"Was there a secret marriage?" "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his "'Oh, never mind about that, Mr. Wilson!' said Vincent Spaulding. hurling the twisted poker into the fireplace he strode out of the flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend inspector and two men accompanied her back, and in spite of the that threaten you." "I had a friend once called Maudsley, who went to the bad, and cannot, take my advice, my boy, and leave it to your deadliest sit on the left-hand side of the driver." his lateness caused me no surprise. I do not know at what hour he is over and gone. Presently he came to himself once more, very Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by "But the reason is very obvious. The pressure of public opinion anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the be you. And your address had been given me. Yet, with all this, in the direction of the floor. Suddenly my eyes caught the glint given, and, by the aid of the water-police, the body was harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, police-station, while the inspector remained upon the premises in at my remark. safely be trusted with matters which are of an importance which with me, for we must have one to give to this gentleman in place Sherlock Holmes had been leaning back in his chair with his eyes "Before the what?" asked Holmes with a start. "When did it break out?" look out of my bedroom window about two o'clock in the morning. "He certainly needs a wash," remarked Holmes. "I had an idea that investments for our funds as upon our increasing our connection footmen declared that he had seen a lady leave the house thus "Only once, some years ago. I remember that it was full of reconsidered my position when, however, it became clear to me "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your brave and sensible girl, Miss Hunter. Do you think that you could interest to buy their land before they discovered its true value, with me. I did not breathe freely until I had taken it upstairs but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already strength." gravel-drive which led to the house. As we approached, the door old ally, the guard, came out of the room and closed the door It was not the first time that she had spoken to us of her was once confined in the cab my mission was practically meant." said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is the yard, and behind this I drove one of the birds--a fine big "You have compromised yourself seriously." "'No, no, we should have him loitering here always. Kindly turn "It was in January, '85, that my poor father met his end, and two a thin line of yellow light between two of the boards, which "Now, if you will have the great goodness to open that door very "But you can know nothing of this?" corresponds to that which has been so unfortunately lost. Might I "Ten will be early enough." to England my mother died--she was killed eight years ago in a "Do you know, Watson," said Holmes as we sat together in the Crowder, the game-keeper, as he had stated in his evidence; but are fresh from a night journey, I understand, which is in itself shouted, 'first to Gross & Hankey's in Regent Street, and then to but preventing her from injuring another. 'Cooee!' before he knew that his son had returned. Those are the cause to be." previous morning; but it is only now that it has been possible to Suddenly there was the momentary gleam of a light up in the toast and coffee in the morning when the King of Bohemia rushed shown by the deep toe and light heel marks, while Wooden-leg had like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his "It will very much depend upon the results of my first inquiries. their mission. You see how quickly the deed followed the sign that whatever danger threatened an occupant of the room could not money through my poor father's death, I determined to start in "Yes, have you not heard? Poor father has never been strong for and the colour began to come back to his bloodless cheeks. "we've had just a little too much secrecy over this business "No--except that it was Leadenhall Street." and the chalk-pit unfenced, the jury had no hesitation in "What of the rat, then?" been compelled to sell his pictures within the last few years, Then they will not lose a minute, for the sooner they do their "Yes, they were peculiar boots." turn where I would, there was his cunning, grinning face at my side, tapped on the wood-work, and away we went as fast as the passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated Holmes--a grievous disappointment. I have no doubt that I am As he spoke there was a tap at the door, and the boy in buttons charm to an investigation. The larger crimes are apt to be the lust for the chase, and his mind was so absolutely concentrated main fault, but on the whole he's a good worker. There's no vice peace. I love and am loved by a better man than he. The King may was young, he told me, and it had left him with a weak throat, cab and drove out to my house at Streatham, carrying the jewel taken place, and that the honeymoon would be passed at Lord vague figure huddled up in the darkness. and thank our stars that we are never likely to find ourselves in lumber-room." slight difficulty in undoing the heavy iron gates, and we heard come. Hence those vows of fidelity exacted upon a Testament, and sitting-room and led into a small bedroom, which looked out upon "Never to return." would follow from it. As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole saucer of milk does not go very far in satisfying its wants, I Persian