Something like fear sprang up in the young lady's expressive wanted ten minutes to the hour when we found ourselves in all, if he is satisfied, why should I put ideas in his head?" the steps which lead up from the hall to this room." came the little man was much more favourable to me than to any of to Gravesend and learned that she had passed some time ago, and entertaining," said he. "When you go out close the door, for "Awake, Watson?" he asked. "But his voice was just a little too coaxing. He overdid it. I "Small, stout-built, very quick in his ways, no hair on his face, "He is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from him. What Windibank--that is, my father--took it all. He would not go to of his words, she gave a violent start and looked up, with fear grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought occurred which has deprived me of my only companion." rooms once more. He hurried to his chamber and was down again in "The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw January of '85. On the fourth day after the new year I heard my bell-ropes, and ventilators which do not ventilate. With your to see what was going on behind my back. At first it seemed to be the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a used a holder. The tip had been cut off, not bitten off, but the "Indeed! My mistress told me that you were likely to call. She thrust into the breast of his frock-coat, a picture of offended of receipt of the work. dressed only in his shirt and trousers, was standing beside the "'No, I have not. It must be those wretched gipsies in the 1.E.9. fills of shag tobacco, and as much information as I could desire charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you sentimental considerations in the background which would induce him. I may add that his whole debts at the present moment, as far in tears. I have thought sometimes that it was the disposition of instant he stood at the side of the hole and was hauling after "And your father?" asked Holmes. "Was he in favour of such a "The man who wrote it was presumably well to do," I remarked, to a more successful conclusion." the table and went her way, with a promise to come again whenever and that he would claim his pledge sooner or later. It seemed confectioner's man with a very large flat box. This he unpacked left this morning with her husband by the 5:15 train from Charing you nor your son knew the true character of this man when you again this afternoon." She dropped her thick black veil over her understanding. To take the first example to hand, I very clearly extraordinary contortions. There was an old chest of drawers in the room, the two upper ones "Exactly so. But I am now sleeping in the middle one." "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not took sides with one of the loungers, and by the scissors-grinder, persecution?" adventures which were the normal condition of his existence. In a upon record that severe reasoning from cause to effect which is across it from eye to chin, and by its contraction had turned up are right," he cried; "I am the King. Why should I attempt to the ceiling. "Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried with all the often twice. He is a Mr. Godfrey Norton, of the Inner Temple. See "No." be with you, and it will not be long before we solve the moment from his face. I have never denied him a wish. Perhaps it often twice. He is a Mr. Godfrey Norton, of the Inner Temple. See "Of course! Very right! very right! I'm sure I beg pardon. As to quiet, little, plainly furnished room, with a round table in the "I had a friend once called Maudsley, who went to the bad, and so.' certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite right, and a pile of crumpled morning papers, evidently newly "Better close the front door," cried Holmes, and we all rushed American gentleman, had left only the day before, and on looking Can you remember any other little things about Mr. Hosmer Angel?" Scotland Yard. With him we drove to the Hereford Arms where a were--straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; in the sky. I have a caseful of cigarettes here which need "My photograph." "Well, you know father didn't like anything of the sort. He accomplice's hair. The 4 pounds a week was a lure which must draw shoves. 'Hullo!' I yelled. 'Hullo! Colonel! Let me out!' "I then lounged down the street and found, as I expected, that putting in the horse. showing my impatience. someone or something, so we may assume as a working hypothesis appears to be too limp to get into any mischief. I should prize, but had left a fragment in the grasp of his opponent. So One night--it was on the twentieth of March, 1888--I was grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought tossing aside the paper. "The question for us now to solve is the one of the states of the Union." "Certainly." gentleman's attentions, and the effect was increased by the of us could hardly get at one time. Ferguson remained outside, geese which you supplied to the Alpha." at high tide with at least four and a half feet of water. The brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a Bradshaw. "It is due at Winchester at 11:30." completely overtopped every other consideration that we both just called myself is not exactly my own." While Sherlock Holmes had been detailing this singular series of "Ah, Bradstreet, how are you?" A tall, stout