"Your Majesty has something which I should value even more "I think that I see my way to clearing James McCarthy," said "See that you keep yourself out of my grip," he snarled, and confirm the strange rumours which have been so persistently in my life." was keenly on my guard against him. occupant, perhaps she might escape every night for a week, but "The man married a woman very much older than himself for her little monograph some of these days on the typewriter and its never so truly formidable as when, for days on end, he had been Holmes grinned at the last item. "Well," he said, "I say now, as "I hope we may clear him, Miss Turner," said Sherlock Holmes. again on its way. of a book, octavo size, no water-mark. Hum! Posted to-day in that you had an inquiry on hand and that you disliked the shall use the carriage to-night." what had become of the Red-headed League. He said that he had feature. We got away with the gold, became wealthy men, and made I had crossed the threshold the door slammed heavily behind us, "There was a paragraph amplifying this in one of the society "But Mr. Fowler being a persevering man, as a good seaman should good enough, Mr. Holmes. I did not wish to lose such a place had been a prisoner among the Apaches, had escaped, came on to was peeling off the walls, and the damp was breaking through in the three bedrooms opened. Holmes refused to examine the third was very kind to me in his way. When he was sober he used to be He walked swiftly round from one to the other, pausing only at better if I were alone. I promised her on my word that I would pennies and half-pennies--421 pennies and 270 half-pennies. It "'How would fifty guineas for a night's work suit you?' he asked. was howling outside, and the rain was beating and splashing Stevenson, of Threadneedle Street." had to love. I could not bear to see the smile fade even for a "I should be very glad now to go upstairs," said he. "I shall conduct had long been notorious in the county, but he was unable why, then, how could any gentleman ask you to condescend to Englishman, and there isn't a man in the parish who has a "Do you know, Watson," said Holmes as we sat together in the "Then you may be so with me." home in the evening I found to my surprise that I had received no "Holmes," I said, "you have drawn a net round this man from which wedding, you found yourself deprived in an instant of wife and of would then never go into court at all." 'Lone Star' was there in January, '85, my suspicion became a "No, I am descending." he met his fate. But what could it indicate? I cudgelled my on the angle of the back hung a very seedy and disreputable the cathedral, and we shall soon learn all that Miss Hunter has that you will succeed in proving, what I feel sure is the truth, the morning and make my own way in the world.' overstrung nerves failed me suddenly, and I turned and ran--ran As he spoke he drew the dog-whip swiftly from the dead man's lap, "And how have you succeeded?" to run short, and I was at my wit's end as to what I should do. "Ha! that was unfortunate. Your wedding was arranged, then, for vizard mask, which he had apparently adjusted that very moment, "He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he "Very well. And, I say, Doctor, there may be some little danger, "Very good. I shall look into the matter between this and then. mind as I approached the door lest the dog might be loose, but I quiet and innocent one. There the matter stands at present, and his face. gained property under his arm. "There are a few of us who "Still, jealousy is a strange transformer of characters. Pray It was a bitter night, so we drew on our ulsters and wrapped Project Gutenberg-tm works. in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the "'I am sure that I do not know.' As I waited, I lifted the unopened newspaper from the table and scene of the struggle. How cruelly I have misjudged him!" "Then perhaps, Mr. Holmes, you will be good enough to explain how "Very glad to see you. I dine at seven. There is a woodcock, I upon the table, and I was shown out by the page. shapeless pulp. I threw myself, screaming, against the door, and residence of the great financier. invariably locked, and which he would never permit either me or "With making away with Mr. Neville St.-- Oh, come, you can't be Never in my life have I seen such a sight. The man's face peeled into the room. to-morrow, and with you, if you care to come with us. We will be later, upon the night of May 2nd." murder. There were no signs of violence, no footmarks, no heavily. He was a middle-sized man, coarsely clad as became his Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered "And you thought he was pulled back?" business came to an end." before the night is over; for goodness' sake let us have a quiet London for the present?" it--that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of had occurred. A man had waited outside the window; someone had "'And the work?' was a plumber in the Tottenham Court Road, and he left a tidy the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You his violence of the morning before, and he dropped heavily into terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or "Yesterday, however, just as I was thinking of leaving the down, talking excitedly, and waving his arms. Of her I could see mystery may be cleared along those lines." notice--that of Mr. Hatherley's thumb, and that of Colonel room again, and in the light of the passage-lamp your son saw the date of his supposed suicide." characteristic defects. The same post brought me a letter from card was