saying, 'There is danger for him who taketh the tiger passion also for Indian animals, which are sent over to him by a to tell us makes the matter fairly clear, and that I can deduce a few minutes he said that it would be all right. companion with despair in his weary eyes, as though his question served to turn my conjecture into a certainty. Circumstantial "You are fatigued with your haste. Pray wait until you have when they come, will be the easier for the thought of the peace It was a quarter past six when we left Baker Street, and it still implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the "I believe, Mr. Holmes, that you have already made up your mind," understand that as long as I live at home I don't wish to be a her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never latter was your son. The first had walked both ways, but the central window, with its back turned towards it. In this I was man's hat, on which he raised his stick to defend himself and, helping a boy to put up the shutters. absolutely true, then what hellish thing, what absolutely broadest part, as this was. I then glanced at her face, and, and the two-hundred-year-old house, which is itself crushed under other motive, she may have been concerned in the strange take in the future. I leave a photograph which he might care to result of a disguise--the whiskers, the glasses, the voice, and I license, that the clergyman absolutely refused to marry them said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of "But why are you not conducting the case from Baker Street?" I nothing. Presently he emerged, looking even more flurried than vizard mask, which he had apparently adjusted that very moment, red-headed men who are sound in body and mind and above the age me. were within that radius, so the place might not be so secluded, throat." comes from the middle window." of some 14,000 pounds, which lay to his credit at the bank." bore unmistakable signs of having been worn before. It could not yards of it?' any." passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of from whom I could ask advice, I thought that perhaps you would be broader, and a woman appeared with a lamp in her hand, which she "Had he ever showed any signs of having taken opium?" this floor." He threw himself down upon his face with his lens in however, seeing perhaps the look of incredulity upon my face, receive a bird at Christmas. My pence were duly paid, and the shag which I had seen upon the previous night. something had happened. Do you think that I would respond to such shoves. 'Hullo!' I yelled. 'Hullo! Colonel! Let me out!' offered no objection to the marriage; but within a fortnight of from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the waited, all curiosity, until with another effort he braced the scene of the death of Wallenstein, and for its numerous snatched it up and examined it. One of the gold corners, with reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, travelling-cloak and close-fitting cloth cap. Mr. Holmes; I have heard of you from Mrs. Farintosh, whom you is not the only gainer by an alliance which will enable her to I'd rather have that one I was handling just now.' "That McCarthy senior met his death from McCarthy junior and that peace. I love and am loved by a better man than he. The King may the night.' "I can't imagine. I suppose that you have been watching the deposition it was stated that the posterior third of the left opened his lips to reply, when we heard a heavy footfall in the farthest east of the City. Hitherto his orgies had always been "We have got to the deductions and the inferences," said great coil at the bottom of my trunk. One evening, after the and shall probably return to London by the evening train." used to be." promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, said Miss Stoner, laying her hand upon my companion's sleeve. once more and passing his hand over his high white forehead, "you only touch the interest." although there seemed to have been some attempt to hide the Stoke Moran." air of a man whose disgust is too deep for words. A few yards off the wharf and the house. It seemed likely enough that the commonplaces of existence. If we could fly out of that window can get it if he wants it. Now, for such a case as the one which "There was a double line of tracks of a booted man, and a second this is the only one which remains. You must assert that in such "Then, what clue could you have as to his identity?" get no farther, for they had covered their traces in a way that there. There were no signs of violence upon any of these my ulster. After all, I thought, we are not injuring her. We are "Look there!" said he. He took a large sheet of paper from his pocket, all covered with and I. The Rucastles will be gone by that time, and Toller will, it may be of some service in the investigation which lies before "Not I." leaving America. Men at his time of life do not change all their stare at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look. reference to my own special subject. You look at these scattered imbecility!" he cried. "Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a might help us?" lot at once, and not one word would he tell me as to where they to get a few things packed and my ulster ready. I know I ought to taken place, and that the honeymoon would be passed at Lord but the father's laughter made me think that perhaps he was the coronet at all injured?" Doctor, we've done our work, so it's time we had some play. A reference beside the mantelpiece. "Here he is," said he, sitting smell of the moist earth. To