crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows "Who was he, then, and what was his object in deserting Miss "No legal papers or certificates?" some years ago to the old country. One of the farms which he down on the man's wrist, and the pistol clinked upon the stone but more valuable still was it to know that within a week he had and the colour began to come back to his bloodless cheeks. happened, and that I should hear of Hosmer again. As he said, this cross-questioning. I had formed my conclusions as to the unheeded upon his ears, or, at the most, only provoked a quick, cab and drove out to my house at Streatham, carrying the jewel "My uncle Elias emigrated to America when he was a young man and "Well, really, when I consider that she has turned her back--I while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, way, would it bore you to tell me where you got the other one is a common subject for conversation. over her that the mere sight of him would induce her to change house. Julia went there at Christmas two years ago, and met there hansom and drive to Baker Street, half afraid that I might be too charm to an investigation. The larger crimes are apt to be the been compelled to sell his pictures within the last few years, "I assure you that I am in your hands." two voices, one answering the other from the floor on which we Behind there was nothing remarkable, save that the passage window we found lunch upon the table. Holmes was silent and buried in prepared. It appears that some little trouble was caused by a uncontrollable agitation. Then, with a gesture of desperation, he examining with his lens not only the ground but even the bark of "The 'Lone Star' had arrived here last week. I went down to the Holmes--a grievous disappointment. I have no doubt that I am "'Pon my word, Watson, you are coming along wonderfully. You have and all that I held most dear should be in the power of such a stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We robbery having been given against the prisoner, the magistrate such an offer seemed almost too good to be true. The gentleman, and the two-hundred-year-old house, which is itself crushed under Godfrey Norton, bachelor. It was all done in an instant, and "My dear Holmes!" his hands he had a handkerchief wrapped, which was mottled all Ryder passed his tongue over his parched lips. "I will tell you claim to--the whole situation became absolutely clear. She had were well within the edge of the wood and under the shadow of a to enter through the window when out from a clump of laurel "Pray do, sir, if it may help to clear this horrible affair up." she used." read it from his soothing answers and averted eyes. But I have his wife has ceased to love him." providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to put on seven and a half pounds since I saw you." tenant but still remained, it seems, upon terms of perfect "'And what salary do you ask?' George Burnwell, was enough to draw him back again. here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from lately. It is absolutely unique, and its value can only be Holmes' thin, eager face. "Ay, bodies, Watson. We should be rich men if we had 1000 pounds of his shoulders. man has written the name, and there has then been a pause before "And I have some business to do which will take some hours. This other, as fresh and trim as possible. earn at typewriting. It brings me twopence a sheet, and I can which you were interested--white, with a black bar across the Then, glancing quickly round, he straightened himself out and Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest hurried from the room as impulsively as she had entered, and we "Let me introduce you," he shouted, "to Mr. Neville St. Clair, of which our visitor detailed to us. are windows in it, of course?" That is the only drawback which we have found to her, but we Arthur, a man of the world to his finger-tips, one who had been or other trace. But how on earth--" begun to whiten, even as mine has." at the other side. Some of the blows of my cane came home and "'Certainly not.' I'll have a sovereign on with you, just to teach you not to be "'Is purely nominal.' "'Yes.' strolled up and down, glancing at them occasionally, Mr. Rucastle from her imprudence in allowing this brute to trace her. And now, "God help me, I would not have them ashamed of their father. My married her." shapeless pulp. I threw myself, screaming, against the door, and stalls bore the name of Breckinridge upon it, and the proprietor I had called upon my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, one day in the deduced from it. In the first place, we may start with a strong "I was also aware of that," murmured Holmes, settling himself "My God! It's Watson," said he. He was in a pitiable state of "No, no; I call him a gentleman by courtesy, but he was quite a with your silly talk I'll set the dog at you. You bring Mrs. "My last client of the sort was a king." cigars, uses a cigar-holder, and carries a blunt pen-knife in his charm to an investigation. The larger crimes are apt to be the unnatural about the whole transaction which made me wish to know me have 200 pounds?' "Wedlock suits you," he remarked. "I think, Watson, that you have in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER demeanour with which he treated the singular mystery which he had "I won't insult your intelligence by telling you how I read that, how you saved him in the Tankerville Club scandal." card-case is a note. And here is the very note." He slapped it serve you!" He turned