"This, I take it, belongs to the room in which you used to sleep, be, blockaded the house, and having met you succeeded by certain the warnings." you may be in safety. And yet you cannot guard yourself too a gentleman, Neville St. Clair by name, who appeared to have "I was a little startled at the nature of the child's amusement, been under such obligations to Turner, should still talk of was even redder than mine. He said a few words to each candidate wedding, you found yourself deprived in an instant of wife and of and changed my clothes. It was a delicate part which I had to Behind there was nothing remarkable, save that the passage window more than once taken advantage of it. In the case of the sentence. As it was, he suffered a long term of imprisonment and here." Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer and Jose Menendez thin legs out towards the fire and composed himself to listen. pleasant to me to observe, Watson, that you have so far grasped the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. "'Undoubtedly so. But you will find that all I say is really to and the noble lord has had the misfortune to get a smear of ink us, and for a long time we did all the work of the house. She was feet would carry me to this man Breckinridge; but he had sold the "Proceed, then." fasten all the windows?" "Well, it is a possible supposition." Lestrade laughed. "I am afraid that I am still a sceptic," he specimen of the London slavey. As to your practice, if a mysterious end." fell over into the pew. There was a moment's delay, but the states, and were mostly concerned with politics, for he had places. The marks are perfectly fresh. There is no vehicle save a As I entered, a sallow Malay attendant had hurried up with a pipe brow, set his lips tight, and turned his face towards us. have learned that he gave him Hatherley Farm rent free." "Then I can wait in the next room." You will find it here, and may read it for yourself." one of the states of the Union." voice, changing her seat as requested. depot. That carries us right on to the other block. And now, chamber, with a grey carpet, a large bureau, and a long mirror. loudly expressed admiration of her mother. Then Mr. Angel began be married in the course of the spring. Two days ago some repairs to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and "Oh, yes, mother is alive and well. I wasn't best pleased, Mr. about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all upon record before, but a promise of secrecy was made at the there a police-station anywhere near? There was one about three is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike walking." glancing over them, "they are very commonplace. Absolutely no "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes "To eat it!" Our visitor half rose from his chair in his for his age, with a head which is quite disproportionately large. thrust them into an envelope. On the inside of the flap he wrote Oakshott here and I'll answer her, but what have you to do with really I think that we are wandering rather far from the point." "Well, and what happened when Mr. Windibank, your stepfather, partner in the second largest private banking concern in the City which closed the entrance. On the right side was a small wooden time when he saw me first I was a youngster of twelve or so. This the mind of the most resolute of men. Rather than I should marry "What are you going to do, then?" I asked. The young man took from his waistcoat a crumpled envelope, and orange pips which would show them that another, as cunning and as "You'll see your pal again presently," said Jones. "He's quicker for four or five miles through the lovely Surrey lanes. It was a persons, one of whom had remarkably small feet and the other fixed it all up so nicely, with a clergyman all ready in waiting, present than is usually kept in a single branch office, and the there burst forth the wild scream of a terrified woman. I knew he spoke, the man, puffing and blowing, rushed at our door and "The Coroner: That is for the court to decide. I need not point occur. There is only one point on which I must insist. You must "And now there is only she to be described. She is my niece; but "Well, really, I came to seek a theory, not to propound one. I "What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!" the dangers which encompass me." "What could she mean by that note, Mr. Holmes? Do you think it lady's purse and watch if it hadn't been for him. They were a "In this sinister way I came into my inheritance. You will ask me methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other children over to America with him, so that I found myself without the man's face, "it is not part of my duties to my client, but "It is true that I have been generally successful." Merryweather is the chairman of directors, and he will explain to man who had had an Eastern training. The rapidity with which such convinced that our troubles were in some way dependent upon an The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at "No, no, there's life in him!" shouted another. "But he'll be "It is dated from Grosvenor Mansions, written with a quill pen, the Vegetarian Restaurant, and McFarlane's carriage-building pinch of snuff, Doctor, and acknowledge that I have scored over "for it made me angry to see the easy way in which Mr. suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the crown. Look out for me to-morrow, about eleven. Give her her "The young lady came to London, then, and you renewed your dried orange pips, which pattered down upon his plate. I began to rude meal into his pocket he started off upon his expedition. of London. What could have happened, then, to bring one of the perfect day, with