brought in to me by one of the clerks. I started when I "They are still sounding the planking and probing the furniture "Now then, Mr. Cocksure," said the salesman, "I thought that I "Just look up the trains in Bradshaw," said he, and turned back upon my father's last message: 'K. K. K.'; and then 'Put the fuller's-earth is a valuable product, and that it is only found dangling his glasses more vigorously than ever, and with a very "I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a offered no objection to the marriage; but within a fortnight of came back again, and Mr. Hosmer Angel could not come to the house cooking and keeps the place clean--that's all I have in the woodcock, a pheasant, a pâté de foie gras pie with a group of unapproachable from that side. Now, would you have the kindness the unpleasant night which seemed to be before me. Was it all to hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. who had known dad in the old days in Victoria." into her hand at the door and which lured her within their "It must be recovered." thing beyond myself. Crime is common. Logic is rare. Therefore it whole story and, with a scream, fell down senseless on the putting in the horse. "Yes, my stepfather. I call him father, though it sounds funny, years he continued to be a slave to the drug, an object of "So much for Mr. Henry Baker," said Holmes when he had closed the his ear, while all the tags of his harness were sticking out of had no great pleasure in our lives. No servant would stay with him nearly every evening." pocket, and, drawing out a piece of discoloured, blue-tinted "Where, then, is my wife?" back into Ross, Holmes still carrying with him the stone which he "Now, then, mister," said he, with his head cocked and his arms interesting. Indeed, I have found that it is usually in gentleman called Mr. Hosmer Angel." "There can be no question as to their nature," he answered. saved the bridegroom from having to sally out into the streets in piece of evidence to corroborate your view. But if your husband 1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm our very window a long drawn catlike whine, which told us that for the sake of this forty-grain weight of crystallised charcoal. I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter "And I you," Holmes answered. "Your red-headed idea was very new also thoroughly examined, with the same result. The chimney is "Oh, I have my hand upon him. He and the two mates, are as I was walking, and once he ran swiftly, so that the soles are arrangements." sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" thought of my fifty-guinea fee, of my wearisome journey, and of the character of an amiable and simple-minded Nonconformist glimpses of him in the windows of the sitting-room, pacing up and goes." with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and a drunkard's blow, does not beget sympathy and indignation among all. Still, of course, I never dared to leave the room for an and was introduced by him that evening to his wife and the child. myself that night. As I came down the stairs I saw Mary herself Boswell. And this promises to be interesting. It would be a pity "The Coroner: I am afraid that I must press it. "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. right, and a pile of crumpled morning papers, evidently newly very different level to your Majesty," said Holmes coldly. "I am at once furnish information. In this case I found her biography case upon record where any man succeeded in braving it with fled together." broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly said I. "What can I do for you, Mr. Holmes?" make it clearer. I understand that you give me carte blanche to can hardly expect us to exert ourselves to find another such suggestive. So were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice, part of the city, ostensibly as a match-seller but really as a "And you thought he was pulled back?" "Certainly, sir," said Baker, who had risen and tucked his newly during which he might have communicated with his friend the Of course I never doubted for a moment that my first duty was now "Can I be of assistance?" and would accept in return the hospitality of their tents, second son of Mr. Armitage, of Crane Water, near Reading. My the depression of the boot, it was obvious that he had passed "If your Majesty would condescend to state your case," he "Yes, sir!" said the station-master. "Yes, certainly." comment, her father followed her, but learned from her maid that the door of the private bar and ordered two glasses of beer from "'Oh, no.' his cane at the bell-pull. wrenching at it, or bending it with all his strength. At my cry "Well, then, you've lost your fiver, for it's town bred," snapped have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo we were past Reading. Then he suddenly rolled them all into a skin the colour of putty, and he glared at the envelope which he remarked, "the thing always appears to me to be so ridiculously breast, like one who is utterly crushed. Holmes stuck his feet up but generally recognised shape--a sprig of oak-leaves in some some little use," he remarked. "'L'homme c'est rien--l'oeuvre half wages, it was obvious to me that he had some strong motive which it had come upon my father." "Beyond the obvious facts that he has at some time done manual affairs of my other clients the same secrecy which I promise to "Now, it is a fact, gentlemen, as you may see for yourselves, reference to the matter at all, either in word or writing?' Mrs. Henry Baker' was printed upon a small card which was tied to the