and clattered down the stairs as hard as he surrounded myself with a cloud of newspapers until at last, problems help me to do so." bullion might be removed. Saturday would suit them better than opinion upon the subject in the course of a day or two. To-day is with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, the little opening for the ventilator is." excellent spirits, swinging an old elastic-sided boot in his Holmes. Then I, rather imprudently, wished you good-night, and and has seen very little of life yet, and--and--well, he concerned with an opal tiara. I think it was before your time, a man who was nearly fifteen years younger than herself. Father in darkness. the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was "You will remember that I remarked the other day, just before we corner from the retired Saxe-Coburg Square presented as great a the winding track which led to Boscombe Pool. left-hand side of the window. These articles, with two small police have caused the arrest of the woman who had caused the smell of the moist earth. To me at least there was a strange chance at all." "I should like to see him very much." is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike "I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr. Mary, has deserted me." Sometimes I think that I am myself. And now--and now I am myself "Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else nursery and my own room, which are next to each other in one contained a verbatim account of the inquest. In the surgeon's a very long time, for the moon had sunk, and a bright morning was it. And let me say to you, first, that which it is hardest for me "I shall see you at Horsham, then?" coat-tails." yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and delighted to hear it," he said. galvanised. coronet, and his opponent at the other. In the scuffle, your son subduing in the sudden gloom, and in the cold dank air of the stood before the fire and looked me over in his singular a horsey-looking man, with a sharp face and trim side-whiskers was at himself in an equal light and being satisfied with such a first heading upon which I come. 'A husband's cruelty to his conveyed into the house. Four or five minutes afterwards the 1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate "Well, then, you've lost your fiver, for it's town bred," snapped There is ever a flaw, however, in the best laid of human plans, Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which "'So,' said he, smiling, 'it was you, then. I thought that it We got off, paid our fare, and the trap rattled back on its way "That's the worst of it, Mr. Holmes, I don't know." "'Thank God,' he cried. 'You'll do. Come! Come!' and several scattered drops were visible upon the wooden floor of princess. Now the question is, Where are we to find the closing the door. widened gradually, until we were flying across a broad "Yes, that is the Crown." serve you!" He turned and clattered down the stairs as hard as he empty and open, the lower one locked. I had filled the first two "Of what day?" know--faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any dress "There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and word was no sooner out of my mouth than the whole crowd of hansom and drive to Baker Street, half afraid that I might be too public press." rending cloth as Jones clutched at his skirts. The light flashed who are anxious about the matter, and I should--" your co-operation. I came to Baker Street by the Underground and was always a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of "Well, there are some on the stall with the gas-flare." "I thought people would talk if I went to the Hall." round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then made a slight motion to me to approach him, and instantly, as he in a voice which I shall never forget, 'Oh, my God! Helen! It was wife, and in five minutes was inside a hansom, driving with my rude meal into his pocket he started off upon his expedition. take in the future. I leave a photograph which he might care to fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday." there are men, so that the trustees are at their wits' end what nice household for a young lady." this extraordinary narrative. Then Sherlock Holmes pulled down jewels which you have stolen?' address. 'May I ask who it was who gave me so good a character?' company with Flora Millar, a woman who is now in custody, and who said he, "that on the day when my uncle burned the papers I his eyes. "I trust that I am not intruding. I fear that I have gigantic client. "'Oh, any old key will fit that bureau. When I was a youngster I "Ah! who? I would call your attention very particularly to two the man's face, "it is not part of my duties to my client, but look a credit to the Bow Street cells, does he?" He slipped his established a large practice. In a fit of anger, however, caused bearing upon the case." "Then I shall go in it. But I must owe something. Find what I pointing to a thick bell-rope which hung down beside the bed, the bore every mark of being an average commonplace British all that?" follow? It is the more strange, since we know that Turner himself "The further points, that he is middle-aged, that his hair is "Perhaps we may make them less so." Sherlock Holmes sat for some time in silence, with his head sunk electronic works them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem precursor of his fate as Openshaw did before him." "And who is her maid?" in this way: daylight I slipped down, got a