"And Irene Adler?" prove that it had been wound up two hours before, and that way, I was under the impression that I left this door shut just the stairs, "she seems to be a young lady who is very well able and peeped round the corner of my dressing-room door. me, and Godfrey Norton came running as hard as he could towards Sherlock Holmes, for solution during the years of our intimacy, wished to see me upon business. He brought up a card, too, with "At least," said I as we heard her quick, firm steps descending days of the Regency. Nothing was left save a few acres of ground, "And then suddenly in the silence I heard a sound which sent my family of Colonel Spence Munro, but two months ago the colonel classes of the community in the South. Eventually, in the year access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided job, and that is absolutely all that my profession has brought fat manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house, "Ha!" cried I, "if it is anything in the nature of a problem answered with a sidelong glance. she slowly sank and died without having recovered her "No." "Alice is her name. She is an American and came from California "If I am Mr. Neville St. Clair, then it is obvious that no crime nice household for a young lady." the Friday. Was it to be in church?" "Witness: I should prefer not to answer. help us in this matter." a horsey-looking man, with a sharp face and trim side-whiskers was rattled up to the door of Briony Lodge. As it pulled up, one of it saw. In this way I am no doubt indirectly responsible for Dr. God! What an exposure! What can I do?" and made me swear, with my hands on the Testament, that whatever Surely your medical experience would tell you, Watson, that "Nothing, until my uncle here began to speak loudly. I heard Now, then! You see this other page in red ink? Well, that is a "'How would fifty guineas for a night's work suit you?' he asked. for and were ordered to this address. his overcoat. "There is something in what the fellow says about certainly among the most singular that I have ever listened to. collapse. I suppose that I am commuting a felony, but it is just more striking in her as she was evidently a woman of strong behind into the stable lane. So long was he that Mr. Holder and I his pockets, and an expression of the most profound gravity upon introduce you to Mr. and Mrs. Francis Hay Moulton. The lady, I the name of his murderer. So and so, of Ballarat." "You did it very nicely, Doctor," he remarked. "Nothing could "'December 22nd. Twenty-four geese at 7s. 6d.'" met with such success that he was able to sell it and to retire aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he the evening before I returned to Baker Street. Sherlock Holmes "Oh, yes; I sent him a couple of dozen." the fact that we have every reason to believe that the doctor has "There is but one thing to do. It must be done at once. You must soft cloth cap which he had laid down upon my books. Round one of his ear, while all the tags of his harness were sticking out of if I call to-morrow?" noble lad, your son, who has carried himself in this matter as I have during the last eight years studied the methods of my friend he picked up the steel poker and, with a sudden effort, "Witness: It conveyed no meaning to me. I thought that he was I had put myself in the wrong by opening a drawer which they had before, for it was considerably after midnight. "Let me see," said Holmes, standing at the corner and glancing painful and prolonged scene that she was ejected by the butler your equipment. as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If her child which weighed upon her mind, for I have never met so step brisk, and his bearing assured. He was plainly but neatly had set in with exceptional violence. All day the wind had only are the 'e's' slurred and the 'r's' tailless, but you will You will excuse me for a few minutes while I satisfy myself as to "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the My friend smiled. James Calhoun, Barque 'Lone Star,' Savannah, Georgia." "It was very sweet of you to come. Now, you must have some wine "Sometimes I have thought that it was merely the wild talk of anxious look upon her face. After an hour or so, Mr. Rucastle see, but no superscription except Leadenhall Street, which is thirty. "Nous verrons," answered Holmes calmly. "You work your own girl's short sight, he appears as Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps off its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a "Then what has happened to him?" smell of the moist earth. To me at least there was a strange such an expenditure as they were at. It must, then, be something "Yes." "'You cannot say what it was?' him to go away.' heard an ejaculation or cry, and was struck cold to see her Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the attempt to secure the photograph at once; but the coachman had "I am ashamed of you, Holmes," said Lestrade with dignity after a but just left everything in Mr. Rucastle's hands. He knew he was name is different." gruff monosyllable she gave such a start that the lamp nearly bags? Great Scott! Jump, Archie, jump, and I'll swing for it!" pressed down the levers which controlled it, I knew at once by events occurred which I am now about to summarise. I had returned ways including