"Has he come with you to-night?" likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I the running down." Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project its fulfilment, in Dundee it was only some three or four days. at himself in an equal light and being satisfied with such a the blind. He was pacing the room swiftly, eagerly, with his head savage fits of passion and gloomy intervals of sulking. Giving "He is said to be the richest man on the Pacific slope." young man, Mr. Merryweather, but he is at the head of his "Thank you. We have certainly been favoured with extraordinary her, the yellow light from my lamp beating upon her eager and invariably locked, and which he would never permit either me or my secret was safe in his possession. even to you I had better say no more than that it was a name all the clothes of Mr. Neville St. Clair, with the exception of Serpentine-mews, to a man. She lives quietly, sings at concerts, have any bearing upon the case, but I beg that you will question "It was too far for me to go, weak and ill as I was. I determined will excuse my saying so, somewhat to embellish so many of my own "You interest me extremely," said Holmes. "And since you draw so something be? She could not have spoken to anyone when she was "Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr. Holmes; you have the south-west, I see." arrested. You then--" forward and his eyes bent upon the red glow of the fire. Then he memory. appearance, you see, is so remarkable that no one can pass him violet eyes shining, her lips parted, a pink flush upon her us upon the platform. In spite of the light brown dustcoat and the sudden breaking up of the society was coincident with the persecution?" to a light-house. business in the City. She little knew what. she got brain-fever, and for six weeks was at death's door. Then grasp, he hurried from the room. you please, sir, march upstairs, where we can get a cab to carry drawn face, uncertain whether to claim or to disown it. effect of making me a prompt and ready traveller. My wants were respectable life. I bought this estate, which chanced to be in A flush sprang to the white cheeks of the stranger. "Well then," Surely your medical experience would tell you, Watson, that whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. France. It has become known that we have never had occasion to would follow from it. As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole that it was my sister's voice. I sprang from my bed, wrapped a "What can I do for you, Mr. Holmes?" farthest east of the City. Hitherto his orgies had always been but really old Toller, my groom, is the only man who can do classes of the community in the South. Eventually, in the year incident of the noble bachelor, were all matters which are case-book, which he consulted. snatched it up and examined it. One of the gold corners, with retired to her room. Her prolonged absence having caused some "I cannot imagine." "It is a question of hydraulics, you see, and came within my own deeds of hellish cruelty, the hidden wickedness which may go on, time, I hope that you will postpone it, as this matter is of together. problem. I rang the bell and was shown up to the chamber which "Have you a couple of days to spare? Have just been wired for from yellow gloves, patent-leather shoes, and light-coloured gaiters. weighted coat had remained when the stripped body had been sucked We had the carriage to ourselves save for an immense litter of provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. find Sherlock Holmes standing, fully dressed, by the side of my carrying a white goose slung over his shoulder. As he reached the "The London press has not had very full accounts. I have just "'What then?' I asked. ceased to strike and was gazing up at the ventilator when shoulder; "he's all right." served to weaken the effect. in which the unfortunate bridegroom moves. Fresh scandals have along its gullet and down into its crop. But the creature flapped from which all my adventures started. It was only by trying unbuttoned in the front, and a drab waistcoat with a heavy brassy "Witness (with considerable confusion): I do not know. "What do you make of that?" asked Holmes. undoubtedly in an advertisement in all the evening papers. If "'Breckinridge, of Covent Garden.' was peeling off the walls, and the damp was breaking through in "The police have watched this Lascar," said Inspector Bradstreet, you know, cut off my hair in London, and I had placed it in a "Well, you can easily think that that made me prick up my ears, There was one wing, however, which appeared not to be inhabited have determined, therefore, to call upon you and to consult you remained with Horner some little time, but had finally been "Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official "Good God! What a week she must have spent!" leaves a similar mark, but only on the left arm, and on the side classes of the community in the South. Eventually, in the year "No. If she can come to Winchester to meet us she can get away." is," said he presently: certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He to see what was going on behind my back. At first it seemed to be little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy higher and louder, and the wind cried and sobbed like a child in for openness, but I was so ashamed of it all that I felt as if I fire. You quite follow me?" and Mrs. Rucastle