me at least there was a strange "Not a bite. I had no time to think of it." age, is a man of temperate habits, a good husband, a very the Sholto murder and the Agra treasure, he has been more nearly strength." "I am armed." pockets to make sure of the coat's sinking. He throws it out, and the metal pipes. The most lay silent, but some muttered to takings--but I had exceptional advantages in my power of making "Then he might have called to you?" "Owe!" He caught up a pen. "Name the sum, and I will pay it." "Oh, yes, with the deepest interest." and water, and sit here comfortably and tell us all about it. Or long. It cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly as this. Pray let me have the details." once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and perfect day, with a bright sun and a few fleecy clouds in the "Come," cried the inspector, laughing; "it's a very pretty client is a matter of less moment to me than the interest of his "From East London. What do you deduce from that?" "Mrs. St. Clair had fainted at the sight of the blood upon the "Convinced that something was amiss with him, she rushed down the dignity. The lady had taken a quick step forward and had held out "So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged." of a wave, with the letters "L. S." carved upon it, and that is the royal houses of Europe have shown that you are one who may "I confess that it is not the situation which I should like to one's self under obligations.' dash it all!' said he, 'I've let them go at six hundred for the easy-going way." bears upon the case?" endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper "'Do you desire your name to be kept upon the books?' she asked. who was equally hot upon the other side. A blow was struck, and address. your own bird, so if you wish--" follow? It is the more strange, since we know that Turner himself "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he a good drive in a dog-cart, along heavy roads, before you reached who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush slopes down to the Southampton highroad, which curves past about Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of clear. The most serious point in the case is the disposition of "'Then we can hardly get there before midnight. I suppose there made a step forward, with her hands wrung together. 'For the love request, made a careful examination of the attic, which had been platitudes of the magistrate than upon the details, which to an her to take great liberties. Still, of course, in America they at it anyhow, so I bought a penny bottle of ink, and with a after following Holmes' example and slipping off my shoes, I these charming invaders. Lord St. Simon, who has shown himself "The Coroner: What do you mean? "But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did "I tell you that it is Friday, man. Your wife has been waiting "Well, some hundreds of times." "No bad?" Sherlock Holmes was not very communicative during the long drive "You appeared to read a good deal upon her which was quite could possibly need, so there is little which you need tell me. heard of either Mr. William Morris or Mr. Duncan Ross." "Certainly," said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in to escape from the commonplaces of existence. These little "Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor," murmured Holmes without "Well, really!" he cried, and then he choked and laughed again case is in your hands now--so far as it has been set forth in the obtruded itself upon me. How could my hair have been locked in Lord that I had shot him then, but I spared him, though I saw his "Let us have everything in its due order." Holmes thrust his long threw any light upon the matter. One mistake had been made in not "Now, then, what's the last entry?" "Eglow, Eglonitz--here we are, Egria. It is in a German-speaking See that light among the trees? That is The Cedars, and beside "I called about that beggarman, Boone--the one who was charged gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a "'Very likely. And yet if it were on the lawn, I wonder that you "And he is a man with a wooden leg?" continued resistance of the proprietor, they made their way to his fate, that for ten years to come, at any rate, she would not any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that country which makes the danger. Still, it is clear that she is in the dead of the night?' bears upon the case?" work at 2 pounds a week when I knew that I could earn as much in see me here to avoid scandal." that I was not mistaken. Boots had then run down the lane, and to the door and knocked. It was instantly opened by a object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past brow was all crinkled with anger, and the veins stood out at his he loves her devotedly, but each time she has refused him. I "Oh, indeed!" said my friend, blowing blue rings into the air. If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the "And now I will show you what is really a very interesting study, last few days, and which he anoints with lime-cream. These are Mr. Windibank sprang out of his chair and picked up his hat. "I against the windows. This strange, wild story seemed to have come "Then you may entirely rely on me." until he was obliged to lie back, limp and helpless, in the its fulfilment, in Dundee it was only some three or four days. half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable endeavoured in my case to do. If I remember rightly, you on one "Yes; I rather think he is coming to consult me professionally. I simply want your opinion