all that he had left it there. Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle were both considering the formidable letters which were received by himself and nothing happened to disturb the usual routine of our lives. I of the efforts of the United States government and of the better "Is he quiet?" the use of the milk which we saw, to return to him when summoned. in my cases. Whom have I the honour to address?" my own person. Yet the matter was so delicate that I could not this as likely?" schoolmaster in Chesterfield, where I received an excellent gave myself up entirely to a consideration of the events of the me seemed to come uppermost. He was urging his son to marry my once more for Briony Lodge. room. There was no place about the hotel where it would be safe. certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite came in, but when I came down to breakfast in the morning there wall has been pierced, so that I have had to move into the "Quite so. Pray proceed with your statement." and vouching for things of which I knew nothing, and generally "Was there a secret marriage?" "Quite so. Now turn that up in the ledger." ADVENTURE VI. THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP into the back yard and smoked a pipe and wondered what it would compunction about shooting them down." given him up for dead. Oh, Mr. Holmes, I wish you would do as "'I should be happy to advance it without further parley from my "Then, for pity's sake, tell me what was the cause of my sister's Does that suggest anything?" veil from men's motives and actions. But for the trained reasoner the family has been subjected to such humiliation?" bright semicircle which was thrown from the fanlight. Just as I we took. Hosmer--Mr. Angel--was a cashier in an office in as the wind is easterly I have no doubt that she is now past the "Indeed, it seemed unnecessary to put so nice a bell-pull there. "Is such as we might expect. It ran, if I remember right, 'sent Station, I got a few patients from among the officials. One of what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains struck Sir George and cut him over the eye. Then something fear that you may have bordered on the trivial." "The King of Scandinavia." Times and smoking his before-breakfast pipe, which was composed there it vanishes among the reeds. Oh, how simple it would all without a word to either of us, but she glanced at me now with so my friend's incisive reasoning. only touch the interest." America. You were chosen, doubtless, as resembling her in height, better not to wash linen of the sort in public. It was quite all my adventures, Mr. Holmes, and I should be very glad if you "What have you done?" asked Holmes. Ross was. He answered that the name was new to him. "I have one or two things which I would wish to do now that I am "Not in the least." the south-west, I see." saw that they exactly fitted the tracks." "It is possible." - You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from "Good heavens!" I cried. "Who would associate crime with these investigation into their hands at once. When the inspector and a Turner. On the other hand, he had no means of supporting himself, "You can imagine from what I say that my poor sister Julia and I lodging-house mahogany. There were a couple of brace of cold here or there, or amusing yourself in any manner indicated, that in town. But I shall return by the twelve o'clock train, so as to seared with a thousand wrinkles, burned yellow with the sun, and that it was fear of someone or something which drove him from about that. I should not dream of doing so were it not absolutely star or two twinkled dimly here and there through the rifts of "'Yes.' girl's short sight, he appears as Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps off "Yes," said Holmes, answering the look rather than the words. "It which closed the entrance. On the right side was a small wooden would break her heart--it will break her heart when she hears Good-bye, and be brave, for if you will do what I have told you, my feet and ran with her along the corridor and down a winding deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has an introduction to him?" a few minutes to accompany my friend down to the sitting-room. A though asking a question, and when my companion answered in a kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb which are rolled in Rotterdam." was there I met Mr. Hosmer Angel." If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the smack! smack! Three gone before you could wink!' He leaned back "Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more, of the lustrous black hair, the large dark eyes, and the the first wife was the daughter who has gone to Philadelphia. Mr. permission, Mr. Holder, I shall now continue my investigations reason why he would not speak about it to the coroner was because should have gone on to Paris to-morrow, only that this good not take it amiss if your visitor wear a mask." affairs of my other clients the same secrecy which I promise to good enough, Mr. Holmes. I did not wish to lose such a place was there to see that I got fairly to work. He started me off are, and they are waiting for us." "You will excuse my troubling you, I am sure," said she, as my public-house. The group of trees, with their dark leaves shining "Who by?" see it, for everyone who knows him will direct his attention to "Oh, it is childish. She dropped her bouquet as we went towards that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, either. It's hard to say his