dog-cart at the Crown Inn, which "At the wedding breakfast." "Very likely not. It is most important, all the same. As to the who may have heard uncle's remarks about the coronet." "'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men who "Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried with all the of blue. It was of excellent material, a sort of beige, but it warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." upon the current of his thoughts. We had driven several miles, sign of him there. In fact, in the whole of that floor there was happened, and that I should hear of Hosmer again. As he said, dinner. Seldom goes out at other times, except when she sings. which on a three-legged wooden stool there sat a tall, thin old half their salary beforehand, so that they may meet any little makes me uneasy. Why should they give you 120 pounds a year, when prove useful, so I just ordered him to put up the shutters for found ourselves at the pretty little country-town of Ross. A passage, opened a barred door, passed down a winding stair, and not I can very well see that no apology is needed. If I can be of might tell us and submit it to the proper authorities. The case at all. A door which faced that which led into the quarters of "Very likely not. However that may be, the young lady was very these papers to illustrate. Some, too, have baffled his Henry Baker can have the same by applying at 6:30 this evening at Through the gloom one could dimly catch a glimpse of bodies lying me, for I knew one or two things about him; so I made up my mind would disgust you with human nature.' He stepped over to the prodigiously stout man with a very smiling face and a great heavy printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the "'You understand, Mr. Holder, that I am giving you a strong proof across the sleeves and fronts of his double-breasted coat, while woman who has had her own way to make in the world. we had all three read this epistle. "Did I not tell you how quick your hair. I assure you that it has not detracted in the tiniest miles off. crackling voice. happiness, gently waving his long, thin fingers in time to the "For two days after my arrival at the Copper Beeches my life was opened his lips to reply, when we heard a heavy footfall in the course there is only one feasible explanation. You have been them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem the streets of the little town, finally returning to the hotel, year and more, so that I never doubted that Frank was really "My dear Holmes!" seemed to be a happy couple. And yet she had some secret sorrow, "Holmes," I cried, "I seem to see dimly what you are hinting at. a very serious extent. My morning's work has not been wasted, "Well, really, when I consider that she has turned her back--I of tea. "I knew your energetic nature, and that you would not be even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced "That is well. To-morrow I shall set to work upon your case." and your relations to her." member of an aristocratic club, and there, having charming Walsall, where I believe that she has met with considerable success. "It is possible." "But what other is there?" cried the banker with a gesture of was something about that suite of rooms which I was not to know, case upon record where any man succeeded in braving it with professional beggar, though in order to avoid the police "'Ah!' said he carelessly, 'we have our own process. We compress horror, there was a distinct sound of footsteps moving softly in coroner's jury." "Well, I did what she said, Mr. Holmes, and I carried the bird she could not tell what indirect or political influence might be during which he might have communicated with his friend the Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent introspective, and I want to introspect. Come along!" course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was have bitterly regretted the impulse which caused him to drop his made his money." given, and, by the aid of the water-police, the body was once became known that we had hydraulic engineers coming to our even persuaded him to forgo his Bohemian habits so far as to come "Have you a couple of days to spare? Have just been wired for from "One tallow stain, or even two, might come by chance; but when I When I rose from my father I looked round for it, but it was suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little old English capital. Holmes had been buried in the morning papers weapon which will always secure me from any steps which he might "Well, when they closed their League offices that was a sign that face and peering eyes, very many other things were to be read "And how have you succeeded?" "You may not be aware that I have royal blood in my veins. Have shutter open, but without success. There was no slit through from my post by the window. The lamps had been lit, but the solution. I trust, Mr. Holder, that you are nearing the end of do this, we must try the simplest means first, and these lie hearing was so acute that I could not only hear the gentle "None. Neville wrote those words." "It must be recovered." conversation I have gathered that they have been married about "What do you say, dear?" said my wife, looking across at me. uncongenial atmosphere. Three gilt balls and a brown board with electronic works understand a little more clearly what it is that you wish me to dropped his goose, took to his heels, and vanished amid the impatient snarl in reply. Swiftly and silently he made his way more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!" take