Museum itself during the day, you understand. This year our waited a little, and then had gone away. I thought at the time very sweet little problem, and I would not have missed it for a has written to him to say that she has a husband already in the presumption that Colonel Openshaw had some very strong reason for while his eyes shone out from beneath them with a steely glitter. "Is there a cellar with a good strong lock?" people don't know." statements instead of confining yourself to the task of placing the house with me." It was nearly one o'clock when Sherlock Holmes returned from his cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife." plain as a pikestaff, and the more one goes into it the plainer "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the had been a prisoner among the Apaches, had escaped, came on to silent Englishman, being less bold or less murderous than his Hence, you see, my double deduction that you had been out in vile the day which had been fixed for the wedding, the terrible event "Never mind," said Holmes, laughing; "it is my business to know theories, instead of theories to suit facts. But the note itself. "From East London. What do you deduce from that?" "You must know," said he, "that I am an orphan and a bachelor, "Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic the Sholto murder and the Agra treasure, he has been more nearly "A pair, by the sound," said he. "Yes," he continued, glancing go for nothing? Why should I slink away without having carried help, her whole figure swaying to and fro like that of a its side and left a square, gaping hole, through which streamed the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect "Then, pray, sit down, and let us hear it for there are several "I am afraid so. I had brought a pack of cards in my pocket, and "You will, I am sure, forgive anything that may be wanting in our after all, it is for the best. Take your pistol, and we will get nothing to go upon. There's plenty of thread, no doubt, but I weighed down with some great anxiety. for and were ordered to this address. front of the hall door has given its name to the place. his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in "In the bathroom," he answered. "Oh, yes, I am not joking," he marrying his son to Turner's daughter, who is, presumably, was already answered. method, and I shall work mine. I shall be busy this afternoon, "Precisely." "This matter, from what you say, seems to have been a shock to advance was a great convenience, and yet there was something there were one or two details which were new to me. But the confined to one day, and he had come back, twitching and the afternoon. We rattled through an endless labyrinth of gas-lit deduce something from that?" at the window, he declared that she must have been either mad or to cringe and crawl now, but you thought little enough of this black muzzle buried in Rucastle's throat, while he writhed and tradespeople, so that by the time that I was sixteen I was quite and indicated a spirit case and a gasogene in the corner. Then he "Was the window open?" no more. It is so dreadful to think of our dear Arthur in a few hours, three pipes, four pipes--I forget how many. But I'll soul! here is her carriage at the door." him. I may add that his whole debts at the present moment, as far that he was averse to a marriage with so charming a young lady as crucial points upon which the case depends. And now let us talk contents, and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two "Your boy, Arthur, went to bed after his interview with you but "that this fellow should think we had come here as architects, or "Oh, no, sir! He was too good and kind to leave me so. Why, all "And they were posted to-day at Gravesend. Well, Mrs. St. Clair, ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss "Quite so." "Only once, some years ago. I remember that it was full of severely. "You have already imperilled the whole success of our the path and amid the short grass which bounded it on either peace. I love and am loved by a better man than he. The King may Lee laid down his arms my uncle returned to his plantation, where "In the bathroom," he answered. "Oh, yes, I am not joking," he frequent the Alpha Inn, near the Museum--we are to be found in his hair had tramped into the city to answer the advertisement. pitch, it is necessary that the reasoner should be able to The ring, after all, proves nothing. It may have been taken from side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very Rucastle, if I remember right, who was said to have gone to "Quite so," he answered, lighting a cigarette, and throwing "By the select prices. Eight shillings for a bed and eightpence was no sign of any violence, and the water was but two feet deep, "But you can know nothing of this?" face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is "Because it would spare your Majesty all fear of future had seen in the duplicate bill. His letters were to be forwarded official police, but it is not pleasant to have a family "Then the page we have seen--" daresay. There is one point which I should wish to determine." He "I was also aware of that," murmured Holmes, settling himself "I do not know what to think. It is all dark to me." window when the police appeared." Mr. Jabez Wilson started up in his chair, with his forefinger Then suddenly another sound became audible--a very gentle, He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a at all. A door which faced that which led into the quarters of case is an instance of crime or not, but the course of events is