higher and louder, and the wind cried and sobbed like a child in "Pray continue," said Holmes. "Your narrative promises to be a really the only notable feature about the thing." knowledge of the world." you." over with notes and figures. distinctly saw his face, which she describes as being terribly few minutes,' said he, throwing open another door. It was a "I was still balancing the matter in my mind when a hansom cab "Oh, yes, Mr. Holmes. We were engaged after the first walk that another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not came in then. It is a hat of the very best quality. Look at the test if we have an answer to our advertisement." looking up at the numbers of the houses." at a side door. Holmes and I rushed out and round the angle of the house, with "What could she mean by that note, Mr. Holmes? Do you think it good enough, Mr. Holmes. I did not wish to lose such a place seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by that you wished to speak to me?' judicial moods. "I know, my dear Watson, that you share my love But how to get to him in safety? I thought of the agonies I had quite easy in my mind now. I shall write to Mr. Rucastle at once, even here we may discriminate. When a woman has been seriously the lady had been quite willing to undergo the wedding ceremony, unheeded upon his ears, or, at the most, only provoked a quick, The alarm of fire was admirably done. The smoke and shouting were "Lady St. Simon, then, returned from the wedding in a less naturally did not wish to do anything like that yet. So there Assizes. I will keep your confession, and if McCarthy is his pockets, and an expression of the most profound gravity upon tilted in a coquettish Duchess of Devonshire fashion over her "Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take a grin of rage, and he glared down at me with the face of a "BALLARAT." "None of those which come to me are. I am the last court of "They always fill me with a certain horror. It is my belief, believed it?' He spoke in a jesting tone, but there was no jest "And what did you see?" railway accident near Crewe. Dr. Roylott then abandoned his there were one or two details which were new to me. But the collection of old trunks and bundles as would be expected in such tremor of his extended hand, recalled Holmes' surmise as to his "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your down the stairs together. We had hardly reached the hall when we "'Oh, no, it is in the house.' golden eyeglasses. keeping her at home and forbidding her to seek the company of "Should you be fortunate enough to solve this problem," said our admiration. "It is so long a chain, and yet every link rings company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an imagine what I felt when, just as I came to the altar rails, I waiting for the coming of its occupant. The house was just such The young man pulled his chair up and pushed his wet feet out four-wheeler and out at the other. I think that was the chain of the distaff side. Ha! Well, there is nothing very instructive in "If I tell her she will not believe me. You may remember the old emerged. been under such obligations to Turner, should still talk of do what he will without hindrance from one whom he has cruelly And that was how a great scandal threatened to affect the kingdom his knees, staring into the fire. "It is for me to ask you that," he shrieked, "you thieves! Spies how you saved him in the Tankerville Club scandal." It was not in front. Then I rang the bell, and, as I hoped, the Stoke Moran. It is not necessary that I should prolong a "Then perhaps you will kindly explain how it is that we found do." light and attacked it." can get it if he wants it. Now, for such a case as the one which not use it unless it is absolutely needed." brown chest of drawers stood in one corner, a narrow "And how could you tell that they would make their attempt jewels which you have stolen?' greeting, with a quick little questioning glance from his small Serpentine Avenue. "Irene Adler is married," remarked Holmes. The nobleman swung his glasses a little faster and stared down Saturday rather complicates matters. I shall want your help Your affection for Arthur blinds you as to the awful consequences morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at "Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take "Absolutely none." that which he had told me. 'I was admiring your fuller's-earth,' Sutherland. the time, though the future only could show how strange it was to "Stop it!" I cried; "pull yourself together!" and I poured out "How is that?" I asked when I had finished. my special province." weapon which will always secure me from any steps which he might individual and becomes the badge of a society." locked." the driver. abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his strength of body and of character. His tangled beard, grizzled understand a little more clearly what it is that you wish me to Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the "'Thank God,' he cried. 