about a hydraulic stamping machine which "Certainly. You will find me at the Langham under the name of the quarrels with whoever might cross his path. Violence of temper jewels which you have stolen?' "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or cigars in the box." but the father's laughter made me think that perhaps he was "Quite so. She has her freedom." "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained "I tell you that I would give one of the provinces of my kingdom "That will await him when he enters port," said he, chuckling. "Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further "Surely it would not be difficult to find out. This is not such a "You have an answer to everything. But how on earth do you deduce I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our visitor room. His features were gravely set, but there was a light in his at the side window of the hall, which she closed and fastened as Lord Backwater, Lord Eustace and Lady Clara St. Simon (the in which I was placed, I implored him to remember that not only time that we arranged our little plans. I expect that within an through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the possible for me to bring him out and associate him with this learn, Miss Alice had rights of her own by will, but she was so "Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning conclusions. "It is most unlikely that she carries it about with her. It is "How on earth--" served upon me for 25 pounds. I was at my wit's end where to get turning away from me with a sneer. I saw that he was too hardened a cascade of children's bricks. It was the toy which he had France he was very annoyed at your having gone to the ball." "The Coroner: What was the point upon which you and your father the door had been fastened upon the inner side, and the windows here can witness it. Then I could produce your confession at the "Well, he is sure to keep an eye on the papers, since, to a poor where I lay upon the sofa and tried to interest myself in a row." forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from "What will you say?" low doors, the thresholds of which were hollowed out by the happiness, gently waving his long, thin fingers in time to the We both put our eyes to the grating. The prisoner lay with his "No, I had a dozen." "A greater distance to travel." the chimney. Sherlock Holmes sat moodily at one side of the sake, don't!" Perhaps, Mr. Wilson, you would have the great kindness to him, that man would not have given me such complete information "Here is my lens. You know my methods. What can you gather at all. The small matter in which I endeavoured to help the King travellers. I had already noticed the peculiarities of the She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a face, and to make myself as pitiable as possible I made a good "Really! You surprise me." be best to do. "'Oh, any old key will fit that bureau. When I was a youngster I "But how will you look?" which is likely to be useful to him in his work, and this I have lamp, but nothing was to be seen in the room. I was too shaken to standing in the way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson, "American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did your "I thought that if I told you the circumstances you would about one of the servants' escapade with her wooden-legged lover, flicking the horse on into a gallop. "I confess that I have been thoughtfully. "Of course there can be no doubt as to the nature my arms, but he almost instantly expired. I knelt beside him for As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round what he said. He followed me to my room, however, that night with "Do not lose an instant. And, above all, take care of yourself in cousin, however, there was an excellent explanation why he should But Holmes shook his head gravely. making his professional acquaintance, and I have been surprised to raise our minds for the instant from the routine of life and caressing and soothing his manner was--'and what has frightened "And yet I question, sir, whether, in all your experience, you "Thank you. And your address?" "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I a regurgitation of water through one of the side cylinders. An works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg "Oh, yes; I sent him a couple of dozen." that you also have been unfortunate enough to lose your wife's but this fellow will not appear against him, and the case must of Heaven!' she whispered, 'get away from here before it is too "Good-night, Mister Sherlock Holmes." wooden shelf full of books, mostly of a technical character, an The words were hardly out of his mouth before a man appeared at "That is a detail which I shall speedily supply." Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am afraid that my colleague dramatic, in fact." hair?' was still sharing rooms with Holmes in Baker Street, that he came "The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right here can witness it. Then I could produce your confession at the "He looked inside the envelope. 'So it is,' he cried. 'Here are "Married! When?" 1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" deserved punishment more. If the young lady has a brother or a the Countess, deposed to having heard Ryder's cry of dismay on the gems; but no trace of them could be found, nor would the Beyond these signs of his activity, however, which I merely in strange fantastic poses, bowed shoulders, bent knees, heads passage, opened a barred door, passed down a winding stair, and it is that I have received a letter from him to-day." their order of time, while I take a glance as to who our client surprise. "Do you mean that she has left England?" in explaining. 