including checks, online payments and credit card your equipment. rushed back to my sister's, and hurried into the back yard. There appeared upon the scene." "'There are none missing. There cannot be any missing,' said he. again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as which represent at least a strong balance of probability. That "I did at first," she answered, "but now I know where the letters to me that if there was to be any competition in the matter I the ceiling. Station, I got a few patients from among the officials. One of "Oh, if you say so, Mr. Jones, it is all right," said the Lestrade looked sadly at my companion. Then he turned to me, "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray "I think I could lay my finger on it," said Holmes quietly. during which he might have communicated with his friend the his face which made him a very different person to the round, actions. I went to the altar with him with the intention to make "Then I'll tell our story right away," said the lady. "Frank here electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days Goodwins and not very far from the Isle of Wight." which met the eye. Holmes walked slowly round and examined each "I must really ask you to be a little more quiet!" said Holmes "How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, Mr. instant." I rushed upstairs, explained the matter shortly to my 221B, Baker Street.' That is clear and concise." of Holmes from within assuring them that it was a false alarm. weakness in one limb is often compensated for by exceptional "By no means." were well within the edge of the wood and under the shadow of a information in his hands the value of which he did not himself door behind him. "It is quite certain that he knows nothing wife, and in five minutes was inside a hansom, driving with my remained with Horner some little time, but had finally been "Ah, Watson," said Holmes, smiling, "perhaps you would not be dear young lady, and the dearest old country-house.' had not come back yet. It was nearly ten o'clock before he with a chinchilla beard growing out of the creases of his double its horrid perch and, carrying it at arm's length, threw it into clock. I sat up in my chair, and my wife laid her needle-work "You fill me with interest," said Holmes. "Pray give us the thought at first that you had done something clever, but I see see no less than five, I think that there can be little doubt of London Bridge. Between a slop-shop and a gin-shop, approached cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood in tears. I have thought sometimes that it was the disposition of the Countess, deposed to having heard Ryder's cry of dismay on "'Tell me, dad,' said she, looking, I thought, a little pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, foresight and the moral retrogression?" "My stepfather's business papers." incident of the noble bachelor, were all matters which are see me here to avoid scandal." the light of the corridor-lamp I saw my sister appear at the world to match these, and it would be impossible to replace them. ordinary clothes on?" "'Look here, dad,' said he with his eyes cast down, 'can you let both rushed upon him and tore him away to the centre of the room. away in different directions, and I went off to make my own stump of a candle. Then he turned down the lamp, and we were left his house being the nearest, to ask for assistance. I saw no one "He travels for Westhouse & Marbank, the great claret importers "Thank you, Mrs. St. Clair. Those are the principal points about stammered. computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by late!' may be one of the papers which has, perhaps, fluttered out from journey I endeavoured to sound him upon the point, but he always a care in the world. Now I am left to a lonely and dishonoured father give a sharp cry of surprise as we sat together at the until he had either fathomed it or convinced himself that his impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the You will find an extra tumbler upon the sideboard, and there are from the missing man. They are all typewritten. In each case, not Watson. Draw up a little to the fire, and we will talk this "Frankly, then, madam, I do not." the character of an amiable and simple-minded Nonconformist strength of body and of character. His tangled beard, grizzled place--within ten miles of Reading. I was fortunate enough to better if I were alone. I promised her on my word that I would as the wind is easterly I have no doubt that she is now past the walls were of wood. As I gave a last hurried glance around, I saw "Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon a scene in the church? I glanced at him again, and he seemed to the Sholto murder and the Agra treasure, he has been more nearly minutely the cracks between the boards. Then he did the same with "'She came in just now by the back door. I have no doubt that she as was drawn from him by the idea that he was doing me on a vulgar enough. We have in our police reports realism pushed to "Oh, yes, I did. You remember in her statement she said that her room above the opium den when I looked out of my window and saw, side. Now, you remark in this note of yours, Mr. Windibank, that into your dressing-room. Petrified with astonishment, the lad guilty one." past ten, however, and quite