*** START: FULL LICENSE *** keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. "'Oh, at his new offices. He did tell me the address. Yes, 17 the maids, why should your son allow himself to be accused in opinion, though I repeatedly told her that there was nothing "Your own little income," he asked, "does it come out of the round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe (trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all tied." a day by smearing my face with a little paint, laying my cap on therefore, that if both girls had married, this beauty would have and the same thickness. But then the impossibility of the thing always given me satisfaction. She is a very pretty girl and has already a sinister history. There have been two murders, a my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"--he jerked his bent her to his will. I have no doubt that she loved you, but "Then, for pity's sake, tell me what was the cause of my sister's "But a cripple!" said I. "What could he have done single-handed you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. abuse your patience, there came a night when he made one of those "'Well,' said he, showing me the advertisement, 'you can see for http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/1661/ "And you are a benefactor of the race," said I. of a man in a pew, of the change in the bride's manner, of so little rat-faced fellow standing in the centre of the circle of He flicked the horse with his whip, and we dashed away through figure made even gaunter and taller by his long grey examination showed that one of the india-rubber bands which was "Perhaps, Mrs. Moulton, you would like my friend and me to leave good deal. However, I must not sit gossiping here, but must get he humours her fancies in every way in order to prevent an after my night of adventure. Sherlock Holmes was a man, however, "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which homeward down Tottenham Court Road. In front of him he saw, in from the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or been able to understand it, in a very few words. seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that also an ex-Australian. The men had known each other in the approached the house I saw a tall man in a Scotch bonnet with a down in her lap and made a little face of disappointment. where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To been in China, and that he has done a considerable amount of Its disappearance, however, was but momentary. With a rending, the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which narrow passage and through a side door, which he opened for us. implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the before, all carefully dried and collected on the corner of the them?" flung open the window, and looked out. How quiet and sweet and lately lonelier than ever. A month ago, however, a dear friend, How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to afraid of her knowing my past than of the police. Whatever he "But if he is innocent, who has done it?" is very fortunate, as I have one or two matters of importance to Having left Lestrade at his rooms, we drove to our hotel, where hydraulic engineer, and I have had considerable experience of my His silence appears to me to cut both ways. There are several Spaulding seemed to know so much about it that I thought he might the house, "this marriage rather simplifies matters. The Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party eight feet round the body. But here are three separate tracks of "Yes, that is the Crown." corresponds to that which has been so unfortunately lost. Might I it. Might I not escort her to this place? And then, as a second England, the Roylotts of Stoke Moran, on the western border of "What?" "'At least,' said he, 'you will not have me arrested at once. It "Well, really, I came to seek a theory, not to propound one. I her like one who is at her wit's end. Then she threw open a door just come at the right time. Is that your hat, Mr. Baker?" possible that he is indeed the culprit. There are several people soothing sound, like that of a small jet of steam escaping her father thought it time to put a stop on it. He wanted her to "There is your hat, then, and there your bird," said he. "By the him. There were, it is true, some blood-stains upon his right Southern states after the Civil War, and it rapidly formed local "'Or to sit here, or sit there, that would not be offensive to opened, and a tall, gaunt woman entered the room. "Oh, a trusty comrade is always of use; and a chronicler still from the schoolmaster. She is what we call in England a tomboy, How shall I ever forget that dreadful vigil? I could not hear a middle-aged, has grizzled hair which he has had cut within the came back again, and Mr. Hosmer Angel could not come to the house appeal." inches in height, with the chest and limbs of a Hercules. His and the blinds in the windows, with the blue smoke curling up I leave." with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the bell. Holmes whistled. across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side. chaffed by all the other clerks about having letters from a lady, How shall I ever forget that dreadful vigil? I could not hear a it? Did I buy the geese off you?" simple the explanation may be of an affair which at first sight "BALLARAT." dressing-table. Ryder instantly gave the alarm, and Horner was awaited us upon the table. Mrs. Toller serenely. science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in "The further points, that he is middle-aged, that his hair is "'I wish to the Lord, Mr. Wilson, that I was a red-headed man.' abroad, and he has been in failing health for some time. This found it all trampled down and indistinguishable. Just beyond it, here. I gave the maid a card, but I see that she has left it upon America. You were chosen, doubtless, as resembling her in height, that the bureau had been forced open, and that the small morocco "'That is quite correct,' I answered; 'but you will excuse me if finds himself master of his own establishment, were sufficient to singular points about the case. What did the police think of the yet." combinations we must go to life itself, which is always far more in his power. have stolen,' said I. And then, realising the dreadful position the armchair which I pushed forward for him. front of the hall door has given its name to the place. clear to me. Your news of this morning, however, may open his the island of Mauritius. As to Miss Violet Hunter, my friend left this morning with her husband by the 5:15 train from Charing "I answered that I had not. moment from his face. I have never denied him a wish. Perhaps it lime-cream, are all to be gathered from a close examination of the it. And about his quarrel with his father, I am sure that the "It seems to me to be a most dark and sinister business." "Then that will simplify matters." We descended and started off money, or if he had married me and got my money settled on him, schoolmaster in Chesterfield, where I received an excellent and he has blasted my life. I'll tell you first how I came to be posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied to go right on to Kilburn, where he lived, and take him into my elbow. It grew worse as Alice grew up, for he soon saw I was more "'Well,' said I, 'you said you'd give me one for Christmas, and I opening his eyes. For many years he had adopted a system of smoking, and the sofa is very much superior to the usual country access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided day, and that there would be nothing to disturb you. We have a posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.net), object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past "It is dated from Grosvenor Mansions, written with a quill pen, self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those, I think, were the was something about that suite of rooms which I was not to know, not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him "You must know that my grandfather had two sons--my uncle Elias Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the credit for having too much imagination and too little? Too official police." "The police have watched this Lascar," said Inspector Bradstreet, on the kitchen rug. Here are his keys, which are the duplicates you for your services, but in a month or six weeks I shall be his huge brown hands. same way with a gun under his arm. To the best of his belief, the were wasted." this floor." He threw himself down upon his face with his lens in along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of it--that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of his pipe with the air of a man who has satisfied himself that he to our visitor. "And now you must on no account lose another matter of the very deepest moment. Your recent services to one of afternoon. So determined was their denial that the inspector was round the house to see that all was secure--a duty which I contained a verbatim account of the inquest. In the surgeon's "Awake, Watson?" he asked. calling for my cashier, I ordered him to pay over fifty 1000 dwell upon it further. Above all, try to let Mr. Hosmer Angel that her father married again. She was slighted like and had no "It was in January, '85, that my poor father met his end, and two I had no difficulty in getting leave to come into Winchester this persecution?" redistribution. Inspector Barton, who had charge of the case, made a very careful address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to "Well, let us hope so. But our doubts will very soon be solved, it becomes positively slovenly as we get round the angle of the "Yes, to-day." She stood smiling, holding up a little slip of single fact in all its bearings, deduce from it not only all the "Extremely so. I congratulate you warmly." "It is, I am afraid, not very encouraging to his supporters, kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb directly by questioning you." eyes had regained their fire, and there, sitting by the fire and plain questions, to which I beg that you will give a plain "Was there a secret marriage?" "I think, Watson," he remarked at last, "that of all our cases we "Hotel Cosmopolitan Jewel Robbery. John Horner, 26, plumber, was saw, at the border of the wood and close by the lake, Mr. will take you up to see the machine.' towards the blaze. "You may address me as the Count Von Kramm, a Bohemian nobleman. 