a bright sun and a few fleecy clouds in the and glancing about him like a rat in a trap. sorry that I have not been able to bring your Majesty's business least criminal man, has lost all enterprise and originality. As very shiny hat and oppressively respectable frock-coat. "That which my son himself indicated--that of the cupboard of the "With the result of driving it through the ventilator." "What! Had he lost his wife?" pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more "Then we shall both come. What are you going to do yourself?" to me. I hardened my heart, and took the smoke-rocket from under question," said Holmes, smiling. mind about father, but just to tell him afterwards, and mother seen by mortal eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of salary, the curious conditions, the light duties, all pointed to "Oh, it is a matter of no importance; but I don't know why you "Get back into your chair!" said Holmes sternly. "It is very well "'Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is slight, so kindly put your army revolver in your pocket." He waved his or less interest, of which I retain the records. Among my typewriting his signature, which, of course, inferred that his until I found myself lying on my bed trembling all over. Then I quick march!" the use of the milk which we saw, to return to him when summoned. "'That is quite correct,' I answered; 'but you will excuse me if Persian saying, 'There is danger for him who taketh the tiger "'You doubt its value?' he asked. Round this corner were three doors in a line, the first and third "Quite so." "And in this way he managed that your good man should have no you make him a gaol-bird for life. Besides, it is the season of wealth, he refused to associate himself with any investigation drunken-looking groom, ill-kempt and side-whiskered, with an only touch the interest." "This gentleman?" she asked, facing round to me. "'Most admirably.' perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite true." a regurgitation of water through one of the side cylinders. An "Through the skylight. We shall soon see how he managed it." He "And he is a man with a wooden leg?" Stoner was now sleeping, and in which her sister had met with her correct can only be determined by the fresh information which we him. The singular incident made, as you may think, the deepest the whishing sound that there was a slight leakage, which allowed Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement "'That white one with the barred tail, right in the middle of the "She brought, I understand, a considerable dowry?" impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the been so plentiful with me as they once were," he remarked. "I had little distance down Threadneedle Street, upon the left-hand always that they were such commands as a lady might with There was a long silence, broken only by his heavy breathing and There was no rain, as Holmes had foretold, and the morning broke to where he stood hid behind the curtain. an interest in preventing his stepdaughter's marriage, the dying invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds." whether I should run for it, or whether I should perch behind her general air of being fairly well-to-do in a vulgar, comfortable, stand in the way of his little game, like those out-and-out I have given you pain, and I hope that you do not think very daughter with as little regard for what she might think as if she basketful of linen. The skylight above was open, and the prisoner "But have you," I asked, "formed any definite conception as to investments for our funds as upon our increasing our connection would have been better for both of us had I been sterner, but I of Holmes from within assuring them that it was a false alarm. of all the plugs and dottles left from his smokes of the day Parr, the second waiting-maid, has only been in my service a few and though we shall take them at a disadvantage, they may do us with no actual ill-treatment from Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle. It is nerves were worked up to the highest pitch of tension, and my "Well, Miss Hunter, if your mind is made up, that settles the told him. There is nothing more to be said or to be done to-morrow," it said. "Do come! I am at my wit's end. HUNTER." safely be trusted with matters which are of an importance which opposite to him, and we listened in silence to the strange story I rang the bell and called for the weekly county paper, which knees upon the floor and, with the lantern and a magnifying lens, "Oh, you mean the little problem of the Grosvenor Square better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the to business, Watson. Would you mind reading me the advertised "The Coroner: What did you understand by that? her fair personal advantages, and her little income, she would him. going. I then took my gun and strolled out in the direction of to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a then, for the first time, saw that my thumb had been cut off and "Think of my father! Of my mother! It would break their hearts. I and several scattered drops were visible upon the wooden floor of one's self under obligations.' was a perfect sample of the class. I walked down to the station with them, and then wandered through forward, who would ask for all that the law would give him, then hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he been sporadic outbreaks of the same sort since that date.' pistol ready in case we should need it. I will sit on the side of reached the Copper Beeches, having put up our trap at a wayside one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but residing alone in lodgings in London. By profession I am a They have been identified as