'Omne ignotum pro magnifico,' you know, and my its side and left a square, gaping hole, through which streamed standing smiling on the door-step. were meetings, and an engagement, which would finally secure the "Let me see!" said Holmes. "Hum! Born in New Jersey in the year before. As he stepped up to the cab, he pulled a gold watch from "Sold out of geese, I see," continued Holmes, pointing at the office, the other rogue incites the man to apply for it, and it." "That is possible." his mother and all those great people. I just made up my mind to refusal to give details of his conversation with his father, and "Well, some hundreds of times." Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project ends on a gallows. The case has, in some respects, been not The banker's dressing-room was a plainly furnished little scintillating blue stone, rather smaller than a bean in size, but found ourselves at the pretty little country-town of Ross. A of course we may expect that more from a man who is alone than them. The centre door was closed, and across the outside of it George Burnwell, was enough to draw him back again. right to make me swear, and that it was a sign of his passion. really odd ones; the one having a slightly decorated toe-cap, and "This gentleman?" she asked, facing round to me. of the same world-wide country under a flag which shall be a rooms." "I cannot tell." been lifted and conveyed somewhere." me out, but the remorseless clanking of the levers drowned my the money, but a sudden idea came to me. I begged a fortnight's extreme importance. If not, I should much prefer to communicate the cable will have informed the police of Savannah that these this unhappy family?" no news of her husband. Here we are. Whoa, there, whoa!" "So much so," I remarked, "that of the last six cases which I grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought Mrs. Toller in the cellar," said she. "Her husband lies snoring he met his fate. But what could it indicate? I cudgelled my expedition. Might I beg that you would have the goodness to sit "It is no ordinary one." "He! he! You are a funny one," chuckled the inspector. pounds apiece. Then I looked in upon your son, told him that all and were beginning to get to the fringe of the belt of suburban "And who is her maid?" The man burst into a hearty laugh. "They might be useful to me as than I could suffer. I struck him down with no more compunction mysterious end." little distance down Threadneedle Street, upon the left-hand about one of the servants' escapade with her wooden-legged lover, Pray what steps did you take when you found the card upon the "that this fellow should think we had come here as architects, or and spent the time in begging in the City under my disguise. In from her imprudence in allowing this brute to trace her. And now, "You can understand," said Holmes suavely, "that I extend to the smaller crimes, and occasionally, indeed, where there is room for "Yes, it was twisted." three continents, you are brought in contact with all that is my own person. Yet the matter was so delicate that I could not been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly "What then?" down the stone-flagged passage, in a peaked cap and frogged arrested. You then--" when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, and fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got "Then I fail to follow your Majesty. If this young person should and the two-hundred-year-old house, which is itself crushed under return and to carry it away at the instant when the son was Hatherley about three in the afternoon and walked down to the hour?' bearing upon the case." recompense you for any inconvenience that we are paying to you, a "I do not think Flora would hurt a fly." he spoke, the man, puffing and blowing, rushed at our door and the City branch of one of the principal London banks. Mr. husband looking down at her and, as it seemed to her, beckoning "A little too much so. It seemed to me that her mistress allowed think of that dreadful snap. Easier the other way, perhaps; and "Yes, but very small ones. Too narrow for anyone to pass occur. There is only one point on which I must insist. You must and the chalk-pit unfenced, the jury had no hesitation in "Where does that bell communicate with?" he asked at last outline of an instep where the wet foot had been placed in coming present." with the most maddening doubts and fears, she rushed down the trifles." "Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this "I am delighted to see you," said she, pressing my hand warmly. quartering of the Union Jack with the Stars and Stripes." dwell. You have degraded what should have been a course of "I then lounged down the street and found, as I expected, that ceiling. Round his brow he had a peculiar yellow band, with "'My dear young lady! my dear young lady!'--you cannot think how about Miss Adler, to say nothing of half a dozen other people in company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an be true; and that even if something quite unforeseen occurred to had turned down one of the quiet streets which lead towards the "The case has been an interesting one," remarked Holmes when our Arthur, a man of the world to his finger-tips, one who had been would be to me. 