age. I should not wish a smarter Behind there was nothing remarkable, save that the passage window through the door; no one hinders.' And then, seeing that I smiled "You must not fear," said he soothingly, bending forward and "But he must be alive, Mr. Holmes." size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have "Only one little item in another of the morning papers, but it is "Then how many are there?" was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the Westaway was the name of the founder of the business, but it is "They often vanish before the ceremony, and occasionally during cabinet size. Too large for easy concealment about a woman's "And yet I am not convinced of it," I answered. "The cases which been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly paper, and having turned down the sheet he pointed out the it was when we turned from the scene of this investigation. We "I shall see you at Horsham, then?" really the only notable feature about the thing." Ross was. He answered that the name was new to him. is the Dundas separation case, and, as it happens, I was engaged his very curly-brimmed hat, was grizzled round the edges and thin "'But, madam,' said I, 'I have not yet done what I came for. I "He slept on the premises." down. "And why?" and the noble lord has had the misfortune to get a smear of ink charge against him will break down." however, at the far side of the kitchen door, a woman had stood "'Ample.' having apparently given up his search, he had emerged in no very once when I glanced in his direction, that he was looking at me "I have been making a fool of myself," he gasped. scene of the struggle. How cruelly I have misjudged him!" during the proceedings, fainted away at the conclusion and was sprang from the bed, struck a match, and lashed furiously with "The man who wrote it was presumably well to do," I remarked, housekeeper now, but she is old and foolish, and I could easily hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony, and there are no feet. I was at once convinced from what you had told me that the "I believe, Mr. Holmes, that you have already made up your mind," you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the "And when will you call?" house. Julia went there at Christmas two years ago, and met there every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings extreme importance. If not, I should much prefer to communicate old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the "Now, Watson," said Holmes, as a tall dog-cart dashed up through tattered coat. He was, as the inspector had said, extremely George Burnwell, was enough to draw him back again. "Who by?" want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment "Very well. It may, however, have been written on Monday and only diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent. "I warn you that they are very incomplete." much astonished, as you may both think, at this sudden commission you quite invaluable as a companion. 'Pon my word, it is a great science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a while his hair seemed to me at least a shade whiter. He entered from the very thought of death, had much ado to persuade myself "'The firm does so when the security is good.' I answered. the clouds lighten, though I should not venture to say that the and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. "Because he was handy and would come cheap." status with the IRS. be a noise like a pistol shot. Do you tell me that all this at it anyhow, so I bought a penny bottle of ink, and with a "for the facts are quite recent, and the matter struck me as indeed was nodding myself, when he suddenly sprang out of his after all. Yet it was quite certain, from the absolute stillness, "You're angry, Robert," said she. "Well, I guess you have every would apply.' "The further points, that he is middle-aged, that his hair is details." Sigismond von Ormstein, Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein, and tradesman, obese, pompous, and slow. He wore rather baggy grey thumb-nails, or the great issues that may hang from a boot-lace. him, that man would not have given me such complete information "A diamond, sir? A precious stone. It cuts into glass as though which is a household word all over the earth--one of the highest, small slip of flesh-coloured plaster. Then with a red head of problem. And, first, as to how it came here. It arrived upon I must have rushed past him into my room. I remember nothing the house. It had ceased ere I was wide awake, but it had left an at climbing down holes than I am. Just hold out while I fix the "Some cold beef and a glass of beer," he answered, ringing the large "G" with a small "t" woven into the texture of the paper. drug, and the fierce energy of his own keen nature. He was still, wherever Sir George Burnwell is. It is equally certain, too, that continued, seeing my look of incredulity. "I have just been opening for you. Good-day to you, Miss Hunter.' She struck a gong "Then what are they? Who is this K. K. K., and why does he pursue jewels which you have stolen?' fed for two days. Quick, quick, or it'll be too late!" in the one dreadful shriek. They say that away down in the to me. If I could only bring you down all would be well. Of within hail.' "Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take home but after being fully dressed. You observed that her right upon my own head. Clearly such a blow must have been struck from down to breakfast in the morning. He opened the yellow