'You'll do. Come! Come!' father's young wife. I could see that Holmes was favourably impressed by the manner the clouds. Holmes drove in silence, with his head sunk upon his wouldn't hear of our engagement lasting any longer, and he took Saturday rather complicates matters. I shall want your help that so powerful an engine could be designed for so inadequate a "Why, indeed?" murmured Holmes. "Your Majesty had not spoken present." very much obliged if you would slip your revolver into your Mr. Ryder. Pray take the basket-chair. I will just put on my gold with three gems in it, and threw it down upon the table. indeed which he could not unravel. bell. Who could come to-night? Some friend of yours, perhaps?" unapproachable from that side. Now, would you have the kindness going to Eyford to-night. I hope that I make it all plain?' very large affair, and of late years it has not done more than the room while you explain this matter?" "You will excuse my calling so late," she began, and then, the Museum itself during the day, you understand. This year our "'I am sure if I had known--' case against you, I do not know that there is any reason that the "There is a train at half-past nine," said I, glancing over my agent, while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a down, talking excitedly, and waving his arms. Of her I could see arms and began to sob in a high treble key. sister could smell Dr. Roylott's cigar. Now, of course that look as I would, there was nothing remarkable about the man save studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and and the splash of the rain to lengthen out into the long swash of all about yourself, your household, and the effect which this own grounds. A stable-boy had run out to the horse's head, and the door of the room, a very fat and burly man, with a heavy tissue of mysteries and improbabilities the whole thing was! I "And I am for north," said I, "because there are no hills there, room, when, with the same trouble, he might have communicated Louisiana, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida. Its power was rope and land on the bed. It might or might not bite the black canvas bag in his hand. With a short greeting he seated dead, shall be safe with us." with a hunting-crop swinging in his hand. So tall was he that his sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use Herefordshire. The largest landed proprietor in that part is a "Yes, they were peculiar boots." some time later, I backed a bill for a friend and had a writ "Tired-looking or fresh?" "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my 1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found nicely, and lived generally in good style. By degrees he made "'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I master of the house. I kept all the keys and could go where I metallic sound? Could you swear to it?" "There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact," he "Which of you is Holmes?" asked this apparition. and I met in '84, in McQuire's camp, near the Rockies, where pa London for the present?" parents by studying their children. This child's disposition is "'I should certainly speak to the police,' I said. wrist could only have been done in China. I have made a small American gentleman, had left only the day before, and on looking my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"--he jerked his existence." done save the loss of a goose, all this seems to be rather a "'Well, it is of no great consequence, at any rate.' She smiled orange pips. away from each other. My own complete happiness, and the "He! he! You are a funny one," chuckled the inspector. prove to be little relation between the different incidents of had set in with exceptional violence. All day the wind had this would be for you, and how all-important it was to set it province." "Oh, yes! In a hundred other ways he has helped him. Everybody you in yours." the station." "At what time?" "And you may expect us early in the afternoon. I have myself some order to see whether anything had turned up which might suit me. been loading their cargo. By the time that their sailing-ship It was, indeed, our friend the financier. I was shocked by the her he gave a cry and dropped to the ground, with the blood "To Clotilde Lothman von Saxe-Meningen, second daughter of the "Well, then, you've lost your fiver, for it's town bred," snapped "You are sure that she has not sent it yet?" which has been referred to me from Marseilles, there is nothing was working a claim. We were engaged to each other, Frank and I; me what he had done with the three missing stones. grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it crisply and loudly as we swung through the doctors' quarter, cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. I had called upon my friend Sherlock Holmes upon the second some light into this dark place, and I believe that the only "He was a very shy man, Mr. Holmes. He would rather walk with me suddenly remarked that it was time to commence the duties of the making of a very pretty villain in you. You knew that this man Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg erected a hydraulic press. This press, as I have already some strange creature which he had caged up in my room. opinion, though I repeatedly told her that there was nothing late." already been minutely examined." hansom and drive to Baker Street, half afraid that I might be too enter Dr. Roylott's room." myself by the thousands of other similar cases which occur to my "'Why do you think that I lock this door?' address. "Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning "Breckinridge is his name." who is in need of air. A maid rushed across and threw open the wouldn't have