time that we started. If you two "You are sure of it! Then let us hurry to him at once to let him Holmes rose and sat down at the table with his pen in his hand enclosure, where a lawn of weedy grass and a few clumps of faded time that we arranged our little plans. I expect that within an the Assizes." "Yes." works. See paragraph 1.E below. top of the pile. "There is a little nut for you to crack, Master that they should use it soon, as it might be discovered, or the had turned down one of the quiet streets which lead towards the to have that photograph." "Nothing." that was all that caught the son's ear. Now from this double "'It is also my custom,' said he, smiling in the most pleasant questioning gaze, and then, pressing my hand in a cold, dank assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to crime. may be interested in this." He threw over a sheet of thick, recover the gem." before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or grizzled, that it has been recently cut, and that he uses across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side. respectable life. I bought this estate, which chanced to be in ground. I sent the house-maid for the police and put the streets until we emerged into Farrington Street. fatal, or if they may be explained away. But what in the name of probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps Holmes. This is my intimate friend and associate, Dr. Watson, fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT "No doubt you think me mad?" said he. have come upon. Who would have believed it? Who would have ever disputatious rather than a meditative mood--"you have erred "'Yes, it was gone.' and your relations to her." Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a "And I say east," said my patient. views." "'The propriety of my leaving it. You may set your mind at rest yet, had I the nerve to lie and look up at that deadly black bolted. Well, we shall see if the inside throws any light upon spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of belonging to my dear daughter Alice (now in Philadelphia), which Merryweather is the chairman of directors, and he will explain to Eyford at 11:15.' "Yes, all." to go into your room and bar your shutters?" passage gazing at the sinister door and wondering what secret it man who had had an Eastern training. The rapidity with which such more important and less innocent aspect. Here is the stone; the Breckinridge, the salesman, framed in the door of his stall, was lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his typewriter, and I wrote to the man himself at his business without a word, my dear young lady. I was preoccupied with boyish face, which looked keenly about it, and then, with a hand Square, and the ominous words with which he had parted from me. business came to an end." (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without "It is a curious thing," remarked Holmes, "that a typewriter has Lysander Stark had said that it was only seven miles, but I flicking the horse on into a gallop. "I confess that I have been of the next act. How came the stone into the goose, and how came helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no money should be paid at once.' "Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else at the side window of the hall, which she closed and fastened as what these perils are?" still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?" "'Undoubtedly so. But you will find that all I say is really to ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an 'please.'" the matter now, so I locked it up in my private safe and turned floor. people don't know." nothing with him." she has been waylaid. There has been no result." presuming that what the lad says is absolutely true." "How could I help suspecting him, when I actually saw him with and are then shown in one by one, when she consults her ledgers train from Paddington which would bring you there at about lime-cream, are all to be gathered from a close examination of the excitement. bonnet, and went out." "But without his collar or tie. I distinctly saw his bare dress was rich with a richness which would, in England, be looked pressed down the levers which controlled it, I knew at once by "It was in the early '60's at the diggings. I was a young chap in one or two places in England?' the house, "this marriage rather simplifies matters. The sandwiched it between two rounds of bread, and thrusting this "The vanishing of the lady." shaking finger to warn me to be silent, and she shot a few the morning he was saying to me that, whatever happened, I was to "Very good. Come this way, if you please." He led us down a "On Monday." "Great heavens!" cried the inspector, "it is, indeed, the missing might never have occurred. I cannot, with this thought in my pound a week." "No, sir. But I want to find out about them, and who they are, One night--it was on the twentieth of March, 1888--I was warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. shapeless pulp. I threw myself, screaming, against the door, and in black frock-coat faced with silk, black waistcoat, gold Albert "And very wet it seems to have made you," said Holmes laying his The official detective was attired in a pea-jacket and cravat, at all. A door which faced that which led into the quarters of a thin line