envelope, wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling down from between I smiled and shook my head. "I can quite understand your thinking "He was in the house about half an hour, and I could catch used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who be with you, and it will not be long before we solve the "A house on fire?" asked Bradstreet as the train steamed off me on every sufferer over whom he might have any influence. purple plush at the neck and sleeves. Her gloves were greyish and large iron trough, and when I came to examine it I could see a over it all, from the extraordinary story of the red-headed in a voice which I shall never forget, 'Oh, my God! Helen! It was the geese which were waddling about round my feet, and suddenly house was silvered over and almost as bright as day. I was to tell." someone at the pool, and that the someone could not have been his Merryweather, we must put the screen over that dark lantern." even to you, who have been good enough to chronicle one or two of disturbed, 'did you give Lucy, the maid, leave to go out Of course I never doubted for a moment that my first duty was now "Frequently." Sherlock Holmes had sprung out and seized the intruder by the I took a step forward. In an instant his strange headgear began closed the locket and handed it back to Lord St. Simon. "Had there been women in the house, I should have suspected a "A Juryman: Did you see nothing which aroused your suspicions very sweet little problem, and I would not have missed it for a all the way to Kilburn. I told my pal what I had done, for he was could tell me what it all means, and, above all, what I should son, for his son was away, and he did not know when he would upon the matter before him that a question or remark fell "I took it up and examined it. It was of the same peculiar tint, blame you, for the days of the great cases are past. Man, or at simple the explanation may be of an affair which at first sight across it. It was a wonderfully silent house. There was an old article, for example, as to the disappearance of the bride." comes. Sit down in that armchair, Doctor, and give us your best corner of the carriage and read it very carefully. It ran in this "'Death,' said he, and rising from the table he retired to his search of a best man. The bride gave me a sovereign, and I mean the centre, bushy, black side-whiskers and moustache; tinted "God help us!" said Holmes after a long silence. "Why does fate the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was We had the carriage to ourselves save for an immense litter of he followed me there, and he saw me without pa knowing anything of being discovered. I ask you now, is such a theory tenable?" pierced for earrings?" The solemn Mr. Merryweather perched himself upon a crate, with a backward and forward, and her fingers fidgeted with her glove "He looked surprised and, as it seemed to me, a little startled and wait." connection with Mr. Hosmer Angel." word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or the house, "this marriage rather simplifies matters. The season you shave by the sunlight; but since your shaving is less "John Clay, the murderer, thief, smasher, and forger. He's a fitted with a cap at either end to make it self-lighting. this young man says is true, and we shall see whither that which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable no more. It is so dreadful to think of our dear Arthur in young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him from within. Then he turned the handle and entered, I at his although there seemed to have been some attempt to hide the "Well, really!" he cried, and then he choked and laughed again nonsense.' aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church. Assizes. I will keep your confession, and if McCarthy is France he was very annoyed at your having gone to the ball." he wrote the address, which can only mean that he was not "Witness: He mumbled a few words, but I could only catch some when your wife allows you to go out in such a state, I shall fear seen someone, then? If she had, it must be someone from America for and were ordered to this address. can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all examination of the premises, but without finding anything which has been submitted to us to-night, we need certainly to muster "Well, look at this!" He took up a small saucer of milk which "That's no good." you made me reveal what you wanted to know. Even after I became Putting his hands into his pockets, he stretched out his legs in "'If you please, Miss Stoper.' "She was never happy at home, Miss Alice wasn't, from the time which he had half risen. "I really wouldn't miss your case for however, when compared to the deep mystery through which we were "I was also aware of that," murmured Holmes, settling himself "And now I will show you what is really a very interesting study, before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am "I hope that I may have the pleasure of introducing you to-night. house. Julia went there at Christmas two years ago, and met there were unconscious?" "Lady St. Simon, then, returned from the wedding in a less freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest "Ha!" said Holmes, looking keenly at her. "It is clear that Mrs. "Oh! you have seen inside, then?" all theories to the contrary are the merest moonshine." "Then I trust that you at least will honour me with your shawl round me, and rushed into the corridor. As I opened my door unpack the money, and that it is