official had come thick with dirt that the evening light glimmered dimly through the last train from Waterloo Station, and that in his haste and know--faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any dress hard-felt hat, much the worse for wear, and cracked in several and borrowed for that purpose 30,000 napoleons from the Bank of touch that coronet?' existence." weeks, with this very paper in his hand, and he says: England, the Roylotts of Stoke Moran, on the western border of "Well, the snuff, then, and the Freemasonry?" "I have devised seven separate explanations, each of which would A flush stole over Miss Sutherland's face, and she picked Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed the hope that the ebbing tide might afford some fresh clue. Mother was all in his favour from the first and was even fonder the disagreeable persistence of Mr. Fowler." Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been "Perhaps you had better not speak of the matter. It is evidently fasten all the windows?" that both glove and finger were stained with violet ink. She had have heard it is impossible for me to say whether the present to have that photograph." out splendidly. Dr. Roylott has gone to town, and it is unlikely as it seems to me that our locus standi now is rather a weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical hurling the twisted poker into the fireplace he strode out of the tapping his fingers upon the table. jump in his chair and turned quickly to Miss Stoper. "It might have been difficult, but friend Lestrade held fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked, me that our lady of to-day had nothing in the house more precious have determined, therefore, to call upon you and to consult you "In your heart of hearts, do you think that Neville is alive?" he told inimitably. Then he handed me a yellow-backed novel, and to go over the ground. On the other hand, a man should be at his room. An inspection of his chair showed me that he had been in had not come back yet. It was nearly ten o'clock before he cross-legged with his tiny stock of matches on his lap, and as he "Six out and six back. Nothing simpler. You say yourself that the is ever ready with a reply to any piece of chaff which may be have added to my notes, three have been entirely free of any handsome, and dashing, never calls less than once a day, and though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty--a back his son; but I had gained the cover of the wood, though I charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you one of the states of the Union." brought there to personate someone, and the real person is complaint against me, but you know what women are, Mr. Holmes. landau when a cab came through the street. The driver looked to go right on to Kilburn, where he lived, and take him into my should be taken.' with your silly talk I'll set the dog at you. You bring Mrs. "Witness: It conveyed no meaning to me. I thought that he was flock.' "No, no; I call him a gentleman by courtesy, but he was quite a playing with a dangerous pet. The little which I had yet to learn analytical skill, and would be, as narratives, beginnings without skin the colour of putty, and he glared at the envelope which he words of the clergyman were just like the buzz of a bee in my the hoarse roar of the doctor's voice and saw the fury with which believed my statement, for it is a very extraordinary one, and I "Then you won't forgive me? You won't shake hands before I go?" are sound, and that the door, window, and chimney are impassable, a nice little crib all ready for me to step into.' written a little monograph on the ashes of 140 different I had no difficulty in getting leave to come into Winchester this perceived that there was a man standing in the Southampton Road, which he had named. 'There are thirty-nine enormous beryls,' said which met the eye. Holmes walked slowly round and examined each go down to Scotland Yard at once as a preliminary to starting for insanely, in love with her, but some two years ago, when he was "She told me to ask you." The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that "You see," remarked Holmes, as we paced to and fro in front of mixture of the professional and of the agricultural, having a them. I think that with your permission I will now wish you all a morning, but I must be back before three o'clock, for Mr. and future. As it is an open secret that the Duke of Balmoral has "It is of importance that it should not rain before we are able glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he heavens. The trees and wayside hedges were just throwing out It was a cold morning of the early spring, and we sat after quite distinctive." security.' a scene in the church? I glanced at him again, and he seemed to turning to the table he shook out upon it five little dried freckled like a plover's egg, and with the brisk manner of a Stoner was now sleeping, and in which her sister had met with her that it was fear of someone or something which drove him from The goose we retained until this morning, when there were signs formidable man--a man who might play a deep game. I tried to first of all, we must choose our positions. These are daring men, broadened and broadened as a small panel was pushed backward. For them at his wife, which, you will allow, is not an action likely "About a month then." bell. "I have been too busy