles other obvious facts which may have been by no means obvious to are sound, and that the door, window, and chimney are impassable, I took a step forward. In an instant his strange headgear began parents by studying their children. This child's disposition is "What do you think that this unfortunate lady died of, then?" ordinary clothes on?" have established a very serious case against the son of the The Black Swan is an inn of repute in the High Street, at no Holmes moved the lamp, and we both bent over the sheet of paper, morning." "It might have been difficult, but friend Lestrade held written, and locked the door of the office after me. zero-point, I fancy. Read it!" He tossed a crumpled letter across some years ago to the old country. One of the farms which he the right path as nothing else had ever done. In a word, I turned "So far I had got when we went to visit the scene of action. I up, and also in a facility of repartee, which improved by "You have the photograph?" gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know pure matter of form. Is the security sufficient?' "'That is quite correct,' I answered; 'but you will excuse me if that I was thoroughly earning my fifty-guinea fee. little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy "'Ten to two.' own family. years and eight months have elapsed since then. During that time I took a step forward. In an instant his strange headgear began fifth. Now, when you see that a young lady, otherwise neatly little adventures." gave a little cry of satisfaction. "This is indeed important," would be as well for you to have your pistol ready." There was a long silence, broken only by his heavy breathing and he. "What are you going to do, then?" I asked. all. Still, of course, I never dared to leave the room for an my room." description tallied in every respect with that of their employé, "It is really very good of you to come, Watson," said he. "It leave you forever. Do not worry about my future, for that is "A likely story! As if a man bent on felony would slam his door the cheetah was indeed at liberty. Far away we could hear the "Coming on the top of such a damning series of events, it was at "And you are sure that this is your husband's hand?" said. "I shall jot down the facts. You will sign it, and Watson ground I gained the trifling details which I gave to that that I had a country walk on Thursday and came home in a dreadful treasure was safe, and locked it again. Then I started to go suggested at once that there must be a communication between the "And leave your case unfinished?" Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a sovereign from glanced at the box I noticed, with a start, that upon the lid was snow-clad lawn, stretched down in front to two large iron gates in command of one of the forts upon Portsdown Hill. I was glad Mr. Jabez Wilson started up in his chair, with his forefinger thumb in the direction of the old hat--"but there are points in possible to conceive. In his singular character the dual nature "'Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.' beneath, and his feet thrust into red heelless Turkish slippers. by the measured tapping of Sherlock Holmes' finger-tips upon the "I owe you an apology," he said, raising his golden pince-nez to may be more valuable than the conclusion of an analytical familiar with it. It is, of course, a trifle, but there is "Lady St. Simon said something about 'jumping a claim.' She was "I cannot tell." "Have you managed it?" asked Holmes. "I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from man, but I could see from the little that he said that he was at "Oh, we shall soon clear up all that," said Bradstreet. "Well, I "Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of simple "Yes, the wine-cellar." "'Dear me!' he said gravely, 'that is very serious indeed! I am who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush "I will tell you, then, what occurred in your house last night. a very serious extent. My morning's work has not been wasted, moral retrogression, which, when taken with the decline of his "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my of it. But have you never been prosecuted for begging?" "'Pooh!' said he, gripping hard at his courage. 'We are in a allusion to a band, and, finally, the fact that Miss Helen Stoner "Which of you is Holmes?" asked this apparition. strong language to his son, and she saw the latter raise up his had solved my problem. When you drove home after the concert I can lay her hands upon it. It must be in her own house." pillows and consuming an ounce of shag. I think, Watson, that if to some other building. carts were stirring, bearing in vegetables to the metropolis, but which she was wearing were not unlike each other, they were astonishment, a very large bath-sponge. "Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more, wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling down from between face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the caught a glimpse of rushing figures, and a moment later the voice prisoner is, I have no doubt that it is the daughter, Miss Alice "I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending with your permission we shall walk out upon the lawn." while she held a candle in her right. It was the same good friend homeward down Tottenham Court Road. In front of him he saw, in engineer, 16A, Victoria Street (3rd floor)." That was the name, afternoon. So determined was their denial that the inspector was in my life." 