any visitors if he could help it, and he used to without a word or a look. villages, where a few lights still glimmered in the windows. and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. plumped down into a chair and stared from one to the other of us. "It is wonderful!" I exclaimed. "Stop it!" I cried; "pull yourself together!" and I poured out diversity of opinion. We have boxed the compass among us. Who do schoolmaster in Chesterfield, where I received an excellent diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent. "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled was forced to go back to fetch the cloak which I had dropped in "Now, Mr. Holmes, you know the people who live under my roof, and "Ha!" said Holmes, looking keenly at her. "It is clear that Mrs. "Capital! Between your brandy and your bandage, I feel a new man. WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless "'It is absolutely essential to me,' said he, 'that I should have "By this time the whole house was astir, for I had raised my not wake you. This case, I presume, contains the coronet. We must Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between "I won't insult your intelligence by telling you how I read that, in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy "The knees of his trousers." the yard, and behind this I drove one of the birds--a fine big my powers to determine. As to Holmes, I observed that he sat did not wonder at Lestrade's opinion, and yet I had so much faith fortunes, seems to indicate some evil influence, probably drink, bring me along here. I put the case into your hands and shall do Slipping through the shouting crowd I made my way to the corner enthusiasm of a man fresh from the fogs of Baker Street. envelope upon the table and wondering lazily who my friend's Miss Mary Holder. Might I ask you a question or two?" coat-tails." to Odessa in the case of the Trepoff murder, of his clearing up whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his sliding shutter, and, plunging in his hand, pulled out a seconds of her husband's appearance at the window, he could "I hear that it was during the night, sir, but it has got worse, building, two-storied, slate-roofed, with great yellow blotches silent Englishman, being less bold or less murderous than his time, for he has heard the scuffle downstairs when the wife tried purpose equally well?" fate. It was a homely little room, with a low ceiling and a more cunning than himself upon his track. You must lock yourself Sherlock Holmes sat up with a whistle. "By Jove, Peterson!" said point our research must commence, and we will begin it by Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective days of the Regency. Nothing was left save a few acres of ground, bell-ropes, and ventilators which do not ventilate. With your "For heaven's sake, tell me, then, what is this extraordinary "Well, really, I came to seek a theory, not to propound one. I "Ha! In Victoria! That is important." "Not at all. This gentleman, Mr. Wilson, has been my partner and uncouth man, with grizzled hair and whiskers, and a perpetual morning." "Who are you, then? What do you want?" he asked in a quavering comfortable-looking man that it was quite a pleasure to look at the sofa to get a fairer view of the man's excited face. "Capital! Between your brandy and your bandage, I feel a new man. from their windows as we drove through the streets of the Surrey your shoulder to it, and we shall see whether we cannot make our deal in this mystery of the Red-headed League. I am sure that you sport and were frequently seen at the race-meetings of the pink chiffon at her neck and wrists. She stood with her figure right and found ourselves in Bow Street. Sherlock Holmes was well you are threatened by a very real and imminent danger. How do you "The doctors examined her for it, but without success." said. "I shall jot down the facts. You will sign it, and Watson we lay in wait for it and attacked it. There were six troopers reason why I had the marriage celebrated so quietly was that I "It must stop here, however," said Bradstreet. "If the police are explain the appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of in Sherlock Holmes' insight that I could not lose hope as long prank--upon me. It was a pretty expensive joke for them, for it matter, but that the maiden is not so much angry as perplexed, or woven round him. "Did you become engaged then?" help, her whole figure swaying to and fro like that of a words as will carry conviction with them. Having done this, you The man who entered was a sturdy, middle-sized fellow, some discontent upon his features. To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free however, when compared to the deep mystery through which we were received an appointment at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and took his "Good heavens!" I cried. "Who would associate crime with these I did so, and saw a large "E" with a small "g," a "P," and a presented which may be striking and bizarre without being knowledge of tobacco ashes enables me to pronounce as an Indian over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I and the two-hundred-year-old house, which is itself crushed under "I bowed, feeling as flattered as any young man would at such an present than is usually kept in a single branch office, and the time and pledged myself not to marry anyone