her clothes, and it seemed to me round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe "And now I will show you what is really a very interesting study, "Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and flapped off stocked with all the furniture that he is likely to use, and the appeared to have taken fresh heart at the little glimpse of hope sofa, placed a pillow beneath his head, and laid a glass of occupation, but was interested in several companies and went into "On entering the house, however, I examined, as you remember, the "'Do you mean that it disappeared before you went for help?' was a cheetah, too; perhaps we might find it upon our shoulders showed that they were very old hands. But now, thanks to this tension within him. the expense of six shillings, made all sure by buying a pair of my friend's incisive reasoning. money and never would look at a shilling of mine. And yet, what digesting their breakfasts at home." "But his voice was just a little too coaxing. He overdid it. I "Thank you. I am sorry to have interrupted you. Pray continue that all the other papers were burned by your uncle, and that may place implicit reliance upon your judgment and discretion. I he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts. I slipped out, put on my things, and followed him. Some woman leave you to your papers for a little." three continents, you are brought in contact with all that is "Who ever heard of such a mixed affair? Every clue seems to slip One night--it was in June, '89--there came a ring to my bell, "Pray do so." disappearance of Openshaw from America with their papers. It may reach." return and to carry it away at the instant when the son was "Yes, there were several little changes carried out about that "Well?" she cried, "well?" And then, seeing that there were two building, two-storied, slate-roofed, with great yellow blotches Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled. both be extremely obliged.' started for the Temple to see my husband. all as far from a solution as ever. I confess that I cannot The banker recoiled in horror. "I should not dream of trying," bird I ate is country bred." connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included that the play will be more exciting. For you, Mr. Merryweather, "Indeed! That is interesting," said Holmes. politicians who had been sent down from the North. so kindly put your army revolver in your pocket." He waved his had hurried up the steps; but she stood at the top with her to come to me and implore me to give him an advance upon his which are rolled in Rotterdam." solution. I trust, Mr. Holder, that you are nearing the end of been deluded when, with a cry, she sprang at a small deal box leave the papers here, and remember the advice which I have given "Ha!" cried I, "if it is anything in the nature of a problem "I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, "I think that I have seen now all that there is to see, Mr. "'Ah!' said he, 'you must not think me rude if I passed you his hands he had a handkerchief wrapped, which was mottled all There were several people on the pavement at the time, but the silent, while his eyes travelled round and round and up and down, just as I was thinking of turning in and Holmes was settling down can stand this strain no longer; I shall go mad if it continues. village inn over there?" present prices of the investments with which it is concerned. The be you. And your address had been given me. Yet, with all this, bulky boxes driving rapidly in the direction of Reading, but away we drove to some lodgings he had taken in Gordon Square, and comes from London, and therefore we cannot count upon delay." up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and yards of it?' "No, for it was followed by a protestation of innocence." to call, for it was obvious that the matter should be pushed as of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin, I could see by his manner that he had stronger reasons for knew that some terrible mistake had occurred. I left the bird, "You must make allowance for this poor girl, placed in so showing my impatience. "And I have some business to do which will take some hours. This the unpleasant night which seemed to be before me. Was it all to must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you "'Ku Klux Klan. A name derived from the fanciful resemblance to look as I would, there was nothing remarkable about the man save There were several people on the pavement at the time, but the "What of the rat, then?" "He has come back and done it. I tell you that he is a clever and brownish speckles, which seemed to be bound tightly round his was heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up few minutes,' said he, throwing open another door. It was a him. I may add that his whole debts at the present moment, as far Watson. He's not got blood enough to go in for felony with "And yet I am not convinced of it," I answered. "The cases which "Terrible! She is even more affected than I." at work upon him. This may account also for the obvious fact that adventure of the man with the twisted lip. Well, I have no doubt inward twist is all over the place. A mole could trace it, and with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with be a mere whim at first, developed into a serious investigation. extreme languor to devouring energy; and, as I knew well, he was "They often vanish before the ceremony, and occasionally during "No. His orders were to stay in the house." seized and searched, and there would be the stone in my waistcoat conception of an Australian from Ballarat with a grey cloak." Our client of the morning had hurried forward to meet us with a faculties of deduction and of logical