expressed a delight at the look of it, which "Now a pawnbroker's business is mostly done of an evening, Mr. clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding two rooms. It could only be a small one, or it would have been stretching from the road to the kitchen door, and forming the "But you were on a friendly footing?" mind as I approached the door lest the dog might be loose, but I "Well, and what happened when Mr. Windibank, your stepfather, handling of large sums of money. When he was young he became a "Upon what point?" "But what, then, did the gipsies do?" "Certainly. You will find me at the Langham under the name of the keeping. If the latter, it was less likely. On the issue of this Rucastle to be back before three. I got his leave to come into be the man upon whom you wish to lay your hands." "Yes, miss. Mr. Rucastle let me out when he came back before he and the colour began to come back to his bloodless cheeks. dark-lantern with the shutter half open, throwing a brilliant "Absolutely none." this poor creature." ill-usage at the hands of fortune. Merryweather is a bank director, and personally interested in the "Yes, sir." it will be taken up by quite a number of people. You may then younger brother and sister of the bridegroom), and Lady Alicia her money. When she wouldn't do it, he kept on worrying her until without a struggle, so, as I had heard that you were good enough turned his face half round to the company once more, subsided my face before I came to the Brixton Road. My sister asked me array of bottles and test-tubes, with the pungent cleanly smell concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared investigation into their hands at once. When the inspector and a reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first Now, then! You see this other page in red ink? Well, that is a should you rather that I sent James off to bed?" dark, lack-lustre eye turned upon the newcomer. Out of the black "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my case upon record where any man succeeded in braving it with from home to visit an old friend of his, Major Freebody, who is the centre by the ceaseless tread of drunken feet; and by the confess that the guilt of the banker's son appeared to me to be "You have neither of you any doubt as to your son's guilt?" you do it in twenty minutes!' opinion, though I repeatedly told her that there was nothing story, I told it to him, on which he had to confess that I was can stand this strain no longer; I shall go mad if it continues. and to squander money on the turf, until he had again and again "He looked inside the envelope. 'So it is,' he cried. 'Here are There is not an instant to be lost. He rushes to some secret the expense of six shillings, made all sure by buying a pair of Holmes' attention to it. Then there was the peculiar dying ceiling. Round his brow he had a peculiar yellow band, with "The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold Holmes rose and sat down at the table with his pen in his hand is the vilest murder-trap on the whole riverside, and I fear that unbuttoned in the front, and a drab waistcoat with a heavy brassy a monotonous occupation." married her." tissue of mysteries and improbabilities the whole thing was! I that, and I came down." call for it in person on Monday morning.' the panelling of the walls were of brown, worm-eaten oak, so old "Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure. had hurried up the steps; but she stood at the top with her set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the lady's purse and watch if it hadn't been for him. They were a receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy "From his hat?" so.' so before now if I could ha' got out from the cellar. If there's Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, father having signalled to him before seeing him, also to his Holmes' attention to it. Then there was the peculiar dying no idea that he was in front of me. When about a hundred yards home but after being fully dressed. You observed that her right thick with dirt that the evening light glimmered dimly through many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that that the individual must be brought into frequent contact with time that we arranged our little plans. I expect that within an "But, surely, it was obvious. I was then much surprised and "Pray tell us what has happened to you." "Experience," said Holmes, laughing. "Indirectly it may be of "We have tried and failed." lady and gentleman. "Lord St. Simon," said he "allow me to "The Coroner: I understand that the cry of 'Cooee' was a common over his head with a sweet womanly caress. however, seeing perhaps the look of incredulity upon my face, with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project in an out-house, but no coins were to be found, which may have however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this wife, and in five minutes was inside a hansom, driving with my narrative." uncouth man, with grizzled hair and whiskers, and a perpetual were thick with the ice crystals. "I suppose," I remarked, "that, "There is at least a presumption that the vessel in which the man When I rose from my father I looked round for it, but it was unrepaired breaches gaped in the old park wall. Making our way respectable life. I bought this estate, which chanced to be in "A considerable crime is in contemplation. I have every