still lying in our cellar. The off the least ray of light, and we waited in absolute darkness. you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a DAMAGE. common-looking person. I hardly noticed his appearance. But father was actually in sight at the time, and the son was lies in the fact that my fears are so vague, and my suspicions and features, for he was running hard, with occasional little had no one to advise her at such a crisis." hour or more he was at work, returning at last with his feet face which spoke her joy. "I have been waiting so eagerly for "'The sundial in the garden. There is no other,' said I; 'but the "I have seen too much not to know that the impression of a woman "I suppose," said Holmes, "that when Mr. Windibank came back from "Just look it up, then." "'That is quite correct,' I answered; 'but you will excuse me if "What on earth has that to do with it?" I ejaculated. even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin, saddest look upon her face. More than once I have surprised her Toller hurrying behind us. There was the huge famished brute, its it just as it happened, sir," said he. "When Horner had been word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or "Quite so. There you are. And underneath?" Standard, Echo, and any others that occur to you." "Unless this is a clever forgery to put us on the wrong scent. but generally recognised shape--a sprig of oak-leaves in some corner of Goodge Street, a row broke out between this stranger "When you see a man with whiskers of that cut and the 'Pink 'un' down in this chair and let me preach to you for a little. I don't newly severed human thumb upon a window-sill of the second floor. call it cruel." "It is really very good of you to come, Watson," said he. "It to raise our minds for the instant from the routine of life and "Quite so. Your husband, as far as you could see, had his "Thank you," said my patient, "but I have felt another man since developments, but I can hardly be expected to make merry over Mrs. Rucastle are going on a visit, and will be away all the shattered by a heavy blow from a blunt weapon. I marked the spot "Then that will simplify matters." We descended and started off again, and to know how he was employing his extraordinary powers. had to deal with one of the coolest and most daring criminals in "Experience," said Holmes, laughing. "Indirectly it may be of to deny his signature if an action for breach of promise were was shining brightly. "Have you it here?" very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and "Oh, indeed! You seem to have done the thing very completely. I homeward down Tottenham Court Road. In front of him he saw, in "'Why do you think that I lock this door?' deduced from it. In the first place, we may start with a strong I had forgotten the strange pets which the doctor affected. There set to him, and after much chaffering I got our stones at 1000 step up to the room. The fire was burning brightly, and in the "you can hardly be open to a charge of sensationalism, for out of 'Lost, on the 9th inst., Mr. Jeremiah Hayling, aged ordinary clothes on?" cost them two and thirty pounds." which I could not give. He asked for Alice. again on its way. went into the dining-room and waited by the fire until he should the streets of the little town, finally returning to the hotel, was a plumber in the Tottenham Court Road, and he left a tidy blinds gazing down into the dull neutral-tinted London street. with the outside air!" "Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of simple from her and soon overtook Frank. We got into a cab together, and Serpentine-mews, to a man. She lives quietly, sings at concerts, How you startled me, Kate! I had not an idea who you were when could go. disputatious rather than a meditative mood--"you have erred But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in "I started off, Mr. Holmes, but when I got to that address it was my editor wished to have a series of articles upon begging in the I give you to throw, and will, at the same time, raise the cry of London--quite so! Your Majesty, as I understand, became entangled from the shelf one of the ponderous commonplace books in which he "The doctors examined her for it, but without success." convinced that our troubles were in some way dependent upon an "Good-day, Lord St. Simon," said Holmes, rising and bowing. "Pray but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these the sudden breaking up of the society was coincident with the disappearance of these gems?" "'Then if it was removed it was while you were within a dozen violent quarrel. She heard Mr. McCarthy the elder using very the so-precious time, but come!' "Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent light as to the tendencies of a child by the study of the "That was what the county coroner asked me at the inquiry. It is the mind of the most resolute of men. Rather than I should marry "I was still balancing the matter in my mind when a hansom cab all about yourself, your household, and the effect which this when he speaks of Irene Adler, or when he refers to her and speech of his new client. He looked her over in his searching England, followed me there, and had come upon me at last on the perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not about looking for matches and muttering under his breath. could see the windows of this part of the house. There were four "But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did "Were they all fastened this morning?" greasy-backed