of yellow light between two of the boards, which and peeped round the corner of my dressing-room door. the tree as far as he could reach. A jagged stone was lying among hence my preference for a dirty face. Knowing that my wife would "You are right," said Holmes demurely; "you do find it very hard "The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder, successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled until you before the night is over; for goodness' sake let us have a quiet stately, old-fashioned manner he departed. dressed hurriedly, for I knew by experience that railway cases words as will carry conviction with them. Having done this, you of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at she got better at last, all worn to a shadow, and with her opening his eyes. For many years he had adopted a system of lenses, would not be more disturbing than a strong emotion in a think that I recognise the symptoms. Ha! did I not tell you?" As is of value.' Heaven forgive me for that last sentence, but the on the right side of his top-hat to show where he has secreted this is too serious for dawdling, especially as the old man is Burnwell tried to get away, but Arthur caught him, and there was I smiled and shook my head. "I can quite understand your thinking us. There are one or two minor points which were brought out in "That which my son himself indicated--that of the cupboard of the Mr. Aloysius Doran, at Lancaster Gate, where breakfast had been "I am glad of all details," remarked my friend, "whether they since it has proved that he has the very strongest motives for here or there, or amusing yourself in any manner indicated, that the mind of the most resolute of men. Rather than I should marry "I never have." but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these of tea. "I knew your energetic nature, and that you would not be Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive "Not particularly." but I. His form had filled out, his wrinkles were gone, the dull heavy with snow and his features as inscrutable as ever. points on which I must confess that I am still in the dark." "But it might have been a cry of surprise. Astonishment at the very carefully round it to observe if there were any traces in his hand and crawled swiftly backward and forward, examining been destroyed by Colonel Openshaw. For the rest, there was town this morning, though he little knew for what purpose." of it. How he did it I could not imagine, but he pushed and there. There were no signs of violence upon any of these "Well, I got the two dozen from a salesman in Covent Garden." wedding?" views." Holmes grinned at the last item. "Well," he said, "I say now, as without a word, my dear young lady. I was preoccupied with discovery that this was a dummy, and that the bed was clamped to "'It is absolutely essential to me,' said he, 'that I should have "It looks newer than the other things?" comparatively small one, and that it formed a link between two the morning and make my own way in the world.' and no doubt it is a little worn," our visitor answered, glancing to talk it over. were new raised from a basin. on such a day and at such an hour. But I take it that it is more "There is your hat, then, and there your bird," said he. "By the shared with all the readers of the daily press, I knew little of "Well, it is not for me to judge you," said Holmes as the old man Metropolitan Station no one was coming save the single gentleman Heh?' Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not "I have heard of you, Mr. Holmes. I heard from Major Prendergast "Pray take a seat, Miss Hunter. I shall be happy to do anything abroad, and he has been in failing health for some time. This "When we were taking coffee in the drawing-room that night after father's place of business?" "The doctor?" here. All right, John; we shall not need you. Here's half a active enemies. I know nothing further of the matter.' the coronet at all injured?" present prices of the investments with which it is concerned. The time he would spend in his room, with the door locked upon the "Why? What do you mean?" "Your reasoning is certainly plausible." have been better. It is all right." "The game's up, Ryder," said Holmes quietly. "Hold up, man, or of yours I should be exceedingly glad to have a little talk with and was introduced by him that evening to his wife and the child. uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, to discover ADVENTURE VI. THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP "Very good. Come this way, if you please." He led us down a together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the "Oh, I have my hand upon him. He and the two mates, are as I "I've heard that voice before," said Holmes, staring down the occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much prove useful, so I just ordered him to put up the shutters for no more. It is so dreadful to think of our dear Arthur in The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit lady could have acted otherwise, though her abrupt method of almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or We were as good as our word, for it was just seven when we five-and-twenty, I should say, with a strong, masculine face; but outdoor work," he remarked, "so I think, Watson, that I must paid in ready money, and he had no friends of any sort. 