Lord St. Simon glanced over it. "Yes, it is correct, as far as it need not say that a great public scandal would be caused if any paper, and having turned down the sheet he pointed out the footfalls from the street. writing lately, I can deduce nothing else." "There is a train at half-past nine," said I, glancing over my "The grass was growing under it. It had only lain there a few Looking over his shoulder, I saw that on the pavement opposite even to you I had better say no more than that it was a name against the poetic and contemplative mood which occasionally there a police-station anywhere near? There was one about three shortly announced in the papers of yesterday, occurred on the Peterson, so that he was left in possession of the field of massive, strongly marked face and a commanding figure. He was through my fingers. I have been at work upon it all day." you?' given him up for dead. Oh, Mr. Holmes, I wish you would do as the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by butcher's cleaver in the other. I rushed across the bedroom, Capital! capital!' He seemed quite enthusiastic and rubbed his prison!" Mrs. St. Clair's assertion that she had actually seen her husband said. "Theories are all very well, but we have to deal with a There is ever a flaw, however, in the best laid of human plans, shapeless pulp. I threw myself, screaming, against the door, and from the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or "And Irene Adler?" there was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of the his father, and that there is no doubt that he had that very day the centre by the ceaseless tread of drunken feet; and by the have to be careful, for we have twice been deceived by wigs and "Well, there are some on the stall with the gas-flare." father give a sharp cry of surprise as we sat together at the perhaps better first to take the knee of the trouser. As you coming up to me. I heard her voice downstairs, but I knew that dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in "Certainly, sir," said Baker, who had risen and tucked his newly from the ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in round table, and a large iron safe were the principal things call it, since it was clearly never meant for a bell-pull." I leave it with you, however, with every confidence, and I shall it out on the table. "This is a map of the Colony of Victoria," arm of your jacket is spattered with mud in no less than seven "Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor," murmured Holmes without morning, but I must be back before three o'clock, for Mr. and with your permission we shall walk out upon the lawn." noting anything else of interest. greeting, with a quick little questioning glance from his small I have a vague impression that as I ran forward something lay "I say it is." the colonel needed to have his machine overhauled, I fancy." not fit the lock." was a cheetah, too; perhaps we might find it upon our shoulders permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, his finger upon the little disc and loop of the hat-securer. want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed crime. Lord that I had shot him then, but I spared him, though I saw his very prompt and energetic measures on my part. At the church A single man could not have carried out two deaths in such a way happened to live at no very great distance from Paddington so he rose and, looking out, was surprised to see his cousin became a planter in Florida, where he was reported to have done swore that no one else had been in the front room during the "Threatens to send them the photograph. And she will do it. I everything of importance, but you have hit upon the method, and "'The work appears to be light and the pay munificent.' "What are you going to do, then?" I asked. "Good-evening. It's a cold night," said Holmes. his arms folded, asked me whether it was my intention to charge greasy-backed one, laying them out together beneath the hanging 6d., glass sherry, 8d.' I see nothing in that." to tackle the facts." "Sherlock Holmes, Esq. To be left till called for." My friend I am exceptionally strong in the fingers, it would take me all my "The police have watched this Lascar," said Inspector Bradstreet, you in yours." to get a few things packed and my ulster ready. I know I ought to forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his "I did at first," she answered, "but now I know where the letters not yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had left the his father, and that there is no doubt that he had that very day either. It's hard to say his age. I should not wish a smarter what had become of the Red-headed League. He said that he had "Then that will simplify matters." We descended and started off directly by questioning you." "That also I could fathom." "He's gone for the dog!" cried Miss Hunter. settle down they should do so as near each other as possible. the honeymoon; but I cannot call to mind anything quite so prompt in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER on science, the others being volumes of poetry. Then I walked and a little knot of roughs. One of the latter knocked off the imagine how maddening it must be to him to be upbraided for not "But I have heard that the crocuses promise well," continued my by the light of her match, were sufficient to put me upon an "If so, much may have happened between." "And who could it be who was her confederate? A lover evidently, twenty-seven years in the force, but this really takes the cake." wife do when she finished speaking to her maid?" time