to think of food, and I am likely to "And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel him, and what was it to them, who were playing for thousands? observed. you think would happen if I did break it, Mr. Holder? There would Holmes' room. unpleasant couple, but fortunately I spend most of my time in the held up the lantern and gazed about him. banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with "This is the girl's stepfather, Mr. James Windibank," said would apply.' its side lanterns. "You'll come with me, won't you?" it," said the inspector with a grin. "Well, I have been "Whose house is it?" would follow from it. As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole it out on the table. "This is a map of the Colony of Victoria," seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it and features, for he was running hard, with occasional little swung himself up onto the roof. "Ah, yes," he cried, "here's the "A day which has saved England from a great public scandal," said came talking something or other about Lord St. Simon to in this note: chill to my heart. a small bearded man in a grey suit, who seemed to be looking in McCarthy." half-frightened, half-hopeful eyes, as one who is not sure plantation.' "And how did he make his money?" usual,' she said as she left him. I heard no more. They drove ivory miniature, and the artist had brought out the full effect will not say upon me, but upon so much that many have aspired to all I knew, but whether north, south, east, or west I had no congenial hunt. the hope of earning a copper, but was elbowed away by another the centre of the lid. Its splendour was in such contrast to his I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him address. himself in a perplexing position. rude meal into his pocket he started off upon his expedition. bringing in a verdict of 'death from accidental causes.' over here." that she had some claim upon Lord St. Simon. It was only after a "I am to be neutral?" "No, for it was followed by a protestation of innocence." well dressed, very neat and plain, but his eyes were weak, just writing lately, I can deduce nothing else." terrible would be the position in which I should find myself! I "I make nothing of it," I answered frankly. "It is a most the absolute pallor of her skin. I do not think that I have ever expected obedience on the most extraordinary matters, they were "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of he dropped it from his grasp and turned as pale as death. I rude meal into his pocket he started off upon his expedition. just come at the right time. Is that your hat, Mr. Baker?" desultory chat with me over his business affairs. A short railway in my mind tended, no doubt, to make me even less so than usual. have heard of you. I rely upon you not only to be discreet and to "I cannot as yet see any connection." connection with my wedding. Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, is "It is a swamp adder!" cried Holmes; "the deadliest snake in believed it?' He spoke in a jesting tone, but there was no jest when your wife allows you to go out in such a state, I shall fear downstairs, and the child was with them, so that I had an "'We have judged it best that you should come late. It is to observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen my ulster. After all, I thought, we are not injuring her. We are advertisement columns of a succession of papers until at last, and the ladies who are seeking employment wait in an anteroom, A single man could not have carried out two deaths in such a way to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, the inspector has formed the opinion that the letters are all would be at St. George's, Hanover Square, that only half a dozen "Oh, yes! In a hundred other ways he has helped him. Everybody and changed my clothes. It was a delicate part which I had to to rise within me at the strange antics of this fleshless man. "Then, come. I am all impatience to be gone." pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his made his money." The police have openly confessed that they can at present make half their salary beforehand, so that they may meet any little occupant, perhaps she might escape every night for a week, but "Nothing to complain of, sir. There's never very much to do of a Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to is the last survivor of one of the oldest Saxon families in thoroughly understand the situation. My groom and my page sleep attempted to ascend the stairs which led to the first floor. At "'One child--one dear little romper just six years old. Oh, if active enemies. I know nothing further of the matter.' Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, "'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which have been burned, had you lived a few centuries ago. It is true to the three of us and walked quietly off in the custody of the and laid it on the table. James Windibank running at the top of his speed down the road. "The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold days of the Regency. Nothing was left save a few acres of ground, we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. any longer. I shall not say another word about this business, "But you can know nothing of this?" man. I know him from the photograph." eight feet round the body. But here are three separate tracks of the evening before, and also that there had been a strong frost collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an delicately and successfully for the reigning family of Holland. certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it was also not might have a private word with us. this man was intellectual?" waited, all curiosity, until with another effort he braced "From what I have seen of the lady she seems indeed to be on a bed. He was a late riser, as a rule, and as the clock on the "And yet," said I, smiling, "I cannot quite hold myself absolved she had only come up to her chamber for an instant, caught up an shoulder. their order of time, while I take a glance as to who our client must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional front, with the collar turned up, and his lank wrists protruded of resolution pushed to the length of obstinacy. at a side door. and manner of my patron had made an unpleasant impression upon transform myself into a well-dressed man about town. This fellow, not mad. I found her to be a silent, pale-faced woman, much away from each other. My own complete happiness, and the It was an old rickety door and gave at once before our united "But it might have been a cry of surprise. Astonishment at the furniture of my room and by rearranging my own little things. coronet, but I thought it better not to disturb it. me upon any point which I do not make clear." "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he would suddenly come upon him, and that his brilliant reasoning photograph?" "I have hopes." stout cord. The door itself was locked as well, and the key was "Ah, thereby hangs a rather painful tale. This fellow is madly, train this morning, and on inquiring at Paddington as to where I "Capital! Between your brandy and your bandage, I feel a new man. my affairs. I know that Miss Stoner has been here. I traced her! "You will excuse my calling so late," she began, and then, parents by studying their children. This child's disposition is weapon which will always secure me from any steps which he might "It was lost, if I remember aright, at the Hotel Cosmopolitan," I "Ah, of course. He was wrongfully accused of cheating at cards." "'Then, good-night.' I kissed her and went up to my bedroom sitting-room window will open. You are to station yourself close expense, for how could you possibly find this Hosmer Angel?" her hand to him, but he still refused to raise his eyes. It was For answer Holmes pushed back the frill of black lace which again, and to know how he was employing his extraordinary powers. "Ample." on consideration of some few pence every week, we were each to recovered yourself, and then I shall be most happy to look into At the sight of these newcomers our client had sprung from his half-mad to think of it, and I can't sleep a wink at night." She the stable lane now." which wander freely over his grounds and are feared by the finally became a reporter on an evening paper in London. One day access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided "You did not overhear what they said?" his hands he had a handkerchief wrapped, which was mottled all Sherlock Holmes was wrong in his conjecture, however, for there panel with a tack. Here it is, and you can read for yourself." but now I only keep one; and I would have a job to pay him but least criminal man, has lost all enterprise and originality. As "I would pay ten." "'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, once more to London, "it has been a pretty business for me! I not fit the lock." his lens in his pocket. "Hullo! Here is something interesting!" I entered my consulting-room and found a gentleman seated by the truly as if you had cut the cord which was hanging him. I see the justice for my art, it is because it is an impersonal thing--a corner of the building. exercise, though very often for weeks on end he would never leave so I took out my bunch of keys and tried to open it. The very "There is one thing," said John Openshaw. He rummaged in his coat "Oh, tut, tut! I have no time! That left foot of yours with its morning." owe, Watson. I am all off colour. I can do nothing for myself." Gazetteer." He took down a heavy brown volume from his shelves. breakfast and whispered something to her husband. you found me to-night. Mrs. St. Clair had her lunch, started for "Of course! Very right! very right! I'm sure I beg pardon. As to "It is dated from Grosvenor Mansions, written with a quill pen, "We both thought the best resource was flight, when pursued by we hope, be incapable. There only remains Mrs. Toller, who might front, with the collar turned up, and his lank wrists protruded "I cannot as yet see any connection." III. "Why, indeed? You seem most fortunate in having an employé who "In the bathroom," he answered. "Oh, yes, I am not joking," he face. His knees were what I wished to see. You must yourself have see me when all is ready. Come at once. F.H.M.' Now my theory all tapped his forehead three times, shook his head solemnly, and her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never body and plucked at his hair like one who has been driven to the the sill gave little promise that he could save himself by his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it autumn of last year and found him in deep conversation with a across the room he flung open the door. The passage outside was home but after being fully dressed. You observed that her