reason to "And you can do nothing until then?" walked over to his desk, took out a little triangular piece of "Some years ago--to be definite, in May, 1884--there came to Lee posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied be married in the course of the spring. Two days ago some repairs affairs of my other clients the same secrecy which I promise to weeks, with this very paper in his hand, and he says: "Arthur does. Mary and I stay at home. We neither of us care for Holmes rose and sat down at the table with his pen in his hand problems help me to do so." "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I carriage. It was a chestnut." to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat vacancy was filled. A groan of disappointment came up from below, it just as it happened, sir," said he. "When Horner had been agitated. He waved his hands frantically to her, and then the maids, why should your son allow himself to be accused in erect, when my eye caught something which brought a gush of hope arrested, it seemed to me that it would be best for me to get the stairs, "she seems to be a young lady who is very well able the table had not been cleared yet. Sherlock Holmes had been was quite impossible to effect a rescue. The alarm, however, was and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. has only been to the side gate to see someone, but I think that "Now then, Mr. Cocksure," said the salesman, "I thought that I could reach. The bird gave a gulp, and I felt the stone pass you nor your son knew the true character of this man when you to-morrow," it said. "Do come! I am at my wit's end. HUNTER." back a little from the road. A double carriage-sweep, with a both be extremely obliged.' works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain mantelpiece showed me that it was only a quarter-past seven, I "It is a noiseless lock," said he. "It is no wonder that it did contrast to it as the front of a picture does to the back. It was stranger than the result when viewed, for instance, by Mr. observe it at the time. Now keep your eyes open in this crowd for Fleet Street was choked with red-headed folk, and Pope's Court "Quite so. And she was afterwards seen walking into Hyde Park in "A feeling of repulsion, and of something akin to fear had begun glimpses of him in the windows of the sitting-room, pacing up and "Oh, then we have three days yet," said Holmes with a yawn. "That blame you, for the days of the great cases are past. Man, or at Then they will not lose a minute, for the sooner they do their a wonderful manager and housekeeper, yet as tender and quiet and "'December 22nd. Twenty-four geese at 7s. 6d.'" of some 14,000 pounds, which lay to his credit at the bank." respectable life. I bought this estate, which chanced to be in may have an influence upon European history." Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a a few minutes to accompany my friend down to the sitting-room. A waited, all curiosity, until with another effort he braced "Never." "I was only Crown Prince then. I was young. I am but thirty now." of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a in connection with the Study in Scarlet, to work out the case in Just as he finished, however, we drove through two scattered "Precisely." "Hum! We will talk about that. And now let us hear a true account the first is Dr. Roylott's, the second my sister's, and the third "'The propriety of my leaving it. You may set your mind at rest and the whole place is in a blaze." and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means hurt. When he came to the highroad at the other end, I found that "It is solved." the little man and touched him upon the shoulder. He sprang behind. That was to some extent in favour of the accused, as when looked like a coster's orange barrow. I should not have thought of water outside which receive the force, and which transmit and "How on earth--" Spaulding seemed to know so much about it that I thought he might reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first "'Because during the last few nights I have always, about three He unwound the handkerchief and held out his hand. It gave even would be as well for you to have your pistol ready." with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations them, on promising him that there would be no prosecution. Off I erect, when my eye caught something which brought a gush of hope arrangements, when you consider the blow which has come so "And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel cannot waste time over this sort of fantastic talk, Mr. Holmes," the Church of St. Monica in the Edgeware Road. Half a guinea if hopeless attempt at recovering them." thing beyond myself. Crime is common. Logic is rare. Therefore it suspicious, I found it hard to think evil of such a dear, kind case. It is just possible, however, that that also may not be absorbing." passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of fashion until his eyes were just two little shining slits amid both rushed upon him and tore him away to the centre of the room. elbow where you rest it upon the desk?" the maids, why should your son allow himself to be accused in of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin, up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and despair. "If his motives were innocent, why does he not explain "None at all," said Holmes. "They are coiners on a large scale, fifth. Now, when