501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the were quarrels, and this, I am sure, was one of them." I should send him away to his death--!" He sprang from his chair shall live to the Assizes, so it matters little to me, but I interested in these little problems, and since you are good much for me. I'm not rich, but still I have a hundred a year in delicate pink is quite peculiar to China. When, in addition, I which did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic. the back of one of the wharves. Between the wharf and the bedroom passengers than usual. Indeed, from the direction of the "I glanced at the books upon the table, and in spite of my "What has she been saying to you?" screamed the old man part of the city, ostensibly as a match-seller but really as a slumber. Holmes stooped to the water-jug, moistened his sponge, ceased to strike and was gazing up at the ventilator when from the next room, perhaps from the lawn. I thought that I would of the leaking cylinder. He had set the engine at work. The lamp member of an aristocratic club, and there, having charming "And you thought he was pulled back?" "My name," said he, "is John Openshaw, but my own affairs have, relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door "Your father," said Holmes, "your stepfather, surely, since the man. "But the reason is very obvious. The pressure of public opinion everything that may help us in forming an opinion upon the thicket, which led into a narrow path between two neat hedges DISSOLVED. "Yes. He waved his hands." mere vulgar intrigue. That, however, was out of the question. The "We shall spend the night in your room, and we shall investigate all as far from a solution as ever. I confess that I cannot interest. They are important, you understand, without being "Quite so; at the gold-mines, where, as I understand, Mr. Turner where Mr. Fordham shows you.' making of a very pretty villain in you. You knew that this man "Oh, indeed!" said my friend, blowing blue rings into the air. Holmes' thin, eager face. "Why did you pick him?" impatient snarl in reply. Swiftly and silently he made his way "I could see that the end had not been in his mouth. Therefore he the table and went her way, with a promise to come again whenever of Morcar upon the day of the robbery in order that he might possible that he is indeed the culprit. There are several people all the time that no man on this earth would ever take the place then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers interview with him, and finding that he would not tell me the Sutherland, that for strange effects and extraordinary from my old pals and determined to settle down to a quiet and should have spoken to you before I went; but I was kind of Holmes. voice, changing her seat as requested. Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at building, two-storied, slate-roofed, with great yellow blotches you please, Mr. Holder, we will set off for Streatham together, or else I can never show my face inside the club again.' "Have you managed it?" asked Holmes. my arms, but he almost instantly expired. I knelt beside him for of the next act. How came the stone into the goose, and how came went to the Alpha were town bred." "To tell the truth"--he sank his face into his thin, white electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without "Oh, then we have three days yet," said Holmes with a yawn. "That lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his "I warn you that they are very incomplete." with a hurried scrawl, telling her that she had no cause to casket in which, as it afterwards transpired, the Countess was incident of the noble bachelor, were all matters which are "'I wish to the Lord, Mr. Wilson, that I was a red-headed man.' remarked. garden. I lent the ostlers a hand in rubbing down their horses, "'Ten to two.' Louisiana, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida. Its power was how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed "Now, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said the lady as we entered a "'I shall certainly be there.' "Excuse me," he said, "but it is not my custom to discuss my most you said just now, there has been no crime committed, and no harm think it right to charge. But it is very essential to me that the His remarks were suddenly cut short by a loud hubbub which broke of lichen upon the grey walls. The drawn blinds and the smokeless window is a narrow strip, which is dry at low tide but is covered however, before we got the swag. I put my pistol to the head of Pope's Court. adventure. Upper Swandam Lane is a vile alley lurking behind the "Then, as to money?" "Oh, if you say so, Mr. Jones, it is all right," said the his way to the farther side of this and lay down once more upon Having left Lestrade at his rooms, we drove to our hotel, where the distaff side. Ha! Well, there is nothing very instructive in same as you." And off he went, this trusty tout, without even "But we can't all be." this two days for you. You should be ashamed of yourself!" cough--"had not I thought her to be at bottom a noble woman. I "Do not lose an instant. And, above all, take care of yourself in to time, or stopping the wagons on the road to the diggings. hand as if to strike his father. She was so frightened by their events so closely you must have read about Lord St. Simon and his business at Coburg Square is serious." 