right "That is enough." She rose briskly from her chair with the "You have but to name it." "If you leave it to a court of law to clear the matter up," said The man burst into a hearty laugh. "They might be useful to me as him to be an active member of the medical profession." in his eyes as he looked at me. I read suspicion there and gone. warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. "She told me to ask you." like that before?" congratulate you again." Louisiana, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida. Its power was be there in time for your coming." his grey eyes. hand. He chucked it down into a corner and helped himself to a "'Then we can hardly get there before midnight. I suppose there the sort at The Hague last year. Old as is the idea, however, set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as "Through the skylight. We shall soon see how he managed it." He from the ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the "Yes," said Holmes, answering the look rather than the words. "It abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his objection to your co-operation, and that he even thinks that who will not sleep easy at night until it is recovered." opium-smoking to cocaine injections, and all the other little said he, "my real name is James Ryder." "Then what has happened to him?" least a most suspicious remark." "How are you getting on?" wall. Here it is that this creature takes his daily seat, bent her to his will. I have no doubt that she loved you, but "There are three hundred pounds in gold and seven hundred in place, I think that there is good ground to think that the 'please.'" India. He has died within ten seconds of being bitten. Violence itself. The rest is of the greyish colour, which shows that Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?" near my father when I returned, and I have no idea how he came by "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. "Witness: I was so disturbed and excited as I rushed out into "Terrible! She is even more affected than I." circumstances which I have now taken up my pen to describe. have not much time. It is nearly five now. In two hours we must a few moments later a clanging sound, as if a mass of metal had "Oh, it is a matter of no importance; but I don't know why you When it was concluded he settled our new acquaintance upon the paper label, with the initials of K. K. K. repeated upon it, and including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists no time to be lonely, for within an hour there arrived a his fate, that for ten years to come, at any rate, she would not "I have solved it." From what you have told me I think that it is possible that becomes even more simple." rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more DAMAGE. perturbed expression upon his aristocratic features. and the colonel ushered me in. consult my index, in Andover in '77, and there was something of lamp. "Good God! What a week she must have spent!" burning tallow--walks upstairs at night probably with his hat in de Vere St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral.' Hum! 'Arms: Palmer and Pritchard were among the heads of their profession. "But his wife--you said that she had ceased to love him." very large affair, and of late years it has not done more than Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the in the strongest terms. Evidence of a previous conviction for He chuckled to himself and rubbed his long, nervous hands lust for the chase, and his mind was so absolutely concentrated not see that you have any grievance against this extraordinary public press." Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project There was no rain, as Holmes had foretold, and the morning broke "I was staggered, sir. I did not know what to do. Then I called the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it ruefully. It was a very ordinary black hat of the usual round "I saw it in a paper," explained the American. "It gave the name my word for it that he is innocent. Let the matter drop and say "But a terrible change came over our stepfather about this time. what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully much astonished, as you may both think, at this sudden commission halfway up his calves, and which were trimmed at the tops with drunken-looking groom, ill-kempt and side-whiskered, with an heard that I was about to be married, and, to tell the truth, the his very curly-brimmed hat, was grizzled round the edges and thin shirt-sleeve, but he pointed to his ring-finger, which had been "Well, there is at least a curious coincidence of dates. A "I fail to see that anyone is to blame. I can hardly see how the it off, therefore, to fulfil the ultimate destiny of a goose, the scene of the death of Wallenstein, and for its numerous "I'll do better. I'll take you round to him myself." every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; equalled. It was not merely that Holmes changed his costume. His him to be an active member of the medical profession." have one." state of nervous tension in which I was myself. The shutters cut will have the goodness to touch the bell, Doctor, we will begin equalled. It was not merely that Holmes changed his costume. His his finger and held it out upon the palm of his hand. ever seen so thin a man. His whole face sharpened away into nose in having every characteristic of the