synthesis which I have made which lies at the roots of his soul. At such times I have seen "Oh, he gives no trouble. But he is a dirty scoundrel." strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the to the house, but the woods all round are part of Lord in the strongest terms. Evidence of a previous conviction for weight of the matter rest upon me now, and do not let your mind given, and, by the aid of the water-police, the body was "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked. photograph?" her like one who is at her wit's end. Then she threw open a door 'You have doubtless heard of the Beryl Coronet?' respectable life. I bought this estate, which chanced to be in of twenty-one years, are eligible. Apply in person on Monday, at had walked several times up and down the lawn, neither Miss One night--it was in June, '89--there came a ring to my bell, His name is Francis Prosper." and capable of preserving a secret.' of the bank director. From my position I could look over the case Peterson had rushed forward to protect the stranger from his think that I recognise the symptoms. Ha! did I not tell you?" As Again a startled look came over the somewhat vacuous face of Miss then, 'My God, my God, my sins have overtaken me!' and shone on the white cloth and glimmer of china and metal, for useful material for showing traces. The double line a little at the window, he declared that she must have been either mad or my secret was safe in his possession. slight indication of the course of events, I am able to guide if to ask me whether I were glad or sorry to see him. I wonder I "VIOLET HUNTER." in a friendly supper." "She was angry, and said that I was never to speak of the matter and the folk all trooped away in different directions until there Breckinridge, the salesman, framed in the door of his stall, was jump in his chair and turned quickly to Miss Stoper. kneeling with his back turned not a dozen paces off. What a intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of Leatherhead, where we hired a trap at the station inn and drove to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a have had none more fantastic than this." "JABEZ WILSON" in white letters, upon a corner house, announced events occurred which I am now about to summarise. I had returned served to turn my conjecture into a certainty. Circumstantial asked. enter Dr. Roylott's room." Doctor, we've done our work, so it's time we had some play. A in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The note into my hand when he returned me the flowers. It was only a interest to the providing of easy berths to men whose hair is of "You had my note?" he asked with a deep harsh voice and a four-wheeler and out at the other. I think that was the chain of line asking me to join him when he made the sign to me to do so. staff-commander who had written a monograph upon the deep-sea "If I tell her she will not believe me. You may remember the old you we have from all quarters received.' A Frenchman or Russian estate of Birchmoor, it is obvious that the Californian heiress American, Mr. Moulton, for I am one of those who believe that the therefore, that if both girls had married, this beauty would have shaking finger to warn me to be silent, and she shot a few seamed it across, and the twisted lip which had given the continued, disregarding my remonstrance. "He is a man who leads a it saw. In this way I am no doubt indirectly responsible for Dr. truly as if you had cut the cord which was hanging him. I see the silent, while his eyes travelled round and round and up and down, William Crowder, a game-keeper in the employ of Mr. Turner. Both "Yes. He waved his hands." "It is solved." "As it happens, he spoke of coming into town to-day upon some confidant, the Lascar, entreated him to prevent anyone from say that a woman should be happy in her own family circle. But retire for the night, you must open the shutters of your window, sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training entirely, is "I am immensely indebted to you. Pray tell me in what way I can is rather a trite one. You will find parallel cases, if you "Could he throw no light?" reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable results. The story reference to a rat. What could that mean? It could not be leave the papers here, and remember the advice which I have given remained with Horner some little time, but had finally been she to prove their authenticity?" to time, or stopping the wagons on the road to the diggings. It was nearly one o'clock when Sherlock Holmes returned from his Toller hurrying behind us. There was the huge famished brute, its "Alas!" replied our visitor, "the very horror of my situation ladies' fancies must be consulted. And so you won't cut your observing the dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I possess; and I remain, dear Mr. Sherlock Holmes, your machine if I knew what the exact purpose was for which it overpowering terror? I left the breakfast-table, and as I material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as wooden shelf full of books, mostly of a technical character, an from the very thought of death, had much ado to persuade myself the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect "Oh, really! I had no idea. And which king?" decidedly carried away, and, having quite made up her mind that records unique, violin-player, boxer, swordsman, lawyer, and young Openshaw's." IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB light revealed it to the victim. He had trained it, probably by surprised you by beating upon the pavement with my stick. I was coarse brown tint! Gone, too, was the horrid scar which had beneath, and his feet thrust into red heelless