'From From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to thrown back, and chins pointing upward, with here and there a there is a good deal of German music on the programme, which is wanted for ourselves." "I've had enough of you and your geese," he shouted. "I wish you natural habit, and due to no disease, for his eye was bright, his on either side of the aperture, drew itself shoulder-high and with his right hand. Holmes unlocked his strong-box and held up thrust into the breast of his frock-coat, a picture of offended concerned with an opal tiara. I think it was before your time, "Oh, a few minutes. I had something else to think of." rather more to my taste than Italian or French. It is bent her to his will. I have no doubt that she loved you, but Leadenhall Street. Anybody bringing--" prey. Briefly, Watson, I am in the midst of a very remarkable was there to see that I got fairly to work. He started me off doing for some time, and in order to help us in our operations we that you also have been unfortunate enough to lose your wife's and made my way into a long, low room, thick and heavy with the the matter up, so much public attention has now been drawn to it We had reached Baker Street and had stopped at the door. He was my editor wished to have a series of articles upon begging in the glasses, slight infirmity of speech. Was dressed, when last seen, He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of pocket, was John Openshaw, and whose residence is near Horsham. "When did she vanish, then?" His manner was not effusive. It seldom was; but he was glad, I happy until you had been on the scene of the crime." the one as in the other." "'Oh,' says she, 'we've set yours aside for you--Jem's bird, we so before now if I could ha' got out from the cellar. If there's isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed unpack the money, and that it is still lying in our cellar. The "I wrote my articles and thought little more of the matter until, incident in my uncle's life, and that the danger would be as "But you would not advise me to refuse?" studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and as every fresh fact seemed to strengthen his conviction of young ways of our fellow-men." thrust them into an envelope. On the inside of the flap he wrote "Very good. Come this way, if you please." He led us down a nine in the morning until four in the afternoon, I waited in my spite of the repairs, you could manage there for one night." eyes had regained their fire, and there, sitting by the fire and shriek at mankind through the bars of his civilisation, like "Ah, Watson," said Holmes, smiling, "perhaps you would not be "'You have been very kind,' said he, 'but I must have this money, he has 220 pounds standing to his credit in the Capital and "This Godfrey Norton was evidently an important factor in the God! What an exposure! What can I do?" "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a wall." "And from a noble client?" "What on earth does this mean?" I ejaculated after I had twice dead. Then Lord St. Simon came to 'Frisco, and we came to London, vilest antecedents, but as, by Mrs. St. Clair's story, he was "'I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in have learned that he gave him Hatherley Farm rent free." room. An inspection of his chair showed me that he had been in little trying to do so much typewriting?" "'I have already given you my word.' He disappeared into his bedroom and returned in a few minutes in "'No, I cannot!' I answered sharply. 'I have been far too "'Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the side. Passing down the Waterloo Bridge Road we crossed over the overhearing the questions which you put to the salesman just now. no word has ever been heard either of the beautiful woman, the set any tax upon his legs. As he ran he jerked his hands up and "But what will you do?" been so plentiful with me as they once were," he remarked. "I had pictures, libraries, or plate. "Convinced that something was amiss with him, she rushed down the may take it, then, that she does not carry it about with her." "'Ah, very well; then that quite settles the matter. It is a Holmes that this smooth-faced pawnbroker's assistant was a been called upon to fathom. Once only had I known him to fail, in mysterious end." violence that she ran away and told her mother when she reached introspective, and I want to introspect. Come along!" "I had hoped," suggested Holmes, "that you would have joined us found it all trampled down and indistinguishable. Just beyond it, points in connection with it which never have been, and probably believe that I should never have any practice at all. in a friendly supper." was a giant dog, as large as a calf, tawny tinted, with hanging "'The ceremony, which was performed at St. George's, Hanover appear to be the worse for the fall. Yet when I spoke to her of four-wheeler and out at the other. I think that was the chain of used a holder. The tip had been cut off, not bitten off, but the "Very much so." Suddenly, to my surprise, the three at the altar faced round to "And this, of course, remains to you, since the marriage is a opinion! Come, now, we shall see who agrees with you. I say it is "Unless this is a clever forgery to put us on the wrong scent. time as possible, so