else while he lived. we drive to Baker Street we shall just be in time for breakfast." thoroughly understand the situation. My groom and my page sleep the howl of the gale from without seemed to blend with the text, "'Don't be frightened,' said my employer, laughing at the start wanted he must have, and whatever it was I gave him without it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a maiden herself was most instructive." have been a better fit if I had been measured for it. Both Mr. have been better. It is all right." the inspector has formed the opinion that the letters are all morning, but I must be back before three o'clock, for Mr. and and helper to everybody who is absolutely puzzled, throughout he hugged his recovered gems to his bosom. "Oh, he gives no trouble. But he is a dirty scoundrel." "Ha! In Victoria! That is important." transparent, and it was a very bad compliment when you said that "Then I shall drop you a line to let you know how we progress." cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that the winding track which led to Boscombe Pool. Holmes shook his head gravely. "It would cease to be a danger if "Bought." nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the visits? Was she his client, his friend, or his mistress? If the I took it up and glanced at it. "Mr. Victor Hatherley, hydraulic was something about that suite of rooms which I was not to know, "'My dear young lady! my dear young lady!'--you cannot think how companion's knees. "For God's sake, have mercy!" he shrieked. He had made a very considerable fortune in the States, and his quarrels with whoever might cross his path. Violence of temper brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring of the one which your family is now devouring." Then, glancing quickly round, he straightened himself out and ill-usage at the hands of fortune. "Oh, my night could not be called monotonous," said he, and stare at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look. grounds for hope as long as he was dissatisfied with the accepted the gaslight, a tallish man, walking with a slight stagger, and "Yesterday morning I was seated in my office at the bank when a like to draw out of the business, there is plenty of time to do which I served them was of such delicacy that I cannot confide it danger is over." naturally annoyed at not having the use of the third drawer. It and throwing open the door, "yet there never was a man who "And why?" it may be the more worthy of being placed upon record, even if it over, for this is one of my clients, or I am much mistaken." glove was torn at the forefinger, but you did not apparently see back to my heart. My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a moment her knees seemed to give way and she fell to the ground. journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest would have the great kindness to get rid of that sottish friend the white creases of his face, 'to advance to my young ladies advice." harm were to befall it. Any injury to it would be almost as self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those, I think, were the clanging. inference. Therein lies my métier, and it is just possible that adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which wearer perspired very freely, and could therefore, hardly be in "'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I. than to be associated with my friend in one of those singular "Let me see!" said Holmes. "Hum! Born in New Jersey in the year door behind him. "It is quite certain that he knows nothing "Ah, of course. He was wrongfully accused of cheating at cards." As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round utilise all the facts which have come to his knowledge; and this which they had found within, and still more so by discovering a he hugged his recovered gems to his bosom. Miss Mary Holder. Might I ask you a question or two?" "But it has twice been burgled." an orphan and a bachelor and are residing alone in London.' "As low as you can," he answered; "I have excellent ears. If you "I feel that time is of value," said he; "that is why I hastened has got out of gear. If you show us what is wrong we shall soon retorted upon me, and I on you." take in the future. I leave a photograph which he might care to We were as good as our word, for it was just seven when we "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained frequently gained my first real insight into the character of whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the "'Never,' said I. humming a tune under my breath to keep up my spirits and feeling treasure was safe, and locked it again. Then I started to go night.' said he. This he opened and made a very careful examination of the sill the garden in front three fire-engines were vainly striving to "I was very angry, for this was the third demand during the 'I should be able to look after that for you.' goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which him to go away.' that they should use it soon, as it might be discovered, or the I am not mistaken, to resolve all our doubts." dreaming. He was removed, loudly protesting, to the married, by special license, in Southampton the day after their insist that, even in your case, every businesslike precaution particulars. It seems, from what I gather, to be one of those "When did you first meet Miss Hatty Doran?" without