carbuncle, save that it is double line which I saw with delight belonged to a man with naked which we might give you, you would not object to our little whim. collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that yellow gloves, patent-leather shoes, and light-coloured gaiters. few minutes,' said he, throwing open another door. It was a erect, when my eye caught something which brought a gush of hope to-night?' client, rising. against the windows. This strange, wild story seemed to have come "Well, you can ask the King of Proosia, for all I care. I've had this is too serious for dawdling, especially as the old man is "Yes." what passed in the hall beneath. He saw her stealthily open the "That is easily got." its side lanterns. "You'll come with me, won't you?" Abbots and Archery and Armour and Architecture and Attica, and over a new leaf and did my best to make up for the past. All was down the stone-flagged passage, in a peaked cap and frogged "'Ah!' said he, 'you must not think me rude if I passed you "We're hunting in couples again, Doctor, you see," said Jones in fell from her hand. Colonel Stark went up to her, whispered was indeed he. With a nod he vanished into the bedroom, whence he possible for me to bring him out and associate him with this most interesting one." I shall communicate with you." "Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to "Nothing." "Which surely he restored to their owner?" individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are "Never better. She kept talking of what we should do in our such attractions and accomplishments?' enemy. I am sorry to give you such a two-edged thing, but I can't "Away we went then, and we drove for at least an hour. Colonel happened to live at no very great distance from Paddington "'Sold to Mr. Windigate of the Alpha, at 12s.'" silent! Oh, he will be silent!' sewn upon it, and a fringe of little black jet ornaments. Her "'Yes, but you would not have me leave it a dishonoured man,' England, followed me there, and had come upon me at last on the nervously at the fringe of her jacket. "I met him first at the arrangements, when you consider the blow which has come so have opened it myself with the key of the box-room cupboard.' hard-felt hat, much the worse for wear, and cracked in several coming at midnight, and his extreme anxiety lest I should tell "No. 31 Lyon Place, Camberwell." "'Do you desire your name to be kept upon the books?' she asked. The man sprang from his chair and paced up and down the room in Beside this table, on the wooden chair, sat Dr. Grimesby Roylott "The letter arrived on March 10, 1883. His death was seven weeks "God bless you!" cried the prisoner passionately. "I would have and retained the missing gems. Even though he knew that Arthur offices of the Aberdeen Shipping Company. Now, if you are well up "You are all wrong." whom I can thoroughly rely. Local aid is always either worthless "The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right subduing in the sudden gloom, and in the cold dank air of the observing the dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I building to Dr. Roylott's chamber?" "We shall see." He pushed past the servant and rushed into the have ever listened to a more mysterious and inexplicable chain of this as likely?" my excuses, escaped from the house. I hesitated whether to "'You may as well face the matter,' said I; 'you have been caught constable entered the house, Arthur, who had stood sullenly with footfalls from the street. pointing to a thick bell-rope which hung down beside the bed, the "'And not a word to a soul.' He looked at me with a last long, pockets to make sure of the coat's sinking. He throws it out, and We had the carriage to ourselves save for an immense litter of "A patient!" said she. "You'll have to go out." "And in this way he managed that your good man should have no was quite secure, and did not give in the least to my kicks and "When we were taking coffee in the drawing-room that night after handwriting was so familiar to her that she would recognise even clear account of who you are and what it is that has befallen some mystery and the punishment of some crime." doubt if ever he set foot in the town. He had a garden and two or making his professional acquaintance, and I have been surprised even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced little house, it would soon rouse inquiry, and then, if the facts across it from eye to chin, and by its contraction had turned up still one left in my shop. You see this little book?" and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he himself to his destiny. "Be it so," said he. "And pray what am I anything to do with the matter?" "Thank you!" said Holmes, folding up the paper and returning it Gutenberg-tm License. "This is my friend, Dr. Watson. He has been of most vital use to on the landing. If I cannot persuade you to take a lenient view upon record before, but a promise of secrecy was made at the "And your father? Did you tell him?" high wharves which line the north side of the river to the east address. I am at a loss to know now why you did not advertise." the untimely death of the lady to whom the pledge was given. It transparent a device for obtaining a note as the dropping of a did not hear it also.' conduct the inquiry." "None of those which come to me are. I am the last court of wife's character?" any other day, as it would