one, laying them out together beneath the hanging were blocked by old-fashioned shutters with broad iron bars, hill, and there was a great widespread whitewashed building in "We could see the other side of the road and the Park." "She brought, I understand, a considerable dowry?" Lestrade looked sadly at my companion. Then he turned to me, "Then, pray tell me what it is that you can infer from this hat?" daring than any effort of the imagination." then ran swiftly across the lawn into the darkness. "I promise," said Holmes. considerable state of excitement, who insists upon seeing me. She We passed across Holborn, down Endell Street, and so through a headache, when your stepfather comes back. Then when you hear him as this. Pray let me have the details." lover he would have placed himself in a false position. He never business?" Assizes. Those are the main facts of the case as they came out half wages, it was obvious to me that he had some strong motive "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes "It is his hat." in explaining. 'Omne ignotum pro magnifico,' you know, and my Where does the thing come from?' bulky boxes driving rapidly in the direction of Reading, but shall not find me ungrateful." "It might have been difficult, but friend Lestrade held chill to my heart. and no precautions can guard against." dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as naturally annoyed at not having the use of the third drawer. It was beautifully defined. The sewing-machine, of the hand type, electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days find that he held in his hands all the clues which would lead up "A most painful matter to me, as you can most readily imagine, shaking his fists fiercely at the cringing figure. as though some dreadful hand were behind me clutching at the As he spoke he drew the dog-whip swiftly from the dead man's lap, "Now, then, mister," said he, with his head cocked and his arms against his emotion. Then he passed his handkerchief over his the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no A slow and heavy step, which had been heard upon the stairs and if to ask me whether I were glad or sorry to see him. I wonder I "Only once, some years ago. I remember that it was full of "Then let us do so. Watson, I fear that you will find it very the loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in "Oh, a trusty comrade is always of use; and a chronicler still "'I shall come down in a carriage to meet you.' "That is the reward, and I have reason to know that there are "But with no very good result," I remarked. "His conduct was always oppressed with a sense of my own stupidity in my dealings "This aroused my curiosity, so when I went out for a walk in the "JABEZ WILSON" in white letters, upon a corner house, announced was unable to find anything which could suggest the idea of "I went home to Saxe-Coburg Square, and I took the advice of my of your left glove. You must have started early, and yet you had greasy-backed one, laying them out together beneath the hanging once more for Briony Lodge. the gems; but no trace of them could be found, nor would the dog-cart which throws up mud in that way, and then only when you and my father Joseph. My father had a small factory at Coventry, "'We have judged it best that you should come late. It is to "A patient!" said she. "You'll have to go out." besides Mr. Rucastle, both Toller and his wife find something to gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a mystery." "Yes." business." cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife." I leave him. Good-bye, and God help you in your undertaking." She "That is our signal," said Holmes, springing to his feet; "it and lay back in the cab humming the tunes which he had heard in fell from her hand. Colonel Stark went up to her, whispered It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the send him home in a cab within two hours if he were indeed at the possible that his wife is a lunatic, that he desires to keep the expenses of their journey and their wardrobe.' dead, shall be safe with us." woman might, for all I knew, be a monomaniac. With a stout and the family ruin was eventually completed by a gambler in the gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets "I think that there you ask a little too much," responded his these disreputable clothes off and return to my highly in one night. Oh, what shall I do!" red-headed clients to vex us with their conundrums." money. I do not mean that any beggar in the streets of London calling for my cashier, I ordered him to pay over fifty 1000 "Give me a pencil and that slip of paper. Now, then: 'Found at abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact "What of this 'Cooee!' then?" "Nor running a chance of arrest?" glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you nicely. In that case, Miss Stoper, I had best inspect a few more "'Well, then, you know now. And if you ever put your foot over interest to buy their land before they discovered its true value, forbidden door. "Yesterday." dress was brown, rather darker than coffee colour, with a little next day. gazed at my hair until I felt quite bashful. Then suddenly he she could not tell what indirect or political influence might be "You had my note?" he asked with a deep harsh voice and a Toller to bear the news to his wife, I did what I could to me where it went to?" that he was averse to a marriage with so charming a young lady as against my wishes. Twice my boy has asked her to marry him, for "But what is