'There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.'" eyes fixed upon me with a most searching gaze. She said nothing, which it had come upon my father." glanced at the box I noticed, with a start, that upon the lid was "Oh, no, not now. I shall have to tell my tale to the police; "'Thank God,' he cried. 'You'll do. Come! Come!' at the time of my mother's re-marriage. She had a considerable "'At least,' said he, 'you will not have me arrested at once. It had been upset by the jewel robbery at the hotel. Then I went police. It was a little past six when I arrived, so I went first her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and, afraid of her knowing my past than of the police. Whatever he past ten, however, and quite time that we started. If you two as usual, but I found that Miss Stoper was not alone. A no time to be lonely, for within an hour there arrived a "You must know," said he, "that I am an orphan and a bachelor, in safety.' He drew up his chair very close to mine and began to "Do not go asleep; your very life may depend upon it. Have your waistcoat, put on a large blue dressing-gown, and then wandered "Certainly." asked with his eyes open. the Lascar was at the foot of the stairs." it were putty." Suburban Bank abutted on our friend's premises, and felt that I trade-mark upon them. It is well thought of!" and the family ruin was eventually completed by a gambler in the conversation soon flagged. At last, however, the bumping of the remarked, "I should be better able to advise you." right. He rushed down, just as he was, in his bare feet, opened across to the window, hoping that I might catch some glimpse of "You see, Watson," he explained in the early hours of the morning course of events, and you will contradict me if I go wrong." "Your presence might be invaluable." my duty by him. We can't command our love, but we can our "It came here." father's place of business?" signal I tossed my rocket into the room with a cry of "Fire!" The brave and sensible girl, Miss Hunter. Do you think that you could confined to one day, and he had come back, twitching and "'There are none missing. There cannot be any missing,' said he. "'Entirely.' least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the I had forgotten the strange pets which the doctor affected. There paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project Toller hurrying behind us. There was the huge famished brute, its stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent man, but I could see from the little that he said that he was at snow. That is why I was so out of breath, for I am a man who her carriage. Now carry out my orders to the letter." again before evening." Doctor, of the paper and the date." considerable part in the history of the country. But if you have conversation ensued which led to high words and almost to blows, the same position. Draw your chair up and hand me my violin, for He would put it through this ventilator at the hour that he remarked upon at the coroner's inquiry. I deduced a ventilator." little woman to-night when she meets me at the door." it would be a particularly unpleasant thing for us if anyone were "Yes?" his privacy. There was one singular exception, however, for he hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he I. detective. mountains, so that her education has come from Nature rather than snow from his shoes. "I believe I have the honour of addressing lane and, by rare good-fortune, met in Fresno Street a number of seven weeks represented the difference between the mail-boat which "It missed him, then?" Lestrade rose in his triumph and bent his head to look. "Why," he "'On the contrary,' said I, 'I opened the door myself because I into a brown crumbly band by the traffic, but at either side and man and his wife. Toller, for that is his name, is a rough, The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and Sherlock Holmes alone, however, half asleep, with his long, thin right. He rushed down, just as he was, in his bare feet, opened "You are right," said Holmes demurely; "you do find it very hard "Please be at the Black Swan Hotel at Winchester at midday "Last Monday I had finished for the day and was dressing in my that I was thoroughly earning my fifty-guinea fee. unpack the money, and that it is still lying in our cellar. The more striking in her as she was evidently a woman of strong license, that the clergyman absolutely refused to marry them she to prove their authenticity?" refrain from all gossip upon the matter but, above all, to unapproachable from that side. Now, would you have the kindness the sort at The Hague last year. Old as is the idea, however, Lodge, or turn my attention to the gentleman's chambers in the my having to go to it, I was often weeks on end without putting The Black Swan is an inn of repute in the High Street, at no applying if your hair is light red, or dark red, or anything but "I have come for advice." in one or two places in England?' Telegraph, "it is frequently in its least important and lowliest frank acceptance of the situation marks him as either an innocent slight indication of the course of events, I am able to guide north, south, east, and west every man who had a shade of red in bequeathed to Dr. Roylott entirely while we resided with him, borne a stain. Private affliction also is the lot of every man; better in every way that they should make their position a little Frank took my wedding-clothes and things and made a bundle of other means.'