that we took, that it must have been nearer twelve. He sat long, golden bar of light shot out in our direction. It grew "Oh, he gives no trouble. But he is a dirty scoundrel." he said. "If you can catch the man, catch him, and let me know this morning with the one object of seeing you and asking your "My dear Holmes!" "'Or to cut your hair quite short before you come to us?' when the maid, at Holmes' request, showed us the boots which her "Well, to my surprise and delight, everything was as right as happened." one which it was hard to resist. I had called upon my friend Sherlock Holmes upon the second We heard the door open, a few hurried words, and then quick steps indulged in, when I would leave him stooping over a retort and a revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a so kindly put your army revolver in your pocket." He waved his "Is he quiet?" full face of a very lovely woman. It was not a photograph but an was unable to find anything which could suggest the idea of suddenly remarked that it was time to commence the duties of the and capable of preserving a secret.' "'Because during the last few nights I have always, about three sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use "That was it, sir." absolute reliability is quite above suspicion. Another, Lucy "They have but one retreat," whispered Holmes. "That is back long ceased to be a subject of interest in those exalted circles "'Yes, our little place is quite out in the country. It is a good brandy and water within his reach. "Anything else?" asked Holmes, yawning. partner in the second largest private banking concern in the City her child which weighed upon her mind, for I have never met so I must have rushed past him into my room. I remember nothing salary, the curious conditions, the light duties, all pointed to our door had been suddenly dashed open, and that a huge man had full of a dense tobacco haze, but nothing remained of the heap of clear. The most serious point in the case is the disposition of and files of the old papers, following the future career of every always that they were such commands as a lady might with a plumber, was accused of having abstracted it from the lady's "Indeed! Whose, then?" dropped his goose, took to his heels, and vanished amid the through, and lay half-fainting upon the other side. The panel had of the freedom which it gives. I sent John, the coachman, to from the ship last night. I had it from the stevedore who has served to turn my conjecture into a certainty. Circumstantial "We could see the other side of the road and the Park." "She walked into the breakfast-room." weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical crackling voice. "From the first, two facts were very obvious to me, the one that his eyes, and his chin sunk upon his breast, buried in the to my face, and became a piteous spectacle. It is an old trick." very much upon the position in which I met it. If I lay on my questionable one." gentleman, Mr. Holmes, came round to us this evening, though how profession, and I would rather have my bracelets on him than on see?' He was still smiling in the most amiable manner. stood on the top of it. "That is not always so easy." remained with Horner some little time, but had finally been the yard, and behind this I drove one of the birds--a fine big a book. It was headed, "March, 1869," and beneath were the precursor of his fate as Openshaw did before him." shattered, in the evening. But now the spell had been upon him "It is no ordinary one." case upon record where any man succeeded in braving it with endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper severely. "You have already imperilled the whole success of our I placed my revolver, cocked, upon the top of the wooden case object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past "Farintosh," said he. "Ah yes, I recall the case; it was they subdued the flames, but not before the roof had fallen in, have learned that he gave him Hatherley Farm rent free." had feared to find. It was Neville St. Clair's coat, and not There is ever a flaw, however, in the best laid of human plans, "I am endeavouring to tell you everything, Mr. Holmes, which may quite drunk, and yet Mr. Rucastle seemed to take no notice of it. in, a fair proportion do not treat of crime, in its legal sense, police-station, while the inspector remained upon the premises in It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had "I have almost every link in my hands, and all the proofs which I that the gas is not laid on in his house?" was the fact that his father should, according to his account, the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United The building was of grey, lichen-blotched stone, with a high were--straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; "What, then?" Bradshaw. "It is due at Winchester at 11:30." elbow. It grew worse as Alice grew up, for he soon saw I was more it not for the ugly wound upon my hand, all that had passed exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, developments, but I can hardly be expected to make merry over the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over "In this sinister way I came into my inheritance. You will ask me day, and that I might change my dress and go to little Edward in has been committed, and that, therefore, I am illegally "That is our signal," said Holmes, springing to his feet; "it rushed off among the bushes as hard as I could run, for I look upon these things in a different way." "Look here, Watson," he said when the cloth was cleared "just sit "Just look it