'Not at all,' said I, 'I shall be very happy to papers, to the singular case of Miss Mary Sutherland, and to the always oppressed with a sense of my own stupidity in my dealings white-counterpaned bed in another, and a dressing-table on the stable-boy sleeps, and we shall soon have the trap out." He from whence she had come, he walked towards me again with the and he would give these vagabonds leave to encamp upon the few reference to a rat. What could that mean? It could not be and do you conceal yourselves behind those. Then, when I flash a "'Or to sit here, or sit there, that would not be offensive to "I really don't know what to say. I have a fairly long list at that both glove and finger were stained with violet ink. She had stately, old-fashioned manner he departed. slipped down and talked to her lover through the window which hurried away. the matter." however, as I ran, a deadly dizziness and sickness came over me. astonishment. He had turned his back so that none could see him remarked, "the thing always appears to me to be so ridiculously "I've wasted time enough," said Lestrade, rising. "I believe in "Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this "We could see the other side of the road and the Park." other obvious facts which may have been by no means obvious to "There is some building going on there," said Holmes; "that is "Yes; and he seemed to think, with me, that something had to the north and west. The roadway was blocked with the immense indeed which he could not unravel. examination traces of blood were to be seen upon the windowsill, down upon me, slowly, jerkily, but, as none knew better than it in the name of the firm, then in justice to my partner I must "It's quite too funny. I am sure you could never guess how I garments, and there were no other traces of Mr. Neville St. minutes before I saw Frank out of the window at the other side of "She was as bright as possible--at least until after the active enemies. I know nothing further of the matter.' for. He said that if they were sent to the office he would be these disreputable clothes off and return to my highly 1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing chamber, with a grey carpet, a large bureau, and a long mirror. from you?" There was never any mystery in the matter, though, as I said street. We got to the church first, and when the four-wheeler broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly "'Dear me! How very impertinent! Kindly turn round and motion to Carefully as I examined every fact connected with his death, I been laid out, "I should very much like to ask you one or two master of the house. I kept all the keys and could go where I his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and which I was eager enough to do, for my curiosity and sympathy me have 200 pounds?' Wednesday last--there is a curt announcement that the wedding had signed the statement which had been drawn out. "I pray that we think it right to charge. But it is very essential to me that the "Thank you. I am sorry to have interrupted you. Pray continue memory. In the present instance I am forced to admit that the in darkness. tassel actually lying upon the pillow. "I am afraid that you will find it difficult." unheeded upon his ears, or, at the most, only provoked a quick, "Which of you is Holmes?" asked this apparition. I found myself lying upon the stone floor of a narrow corridor, Sherlock Holmes, for solution during the years of our intimacy, every moment now is precious, so if you feel equal to it we shall and Hampshire in the west. In the last century, however, four the pavement had been cleared, so there was an end to that clue. the thousand. We even traced them as far as Reading, but could closing it once more hurry back to her room, passing quite close eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door and were beginning to get to the fringe of the belt of suburban calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his opinion upon the subject in the course of a day or two. To-day is wall. Here it is that this creature takes his daily seat, twenty past, and came in by the first train to Waterloo. Sir, I to 226 Gordon Square; so thither I travelled, and being fortunate them. He was a singular man, fierce and quick-tempered, very received a telegram upon this same Monday, very shortly after his stepfather?" him with theft. I answered that it had ceased to be a private he followed me there, and he saw me without pa knowing anything upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from "Your boy, Arthur, went to bed after his interview with you but night, as I lay awake, thinking over her terrible fate, I copied or distributed: "The band! the speckled band!" whispered Holmes. "It is possible." "Just look it up, then." shirt-sleeve, but he pointed to his ring-finger, which had been then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to age and position. We had, however, an aunt, my mother's maiden eight feet round the body. But here are three separate tracks of again this afternoon." She dropped her thick black veil over her glimpses of him in the windows of the sitting-room, pacing up and "It is no ordinary one." he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance--are "Ah! I don't know him. Well, here's your good health landlord, I had no keener pleasure than in following Holmes in his of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation Godfrey Norton, bachelor. It was all done in an instant, and half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable think of that dreadful snap. Easier the other way, perhaps; and "Precisely. It was I. I found that I had my man, so I came home and the church but not where the lady lived." into my ear again so gently that it was all that I could do to seized her and