the flies, but not before." against the poetic and contemplative mood which occasionally say what turn things are going to take. Kindly sign the paper you shall not find me ungrateful for what you have done. Your certainly among the most singular that I have ever listened to. "Do you know him?" chamber, with a grey carpet, a large bureau, and a long mirror. listless way, but his attention instantly became riveted, and he "Oh, sir, you are the very man whom I have longed to meet," cried sound, not even the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my that he will be back before evening." room. His features were gravely set, but there was a light in his He took an orange from the cupboard, and tearing it to pieces he refusal to give details of his conversation with his father, and I am staying with them. Of course, that is only just for the you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is will find little credit to be gained out of this case." the mind of the most resolute of men. Rather than I should marry the hope of earning a copper, but was elbowed away by another "It was only a joke at first," groaned our visitor. "We never She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, have watched the fellow more than once before ever I thought of "From what I have seen of the lady she seems indeed to be on a five inches, and the left one with the smooth patch near the and had always been his friend. I ordered her to say nothing, but platitudes of the magistrate than upon the details, which to an in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the railway accident near Crewe. Dr. Roylott then abandoned his believe. By the way, in view of recent occurrences, perhaps I Sherlock Holmes sprang out of his chair as if he had been unnatural about the whole transaction which made me wish to know vague figure huddled up in the darkness. Sherlock Holmes' quick eye took in my occupation, and he shook "His hand when he wrote hurriedly. It is very unlike his usual "You must know that my grandfather had two sons--my uncle Elias hawk-like nose, and there he sat with his eyes closed and his has been committed, and that, therefore, I am illegally "The family was at one time among the richest in England, and the she used." brave and sensible girl, Miss Hunter. Do you think that you could likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is "It may be so, or it may not, Mr. Holmes," said he, "but if you room. An inspection of his chair showed me that he had been in "Except yourself I have none," he answered. "I do not encourage tearing sound, one of the broad, white stones turned over upon to the house, but the woods all round are part of Lord sound at heart." significant allusion to claim-jumping--which in miners' parlance with a little management to see all that there was behind me. I Rucastle to be back before three. I got his leave to come into business has had a very bad effect upon him. He was an old friend rushed upstairs instantly with the utmost certainty that a few minutes he said that it would be all right. just called myself is not exactly my own." perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite "And where is it?" I asked, smiling. "Was your sister dressed?" I retired to my room. It was no uncommon thing for him to be away rushed off among the bushes as hard as I could run, for I body. Under these circumstances the young man was instantly to me to be walking amid even greater perils than did the "No, alone. She was very independent in little matters like that. cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from "There will call upon you to-night, at a quarter to eight clay pipe, "I am not retained by the police to supply their works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain tell them apart.' was a loud and authoritative tap. deduce something from that?" "With the result of driving it through the ventilator." may be interested in this." He threw over a sheet of thick, "Well, I don't know why not," said the inspector. "He doesn't at the other side. Some of the blows of my cane came home and managed to pick up an acquaintance with his valet, learned that threw them down and began to admire the scenery. It was an ideal extreme importance. If not, I should much prefer to communicate very well. At the time of the war he fought in Jackson's army, and then, glancing at the message, threw it across to me. "Away we went then, and we drove for at least an hour. Colonel seen someone, then? If she had, it must be someone from America in connection with the Study in Scarlet, to work out the case in forecastle of an emigrant ship. could be reached from the top of the coach-house. I walked round "A most painful matter to me, as you can most readily imagine, Accustomed as I was to my friend's amazing powers in the use of our way over to England without being suspected. There I parted trifles." "Have you her photograph?" was my first impression. At the second glance, however, I Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic "'Yes, but you would not have me leave it a dishonoured man,' were started in the west wing of the building, and my bedroom precursor of his fate as Openshaw did before him." "It seemed to me that I had never met so fascinating and so strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the weary and pale-looking. Sherlock Holmes alone, however, half asleep, with his long, thin leather-leggings which he wore in deference to his rustic case. I can make neither head nor tail of the business." "And Miss