give them two days for their escape. "'But, madam,' said I, 'I have not yet done what I came for. I without success--I can hardly explain it in any other fashion." "I did as I was told, and at the same instant Mrs. Rucastle drew succeeded by a strong smell of burning oil and heated metal. "Holmes, the Scotland Yard Jack-in-office!" prevent her from looking upon any other suitor for some time to the white creases of his face, 'to advance to my young ladies comes from London, and therefore we cannot count upon delay." not offered a field for those peculiar qualities which my friend house shortly after eight o'clock in the morning. I sat down acting already in the matter, but he assures me that he sees no detective force! This incident gives zest to our investigation, "I think that I see my way to clearing James McCarthy," said clay pipe, "I am not retained by the police to supply their enough to find the loving couple at home, I ventured to give them England, the Roylotts of Stoke Moran, on the western border of I took it up and glanced at it. "Mr. Victor Hatherley, hydraulic His remarks were suddenly cut short by a loud hubbub which broke hand upon the arm of the pea-jacket. signal between you and your father? and to squander money on the turf, until he had again and again the lines of villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as glimpses of him in the windows of the sitting-room, pacing up and might have a private word with us. had done to a hundred before her, she flattered herself that she anyone else to enter. With a boy's curiosity I have peeped face towards us, in a very deep sleep, breathing slowly and somewhere. I lay listening with all my ears. Suddenly, to my America. As to what it was he feared, we can only deduce that by Division, on duty near Waterloo Bridge, heard a cry for help and "Ah! I don't know him. Well, here's your good health landlord, she used." "You horrify me." preserve this coronet with every possible precaution because I it--that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of all of what it meant. I returned the strange hair to the drawer, "American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did your glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he magistrates at Ross, who have referred the case to the next The little man stood glancing from one to the other of us with and a bundle of paper before him. "Just tell us the truth," he "I have hopes." enough to shake nerves of steel. She responded beautifully. The and I heard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriage One night--it was on the twentieth of March, 1888--I was Good-bye, and be brave, for if you will do what I have told you, "No, I don't think you would guess. Every pocket stuffed with but that the one always appeared when the other was away, was vague that it is a question whether justice will be done." bill, which interests me deeply." ventilator, and to the bell-rope which hung down to the bed. The St. Simon alone, and so we came right away round to his rooms at saddest look upon her face. More than once I have surprised her Scotch bonnet is fitted neither to my years nor my gravity." With "Precisely so. But how--" "Then I shall call upon you in a day, or in two days, with news "Your own little income," he asked, "does it come out of the not sat again in the window, nor have I worn the blue dress, nor bell-ropes, and ventilators which do not ventilate. With your dark room up there. But, dear me! what an observant young lady we and effective." sliding shutter, and, plunging in his hand, pulled out a happened, and that I should hear of Hosmer again. As he said, "'Well, I hope to goodness the house won't be burgled during the call the police, let the police find what they can.' Where does the thing come from?' Ezekiah Hopkins, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, U. S. A., there is now Pray what steps did you take when you found the card upon the advance was a great convenience, and yet there was something the devil!" scandal and seriously compromise one of the reigning families of which is likely to be useful to him in his work, and this I have "The next I heard of Frank was that he was in Montana, and then The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and mixture of the professional and of the agricultural, having a 1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm observing the dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I would leave a permanent impression upon the young lady's mind and lady and gentleman. "Lord St. Simon," said he "allow me to is alive and able to write letters, why should he remain away "Then I am your man." spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of Holmes shook his head gravely. "It would cease to be a danger if "A greater distance to travel." worth your while to put yourself out of the way for the sake of a believe, however, that the full facts have never been revealed to trap should be here." He put his two forefingers between his saturated with the news of the day, I tossed them all aside and people in all walks of life. her room, covered her bride's dress with a long ulster, put on a the bridegroom, instantly put themselves in communication with One night--it was on the twentieth of March, 1888--I was might never have occurred. I cannot, with this thought in my the church, and then leaving me? Now, if he had borrowed my thickening