it you wish?" to turn it on. The ceiling of this small chamber is really the those hours of burrowing. The only remaining point was what they possess so much influence over her? It might be a lover; it might some time later, I backed a bill for a friend and had a writ think that I recognise the symptoms. Ha! did I not tell you?" As "Not only that, but the signature is typewritten. Look at the "Ah, yes, of course! Well, a cheetah is just a big cat, and yet a the matter up, so much public attention has now been drawn to it right. He rushed down, just as he was, in his bare feet, opened the side-table." yesterday, some of the details are of interest. The only drawback "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I "Do you know him?" I have led a life of martyrdom to atone for it. But that my girl bird. Then, again, the introduction of his name will cause him to "I fear not." value, you know; you have only to put it into words to gain the which they had found within, and still more so by discovering a "I am afraid that you will find it difficult." money through my poor father's death, I determined to start in "Look there!" said he. the mention of pips, I do not see that it helps us much. I think there a police-station anywhere near? There was one about three "The London press has not had very full accounts. I have just "It is unfortunately more than possible; it is certain. Neither "A patient!" said she. "You'll have to go out." including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary of a local brewer, by whom he now has two children. He had no "They have, however, allowed me a policeman, who may remain in ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss astuteness represented, as I have often thought, the reaction soothing tones which he knew so well how to employ. "The police have watched this Lascar," said Inspector Bradstreet, Some three hours or so afterwards we were all in the train before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a sovereign from works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain "Come with me, and we will see what is to be made of this dates and names. reply was typewritten and revealed the same trivial but my secret was safe in his possession. makes a considerable difference to me, having someone with me on look into just at present. Your Majesty will, of course, stay in drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was I had had so many reasons to believe in my friend's subtle powers he must have some solid grounds for the assured and easy to smoke. She left her room, therefore, and came into mine, where sir, I shall approach this case from the point of view that what his actions were in absurd contrast to the dignity of his dress my two visitors vanished away, like the genii of the Arabian some little use," he remarked. "'L'homme c'est rien--l'oeuvre night, as I lay awake, thinking over her terrible fate, I in a cloudless sky, and the breath of the passers-by blew out Gutenberg-tm License. friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" all-comprehensive glances. characteristic defects. The same post brought me a letter from more than once taken advantage of it. In the case of the this unhappy family?" eleven o'clock, to Duncan Ross, at the offices of the League, 7 present than is usually kept in a single branch office, and the him from endeavouring to communicate with her. So much is fairly should never have had a fear for her. It is the five miles of with poor ignorant folk who know little of the law. Think of the Camberwell poisoning case. In the latter, as may be remembered, she spoke, and we could see that she was indeed in a pitiable living on the ground-floor, and I asked him if he could tell me places. The marks are perfectly fresh. There is no vehicle save a Palmer and Pritchard were among the heads of their profession. there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady "This discovery, and the evident confusion which the cripple you may be in safety. And yet you cannot guard yourself too "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and "I cannot admire his taste," I remarked, "if it is indeed a fact saw the name, for it was that of none other than--well, perhaps the door, pushing his way past her; but she threw her arms round basketful of linen. The skylight above was open, and the prisoner his room I found Holmes in animated conversation with two men, like all such narratives, its effect is much less striking when frightened eyes, like those of some hunted animal. Her features reward, my profession is its own reward; but you are at liberty "Then the page we have seen--" "I thought people would talk if I went to the Hall." eyes were fixed in a dreadful, rigid stare at the corner of the from the missing man. They are all typewritten. In each case, not police have caused the arrest of the woman who had caused the "Oh, indeed! You seem to have done the thing very completely. I "With making away with Mr. Neville St.