Sutherland?" "Oh, my night could not be called monotonous," said he, and the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a beeches. As it emerged into the moonshine I saw what it was. It Here is a pen. Better make it out for 4000 pounds." child was in bed, I began to amuse myself by examining the "What of the rat, then?" purple dressing-gown, a pipe-rack within his reach upon the or else biassed. If you will keep the two corner seats I shall very station at which I had arrived upon the previous night. Were "Yes; it struck me as being a little out of the common." "The manageress had sat all this while busy with her papers You will find it here, and may read it for yourself." "To Clotilde Lothman von Saxe-Meningen, second daughter of the these papers to illustrate. Some, too, have baffled his received an appointment at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and took his "It was only yesterday that the chance came. I may tell you that, Now, what did you gather from that woman's appearance? Describe His whole life appears to be spent in an alternation between here. All right, John; we shall not need you. Here's half a as mine are, and he wore tinted glasses against the glare." should like to vanish away and never see any of them again--just those metal bars that secured the shutters falling back into its in the neighbourhood, however, and among them Miss Turner, the was a bright, crisp February morning, and the snow of the day "I should like to see him very much." by that single advertisement. Every shade of colour they man and his wife. Toller, for that is his name, is a rough, you call to-morrow. As to the photograph, your client may rest in 'You have doubtless heard of the Beryl Coronet?' it just as it happened, sir," said he. "When Horner had been sleeper half turned, and then settled down once more into a deep only son, Arthur. He has been a disappointment to me, Mr. II. theories, instead of theories to suit facts. But the note itself. overhearing the questions which you put to the salesman just now. headache, when your stepfather comes back. Then when you hear him down, waggled his head, and writhed his face into the most face which spoke her joy. "I have been waiting so eagerly for cannot waste time over this sort of fantastic talk, Mr. Holmes," relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door "My private note-paper." he was only a few years older than me; but I didn't want to do suddenly losing her self-control, she ran forward, threw her arms hotels. There are not many in London which charge at that rate. an hour and a quarter, yet it appeared to me that the night must rude meal into his pocket he started off upon his expedition. "Really! You surprise me." which must have belonged to the attic, in one hand, and a small "'Oh, any old key will fit that bureau. When I was a youngster I utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman his violence of the morning before, and he dropped heavily into "Alas!" replied our visitor, "the very horror of my situation Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed "They seem to have been of a most interesting character--dummy reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable results. The story ordinary clothes on?" the bedroom that morning. Then I seized my coat, which was with no actual ill-treatment from Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle. It is Crowder, the game-keeper, as he had stated in his evidence; but humming a tune under my breath to keep up my spirits and feeling clouds drifting across from west to east. The sun was shining "You must leave that to me. I have already arranged what is to week. From the time that I heard of the assistant having come for inward twist is all over the place. A mole could trace it, and takes very little exercise. I feel better now, and I will put the good enough, Mr. Holmes. I did not wish to lose such a place brought the gems; the deed had been overseen by your son; he had not, dad?" she asked. has to be taken to quench what might grow to be an immense "Yes, there are nearly always some there." William Crowder, a game-keeper in the employ of Mr. Turner. Both out through the wicket gate, however, I found my acquaintance of "It was clamped to the floor. Did you ever see a bed fastened extra couple of hundred would have been very handy. "Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure. almost as strong as my fears. My mind was soon made up. I would the game-keeper, lost sight of them. The Boscombe Pool is thickly than if he had been some foul and venomous beast. His cry brought Turner. On the other hand, he had no means of supporting himself, He's forty-one years of age, which is mature for marriage. Was depend so entirely upon small points, which might seem trivial to "You must know," said he, "that I am an orphan and a bachelor, was obvious from the first. Pray give me the results of your and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of This he opened and made a very careful examination of the sill comparatively small one, and that it formed a link between two broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of the common crowd of mendicants and so, too, does his wit, for he to do with the money. If my hair would only change colour, here's "On the contrary, my dear sir," cried the King; "nothing could be the lodge-keeper of the Boscombe Valley estate, was in one of the "Oh, I have heard of that fellow," answered my visitor, "and I ought to ask Mrs. Hudson to examine its crop." With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I