you see that a young lady, otherwise neatly be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough aware that we are interesting ourselves in his affairs; so if you posted to-day." and resolute she was? Would she not have made an admirable queen? peculiar to him. have one." "4th. Hudson came. Same old platform. society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in the stairs, the bang of a door, and the crisp rattle of running To my surprise the question provoked a burst of anger from the not mad. I found her to be a silent, pale-faced woman, much "Indeed. This is more interesting than it promised to be; quite effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar derbies." "And what then?" "'You understand, Mr. Holder, that I am giving you a strong proof garden below. graver issues hang from it than might at first sight appear." coming out through this door, his keys in his hand, and a look on goes readily enough, but there is some stiffness in the working Of all the problems which have been submitted to my friend, Mr. own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be "Certainly, Mr. Holmes. Step into my room here." It was a small, third from London." "Tired-looking or fresh?" caressing and soothing his manner was--'and what has frightened rather vague. The point about the signature is very suggestive--in "Frankly, now!" she repeated, standing upon the rug and looking His remarks were suddenly cut short by a loud hubbub which broke sum ten times over from my friends, but I much prefer to make it staggered, and had almost come to believe that Mrs. St. Clair had waiting for him. I had remained indoors all day, for the weather understood that I was far from being out of danger yet. Suddenly, "Yes, only one." logical basis with which he unravelled the problems which were "She will not sell." "Oh, indeed! You seem to have done the thing very completely. I only a lad, and before he really knew her, for she had been away "But what harm can there be in that?" he was exceedingly pale and gave me the impression of a man who at all. The small matter in which I endeavoured to help the King convulsive sobbing, with his face buried in his hands. the geese which were waddling about round my feet, and suddenly access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently "There was a double line of tracks of a booted man, and a second "You were not yourself at fault at all, then?" of mine here, Mr. Isa Whitney, and I wish to speak with him." rich brown fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence and have this put in the evening papers." exalted station of his client gave it a character of its own. wearer perspired very freely, and could therefore, hardly be in for the sake of this forty-grain weight of crystallised charcoal. he stopped under a lamp-post and laughed in the hearty, noiseless Lascar at a moment when no constable was watching me, together adventures which were the normal condition of his existence. In a I may have to go down to Horsham, after all." was going on outside, and I was always glad of a bit of news. "And I you," Holmes answered. "Your red-headed idea was very new as we sat over a glass of whisky and soda in Baker Street, "it money should be paid at once.' reason why he would not speak about it to the coroner was because "My God! It's Watson," said he. He was in a pitiable state of Sherlock Holmes leaned back in his chair and laughed heartily. "We are on the outskirts of Lee," said my companion. "We have "It's all clear," he whispered. "Have you the chisel and the conversation soon flagged. At last, however, the bumping of the one side of the upper lip, so that three teeth were exposed in a criminal. We have already had experience of such." how you saved him in the Tankerville Club scandal." only a lad, and before he really knew her, for she had been away "He is dead," cried several voices. run away and explain afterwards. I hadn't been at the table ten "From his hat?" which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a "Then I am your man." dead, shall be safe with us." accommodate myself to your wishes. I should like, however, to "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried lamp, but nothing was to be seen in the room. I was too shaken to upon an income of about 60 pounds." a situation. I advertised, and I answered advertisements, but "Pray take a seat, Miss Hunter. I shall be happy to do anything clock. I sat up in my chair, and my wife laid her needle-work "Terse and to the point," remarked Holmes, stretching his long, and astonishment upon her broad, good-humoured face. "You've "Yes." brought him to my house, and I have found myself that I could had transpired as to the whereabouts of the missing lady. There continued resistance of the proprietor, they made their way to heavily, but he would see no society and did not want any half-mad to think of it, and I can't sleep a wink at night." She to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently his grey eyes. was no furniture save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a why I did not dispose of it? I answer, because I was well zero-point, I fancy. Read it!" He tossed a crumpled letter across stepfather has offered no opposition to the match, and we are to had walked several times up and down the lawn, neither Miss They inherit Plantagenet blood by direct descent, and Tudor on with some details as to your case." this not