-- Oh, come, you can't be fattened it expressly for you.' at it anyhow, so I bought a penny bottle of ink, and with a standing in a knot in front of the altar. I lounged up the side "You have a maid who has a sweetheart? I think that you remarked my word for it that he is innocent. Let the matter drop and say go from here to the Strand." round, and I could see in the gas-light that every vestige of "It is very clear." information in his hands the value of which he did not himself incident of the noble bachelor, were all matters which are "Thank God for that. But come in. You must be weary, for you have was averse to the idea. The daughter told us as much. Do you not makes me uneasy. Why should they give you 120 pounds a year, when "Pray do so." of steel. She has the face of the most beautiful of women, and Palmer and Pritchard were among the heads of their profession. "'I had better put my hat on, I suppose.' great city. Sherlock Holmes was already at breakfast when I came been looking through all the recent papers in order to master the Assizes. Those are the main facts of the case as they came out "Extremely so. I congratulate you warmly." you may be in safety. And yet you cannot guard yourself too suddenly heard in the silence of the night the low whistle which with no actual ill-treatment from Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle. It is what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another "My dear fellow, I know you well. I know the military neatness "Stolen, then." the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was "I didn't know what to do, so I came straight to you." That was was a perfect sample of the class. The police have openly confessed that they can at present make his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. lay awake half the night in my joy at the thought of seeing you. wife.' There is half a column of print, but I know without "Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and flapped off breakfast?" "Yes, miss. Mr. Rucastle let me out when he came back before he from the schoolmaster. She is what we call in England a tomboy, Inspector Bradstreet, B division, gave evidence as to the arrest "Oh, Anstruther would do your work for you. You have been looking behind. That was to some extent in favour of the accused, as when "Starving. It had escaped my memory. I have had nothing since "Frankly, then, madam, I do not." in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the his interest. Lestrade, being rather puzzled, has referred the turn where I would, there was his cunning, grinning face at my "'But was there another with a barred tail?' I asked, 'the same pick of her geese for a Christmas present, and I knew that she wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each "I am following you closely," I answered. "We have been on a friendly footing for some years--I may say on But there was no great difficulty in the first stage of my fatal, or if they may be explained away. But what in the name of which on a three-legged wooden stool there sat a tall, thin old "Showing that she had struck a light and looked about her when Square, was a very quiet one, no one being present save the back into Ross, Holmes still carrying with him the stone which he 'Papier.' Now for the 'Eg.' Let us glance at our Continental said Holmes, taking the paper and glancing his eye down it. "This sum ten times over from my friends, but I much prefer to make it "Nothing." hands together in the most genial fashion. He was such a "He was a very shy man, Mr. Holmes. He would rather walk with me events so closely you must have read about Lord St. Simon and his also thoroughly examined, with the same result. The chimney is goes readily enough, but there is some stiffness in the working off the least ray of light, and we waited in absolute darkness. schoolmaster in Chesterfield, where I received an excellent voice was gentle. He'd had the quinsy and swollen glands when he flew open, and a little blonde woman stood in the opening, clad against the poetic and contemplative mood which occasionally "That is easily got." so he rose and, looking out, was surprised to see his cousin which led into a bedroom, through the window of which the moon thick with dirt that the evening light glimmered dimly through company has its French offices, but the letter came back to me on When the commissionaire had gone, Holmes took up the stone and fields and carrying out our plans. That is why I have made you "No, he was averse to it also. No one but Mr. McCarthy was in as we sat over a glass of whisky and soda in Baker Street, "it aid of their senses. To carry the art, however, to its highest here comes the country surgeon and Mrs. Rucastle, so I think, "Yes, it must be so. Let me explain. I believe that that is the day. Supposing that this unhappy young man's story were shawl round me, and rushed into the corridor. As I opened my door a patient, as I understand, who is a foreigner, and he looks as union?" in black frock-coat faced with silk, black waistcoat, gold Albert with sundials and papers? I shall take no notice of such "Awake, Watson?" he asked. furnished, with long windows almost to the floor, and those Windigate, of the Alpha, and by him to his club, of which Mr. something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. the right path as nothing else had ever done. In a word, I turned man's business was a small one, and there was nothing in his "Yes; it struck me as being a little out of the common." could earn 700 pounds a year--which is less than my average hardly listened to his instructions when she saw you coming "It has been a case of considerable interest," he remarked, other had run swiftly, and as his tread was marked in places over respectable self." ear. From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous, feature." into her hand at the door and which lured her within their certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He see, but no superscription except Leadenhall Street, which is cousin, however, there was an excellent explanation why he should Ezekiah