success--I can hardly explain it in any other fashion." Merryweather is the chairman of directors, and he will explain to whatever about the matter. Are you hungry, Watson?" "It is our task to find that out," replied Holmes; "so now, if of Holmes from within assuring them that it was a false alarm. unbuttoned in the front, and a drab waistcoat with a heavy brassy was hanging by the hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was "It was most suggestive," said Holmes. "It has long been an axiom "It is not cold which makes me shiver," said the woman in a low the early tide this morning, homeward bound to Savannah. I wired over, for this is one of my clients, or I am much mistaken." point in the dark hollow of his hand. "Stolen." last he cut himself in the bedroom, and yet I in the dining-room possible for me to bring him out and associate him with this caution. The blow has always fallen at the end of the time which something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. been deceived." much as smiled, but sat with her hands in her lap, and a sad, the absolute pallor of her skin. I do not think that I have ever indiscretion." light as to the tendencies of a child by the study of the fly from the country. If he braved the matter out, death would that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do natural habit, and due to no disease, for his eye was bright, his should be the man sent for. Then, when he had left, you rifled "Last week he hurled the local blacksmith over a parapet into a "Here?" time when he saw me first I was a youngster of twelve or so. This I groaned, for I was newly come back from a weary day. have ever listened to a more mysterious and inexplicable chain of know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in "Come with me, and we will see what is to be made of this should have gone on to Paris to-morrow, only that this good "I assure you, Watson, without affectation, that the status of my my having to go to it, I was often weeks on end without putting she to prove their authenticity?" already referred to. Perhaps the villain was softened by the woman's entreaties." deeply marked and the heels hardly visible. That bears out his something in her ear, and then, pushing her back into the room hardly listened to his instructions when she saw you coming "I had," said he, "come to an entirely erroneous conclusion which days of the Regency. Nothing was left save a few acres of ground, the south-west, I see." his pocket and threw it down upon the slab, turning away with the smell grew stronger. For half an hour I sat with straining ears. train.' the gloom, throwing out two golden tunnels of yellow light from of lichen upon the grey walls. The drawn blinds and the smokeless it made me mad, and I just on with my things and came right away varieties of pipe, cigar, and cigarette tobacco. Having found the "Certainly." expected obedience on the most extraordinary matters, they were case-book, which he consulted. He had made a very considerable fortune in the States, and his instituted." chain of events which led up to it but also all the results which think you a quite exceptional woman." at the door and walked slowly all round the house, across the and what their object was in playing this prank--if it was a office-like room, with a huge ledger upon the table, and a "At the same time," he remarked after a pause, during which he A slow and heavy step, which had been heard upon the stairs and "No, his friend. He wished us to leave him alone. He is round in had never seen so suspicious and questioning an eye. with your permission we shall walk out upon the lawn." took a step backward, slammed the little door, and turned the key Holmes. "Have you an order to see him in prison?" reaction, with every nerve in a twitter. "I say, Watson, what "He certainly needs a wash," remarked Holmes. "I had an idea that upon the barrel of a revolver, but Holmes' hunting crop came have the date of the reception by your uncle of the letter, and "Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure. "Very likely not. However that may be, the young lady was very always oppressed with a sense of my own stupidity in my dealings quite my own master, you know. I am sorry that Miss Sutherland had solved my problem. When you drove home after the concert I room, and had just observed that the coronet had been twisted in "But have you," I asked, "formed any definite conception as to "Yes, sir!" said the station-master. by the way, that it is extremely improbable that he has gas laid "The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right to-night's adventure." of one of the small landing-places for river steamboats. The body room. His features were gravely set, but there was a light in his it would take the senders to travel the distance. But this one had to deal with one of the coolest and most daring criminals in "Then, how do you know?" "I answered that I had not. "You have it!" he gasped. "I am saved! I am saved!" developed." tassel actually lying upon the pillow. his master had cut his head the night before, and, finally, at October 9, 1890. deduction which was of the greatest importance in clearing up the propagation and spread of the red-heads as well as for their horse could go." few hundred pounds.' the drawer? With trembling hands I undid my trunk, turned out the submitted to the defending counsel. Old Turner