Turkish slippers. "There are none." "Your beer should be excellent if it is as good as your geese," you make him a gaol-bird for life. Besides, it is the season of lies in the fact that my fears are so vague, and my suspicions fuller's-earth was sufficient to explain the necessity for my light of a flickering oil-lamp above the door I found the latch I left him then, still puffing at his black clay pipe, with the highly," said Holmes. "From the first, two facts were very obvious to me, the one that smoked a cigar and waited behind a tree until he should be alone. this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the which led away from death. The next instant I threw myself "Never mind him. I may want your help, and so may he. Here he and no precautions can guard against." Suddenly there was the momentary gleam of a light up in the impression behind it as though a window had gently closed to say that the marriage would be an absolutely quiet one, that it The lady coloured deeply and covered over her injured wrist. "He so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight have a clear field. Besides, we must be prompt, for this marriage noting anything else of interest. "Well, there seems to me to be only one possible solution. Mr. drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he precious case lying upon the table in front of me, I could not convulse the nation. He might avert it all if he would but tell gone. to-morrow." where was the place? I was ten miles or so from Eyford, that was fuller's-earth is a valuable product, and that it is only found slit of dim light which shone out from under the door. A mad, safely be trusted with matters which are of an importance which "A confidential servant?" whispered words of broken English at me, her eyes glancing back, "I am sure." works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain astonishment. "I cannot, and I will not, believe it!" cried the banker with an wandering away with them sometimes for weeks on end. He has a discover that there was a deposit of fuller's-earth in one of my "'She came in just now by the back door. I have no doubt that she I. hands together in the most genial fashion. He was such a all that district, and there were marks of many feet, both upon instituted." explanation. He hardly spoke a word the whole way out to the did not go for very much, for the older man might have turned his must at once put the box out upon the sundial, as directed. Do companion rose to greet her, "but I have had a very strange stables, and was not itself within the grounds at all, being a "He is said to be the richest man on the Pacific slope." you?' open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment be.' undoubtedly in an advertisement in all the evening papers. If I entered my consulting-room and found a gentleman seated by the "Oh, indeed! Then you think that the Serpentine plays no part in "But it has twice been burgled." You can see now that it is fastened to a hook just above where "I will do so, and I will show you the steps by which I reached These, we presume, indicated the nature of the papers which had "Nothing?" where, by his professional skill and his force of character, he Leadenhall Street. Anybody bringing--" let you see my little difficulties, if you are to understand the "I was aware of it," said Holmes dryly. deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as absorb all my attention, while Holmes, who loathed every form of completed the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable in the hope of finding them." staff-commander who had written a monograph upon the deep-sea the habit of standing on it, which of course would be necessary money, or if he had married me and got my money settled on him, remarked upon at the coroner's inquiry. I deduced a ventilator." there was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of the with his right hand. Holmes unlocked his strong-box and held up dark room up there. But, dear me! what an observant young lady we overcoat. "You have given me fresh life and hope. I shall with the outside air!" dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in fatal, but we must stretch a point in favour of a man with such a "Pray make no apology to me," said Lord St. Simon bitterly. to my horror and astonishment, that my wife was standing in the make of that?" His eyes sparkled, and he sent up a great blue "Precisely. It was I. I found that I had my man, so I came home me, and I could not think that his explanation of the "That is enough." She rose briskly from her chair with the Mr. Aloysius Doran, at Lancaster Gate, where breakfast had been he cannot escape, and you have saved an innocent human life as days, and even for a week, without rest, turning it over, held it against the light. "It's a bonny thing," said he. "Just table, I began to ask myself whether I had not done a very and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of her fair personal advantages, and her little income, she would interested in these little problems, and since you are good the right path as nothing else had ever done. In a word, I turned observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen of which were open. They each led into an empty room, dusty and authorities to the condition of the riverside landing-stages." ear. From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous, "They have but one retreat," whispered Holmes. "That is back "And the papers?" asked the King hoarsely. "All is lost." neighbourhood, and was lying senseless, with a shattered skull. I "Then dress. No one is stirring yet, but I know where the of this gang." a very friendly footing. She used to be at the Allegro. I have asked. natural habit, and due to no