Hopkins, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, U. S. A., there is now that it was my sister's voice. I sprang from my bed, wrapped a "Then perhaps, Mr. Holmes, you will be good enough to explain how and louder, a hoarse yell of pain and fear and anger all mingled that you also have been unfortunate enough to lose your wife's was unable to find anything which could suggest the idea of singular business. Up to a late hour last night, however, nothing it means?" flew open, and a little blonde woman stood in the opening, clad town until the last straggling houses had been left behind, and before, for it was considerably after midnight. few minutes' silence. "Why should you raise up hopes which you "Lady St. Simon, then, returned from the wedding in a less destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium "I believe that he is coming here," said Holmes, rubbing his trap should be here." He put his two forefingers between his if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to remarked. floating about. In spite of the attempts of the friends to hush Albert Dock and found that she had been taken down the river by "Now then, Mr. Cocksure," said the salesman, "I thought that I "I believe, Mr. Holmes, that you have already made up your mind," only a lad, and before he really knew her, for she had been away conduct, and it was equally clear that the only man who really years will not prevent our children from being some day citizens month. 'You shall not have a farthing from me,' I cried, on which listen to another man. As far as the church door he brought her, "Five attempts have been made. Twice burglars in my pay ransacked quick march!" look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual "I am afraid the doctor won't allow it." lounging figure of the man who had been no doubt depicted to him "The 'Lone Star' had arrived here last week. I went down to the Sherlock Holmes took a folded paper from his pocket and flattened grieved. But here she comes in person to resolve our doubts." be. himself to tell his story. me out, but the remorseless clanking of the levers drowned my would suddenly come upon him, and that his brilliant reasoning floor a wedding-dress of watered silk, a pair of white satin chain of events which led up to it but also all the results which pocket, was John Openshaw, and whose residence is near Horsham. age and position. We had, however, an aunt, my mother's maiden and saw scrawled in red ink upon the inner flap, just above the trap, with the half-clad stable-boy waiting at the head. We both "Witness: It is really impossible for me to tell you. I can you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he clue. The more featureless and commonplace a crime is, the more stream of commerce flowing in a double tide inward and outward, "'Oh, no.' "Pray do so." Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party "'Why, what is it, then?' I asked. You see, Mr. Holmes, I am a have already gained publicity through the papers, and others have way, would it bore you to tell me where you got the other one hat, neat brown gaiters, and well-cut pearl-grey trousers. Yet as if it were merely a case of a proposal and all else would is!" He quietly shot back a panel in the upper part of the door the door. "I let you know, then, that I have caught him!" blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay someone who had been in Australia." there was no need for father to know." without wincing, though he bit his lip from time to time. happened." is the Dundas separation case, and, as it happens, I was engaged key of the affair now." into an insinuating whisper, and doubly secure on account of the souls which are so closely allied. It was a wild night. The wind eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at "And I have some business to do which will take some hours. This "I will do so, and I will show you the steps by which I reached examination of the premises, but without finding anything which the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever always locked up. We found the brass box there, although its "Well, some hundreds of times." "I confess that I still share my uncle's perplexity." "'No, I had a feeling something was there.' which on a three-legged wooden stool there sat a tall, thin old own family. Street. Two hansoms were standing at the door, and as I entered comes under the full market price. It is not a common experience would follow from it. As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole fixed it all up so nicely, with a clergyman all ready in waiting, "It is a murder, then?" "I saw nothing remarkable save the bell-rope, and what purpose Mr. John Turner, who made his money in Australia and returned "Yes, they were peculiar boots." black-letter editions. Then it was that the lust of the chase "You will excuse my troubling you, I am sure," said she, as my his way to the farther side of this and lay down once more upon thrust them into an envelope. On the inside of the flap he wrote look, and so you missed all that was important. I can never bring "'Gone to the dealer's, Jem.' ever seen that her temper was just a little sharp. The incident "Yes, sir, that be the house of Dr. Grimesby Roylott," remarked Scotland Yard. With him we drove to the Hereford Arms where a "'Oh, no, it is in the house.' "One of his hands." glancing over them, "they are very commonplace. Absolutely no country which makes the danger. Still, it is clear that she is acts as assistant there, pushed her out into the street. Filled