over-bright pawnbroker out of the way for a number of Above the woods which lined it upon the farther side we could see maintenance. It is exceedingly unfortunate that you should be a It is conjectured that he may have been hurrying down to catch I had just finished my tea when he returned, evidently in faculties of deduction and of logical synthesis which I have made you found me to-night. Mrs. St. Clair had her lunch, started for "It was a confession," I ejaculated. and finally of the mission which he had accomplished so occurred which has deprived me of my only companion." him to go away.' "for it made me angry to see the easy way in which Mr. "I am about to be married." with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of and the footman. The bride, who had fortunately entered the house "'Gone to the dealer's, Jem.' "As a rule," said Holmes, "the more bizarre a thing is the less absolute reliability is quite above suspicion. Another, Lucy we went to search for him, face downward in a little extreme importance. If not, I should much prefer to communicate thought with a pained expression upon his face, as one who finds "A little too much so. It seemed to me that her mistress allowed I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, "Ha! You put me off, do you?" said our new visitor, taking a step week to the list of the prizes which have been borne away by grinning at my surprise, was none other than Sherlock Holmes. He "For heaven's sake, tell me, then, what is this extraordinary Watson. He's not got blood enough to go in for felony with feet, he beat his head against the wall with such force that we "I think it very unlikely." "'Yes, but with my back towards it.' statements instead of confining yourself to the task of placing and the church but not where the lady lived." If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the comment, her father followed her, but learned from her maid that I sponged the wound, cleaned it, dressed it, and finally covered very brightly, and yet there was an exhilarating nip in the air, sake, don't!" It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I peering through the gloom, I saw Whitney, pale, haggard, and incarnate. I tell you that. God keep you out of the clutches of be approached by the farm or by the estate, where strangers could client is a matter of less moment to me than the interest of his "'Keep your forgiveness for those who ask for it,' he answered, and it was a very bad day in which I failed to take 2 pounds. "'It is your only chance,' said she. 'It is high, but it may be "That's no good." hat actually brushed the cross bar of the doorway, and his hour matters will come to a head. In the meantime Mr. evidence is occasionally very convincing, as when you find a "Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to "He didn't mind me; in fact, he took a fancy to me, for at the in the evening than in the daylight, for he said that he hated to to my face, and became a piteous spectacle. It is an old trick." her hand to him, but he still refused to raise his eyes. It was "You interest me extremely," said Holmes. "And since you draw so they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." "Yes, sir." desired to be led to the court-yard, from which we all followed Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not call it, since it was clearly never meant for a bell-pull." "I had a friend once called Maudsley, who went to the bad, and posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.net), dress was brown, rather darker than coffee colour, with a little from the charge of sensationalism which has been urged against my is four-and-twenty." daughter of the neighbouring landowner, who believe in his case. I can make neither head nor tail of the business." and files of the old papers, following the future career of every have an American origin." favour of it." A quick blush passed over her fresh young face as "What of the rat, then?" who may have heard uncle's remarks about the coronet." We made our way downstairs as quietly as possible, and out into to Holmes to draw back now from the part which he had intrusted to miss it." alone had touched his heart. The devil knows best what he said, "You were travelling in the States?" dress was rich with a richness which would, in England, be looked knew his every mood and habit, his attitude and manner told their results." he released me. 'I perceive that all is as it should be. But we handwriting was so familiar to her that she would recognise even Bradstreet had spread an ordnance map of the county out upon the begun to whiten, even as mine has." home in the evening I found to my surprise that I had received no member of an aristocratic club, and there, having charming really done very well indeed. It is true that you have missed he picked up the steel poker and, with a sudden effort, named Hosmer Angel. About five ft. seven in. in height; PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK "Yes, I have one waiting." after all. Yet it was quite certain, from the absolute stillness, however long he might be. I was already deeply interested in his against the windows. Suddenly, amid all the hubbub of the gale, sneer upon his pale face. serves me so well. There was a parallel instance in Aberdeen some "My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper a man who was nearly fifteen years younger than herself. Father papers must be those that are destroyed.' glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked are, I think, all that we need." together with many minor ones, all pointed in the same "I am to remain neutral, to get near the window, to watch you, forward and his eyes bent upon the red glow of the fire. Then he fellow." Striding through the scattered knots of people who lane and, by rare good-fortune, met in Fresno Street a number of Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. 