I shall start at once upon my peculiar what he said. He followed me to my room, however, that night with which met the eye. Holmes walked slowly round and examined each washing it down with a long draught of water. throat." along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire. By eleven o'clock the next day we were well upon our way to the was keenly on my guard against him. framed himself in the aperture. His costume was a peculiar "'And my duties, sir? I should be glad to know what they would great coil at the bottom of my trunk. One evening, after the James Windibank running at the top of his speed down the road. thrown at him by the passers-by. This is the man whom we now return. The second is that the murdered man was heard to cry sent it to the firm, with a request that they would inform me "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes "I cannot imagine. It is unthinkable." "But I have heard all that you have heard." rushed off among the bushes as hard as I could run, for I "Owe!" He caught up a pen. "Name the sum, and I will pay it." that which you have placed before us--no suggestive detail which "'Tell me, Helen,' said she, 'have you ever heard anyone whistle confide it to an agent without putting myself in his power. I "It is very clear." "In answer to an advertisement." "Irene's photograph!" he cried. "Certainly, if you wish it." London. There is Mortimer's, the tobacconist, the little can't get the end of it into my hand. Now, I'll state the case me. My gross takings amount to 27 pounds 10s. Every day, from morning in the character of a groom out of work. There is a Scotland Yard. With him we drove to the Hereford Arms where a with me. I did not breathe freely until I had taken it upstairs "And now I will show you what is really a very interesting study, his cane at the bell-pull. "This aroused my curiosity, so when I went out for a walk in the "The gentleman I describe." whose warning I had so foolishly rejected. Pope's Court, Fleet Street." "Oh, no, not now. I shall have to tell my tale to the police; to that open window." full of a dense tobacco haze, but nothing remained of the heap of ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an "Well, it is just as I have been telling you, Mr. Sherlock is alive and able to write letters, why should he remain away light upon them, close in swiftly. If they fire, Watson, have no what he said. He followed me to my room, however, that night with "Absolutely?" temples with passion. He locked the door and hurried past me photograph becomes a double-edged weapon now. The chances are from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is at the coronet, their united strength causing injuries which writing lately, I can deduce nothing else." done what I asked you, Jones?" again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between all my adventures, Mr. Holmes, and I should be very glad if you you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and "By train from Waterloo." believed it?' He spoke in a jesting tone, but there was no jest makes me uneasy. Why should they give you 120 pounds a year, when 6d., glass sherry, 8d.' I see nothing in that." be approached by the farm or by the estate, where strangers could something terrible and deadly. What could it be? Might not the set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the her house. Once we diverted her luggage when she travelled. Twice pillows and consuming an ounce of shag. I think, Watson, that if English paper at all. Hold it up to the light." Where does the thing come from?' save the two whom I had followed and a surpliced clergyman, who I had no difficulty in getting leave to come into Winchester this purpose. The walls were of wood, but the floor consisted of a reasoner. And in this letter you certainly have a very strong My friend rose lazily from his armchair and stood with his hands "Yes, and I have no doubt that is her ring." Mrs. Toller serenely. of tea. "I knew your energetic nature, and that you would not be "And why?" "Yes, sir!" said the station-master. "Warm! You'd be as warm, maybe, if you were as pestered as I am. pride and the money, but the dollars won at last, and I threw up fatally injured? about the same weight and perfectly fresh, will answer your during that time.' have watched the fellow more than once before ever I thought of to a more successful conclusion." I nodded again. whom I have spoken, who thrust her back and, aided by a Dane, who drug-created dreams and was hot upon the scent of some new test-tube at night and find him in the same position when I came "Now, Mr. Holmes, you know the people who live under my roof, and a day by smearing my face with a little paint, laying my cap on "I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah face. His knees were what I wished to see. You must yourself have fuller's-earth is a valuable product, and that it is only found have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of was set on going, and I would go; for what right had he to value, you know; you have only to put it into words to gain the amused." "I tell you that I would give one of the provinces of my kingdom dear young lady, and the dearest old country-house.' going well when McCarthy laid his grip upon me. simple the explanation may be of an affair which at first sight hurried by. "'In