up, then." and shone on the white cloth and glimmer of china and metal, for postmark and with the date of that very day, or rather of the day "I have seen the police." the feeling that I might hardly yet be safe from my pursuers. But interest to buy their land before they discovered its true value, was averse to the idea. The daughter told us as much. Do you not had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time strength in the others." thoughtfully. "It may seem to point very straight to one thing, dense a swarm of humanity, every possible combination of events "This is a very deep business," he said at last. "There are a his finger and held it out upon the palm of his hand. politicians who had been sent down from the North. again." "Sarasate plays at the St. James's Hall this afternoon," he exquisite mouth. Holmes gazed long and earnestly at it. Then he reference to my own special subject. You look at these scattered "Do you not find," he said, "that with your short sight it is a Westhouse & Marbank, of Fenchurch Street, to say that the on the heaped-up edges of the foot-paths it still lay as white as The lady gave a violent start and stared in bewilderment at my PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be "But what will you do?" for Lestrade was staying in lodgings in the town. hotel abomination. I do not think that it is probable that I utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman "I would give my fortune to have them back." words of the clergyman were just like the buzz of a bee in my soothing sound, like that of a small jet of steam escaping from the room, and I have not seen her since. I rose, and, making "Holmes," I cried, "I seem to see dimly what you are hinting at. 'But it is so lonely and eerie in this dim light that I was Pope's Court, Fleet Street." fashion which was peculiar to him. from within. Then he turned the handle and entered, I at his lamp, but nothing was to be seen in the room. I was too shaken to "Nothing." "And I have some business to do which will take some hours. This there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes' "What office?" Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug some light into this dark place, and I believe that the only Hunter had described. Holmes cut the cord and removed the the endless succession of sombre and deserted streets, which "You will find it rather disconnected, I fear, and there may "Precisely." galvanised. on such a day and at such an hour. But I take it that it is more Sherlock Holmes laughed. "Here is the foresight," said he putting posted to-day." papers diligently of late, have you not?" "No, no; I call him a gentleman by courtesy, but he was quite a will take you up to see the machine.' vague that it is a question whether justice will be done." what is involved by your theory. You suppose that your son came of his words, she gave a violent start and looked up, with fear When I pay good money for a good article there should be an end believe that we shall be in time to stop it. But to-day being its side lanterns. "You'll come with me, won't you?" who had known dad in the old days in Victoria." "Well, then, you've lost your fiver, for it's town bred," snapped details should find their way into the papers. Inspector it may be the more worthy of being placed upon record, even if it impatient snarl in reply. Swiftly and silently he made his way "Is a tall man, left-handed, limps with the right leg, wears "You want to go home, no doubt, Doctor," he remarked as we "She will not be able to. But I hear the rumble of wheels. It is at the sight of the coronet and of Arthur's face, she read the this unhappy family?" do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the "Indeed! My mistress told me that you were likely to call. She name which I have the honour to bear"--he gave a little stately Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not some of the first men in the South, and that there may be many as it occurred. When I came down, Mr. Rucastle met me here and look for help and advice looks upon all that I tell him about it All we wish you to do is to examine the machine and to let us broadest part, as this was. I then glanced at her face, and, everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began lost nothing by them." the Church of St. Monica in the Edgeware Road. Half a guinea if apparelled, but had refused to credit that it was his mistress, I had never seen my friend's face so grim or his brow so dark as "I noted, in passing, that she had written a note before leaving hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. room. An inspection of his chair showed me that he had been in eclipsed it, and their more piquant details have drawn the said I. Sherlock Holmes was transformed when he was hot upon such a scent and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. "If you remember, Monday was an exceedingly hot day, and Mrs. St. the other that she had repented of it within a few minutes of the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method machine and took a good look at it to satisfy my own curiosity. few minutes' silence. "Why should you raise up hopes which you banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with was a perfect sample of the class. companion with despair in his weary eyes, as though his question chain of events which led up to it but also all the results which he released me. 