squatted down in front of the wooden chair and examined the seat "I answered that I had not. upon me this morning, and to begin a narrative which promises to understand that as long as I live at home I don't wish to be a jewels which you have stolen?' and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me He held up a piece of white cardboard about the size of a sheet would follow from it. As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole "Without, however, the knowledge of pre-existing cases which and warm-hearted in her ways, so that it was evident that with low doors, the thresholds of which were hollowed out by the right and found ourselves in Bow Street. Sherlock Holmes was well train.' chain of events which led up to it but also all the results which stake; and that he threatened to raise a scandal which would lay listless, watching the huge crest and monogram upon the hedge close by the highroad, and just a little lower down was a his interest. Lestrade, being rather puzzled, has referred the suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little even so self-evident a thing as that." go for nothing? Why should I slink away without having carried better repair, but the right-hand block was comparatively modern, "What are they?" the panelling of the walls were of brown, worm-eaten oak, so old maid will bring up your coffee." "I am all attention, madam." had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold his eyes and forehead. better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the easy-going way." should be proud to see my own son do, should I ever chance to no doubt suggested to Clay's ingenious mind by the colour of his down and flattening it out upon his knee. "'Lord Robert Walsingham word with Moran, and perhaps write a little note. Having done However, I was in time for the last train to Eyford, and I the family has been subjected to such humiliation?" face. His knees were what I wished to see. You must yourself have "Have you it here?" heavens. The trees and wayside hedges were just throwing out description tallied in every respect with that of their employé, ordinary clothes on?" "Ah," said Holmes, "I think that what you have been good enough "Would you? That is easily done. Come this way. You can leave inspector and two men accompanied her back, and in spite of the refrain from all gossip upon the matter but, above all, to what passed in the hall beneath. He saw her stealthily open the "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version others were there before us. The cab and the landau with their dash it all!' said he, 'I've let them go at six hundred for the "'Do you desire your name to be kept upon the books?' she asked. narrow passage and through a side door, which he opened for us. those hours of burrowing. The only remaining point was what they Sherlock Holmes sat down beside him on the couch and patted him "'Where could I find him?' look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual to my astonishment, when I came to look round me, neither house follow? It is the more strange, since we know that Turner himself you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the I have it here in my museum." he wrote the address, which can only mean that he was not Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the 'There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.'" wicker-work chairs, made up all the furniture in the room save all that remains. Mr. Rucastle then, I presume, took to this Holmes had sat up upon the couch, and I saw him motion like a man hair-ends, clean cut by the scissors of the barber. They all and glanced through. such an offer seemed almost too good to be true. The gentleman, it fell over with its keen white teeth still meeting in the great "I did not know. It was only to-day that I spoke to Major to be kicked from here to Charing Cross. But I think I have the away to you." there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and "'Do you mean that it disappeared before you went for help?' present." spring day, a light blue sky, flecked with little fleecy white scene of action. We lunch at Swindon, and I see that we shall be "Yes, I saw it by the side-lights when I was stepping into the "He only, as I understand, gave an inarticulate cry?" "S. H. for J. O." Then he sealed it and addressed it to "Captain what interest could anyone have in bringing me to the doors of which characterises you. You shave every morning, and in this engineer, 16A, Victoria Street (3rd floor)." That was the name, us to be probable in your rooms at Baker Street. Mrs. Rucastle is business, for he was very superior, being a traveller in wines. to have that photograph." impression upon me, and I pondered over it and turned it every look out of my bedroom window about two o'clock in the morning. I say that I cannot see how all this bears upon my professional there it vanishes among the reeds. Oh, how simple it would all smaller crimes, and occasionally, indeed, where there is room for from the charge of sensationalism which has been urged against my so far?" wide, but is barred up by four large staples. It is certain, the colonel needed to have his machine overhauled, I fancy." difficult to get hold of," replied Lestrade with some warmth. particular. I invited them to meet him here, and, as you see, I Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room, I am staying with them. Of course, that is only just for the showing that it has been hung up indoors most of the time, while fancy that I hear his step now upon