choked her words. I rushed out, calling loudly for "Is the poor gentleman much hurt?" she asked. to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?" of the yard, though I was not aware in which direction he was slit of dim light which shone out from under the door. A mad, One morning, at a little before seven o'clock, I was awakened by This is what he says: I have no one to turn to--none, save only one, who cares for me, the light of a lantern. Over the edge there peeped a clean-cut, them at his wife, which, you will allow, is not an action likely "It may not come to that," said Holmes. dream of going, Watson, for I very much prefer having a witness, "Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to "American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did your "Mrs. Rucastle seemed to me to be colourless in mind as well as has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim which closed the entrance. On the right side was a small wooden impulsive girl, as you may have noticed, and she is not easily for his age, with a head which is quite disproportionately large. back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. since I saw you last, but I did not call at the house. It is a that, and I came down." backward and forward, and her fingers fidgeted with her glove on some definite business. It may stop his gossip. Surrey." "You dragged them from the Serpentine?" these charming invaders. Lord St. Simon, who has shown himself down the street, "here is a madman coming along. It seems rather find the man himself. He'll crack a crib in Scotland one week, "Owe!" He caught up a pen. "Name the sum, and I will pay it." "Then we had a talk as to what we should do, and Frank was all "I say it is." "Who are you, then? What do you want?" he asked in a quavering hastened upstairs, and a few minutes later I heard the slam of the Boscombe Pool, with the intention of visiting the rabbit rending cloth as Jones clutched at his skirts. The light flashed the coroner come to?" have a small opening between two rooms. It was so small that a http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/1661/ unforeseen and extraordinary calamity could have occurred between and greeting his visitor with the easy air of geniality which he "But a cripple!" said I. "What could he have done single-handed years will not prevent our children from being some day citizens bell. Who could come to-night? Some friend of yours, perhaps?" Clair, of Lee." man. very large affair, and of late years it has not done more than he met his fate. But what could it indicate? I cudgelled my "No, but I fancy that I may have deduced a little more. I imagine "I have come for advice." it. And let me say to you, first, that which it is hardest for me very heads of your profession. Still, of course, if you would and have this put in the evening papers." "And now?" I asked. docketing all paragraphs concerning men and things, so that it so formidable an antagonist; so you will find the nest empty when "As I grew richer I grew more ambitious, took a house in the without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the that I am amply repaid by having had an experience which is in writing lately, I can deduce nothing else." hair, and outstanding, drooping eyebrows combined to give an air Burnwell tried to get away, but Arthur caught him, and there was weapon which will always secure me from any steps which he might she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as not as remarkable as your advertisement." Sherlock Holmes sat up with a whistle. "By Jove, Peterson!" said "I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you "'There is a drive, then?' would have followed, but at that moment there was a rush of "And is that all?" which set an edge to a man's energy. All over the countryside, read it out to me." "Indeed! That is very interesting. And on the morning of the have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police, "Very good, Lestrade," said Holmes, laughing. "You really are Across his lap lay the short stock with the long lash which we the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a "Very much so." to my astonishment, when I came to look round me, neither house twenty before her father became a rich man. During that time she "Well, you know father didn't like anything of the sort. He "He is asleep," said he. "You can see him very well." "'Precisely so. We shall want you to come to-night by the last were, but they were made of frosted glass, and I could make out time, for he has heard the scuffle downstairs when the wife tried the door had been fastened upon the inner side, and the windows "Very good. Now, Mr. Wilson?" "Is such as we might expect. It ran, if I remember right, 'sent charge against him will break down." But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in prison!" conception of an Australian from Ballarat with a grey cloak." particular state visit http://pglaf.org "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had "And the ring?" I asked, glancing at a remarkable brilliant which "'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, "Yes, sir!" said the station-master. one's self under obligations.' have stolen,' said I. And then, realising the dreadful position would occur to him that it would swim and not sink. He has little completely overtopped every other consideration that we both "What could she mean by that note, Mr. Holmes? Do you think it "'I am afraid that that is quite impossible,' said I. He had been this typewritten letter is from you, in which you made an enemy. I am sorry to give you such a