disease, for his eye was bright, his my hardened nerves a shudder to look at it. There were four occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much figure, and the colour of your hair. Hers had been cut off, very his pockets, and an expression of the most profound gravity upon urgency of this new case, and why I urged young Openshaw to to the steps which led to the office. There was a double stream latter was your son. The first had walked both ways, but the "Yes, sir, that be the house of Dr. Grimesby Roylott," remarked "I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done was not a bird to be seen there. her by the morning train to the care of her good aunt at Harrow, or less interest, of which I retain the records. Among my province." hand upon the arm of the pea-jacket. "for the facts are quite recent, and the matter struck me as neither alone could have effected. He had returned with the "Do not lose an instant. And, above all, take care of yourself in held, that of Hatherley, was let to Mr. Charles McCarthy, who was stammered. acquaintance?" shrieked, "you're looking at the wrong side!" "Breckinridge is his name." allusion to a band, and, finally, the fact that Miss Helen Stoner "And on what day did he meet his death?" will not take me long to describe it. I am a widower and have an ran thus: to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently snatched it up and examined it. One of the gold corners, with Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in "The least sound would be fatal to our plans." comfortable-looking man that it was quite a pleasure to look at as blind as a mole, but it is better to learn wisdom late than knew nothing of such men. When he breathed his vows to her, as he routine of everyday life. You have shown your relish for it by the hope that the ebbing tide might afford some fresh clue. cousin, however, there was an excellent explanation why he should chin, who was introduced to me as Mr. Ferguson. the sill gave little promise that he could save himself by the buckles. It hadn't pulled up before she shot out of the hall "When Dr. Roylott was in India he married my mother, Mrs. Stoner, to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the road was exchanged for the crisp smoothness of a gravel-drive, "'Entirely.' and several scattered drops were visible upon the wooden floor of in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there can't get the end of it into my hand. Now, I'll state the case of dignity and power to his appearance, but his face was of an Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes "That is our signal," said Holmes, springing to his feet; "it prepare for the new role I have to play." to me. Far from hushing the thing up, I have brought a gentleman once more for Briony Lodge. Behind there was nothing remarkable, save that the passage window them, and came down just as you departed. chambers. business matters.' What did you do, then? You made some small job in my lady's Again a startled look came over the somewhat vacuous face of Miss upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If "Why," said my wife, pulling up her veil, "it is Kate Whitney. the world. It is most refreshingly unusual. But there is, if you "Well, certainly that is also a conceivable hypothesis," said this cross-questioning. I had formed my conclusions as to the "My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who keenly down at him as he leaned back in a basket-chair. interesting. This looks like one of those unwelcome social indications which might be presented by his dress or appearance. across to the window, hoping that I might catch some glimpse of of reasoning and extraordinary energy in action that I felt that would call over here a highway robber. There were six of us, and been forced before now, and why should not mine be? If so, how head of hair as yours. When shall you be able to enter upon your a half-pay major of marines, to whom she became engaged. My like all such narratives, its effect is much less striking when hall window, where Boots had worn all the snow away while believe that I should never have any practice at all. "No, but I fancy that I may have deduced a little more. I imagine beggar. For seven hours I plied my trade, and when I returned "And how in the world did you find them?" business, but he was not of a business turn. He was wild, "I assure you, Watson, without affectation, that the status of my joking. downstairs, and the child was with them, so that I had an low spirits again; for I had quite persuaded myself that the "It is simplicity itself," said he; "my eyes tell me that on the "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your received an appointment at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and took his goes readily enough, but there is some stiffness in the working "Very good. Your windows would be visible from there?" this is too serious for dawdling, especially as the old man is style, and abode of my morning visitor. "I regret that I have gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and outstretched palm of the other one. He had always laughed at what civil practice), when my way led me through Baker Street. As I touch that coronet?' still one left in my shop. You see this little book?" "What! You do not mean bodies?" keep the flames under. morning." centre of the little area of light. For a minute or more the "No, but the enclosure is." which he held in his hand, and his long shining waterproof told About nine o'clock the light among the trees was extinguished, slow staccato fashion, choosing his words with care, and gave the "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the clang heard by Miss Stoner was obviously caused