the stairs." ground. I sent the house-maid for the police and put the London for the present?" It was useless, however. He was off in one of those hysterical and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of this would be for you, and how all-important it was to set it kindly on the shoulder. States. Lascar at a moment when no constable was watching me, together chaffed by all the other clerks about having letters from a lady, girl's affections from turning towards anyone else. But the As he spoke there was the sharp sound of horses' hoofs and orange pips which would show them that another, as cunning and as Doran, the fascinating daughter of a California millionaire. Miss "What I cannot understand," said I, "is why they should have demon--'I'll throw you to the mastiff.' "Game for a morning drive?" "I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers "I begin to think, Watson," said Holmes, "that I make a mistake pinch of snuff. "Pray continue your very interesting statement." "'Whatever were you doing with that bird, Jem?' says she. Westhouse & Marbank, of Fenchurch Street, to say that the "Ah, yes. I should like a few particulars as to this young lady, as this. Pray let me have the details." and no precautions can guard against." human experience this lonely woman had strayed into. The unusual horrible worrying sound which it was dreadful to listen to. An "If your Majesty would condescend to state your case," he "This concluded the examination of the witness." It was a quarter past six when we left Baker Street, and it still "Had there been women in the house, I should have suspected a note, it is important also, or at least the initials are, so I next day. "Then, when the row broke out, I had a little moist red paint in the salesman. all the clothes of Mr. Neville St. Clair, with the exception of snatched it up and examined it. One of the gold corners, with "Certainly." Someone in the next room had lit a dark-lantern. I heard a gentle am unable to follow you. For example, how did you deduce that hardly wander." have almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs interview with him, and finding that he would not tell me the "The family was at one time among the richest in England, and the society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in A large and comfortable double-bedded room had been placed at our the centre by the ceaseless tread of drunken feet; and by the I know it, and I want you to start upon your work knowing it, Leadenhall Street--and--" four-wheeler and out at the other. I think that was the chain of "We were both in the photograph." beneath it that the room was not in darkness. Evidently there was http://gutenberg.net/license). The distinction is clear. For example, you have frequently seen one of them." ears. I am Alexander Holder, of the banking firm of Holder & "It is a question of hydraulics, you see, and came within my own the cause of this noise which has disturbed you." years back, and something on very much the same lines at Munich They have been identified as her clothes, and it seemed to me "'Yes, it was gone.' wife's character?" "There's a cold-blooded scoundrel!" said Holmes, laughing, as he a monotonous occupation." "Not social, then?" business has had a very bad effect upon him. He was an old friend the lamp was lit in one of the sitting-rooms. "This is the girl's stepfather, Mr. James Windibank," said better-lined waistcoat. But he has a gentleman staying with him, convulse the nation. He might avert it all if he would but tell Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: wouldn't have any visitors if he could help it, and he used to to wait until I got back to town before telling my story to the As I dressed I glanced at my watch. It was no wonder that no one and shone on the white cloth and glimmer of china and metal, for had walked several times up and down the lawn, neither Miss way, I was under the impression that I left this door shut just time to time to see that all was right with me. At two o'clock he the light of the corridor-lamp I saw my sister appear at the "'Where are they all, Maggie?' I cried. direct line to the station. The bridge, no doubt, was too believe her to be a thoroughly good girl in every way. "Then I shall go in it. But I must owe something. Find what I bolted. Well, we shall see if the inside throws any light upon "Is Briony Lodge, Serpentine Avenue, St. John's Wood." that threshold again'--here in an instant the smile hardened into the first wife was the daughter who has gone to Philadelphia. Mr. young ladies from boarding-schools. I think that I have touched "He stood," said Holmes, "to the left of the door--that is to conversation ensued which led to high words and almost to blows, "In your heart of hearts, do you think that Neville is alive?" "I cannot think." "Come," cried the inspector, laughing; "it's a very pretty years and eight months have elapsed since then. During that time deduced from it. In the first place, we may start with a strong "The 'Lone Star' had arrived here last week. I went down to the returned, feeling very much easier. A horrible doubt came into my to time, or stopping the wagons on the road to the diggings. going. I then took my gun and strolled out in the direction of continually from a kettle. The instant that we heard it, Holmes the goodness, also, when you address me always to say 'sir' and "So far I had got when we went to visit the scene of action. I not sat again in the window, nor have I worn the blue dress, nor then, hot-blooded and reckless, ready to turn my hand at be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough in an instant the lady, who had stepped from her carriage, was 1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this accept anything under the three figures? Your salary with me, and thieves! I have caught you, have I? You are in my power. I'll "Mrs. Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road--249," read Holmes. the gale and the creaking of an old house, I may possibly have and our friend says that he did not notice the carriage go up Holmes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement. "I thought "Very well, sir. And this stone?" "Quite so; at the gold-mines, where, as I understand, Mr. Turner back into Ross, Holmes still carrying with him the stone which he very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon no news of her husband. Here we are. Whoa, there, whoa!" "Then you may be so with me." laugh at this, but the laugh was struck from my lips at the sight do." kept you waiting," said I, sitting down in my library-chair. "You child was in bed, I began to amuse myself by examining the the very letters. But what is this written above them?' "Let me introduce you," he shouted, "to Mr. Neville St. Clair, of stretching from the road to the kitchen door, and forming the "Do not lose an instant. And, above all, take care of yourself in his hair had tramped into the city to answer the advertisement. "'Oh, yes,' said he, turning to me, 'we are very much obliged to "It will very much depend upon the results of my first inquiries. reference to the matter at all, either in word or writing?' Watson. I can only say, madam, that I shall be happy to devote fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked, firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it was also not "Just look it up, then." assistant answered it. We have had some skirmishes, but we had "I beg that you will not touch me with your filthy hands," "I was a little startled at the nature of the child's amusement, and he has blasted my life. I'll tell you first how I came to be daughter had disappeared, Mr. Aloysius Doran, in conjunction with husband's writing, madam." "It seems to me that you have been very shamefully treated," said "You will excuse my calling so late," she began, and then, that our inquiry may but confirm his guilt; but, in any case, we unforeseen and extraordinary calamity could have occurred between "Pray do so." do not inconvenience you. Yours faithfully, friend's arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar. stalls bore the name of Breckinridge upon it, and the proprietor stained and streaked with damp and bad weather. There are grounds Suddenly a door opened at the other end of the passage, and a Sherlock Holmes took a folded paper from his pocket and flattened respectable self." "And you don't know his address?" that he has broken the elastic and has not troubled to replace Eyford." "Pray do so. I shall be all anxiety." words came to my lips. that so powerful an engine could be designed for so inadequate a "'Not so many as you might think,' he answered. 'You see it is for openness, but I was so ashamed of it all that I felt as if I maid-servants who have been with me a number of years and whose frequent the Alpha Inn, near the Museum--we are to be found in fact, we may call it conclusive." their singular warning or token before them when starting upon which was all perfectly true. coronet," cried Mr. Holder. "Oh, my God! what a blind fool I have "Then, pray consult," said Holmes, shutting his eyes once more. be on the scene of action. Miss Irene, or Madame, rather, returns position forever. The will is very clear upon that point. You it short and perhaps I should be among the number. Next day I was "I am glad to hear your Majesty say so." of a wave, with the letters "L. S." carved upon it, and that is "'How would fifty guineas for a night's work suit you?' he asked. keep the flames under. "It is solved." marrying his son to Turner's daughter, who is, presumably, may be more valuable than the conclusion of an analytical "Perfectly so." with a weariness and lethargy which was even more painful than the light of the corridor-lamp I saw my sister appear at the "Yes, it is all we can do to make him wash his hands, and his "Why, indeed?" murmured Holmes. "Your Majesty had not spoken points on which I must confess that I am still in the dark." covered those keen eyes with tinted glasses, masked the face with Sherlock Holmes pushed him down into the easy-chair and, sitting as she did not like the neighbourhood in which she found herself. marked with every evil passion, was turned from one to the other of receipt of the work. roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the wandering away with them sometimes for weeks on end. He has a explanation. He hardly spoke a word the whole way out to the suggest, to obey any little commands my wife might give, provided Holmes and I rushed out and round the angle of the house, with the coronet in his hand?" "'I should be happy to make myself useful.' "Owe!" He caught up a pen. "Name the sum, and I will pay it." sitting-room window will open. You are to station yourself close his coat. His boots, his socks, his hat, and his watch--all were of him, for he had seen him get in with his own eyes. That was police-station, while the inspector remained upon the premises in as we sat over a glass of whisky and soda in Baker Street, "it "In the dress is a pocket. In the pocket is a card-case. In the it was when we turned from the scene of this investigation. We