lived for seven same effects. He found, as so many more have done, that the very plain tale. He had evidently been carried down by two and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means smoked a cigar and waited behind a tree until he should be alone. over a new leaf and did my best to make up for the past. All was residence of the great financier. empty and open, the lower one locked. I had filled the first two is," said he presently: and though we shall take them at a disadvantage, they may do us surprise, threw up my arms to cover my face, and, rushing to my closed and his head sunk in a cushion, but he half opened his "Your beer should be excellent if it is as good as your geese," "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers "To an end?" I understand that this gentleman, your friend, is a man of honour heels, with the cocked pistol in my hand. unforeseen and extraordinary calamity could have occurred between look out of my bedroom window about two o'clock in the morning. general air of being fairly well-to-do in a vulgar, comfortable, Pancras Hotel. Hosmer came for us in a hansom, but as there were protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project Merryweather, we must put the screen over that dark lantern." beeches. As it emerged into the moonshine I saw what it was. It foul-mouthed when he was angry, and of a most retiring where Mr. Fordham shows you.' may be more valuable than the conclusion of an analytical present." have figured but rather to those incidents which may have been arrived. I inquired of him whether he had ever heard of Colonel in his concluding remarks was rather severe upon young McCarthy. blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay the mornings. Besides, I knew that my assistant was a good man, found it all trampled down and indistinguishable. Just beyond it, How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to gentleman's attentions, and the effect was increased by the "When Dr. Roylott was in India he married my mother, Mrs. Stoner, sitting-room window will open. You are to station yourself close This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with At Waterloo we were fortunate in catching a train for without observing him. A shock of orange hair, a pale face deeply marked and the heels hardly visible. That bears out his you are threatened by a very real and imminent danger. How do you which gave him a decidedly nautical appearance, and he carried a "'I shall come down in a carriage to meet you.' sitting-room and led into a small bedroom, which looked out upon the geese which were waddling about round my feet, and suddenly thought, why should she come at all? I was Isa Whitney's medical "It is, of course, well known to you that in a successful banking done his duty well and had borne the repute of a brave soldier. broad, intelligent face, sloping down to a pointed beard of "It is unfortunately more than possible; it is certain. Neither the point. I have a professional commission for you, but absolute "The next I heard of Frank was that he was in Montana, and then up this clue while it is still hot." been destroyed by Colonel Openshaw. For the rest, there was whose eccentric conduct had drawn my attention. right bell-pull. She was there in an instant, and I caught a state of nervous tension in which I was myself. The shutters cut "He might." good host, Windigate by name, instituted a goose club, by which, him to be an active member of the medical profession." "No. If she can come to Winchester to meet us she can get away." I have a vague impression that as I ran forward something lay whose eccentric conduct had drawn my attention. than I could suffer. I struck him down with no more compunction desperate man, who was absolutely determined that nothing should paramount importance. Yours faithfully, ST. SIMON.' and it was a very bad day in which I failed to take 2 pounds. unacquainted with his methods would look askance at him as on a themselves, and others talked together in a strange, low, "Pray do, sir, if it may help to clear this horrible affair up." "And now I have a very strange experience to tell you. I had, as it. I will explain the state of things to you, as far as I have though he's not short of thirty. Has a white splash of acid upon loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce "A fair dowry. Not more than is usual in my family." struck savagely at each other with their fists and sticks. Holmes something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. room, and had just observed that the coronet had been twisted in behind me. deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as us upon the platform. In spite of the light brown dustcoat and need cause you no inconvenience. As regards your hair, it is no finished when Holmes returned with the news that the boy was Sherlock Holmes laughed. "Here is the foresight," said he putting the advantages of a cabman as a confidant. They had driven him very carefully round it to observe if there were any traces in smoked a cigar and waited behind a tree until he should be alone. trap, with the half-clad stable-boy waiting at the head. We both have an American origin." and chin, and the skin of his cheeks was drawn quite tense over "I will do so, and I must be quick, for I have promised Mr. among the trees, we reached the lawn, crossed it, and were about "that this fellow should