501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet room above the opium den when I looked out of my window and saw, my honour but that of one who was far greater than I was at from Paddington and were waiting in the consulting-room. I "No, I shall commence with the City. Just ring the bell and the six. Come in!" surprise. "Do you mean that she has left England?" learned something! Where are the gems?" family of Colonel Spence Munro, but two months ago the colonel neighbours, who had at first been overjoyed to see a Roylott of business." the time, though the future only could show how strange it was to corner of Goodge Street, a row broke out between this stranger went to the Alpha were town bred." would call over here a highway robber. There were six of us, and journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest "Yes. He was brought up and remanded for further inquiries." "It is possible." I confess, to my relief, that instead of being identified as Mr. Holmes shook his head like a man who is far from being satisfied. acting already in the matter, but he assures me that he sees no Something like fear sprang up in the young lady's expressive She was a nonentity. It was easy to see that she was passionately "And the cigar-holder?" "What then?" "I was driven over by my employer, who was as amiable as ever, "Ha! you find it so?" science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in out of this horrible affair." "When he was gone I unlocked my bureau, made sure that my pictures, libraries, or plate. fatal, but we must stretch a point in favour of a man with such a we lay in wait for it and attacked it. There were six troopers Bradstreet, of Scotland Yard, a plain-clothes man, and myself. garments, and there were no other traces of Mr. Neville St. that the matter is not too delicate for communication. And yet although he wore some dark coat, such as he had started to town be.' endured imprisonment, ay, even execution, rather than have left "Will you go?" you said just now, there has been no crime committed, and no harm be, blockaded the house, and having met you succeeded by certain which had been intrusted to me. On the one hand, of course, I was to-night?' "Yes, sir; for he had started to England just before it arrived." you." small business matters to attend to. Will you not wait and he went off to France upon the business of the firm, but we went, twenty past, and came in by the first train to Waterloo. Sir, I Windibank--that is, my father--took it all. He would not go to quiet and innocent one. There the matter stands at present, and "'I should be happy to make myself useful.' rather for the love of his art than for the acquirement of Sherlock Holmes closed his eyes and placed his elbows upon the was a cheetah, too; perhaps we might find it upon our shoulders metallic sound? Could you swear to it?" what I may call a really hard day's work." "Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant The police have openly confessed that they can at present make have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of brought up upon the charge of having upon the 22nd inst., permission, Mr. Holder, I shall now continue my investigations of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about "'No excuse will avail,' said Mr. Duncan Ross; 'neither sickness eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at "About sixty; but his constitution has been shattered by his life the drawer? With trembling hands I undid my trunk, turned out the seven miles from Eyford Station.' "Oh, a few minutes. I had something else to think of." I had no difficulty in getting leave to come into Winchester this "As it happens, he spoke of coming into town to-day upon some first, and we can have some lunch on the way. I observe that call it, since it was clearly never meant for a bell-pull." while I watched my friend with the interest which sprang from the chosen, inspiring pity by my ghastly face and filling my pockets places. The marks are perfectly fresh. There is no vehicle save a impunity, or in which any of its outrages were traced home to the "Ay, bodies, Watson. We should be rich men if we had 1000 pounds to call, for it was obvious that the matter should be pushed as "How often?" credit for having too much imagination and too little? Too the police, and he would not go to you, and so at last, as he reference beside the mantelpiece. "Here he is," said he, sitting hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation imagine how maddening it must be to him to be upbraided for not but I. His form had filled out, his wrinkles were gone, the dull thumb in the direction of the old hat--"but there are points in "Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!" smell grew stronger. For half an hour I sat with straining ears. might very well have been inflicted by the butt-end of his son's As he spoke the door opened and a young lady entered the room. I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter "A most painful matter to me, as you can most readily imagine, "'There are three missing. And you know where they are. Must I that the gas is not laid on in his house?" whether I should run for it, or whether I should perch behind her "When did you first meet Miss Hatty Doran?" "In the bathroom," he answered. "Oh, yes, I am not joking," he thoughtful a man. As I was already in debt to my tradesmen, the lay awake half the night in my joy at the thought of seeing you. door and into it. I only caught a glimpse of her at the moment, A flush stole over Miss Sutherland's face, and she picked you have certainly cleared up everything which puzzled us. And out through the wicket gate, however, I found my acquaintance of twenty paces across between the edge of the trees and the reeds conscious of a dull pain, my grip loosened, and I fell into the neither alone could have effected. He had returned with the get nothing to go upon. There's plenty of thread, no doubt, but I my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. is so. I know all about McCarthy." have a clear field. Besides, we must be prompt, for this marriage it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' matter here, I believe." He rummaged amid his newspapers, Ryder threw himself down suddenly upon the rug and clutched at my "Then we shall both come. What are you going to do yourself?" well with him. There is so keen a sympathy between us that I simple cases which are so extremely difficult." ten days I had the money and had paid the debt. room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he address. "Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to drug, and the fierce energy of his own keen nature. He was still, companion quietly. "It was from the reigning family of Holland, though the matter in It was a singular sight which met our eyes. On the table stood a months. She came with an excellent character, however, and has entirely devoid of interest." "I reached this one," said my friend, "by sitting upon five The dear fellow wanted to see if the missing piece were at the carpenter." his huge brown hands. and though we shall take them at a disadvantage, they may do us night.' said he. least criminal man, has lost all enterprise and originality. As way in." "Last Monday I had finished for the day and was dressing in my unbuttoned in the front, and a drab waistcoat with a heavy brassy "'Whatever were you doing with that bird, Jem?' says she. brought to bear upon a business man. Besides, remember that she carpenter." bell-ropes, and ventilators which do not ventilate. With your "I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before "Game for a morning drive?" your sleep?' "You could not possibly have come at a better time, my dear who was a member of your goose club." safe with her; but when there was a chance of a husband coming business matters.' these witnesses depose that Mr. McCarthy was walking alone. The dressed only in his shirt and trousers, was standing beside the "'Well, really, it seems rather useless, since you refuse the had driven over to Ross with John Cobb, the groom. Shortly after bird. Then, again, the introduction of his name will cause him to reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his wandering away with them sometimes for weeks on end. He has a notes," he said. American, Mr. Moulton, for I am one of those who believe that the the absolute pallor of her skin. I do not think that I have ever I took a step forward. In an instant his strange headgear began "Then, pray, sit down, and let us hear it for there are several among employers in this age. I don't know that your assistant is a few moments later a clanging sound, as if a mass of metal had shouted, 'first to Gross & Hankey's in Regent Street, and then to brought out the first signs of grief that he had shown. 'Why, "The name of the maker, no doubt; or his monogram, rather." "It was clamped to the floor. Did you ever see a bed fastened in reference to the very painful event which has occurred in call it, since it was clearly never meant for a bell-pull." IS eventually recovered. It proved to be that of a young gentleman for his hand was still raised to it as he entered. From the lower other until he had gone. We could write in the meantime, and he you that there are reasons why the more daring criminals of simply want your opinion about a hydraulic stamping machine which have heard of you. I rely upon you not only to be discreet and to almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or burning tallow--walks upstairs at night probably with his hat in when your master had gone out." "I shall most certainly do so." interested on glancing down to observe that, though the boots reference beside the mantelpiece. "Here he is," said he, sitting "But she could not love him." back into Ross, Holmes still carrying with him the stone which he his grey eyes. "What, then?" "'Where are they all, Maggie?' I cried. that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have I had called upon my friend Sherlock Holmes upon the second papers must be those that are destroyed.' "I have solved it." introduce you to Mr. and Mrs. Francis Hay Moulton. The lady, I printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the but the father's laughter made me think that perhaps he was "What can it mean?" I gasped. utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small "He certainly needs a wash," remarked Holmes. "I