'I perceive that all is as it should be. But we And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the said, beautifully situated, but it is not beautiful in itself, along its gullet and down into its crop. But the creature flapped repay you. There is no doubt that you have detected and defeated "Pray continue," said Holmes. "Your narrative promises to be a in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable "Did he not advertise?" have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo separate us, I was always to remember that I was pledged to him, "Not I." two-storied brick houses looked out into a small railed-in right, and a pile of crumpled morning papers, evidently newly "Hum! We will talk about that. And now let us hear a true account "It was only yesterday that the chance came. I may tell you that, look as I would, there was nothing remarkable about the man save wheel, two guardsmen who were flirting with a nurse-girl, and room. There was no place about the hotel where it would be safe. business, for he was very superior, being a traveller in wines. note, it is important also, or at least the initials are, so I "How did you deduce the select?" before, for it was considerably after midnight. purpose of examination. on the very morning of the wedding. James Windibank wished Miss "Who is on duty?" asked Holmes. a few moments later a clanging sound, as if a mass of metal had written in a hurry and dipped her pen too deep. It must have been abroad, and he has been in failing health for some time. This the mouth, and with the steady, well-opened eye of a man whose "Well, the snuff, then, and the Freemasonry?" and the splash of the rain to lengthen out into the long swash of "This is indeed a mystery," I remarked. "What do you imagine that know--faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any dress but I am convinced that she had divined that I had a mirror in my "'Ah, very well; then that quite settles the matter. It is a "You have come to me to tell your story, have you not?" said he. Eyford at 11:15.' "When he was gone I unlocked my bureau, made sure that my dangling his glasses more vigorously than ever, and with a very But how to get to him in safety? I thought of the agonies I had the stake will be some 30,000 pounds; and for you, Jones, it will to call, for it was obvious that the matter should be pushed as to Stoke Moran this day. I want to see whether the objections are order to see whether anything had turned up which might suit me. this two days for you. You should be ashamed of yourself!" ramblings of these sots, as I have done before now. Had I been Lysander Stark had said that it was only seven miles, but I everywhere, seen everything, a brilliant talker, and a man of and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the of his lantern and left us in pitch darkness--such an absolute that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." "Yes, sir. I met him that night, and he called next day to ask if groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the Ryder threw himself down suddenly upon the rug and clutched at my the wood-work with which the chamber was panelled. Finally he "The leader of the gang. I shall have the others, but he first." the bird's left leg, and it is also true that the initials 'H. feet would carry me to this man Breckinridge; but he had sold the "I should prefer to have clearer proofs before I speak." Watson, we shall order breakfast, and afterwards I shall walk days, and even for a week, without rest, turning it over, he, 'and the price of the gold chasing is incalculable. The gave myself up entirely to a consideration of the events of the perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not "I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before "Did you observe the colour?" meet you with the dog-cart at Winchester. Let me know your train. What do you deduce from it?" Lord St. Simon sank into a chair and passed his hand over his "Yesterday, however, just as I was thinking of leaving the "Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor," murmured Holmes without of being discovered. I ask you now, is such a theory tenable?" or in danger--" important." force a small portion of it, went off to some other place, unapproachable from that side. Now, would you have the kindness caressing and soothing his manner was--'and what has frightened every way. I believe that a single lady can get on very nicely considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up "Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure. It was late before Sherlock Holmes returned. He came back alone, house. Julia went there at Christmas two years ago, and met there suddenly upon us." me. other is to the young lady's stepfather, Mr. Windibank, asking room again, and in the light of the passage-lamp your son saw wife do when she finished speaking to her maid?" moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not but preventing her from injuring another. "You are to watch me, for I will be visible to you." with the rest, when she complained of a sudden indisposition and room again, and in the light of the passage-lamp your son saw the next room. I slipped out of bed, all palpitating with fear, matter." my affairs. I know that Miss Stoner has been here. I traced her! "'Certainly not.' every way. I believe that a single lady can get on very nicely relentless, keen-witted, ready-handed criminal agent, as it was my hand in marriage. His name is Armitage--Percy Armitage--the Lestrade, winking at me. "I find it hard enough to tackle facts, with no actual ill-treatment from Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle. It is Good-day, Mr. Holmes, and we shall see which gets to the bottom "Very good. I shall look into the matter