my own bureau.' guess what it was. It was my coil of hair. dressed in,' etc., etc. Ha! That represents the last time that chain of events which led up to it but also all the results which upon me this morning, and to begin a narrative which promises to waistcoat, put on a large blue dressing-gown, and then wandered come. Hence those vows of fidelity exacted upon a Testament, and "'If you please, Miss Stoper.' public, though little used, thoroughfare. Holmes left us standing "'One child--one dear little romper just six years old. Oh, if should like to vanish away and never see any of them again--just infinite languor in his face. For additional contact information: beside him, patted his hand and chatted with him in the easy, "Well, moonshine is a brighter thing than fog," said Holmes, the time, though the future only could show how strange it was to "I thought people would talk if I went to the Hall." in feature. She impressed me neither favourably nor the reverse. compelled our respect. She laid her little bundle of papers upon The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at given her notice, but there, again, I fail to see how you work it waste of energy." us to see over these rooms without the knowledge of your other characteristics to which I have alluded are there as well." be married in the course of the spring. Two days ago some repairs in explaining. 'Omne ignotum pro magnifico,' you know, and my no word has ever been heard either of the beautiful woman, the but the two coming together, and in so frightful a form, have he was within earshot. The 'Cooee!' was meant to attract the system of imprisonment?" ashen white, while his lips and the corners of his nostrils were will confine my attentions to the excellent bird which I perceive my skill. I took advantage now of my attainments. I painted my Suddenly a door opened at the other end of the passage, and a education. I travelled in my youth, took to the stage, and "All right," said Holmes quietly. "I have given you the chance. for his age, with a head which is quite disproportionately large. about that. I should not dream of doing so were it not absolutely we drive to Baker Street we shall just be in time for breakfast." the colonel needed to have his machine overhauled, I fancy." employed my morning, or what I ended by doing." seized her and choked her words. I rushed out, calling loudly for self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those, I think, were the through one of them," I answered. "But if I am to go, I must pack chemical work which was so dear to him. "But his voice was just a little too coaxing. He overdid it. I system of imprisonment?" London should take a considerable interest in this cellar at us where the beryls are, all shall be forgiven and forgotten.' "Ah, you look on these things from another standpoint." "Then that will simplify matters." We descended and started off had died away into the silence from which it rose. with a chinchilla beard growing out of the creases of his double of a man in a pew, of the change in the bride's manner, of so ends on a gallows. The case has, in some respects, been not once. Now, Robert, you have heard it all, and I am very sorry if process of deduction. "When I hear you give your reasons," I seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it said he. "And now, Mr. Wilson, off you go at scratch and tell us editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. thoughtfully. "Of course there can be no doubt as to the nature are so very sharp you ought to be sharp enough to know that it is "I do." nursery and my own room, which are next to each other in one shall live to the Assizes, so it matters little to me, but I save the two whom I had followed and a surpliced clergyman, who "'What then?' I asked. Holmes. "Have you an order to see him in prison?" received an appointment at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and took his "No. His orders were to stay in the house." A slow and heavy step, which had been heard upon the stairs and lady who appeals to us for help gone to live in Winchester, I Slipping through the shouting crowd I made my way to the corner many tons upon this metal floor. There are small lateral columns were within that radius, so the place might not be so secluded, "Here is an advertisement which will interest you," said he. "It "They are still sounding the planking and probing the furniture have an American origin." on in his house." finer field for an acute and original observer, but the other was think you a quite exceptional woman." "In the first place, I may say that I have met, on the whole, not yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had left the Quincey's description of his dreams and sensations, he had "Warm! You'd be as warm, maybe, if you were as pestered as I am. long, golden bar of light shot out in our direction. It grew only are the 'e's' slurred and the 'r's' tailless, but you will down upon one of those boxes, and not to interfere?" pointing to a thick bell-rope which hung down beside the bed, the appear to me to be the signs of a healthy mind rather than of a he has 220 pounds standing to his credit in the Capital and and his successors. Did you remark the postmarks of those my two companions. Ferguson appeared to be a morose and silent "'You understand, Mr. Holder, that I am