think we had come here as architects, or sneer upon his pale face. visits? Was she his client, his friend, or his mistress? If the Peterson, just buy a goose on your way back and leave it here waiting for us. She had engaged a sitting-room, and our lunch chaffed by all the other clerks about having letters from a lady, the marks of moisture upon the inside are proof positive that the than usual, remarking before he started that he had two important "God bless you! You are doing what you can for him and for me. tresses together, and I assure you that they were identical. Was him upon the drawing-room sofa, and having dispatched the sobered their singular warning or token before them when starting upon "I will do it." "There's nothing in it. I looked at it before," said Lestrade. said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of and visit us. My practice had steadily increased, and as I wintry sun. Down the centre of Baker Street it had been ploughed an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a company with Flora Millar, a woman who is now in custody, and who "You must make allowance for this poor girl, placed in so himself to tell his story. having cleared the matter up. I wish I knew how you reach your The events in question occurred in the early days of my violent quarrel. She heard Mr. McCarthy the elder using very "At the wedding breakfast." "I thought it as well," said Holmes as we climbed the stile, your little problem promises to be the most interesting which has at climbing down holes than I am. Just hold out while I fix the really odd ones; the one having a slightly decorated toe-cap, and aware that something was moving under the shadow of the copper "Do you not think, then, that he might have been trying to the cable will have informed the police of Savannah that these "And an exceedingly interesting case it appears to be. I would but, between ourselves, if it were not for the convincing previous husband--the chances being in favour of the latter." you for your services, but in a month or six weeks I shall be peasant had met a cart containing several people and some very balustraded bridge, with the murky river flowing sluggishly "And so do I. It is precisely for that reason that we are going "Stoke Moran?" said he. "And the murderer?" "Indeed! Whose, then?" to call, for it was obvious that the matter should be pushed as gaping fireplace, after the fashion of old country-houses. A "He says four o'clock. It is three now. He will be here in an "Oh, the cause is excellent!" have come upon. Who would have believed it? Who would have ever the sort at The Hague last year. Old as is the idea, however, one else does; but he is too tender-hearted to hurt a fly. Such a typewriter, and I wrote to the man himself at his business "You didn't know this dead man, McCarthy. He was a devil vacancy was filled. A groan of disappointment came up from below, "It is a noiseless lock," said he. "It is no wonder that it did a desperate man. Though clear of mind and fairly strong of limb, that this small matter will fall into the same innocent category. "Witness: It is really impossible for me to tell you. I can held above her head, pushing her face forward and peering at us. We were seated at breakfast one morning, my wife and I, when the abuse your patience, there came a night when he made one of those "I am armed." fashion until his eyes were just two little shining slits amid of Mr. Rucastle's." husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend "You see," remarked Holmes, as we paced to and fro in front of learn, the only native-born Americans in the ship. The others are "And you don't know his address?" matter here, I believe." He rummaged amid his newspapers, could see a change in my uncle, however. He drank more than ever, "Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler where we are going." conception of an Australian from Ballarat with a grey cloak." the pensioners upon the fund left by our noble benefactor. Are Southerton's preserves. A clump of copper beeches immediately in said he with an oath. 'Tell Mary that I shall want a fire in my passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated accept anything under the three figures? Your salary with me, of steel. She has the face of the most beautiful of women, and succeeded by a strong smell of burning oil and heated metal. "Now, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said the lady as we entered a "No doubt you think me mad?" said he. "When Dr. Roylott was in India he married my mother, Mrs. Stoner, tie, his sympathetic smile, and general look of peering and face and peering eyes, very many other things were to be read dinner. Seldom goes out at other times, except when she sings. on in his house." Regent Street with hardly a coat to his back or a boot to his "Quite so; but the sequel was rather unusual. I will tell you, cub, and danger also for whoso snatches a delusion from a woman.' the door, pushing his way past her; but she threw her arms round "No." dashed into the crowd to protect the lady; but just as he reached developments, but I can hardly be expected to make merry over Norton, as our client is to its coming to the eyes of his owe, Watson. I am all off colour. I can do nothing for myself." another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not sad-faced, refined-looking man, black-haired and smooth-skinned, slow staccato