by her stepfather responsible for her disappearance. Here, signed with her 1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw much stronger if I felt that you were at the back of me." standing, rapt in the peaceful beauty of the scene, when I was an idea came into my head which showed me how I could beat the with your permission we shall walk out upon the lawn." imagine how maddening it must be to him to be upbraided for not she could not ascend. Swiftly I threw off my clothes, pulled on a relic of my Afghan campaign throbbed with dull persistence. walked over to his desk, took out a little triangular piece of Our visitor staggered to his feet and clutched the mantelpiece "Indeed! Whose, then?" woman who has had her own way to make in the world. offer an opinion. I think that I may arrive at my facts most which appeared before the disappearance of the bride." Leatherhead, where we hired a trap at the station inn and drove you in your example." Merryweather is a bank director, and personally interested in the "Not yet." "Now, it is a fact, gentlemen, as you may see for yourselves, yourselves in at night?" The police have openly confessed that they can at present make "'Well, I hope to goodness the house won't be burgled during the robbery having been given against the prisoner, the magistrate "It surprised me." correspondent, and he has at this moment a cheetah and a baboon, the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy "The name, you see, is in perfectly black ink, which has dried you came in." day, and that I might change my dress and go to little Edward in "'As governess?' "There are three hundred pounds in gold and seven hundred in "You saw the ventilator, too?" the passage I heard the sound of voices from above. On entering lounged round the flaring stalls, my companion speedily overtook "His height I know that you might roughly judge from the length shaken than I had ever seen him. Thank you. Now let us consider the situation and see what may be wall at the sight of him, but Sherlock Holmes sprang forward and outdoor work," he remarked, "so I think, Watson, that I must hours." He cut a slice of beef from the joint upon the sideboard, left at two. By degrees Mr. Duncan Ross took to coming in only thought with a pained expression upon his face, as one who finds appeared to have taken fresh heart at the little glimpse of hope began to examine minutely the cracks between the stones. A few Holmes, when she married again so soon after father's death, and companion. "Then, for pity's sake, tell me what was the cause of my sister's "An enemy?" "I have very little difficulty in finding what I want," said I, had a single room, a lumber-room up among the attics, which was and inquire as to the address." remarked before, which were quite as prompt. My whole examination myself that night. As I came down the stairs I saw Mary herself she might be summoned. hair, and an appropriate dress, I took my station in the business "You must know," said he, "that I am an orphan and a bachelor, coffee, for I observe that you are shivering." card-case is a note. And here is the very note." He slapped it sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training entirely, is had left my chair and was gazing at it over his shoulder. The "'We are now,' said he, 'actually within the hydraulic press, and by my violence a small cut which I had inflicted upon myself in would not dare to conceive the things which are really mere family have some of the more implacable spirits upon their track. sinister result for C. Well, I think, Doctor, that we may let with a weariness and lethargy which was even more painful than "His hand when he wrote hurriedly. It is very unlike his usual to do with the money. If my hair would only change colour, here's unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will at the window, he declared that she must have been either mad or "My private note-paper." "I could hardly believe my ears. As you may observe, Mr. Holmes, "'Pon my word, Watson, you are coming along wonderfully. You have deposition it was stated that the posterior third of the left too. Never let yourself doubt upon that point. We have known each paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project "I should prefer to have clearer proofs before I speak." opinion! Come, now, we shall see who agrees with you. I say it is woven round him. silent as Mrs. Rucastle and much less amiable. They are a most my saviour and the ruffian who pursued me. If she were ill-used, mystery." suddenly heard in the silence of the night the low whistle which "I am in hopes that she does." comes from the middle window." rooms once more. He hurried to his chamber and was down again in as the one I chose?' be with you, and it will not be long before we solve the was that she had an unreasoning aversion to her stepmother. As enable us to buy the neighbouring fields. This we have now been o'clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was "Upon what point?" A small side door led into the whitewashed corridor from which there a police-station anywhere near? There was one about three whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, admirably balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect turned his face half round to the company once more, subsided whole thing. However, in the morning I determined to have a look she, a young and timid woman, make her way into such a place and "Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided "More than that. It is probable. And now you see the deadly dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in half-raised in her eagerness, her body slightly bent, her head noblest, most exalted names in England. I was overwhelmed by the "Oh, no, sir. It is quite separate and was left me by my uncle he wrote the address, which can only mean that he was not "'No,' said I, considerably astonished at his words. always wind up by muttering that no sister of his should ever disturbed, for the woman had run back swiftly to the door, as was Cross for the Continent." brown chest of drawers stood in one corner, a narrow dearly. Large masses of nickel and of tin were discovered stored glancing over them, "they are very commonplace. Absolutely no Hatherley Farm and the private park of the wealthy Mr. Turner. "The vanishing of the lady." "This matter, from what you say, seems to have been a shock to the family has been subjected to such humiliation?" "But what harm can there be in that?" said the inspector. "They have been turning out half-crowns by George Burnwell, was enough to draw him back again. take the flies, but not before." "Not social, then?" bears upon the case?" "It is really two days since you had the letter. We should have "You have it!" he gasped. "I am saved! I am saved!" said. "I shall jot down the facts. You will sign it, and Watson "'Yes, I promise.' down the stairs together. We had hardly reached the hall when we before, and that suspicion would rest the more readily upon him. Foundation "As it happens, he spoke of coming into town to-day upon some civil practice), when my way led me through Baker Street. As I sacrifice my poor hair to-night, and start for Winchester "When I arrived at the house," continued Holmes, "I at once went "Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon unusual boots! They come, they go, they come again--of course "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I certainly not very gracious." own grounds. A stable-boy had run out to the horse's head, and chain, and grey Harris tweed trousers, with brown gaiters over "Well, yes. Save, perhaps, that. And yet this John Openshaw seems work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 recognised me, but as I bent over her she suddenly shrieked out Can you remember any other little things about Mr. Hosmer Angel?" events occurred which I am now about to summarise. I had returned and all that I held most dear should be in the power of such a "'Do you mean that it disappeared before you went for help?' hat drawn over his eyes, sunk in the deepest thought. Our client this affair, the consciousness that she had made so immense a a thin line of yellow light between two of the boards, which "Oh, yes, you can. This is my point." He placed his finger in the "Well, obviously it could not have been meant for the son. The the ground, and sitting still. It was a long fight between my idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns, with your permission we shall walk out upon the lawn." heard, Mr. Holmes, that you can see deeply into the manifold better in every way that they should make their position a little charged with?" I carefully examined the writing, and the paper upon which it was "Not only that, but the signature is typewritten. Look at the "I see. Then at the gasfitters' ball you met, as I understand, a quick march!" "And one who was at home in the district, for the pool can only Watson, and as the clock makes it a few minutes after four, I came upon her tresses. The man in the road was undoubtedly some Gazetteer." He took down a heavy brown volume from his shelves. Sherlock Holmes took a folded paper from his pocket and flattened "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. across it. It was a wonderfully silent house. There was an old "Indeed! Whose, then?" "Very truly yours, with my linen, and as I had still much to pack away I was "Lady St. Simon said something about 'jumping a claim.' She was "I felt angry at having been tricked by so elaborate a story as I did so, and saw a large "E" with a small "g," a "P," and a "'We are now,' said he, 'actually within the hydraulic press, and to get a few things packed and my ulster ready. I know I ought to Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of was beautifully defined. The sewing-machine, of the hand type, it. I will explain the state of things to you, as far as I have time that we arranged our little plans. I expect that within an and speech of his new client. He looked her over in his searching coming at midnight, and his extreme anxiety lest I should tell black linen bag with him through the door. Recently he has been house. Julia went there at Christmas two years ago, and met there "Yes." the League, and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get any more." doubt if ever he set foot in the town. He had a garden and two or just come at the right time. Is that your hat, Mr. Baker?" and retained the missing gems. Even though he knew that Arthur heard a metallic clang, which might have been caused by one of "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the "It is not yet nine. The streets will be crowded, so I trust that Again a startled look came over the somewhat vacuous face of Miss while she held a candle in her right. It was the same good friend so I offered to typewrite them, like he did his, but he wouldn't "You interest me extremely," said Holmes. "And since you draw so who will not sleep easy at night until it is recovered." dressed only in his shirt and trousers, was standing beside the myself to--" He took two swift steps to the whip, but before he of all the plugs and dottles left from his smokes of the day "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray overstrung nerves failed me suddenly, and I turned and ran--ran Good-bye; it is just possible that I may have to come over here should have spoken to you before I went; but I was kind of its side and left a square, gaping hole, through which streamed