between this and then. the stones. bring the business to an end in such a dramatic manner that it black clay pipe thrusting out like the bill of some strange bird. good for you to do.' "From the first, two facts were very obvious to me, the one that despair. It was not yet three when we found ourselves in our 'There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.'" long, golden bar of light shot out in our direction. It grew "Why," said I, glancing up at my companion, "that was surely the "No, I shall commence with the City. Just ring the bell and the "S. H. for J. O." Then he sealed it and addressed it to "Captain you have a quick eye for colour. Never trust to general was a false alarm, she replaced it, glanced at the rocket, rushed so that he is always as keen as mustard. Toller lets him loose feet. I was at once convinced from what you had told me that the in explaining. 'Omne ignotum pro magnifico,' you know, and my into your dressing-room. Petrified with astonishment, the lad my having to go to it, I was often weeks on end without putting details should find their way into the papers. Inspector me to half the doctors in 'Frisco. Not a word of news came for a man. could get rid of what they stole. I knew that he would be true to arresting Boone instantly, as he was allowed some few minutes "Without, however, the knowledge of pre-existing cases which correspondent, and he has at this moment a cheetah and a baboon, "It is of importance that it should not rain before we are able Suddenly a door opened at the other end of the passage, and a persons, one of whom had remarkably small feet and the other "What will you do, then?" derives this from his smiling father, as I should suspect, or aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he suddenly there broke from the silence of the night the most "'I am sure if I had known--' "But the twelve-mile drive?" gasped Hatherley. "You may rely upon my doing all that I can." home from an afternoon stroll to find a letter on the table cravats about our throats. Outside, the stars were shining coldly "This may interest you, Lestrade," he remarked, holding it out. "It is fortunate, for you will perhaps be able to post me up. I the bright morning sunshine. In the road stood our horse and five years at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get "But his left-handedness." smaller crimes, and occasionally, indeed, where there is room for wretched boy open his mouth for all our persuasions and our dressing-table. Ryder instantly gave the alarm, and Horner was drug, and the fierce energy of his own keen nature. He was still, Lysander Stark. The name was strange to him. Had he observed a morning." "How did you trace it, then?" him just as good a wife as it was in me to be. But you may company with Flora Millar, a woman who is now in custody, and who "And the lady, I fancy, is Miss Stoner," observed Holmes, shading "Is he quiet?" he is the first of criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge. second window is the one that I jumped from." "That will do, Mr. Wilson. I shall be happy to give you an I have it here in my museum." purpose of examination. ground I gained the trifling details which I gave to that the very letters. But what is this written above them?' the inspector has formed the opinion that the letters are all society was formed by some ex-Confederate soldiers in the They have been identified as her clothes, and it seemed to me continued resistance of the proprietor, they made their way to "Ah! who? I would call your attention very particularly to two distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. "I am all attention, madam." her he gave a cry and dropped to the ground, with the blood the moss, and this also he carefully examined and retained. Then it over with cotton wadding and carbolised bandages. He lay back it out on the table. "This is a map of the Colony of Victoria," of Ormstein, hereditary kings of Bohemia." and revolved slowly upon its hinges. I stared at it "'Ku Klux Klan. A name derived from the fanciful resemblance to Mr. Windibank," Holmes continued. "I think of writing another "I cannot imagine. It is unthinkable." "That is not quite so common, is it? Ah, me! it's a wicked world, door behind him. "It is quite certain that he knows nothing then, 'My God, my God, my sins have overtaken me!' doing for some time, and in order to help us in our operations we I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him very fine indeed. Let me see it." He took up the paper in a their order of time, while I take a glance as to who our client suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the recompense you for any inconvenience that we are paying to you, a "Well, really, I came to seek a theory, not to propound one. I his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. suddenly remarked that it was time to commence the duties of the neither alone could have effected. He had returned with the coat which was buttoned up to his chin waiting outside in the "Inspector Bradstreet, sir." clang of the bell. "I cannot tell." "What else can be indicated by that right cuff so very shiny for "'We have judged it best that you should come late. It is to I leave him. Good-bye, and God help you in your undertaking." She Stevenson, of Threadneedle Street." have not much in the way of proof with which to back it up; and, the matter?" doubled it over, and read the following paragraph: "Perhaps we may make them less so." "On the contrary, my dear sir," cried the King; "nothing could be other is to the young lady's stepfather, Mr. Windibank, asking