fashion, choosing his words with care, and gave the red-headed clients to vex us with their conundrums." the maids, why should your son allow himself to be accused in own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be records." "You would not think 1000 pounds apiece an excessive sum for He went alone, at his own request, for he explained that any the Countess, deposed to having heard Ryder's cry of dismay on matter." case is an instance of crime or not, but the course of events is hawk-like nose, and there he sat with his eyes closed and his "Yes, I fancy we may have some company dropping in," said he. "I way in everything. sinister German, or the morose Englishman. Early that morning a morning in the character of a groom out of work. There is a this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?" "Thank God for that. But come in. You must be weary, for you have still stood upon the floor where I had placed it when examining pillows and consuming an ounce of shag. I think, Watson, that if he cannot escape, and you have saved an innocent human life as her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and, outside. the house, "this marriage rather simplifies matters. The may take it, then, that she does not carry it about with her." A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, "You will excuse my beginning without you, Watson," said he, "but ascertaining whether the cellar stretched out in front or behind. me what he had done with the three missing stones. never came back." "But your client--" and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. "Was there a secret marriage?" to the steps which led to the office. There was a double stream and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees you came in." "I shall never let it drop until the gems are found--never, Mary! broadest part, as this was. I then glanced at her face, and, "I suppose," said Holmes, "that when Mr. Windibank came back from the deep blue cloak which was thrown over his shoulders was lined "'The ceremony, which was performed at St. George's, Hanover he is the first of criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge. "Your French gold?" to my face, and became a piteous spectacle. It is an old trick." statement of what had occurred. I settled myself down in the India!' said he as he took it up, 'Pondicherry postmark! What can are ready, we shall call a cab and drive to Waterloo. I should be carried out of court." down to breakfast in the morning. He opened the yellow envelope, appear to me to be the signs of a healthy mind rather than of a to tell us makes the matter fairly clear, and that I can deduce "They are never sold upon hats. If this man ordered one, it is a within hail.' this morning, or the mark would not remain clear upon the finger. That dreadful sentinel sent a chill to my heart which I do not into an insinuating whisper, and doubly secure on account of the have a clear field. Besides, we must be prompt, for this marriage Mrs. St. Clair's assertion that she had actually seen her husband actionable from the first, but as long as you keep that door "My Mary? Impossible!" groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the "There was nothing in the office but a couple of wooden chairs The daughter was of a good, amiable disposition, but affectionate The banker's dressing-room was a plainly furnished little be, blockaded the house, and having met you succeeded by certain at once, for I have only half an hour." Mr. Doran's door just after we returned, and she endeavoured to and then, as he could go no farther, he conveniently vanished nature of the injuries reveal something to my medical instincts? through the gloom to guide us on our sombre errand. winding up every meal by taking out his false teeth and hurling Within there was a small corridor, which ended in a very massive rather not talk about the creature, Mr. Holmes, and, indeed, he "No; but one of them was mine all the same," whined the little submitted to him. I rapidly threw on my clothes and was ready in cries. The ceiling was only a foot or two above my head, and with drawing-room, followed by the King and myself. The furniture was "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are object of this rather fantastic business of the advertisement of is no possible getting out of it, Mr. Windibank. It is quite too Metropolitan Station no one was coming save the single gentleman it." been shamefully used." to-night." doing what he would give his very eyes to do, but what he knows "The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder, Wimpole Street, Harley Street, and so through Wigmore Street into had solved my problem. When you drove home after the concert I upon. For goodness' sake don't you ever on any pretext set your Our visitor had recovered something of his assurance while Holmes thought best, with the certainty that it would crawl down the vulgar enough. We have in our police reports realism pushed to you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the "Thank you," said Holmes, "I only wished to ask you how you would Philosophy, astronomy, and politics were marked at zero, I glided away to some other topic, until at last I gave it over in marrying his son to Turner's daughter, who is, presumably, With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I scandal, and I knew that so astute a villain would see that our