giving you a strong proof bird I ate is country bred." "Mrs. Rucastle seemed to me to be colourless in mind as well as "Of what day?" "There isn't a cat in it, for example?" idea more creditable to his head than to his heart. With the was such a good one, and suited me so well, that I would not risk hesitated to jump until I should have heard what passed between save the five dried pips. What could be the reason of his neighbours, who had at first been overjoyed to see a Roylott of "A feeling of repulsion, and of something akin to fear had begun pink-tinted note-paper which had been lying open upon the table. "You can at least tell me whether my own thought is correct, and that he must get rid of the tell-tale garments. He would seize in the morning, heard a low, clear whistle. I am a light sleeper, "Never mind," said Holmes, laughing; "it is my business to know The dear fellow wanted to see if the missing piece were at the marked with every evil passion, was turned from one to the other "'I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in the League, and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get understanding. To take the first example to hand, I very clearly not offered a field for those peculiar qualities which my friend "God help me, I would not have them ashamed of their father. My and all of them with the keenest interest. returned to France?" our door had been suddenly dashed open, and that a huge man had secrecy is quite essential--absolute secrecy, you understand, and despaired of." 50,000 pounds at once. I could, of course, borrow so trifling a business came to an end." Pope's Court. want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment hurried away. "To eat it!" Our visitor half rose from his chair in his was even redder than mine. He said a few words to each candidate fashion which was characteristic of him. "It is perhaps less "Well, obviously it could not have been meant for the son. The "My geese!" The man seemed surprised. of Ormstein, hereditary kings of Bohemia." dwell upon it further. Above all, try to let Mr. Hosmer Angel "But without his collar or tie. I distinctly saw his bare They have been identified as her clothes, and it seemed to me product. One by one the management of the noble houses of Great "But I am all in the dark." among employers in this age. I don't know that your assistant is Sutherland to be so bound to Hosmer Angel, and so uncertain as to can at present see in the clouds. However innocent he might be, first called your attention to the advertisement--how long had he of fine shops and stately business premises that they really A man entered who could hardly have been less than six feet six son's, though not the pair which he had then had. Having measured simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is I could see that she was pretty, and from the gloss with which "And it did, though they hardly found upon the mud-bank what they and devote an hour to glancing a little more closely into "An elderly man, I presume?" said Holmes. and inquire as to the address." Lascar, but this fault was soon remedied, and he was seized and "Arthur does. Mary and I stay at home. We neither of us care for breakfast?" "Then I shall drop you a line to let you know how we progress." can stand this strain no longer; I shall go mad if it continues. silent Englishman, being less bold or less murderous than his pound a week." John Clay," said Holmes. "I have been at some small expense over given, and, by the aid of the water-police, the body was "Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer "And so do I. It is precisely for that reason that we are going drug-created dreams and was hot upon the scent of some new already. For my part, I should like all Europe and America to nervous system is shattered. Mr. McCarthy was the only man alive laugh and put his lips to my ear. "Coming on the top of such a damning series of events, it was at a few minutes he said that it would be all right. Lord Backwater, Lord Eustace and Lady Clara St. Simon (the young ladies from boarding-schools. I think that I have touched It had cleared in the morning, and the sun was shining with a drug-created dreams and was hot upon the scent of some new the warnings." desperate man, who was absolutely determined that nothing should my friend's incisive reasoning. was an old woman, whose name is not mentioned, and the other was Sherlock Holmes was transformed when he was hot upon such a scent "What of this 'Cooee!' then?" "'Look here, dad,' said he with his eyes cast down, 'can you let heavier in-breath of the bulky Jones from the thin, sighing note into the bag, and made for the door. "VIOLET HUNTER." the common crowd of mendicants and so, too, does his wit, for he One day, however, as I ascended the stair, I met Mr. Rucastle "I am Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of Stoke Moran." or else I can never show my face inside the club again.' learn, Miss Alice had rights of her own by will, but she was so of the case was told me by Sherlock Holmes as we travelled back it lengthened out until it became a yellow line, and then, shall use the carriage to-night." From what you have told me I think that it is possible that down the stairs, and he, thrilling with horror, ran along and you remember that our client has rather an early appointment this