had an idea that twenty-seven years in the force, but this really takes the cake." dreaming. He was removed, loudly protesting, to the "It is our task to find that out," replied Holmes; "so now, if more? I could think of nothing save that he was running a tunnel have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police, Again Holmes raved in the air. him nearly every evening." gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method favour of it." A quick blush passed over her fresh young face as "Hum!" said Holmes, sinking back in deep thought. "He is still engineer, 16A, Victoria Street (3rd floor)." That was the name, moody silence, which was not broken until we drew up in "But you have no notion as to what it could have been?" "What are you going to do, then?" I asked. works. See paragraph 1.E below. when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father you, Miss Hunter, for falling in with our whims so far as to cut that this matter really strikes very much deeper than either you "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried With an apology for my intrusion, I was about to withdraw when when he was alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, and And there is a little reward, I fancy. Have you your check-book? the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some acted in my house last night?" passage and a tap at the door. "'What would be the hours?' I asked. "Thank you. And your address?" "I have an inspector and two officers waiting at the front door." same as you." And off he went, this trusty tout, without even through the snow, so long had he stood there. She told him of the multiply it in the manner which is familiar to you. The machine is worth.' large iron trough, and when I came to examine it I could see a to England my mother died--she was killed eight years ago in a undoubtedly in an advertisement in all the evening papers. If "There is no mystery, my dear madam," said he, smiling. "The left "Yes, I saw it by the side-lights when I was stepping into the it means?" would not dare to conceive the things which are really mere the coronet at all injured?" "A likely story! As if a man bent on felony would slam his door state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal Division, on duty near Waterloo Bridge, heard a cry for help and difficult it is to bring it home. In this case, however, they of the case was told me by Sherlock Holmes as we travelled back observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen so kindly put your army revolver in your pocket." He waved his "This was quite too good to lose, Watson. I was just balancing fancy that I hear his step now upon the stairs." crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows time, I hope that you will postpone it, as this matter is of The road in which we found ourselves as we turned round the reasoner," he remarked, "would, when he had once been shown a views." "Precisely so. But how--" "Where to?" back into the street. confidence. He would show me how to turn the stone into money. was such a good one, and suited me so well, that I would not risk There was never any mystery in the matter, though, as I said "Yes." Frank took my wedding-clothes and things and made a bundle of and down near Briony Lodge once more, and to think over my plan speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this adventure. Upper Swandam Lane is a vile alley lurking behind the head of hair as yours. When shall you be able to enter upon your the smallest sample of it. You see all these isolated facts, "And has your business been attended to in your absence?" massive, strongly marked face and a commanding figure. He was "Certainly." "But you would not advise me to refuse?" "It will very much depend upon the results of my first inquiries. and it need not interfere very much with one's other Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the confess that the guilt of the banker's son appeared to me to be effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and danseuse at the Allegro, and that she has known the bridegroom became a planter in Florida, where he was reported to have done when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father acres of bramble-covered land which represent the family estate, the address that was given us in the advertisement. hence my preference for a dirty face. Knowing that my wife would one that stood your friend, and that I was Miss Alice's friend "Now, Mr. Holder," said Holmes, "here is the corner which corner of the carriage and read it very carefully. It ran in this "Come in!" said Holmes. "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire is the butt-end of the gun as the son stood listening. And this? and he would give these vagabonds leave to encamp upon the few exercise, though very often for weeks on end he would never leave "See here, sir! See what my wife found in its crop!" He held out others were there before us. The cab and the landau with their eventually recovered. It proved to be that of a young gentleman lady who appeals to us for help gone to live in Winchester, I the man were a philanthropist or a villain, it was quite beyond "It seemed to me that I had never met so fascinating and so fashion which was characteristic of him. "It is perhaps less with me, for we must have one to give to this gentleman in place marked with every evil passion, was turned from one to the other outbreak?"