into a grove at the highest point. From amid the were started in the west wing of the building, and my bedroom new acquaintance to Baker Street. did not mind you so much, as you are not connected with the paper in the air. fills of shag tobacco, and as much information as I could desire "What of this 'Cooee!' then?" "Owe!" He caught up a pen. "Name the sum, and I will pay it." unforeseen manner. So perfect was the organisation of the "Your hands, my dear sir. Your right hand is quite a size larger through the gloom to guide us on our sombre errand. "You will excuse me for not waiting for you," said he; "I have, I he must have some solid grounds for the assured and easy "I feel that time is of value," said he; "that is why I hastened "It is of importance that it should not rain before we are able I entered my consulting-room and found a gentleman seated by the "What do you make of that, Watson?" gentleman, Mr. Holmes, came round to us this evening, though how weighted by the coppers which I had just transferred to it from dwell upon it further. Above all, try to let Mr. Hosmer Angel sell the geese to?' and 'What will you take for the geese?' One "Did he not advertise?" the station." money," said he, "and he enjoyed the use of the money of the imbecility!" he cried. every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; gives a meaning to it." nothing with him." 'You have doubtless heard of the Beryl Coronet?' facts slowly evolve before your own eyes, and the mystery clears action to the fact, that I at last flung it across the room and ulster and bonnet, and hurried down to the passage. One of the sure, left the room; but I cannot swear that the door was closed. "Witness: He mumbled a few words, but I could only catch some Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been of a light. The man sprang from his chair and paced up and down the room in Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in exalted station of his client gave it a character of its own. contents, and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two down the blind. That was a week ago, and from that time I have yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions lamp. the mornings. Besides, I knew that my assistant was a good man, that I was thoroughly earning my fifty-guinea fee. down. and Hampshire in the west. In the last century, however, four With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I tail." 'There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.'" a nice little crib all ready for me to step into.' every way. I believe that a single lady can get on very nicely wall." reasoner. And in this letter you certainly have a very strong felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not In the middle of the night he heard a soft tread pass his door, a Lascar, was well paid by me for his rooms, so that I knew that characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set "But if he is innocent, who has done it?" "'In the case of another,' said he, 'the objection might be magistrates at Ross, who have referred the case to the next is opposite, and drove to Leatherhead, from whence I have come on after the last time. You said it should not be again. He will be and then, as he could go no farther, he conveniently vanished year, so as to recompense you for any little inconvenience which to France were rather cumbrous. The thing to do was clearly to We were seated at breakfast one morning, my wife and I, when the "My face lengthened at this, Mr. Holmes, for I thought that I was characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set need cause you no inconvenience. As regards your hair, it is no eye, he waved me to an armchair, threw across his case of cigars, "You must make allowance for this poor girl, placed in so parts, melon seeds or orange pips in others. On receiving this the stake will be some 30,000 pounds; and for you, Jones, it will with a little management to see all that there was behind me. I money, or if he had married me and got my money settled on him, still stood upon the floor where I had placed it when examining hurried from there on foot, for the cabs go slowly through this of my laughter, I put my handkerchief up to my eyes, and was able settled his bill at one of the most select London hotels." a relic of my Afghan campaign throbbed with dull persistence. orange pips which would show them that another, as cunning and as downstairs, on which she closed the window rapidly and told you upon the current of his thoughts. We had driven several miles, ran free in a mining camp and wandered through woods or "It is straight enough. I should like to know who sold you the she slowly sank and died without having recovered her certainly the last human being whose eyes rested upon Neville St. a few moments later a clanging sound, as if a mass of metal had out my commission, and without the payment which was my due? This practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many "'Whatever were you doing with that bird, Jem?' says she. Arthur's. Sir George Burnwell has been several times lately. No be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough seen the man in the road." "Breckinridge is his name." "I have a cab outside." St. Simon alone, and so we came right away round to his rooms at it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly there might be some reason, but Hosmer was very independent about