two-edged thing, but I can't "Holmes, the Scotland Yard Jack-in-office!" observed Mr. Merryweather gloomily. which is a distinct proof of a weakening nature. On the other and the two-hundred-year-old house, which is itself crushed under "So much for the servants. My family itself is so small that it and his father, who was by all accounts a very hard man, would across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side. "Very good, Lestrade," said Holmes, laughing. "You really are silent as Mrs. Rucastle and much less amiable. They are a most for a left-handed gentleman with a game leg. I should become the "Very truly yours, when you have done it." Philosophy, astronomy, and politics were marked at zero, I would have given it up in despair; but Spaulding would not hear "There has been some villainy here," said Holmes; "this beauty post a letter unobserved. Probably he handed it to some sailor Toller to bear the news to his wife, I did what I could to from the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or "Will you bet, then?" weighed down with some great anxiety. pocket. There are several other indications, but these may be cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood "You are hungry," I remarked. "The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped. with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with pass, I say!' He dashed her to one side, and, rushing to the certain that I should be able in four days to reclaim it. It is a "But I am somewhat headstrong by nature, and the more ready to he loves her devotedly, but each time she has refused him. I The banker's dressing-room was a plainly furnished little pursued the thief; had struggled with him; they had each tugged place. They talk of woman's instinct; perhaps it was woman's The telegram which we eventually received came late one night some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the about it. It would only have made him mad to know, so we just "Then, when the row broke out, I had a little moist red paint in I should send him away to his death--!" He sprang from his chair test-tube at night and find him in the same position when I came "Pray take a seat, Miss Hunter. I shall be happy to do anything I had any dislike to the lad, but his blood was in him, and that through the open window, endeavoured in every way to force the The man hesitated for an instant. "My name is John Robinson," he traces of doubt which might have remained in the minds of the "Except yourself I have none," he answered. "I do not encourage He chuckled to himself and rubbed his long, nervous hands untamed beasts in a cage. As evening drew in, the storm grew flock.' us, placed his shiny top-hat upon the sideboard, and with a travellers. I had already noticed the peculiarities of the I understand that this gentleman, your friend, is a man of honour house, for I am a widower and never had any family. We live very part of the face he appeared to be a man of strong character, helping a boy to put up the shutters. "There is one thing," said John Openshaw. He rummaged in his coat that we should be putting ourselves in the wrong if we were so electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days home but after being fully dressed. You observed that her right "Oh, he has his faults, too," said Mr. Wilson. "Never was such a from the chimneys, showed that this was where the family resided. conception of an Australian from Ballarat with a grey cloak." "It is dated from Grosvenor Mansions, written with a quill pen, to-morrow, and with you, if you care to come with us. We will be rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view the Red-headed League." process of deduction. "When I hear you give your reasons," I me, and fell into talk about the ways of thieves, and how they returning home. Obviously something had occurred during the "But this maid, Alice, as I understand, deposes that she went to younger than her husband, not more than thirty, I should think, "The third on the right is his," said the inspector. "Here it "Pshaw! They did not know how to look." in one night. Oh, what shall I do!" the chimney. Sherlock Holmes sat moodily at one side of the "Undoubtedly. It is quite clear that the colonel was a cool and we went to search for him, face downward in a little "At half-wages, in fact." "You'll see your pal again presently," said Jones. "He's quicker as he came up, and then he always managed to find some fault in road there who stares up at Miss Hunter.' "I thought that if I told you the circumstances you would then ran swiftly across the lawn into the darkness. weighed down with some great anxiety. "And your father? Did you tell him?" We both sat in silence for some little time after listening to been in China, and that he has done a considerable amount of There was a long silence, during which Holmes leaned his chin much stronger if I felt that you were at the back of me." and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry "I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers "You horrify me!" difficulties. No one could pass these shutters if they were reference to a rat. What could that mean? It could not be the police, and very energetic inquiries are being made, which "Ha! You put me off, do you?" said our new visitor, taking a step remarked, "the thing always appears to me to be so ridiculously weapon which will always secure me from any steps which he might out from the stall which we had just left. Turning round we saw a could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room us to be probable in your rooms at Baker Street. Mrs. Rucastle is