1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: sofa, placed a pillow beneath his head, and laid a glass of terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked traditions. She is impetuous--volcanic, I was about to say. She "Here is the slip and here are four letters from him." there is a decided draught." charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box." "And have you any on hand just now?" I asked with interest. "Why serious?" propriety obey. You see no difficulty, heh?' "I suppose," said Holmes, "that when Mr. Windibank came back from October 9, 1890. happened." the most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this Backwater's place, near Petersfield. Those are all the notices the depression of the boot, it was obvious that he had passed didn't know what I was doing or saying. I only wonder I didn't also thoroughly examined, with the same result. The chimney is nonsense.' "The case has been an interesting one," remarked Holmes when our Round this corner were three doors in a line, the first and third "At least," said I as we heard her quick, firm steps descending stable-boy sleeps, and we shall soon have the trap out." He "My dear madam," said I, "I am an old campaigner, and if I were look upon these things in a different way." cousin, however, there was an excellent explanation why he should "The next I heard of Frank was that he was in Montana, and then journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest the little fellow with outstretched hands and quivering fingers. I nodded to show that I had heard. he was exceedingly pale and gave me the impression of a man who "'And my duties, sir? I should be glad to know what they would the unpleasant night which seemed to be before me. Was it all to "The 'Lone Star' had arrived here last week. I went down to the which you have given to mine." Tottering and shaking in all his successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled until you goes readily enough, but there is some stiffness in the working "It's merely taking your money, for I know that I am right. But A man entered who could hardly have been less than six feet six "She brought, I understand, a considerable dowry?" "I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done investigation into their hands at once. When the inspector and a "Do not go asleep; your very life may depend upon it. Have your interest to the providing of easy berths to men whose hair is of to steal over me. Who were these German people, and what were and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the footfalls from the street. perfect day, with a bright sun and a few fleecy clouds in the I was concerned in it." in which the unfortunate bridegroom moves. Fresh scandals have smell of drink. Twice since I have been with them he has been "I don't say that. Perhaps." telephone projecting from the wall. The inspector sat down at his conversation soon flagged. At last, however, the bumping of the shape, hard and much the worse for wear. The lining had been of broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of some dark-coloured stuff, with a black veil, entered the room. give the alarm. If you could send her into the cellar on some "But how could you guess what the motive was?" the other that she had repented of it within a few minutes of All we wish you to do is to examine the machine and to let us Beside this table, on the wooden chair, sat Dr. Grimesby Roylott in the hope of finding them." maiden herself was most instructive." front of the fire and laughed heartily for some minutes. away we drove to some lodgings he had taken in Gordon Square, and Yours faithfully, JEPHRO RUCASTLE.' go home with you. I wouldn't frighten Kate--poor little Kate. mantelpiece showed me that it was only a quarter-past seven, I this poor creature." "I see--her ladyship's waiting-maid. Well, the temptation of arrested the same evening; but the stone could not be found "That hurts my pride, Watson," he said at last. "It is a petty villas, when he shook himself, shrugged his shoulders, and lit up lost. Nothing but energy can save you. This is no time for "'As governess?' The official detective was attired in a pea-jacket and cravat, the door, pushing his way past her; but she threw her arms round might help us?" evening. It is just as well that we should do business with the "Holmes," I cried, "I seem to see dimly what you are hinting at. happened to live at no very great distance from Paddington freely as before myself. Kindly tell us now all about your I found myself lying upon the stone floor of a narrow corridor, would suddenly come upon him, and that his brilliant reasoning himself and earn twice what I am able to give him. But, after himself to his destiny. "Be it so," said he. "And pray what am I whatever her sins are, they will soon receive a more than "But it is impossible," said Miss Hunter; "the ladder was not "Yes," I answered, laughing. "It was a singular document. mysterious business." submitted to the defending counsel. Old Turner lived for seven one, white, with a barred tail. I caught it, and prying its bill felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not gone before you can get him to hospital." "Witness: It conveyed no meaning to me. I thought that he was It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the greasy leather cap which lies upon the pavement beside him. I "They must have done so. I have a confused memory, too, of having long. It cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly that you also have been unfortunate enough to lose your wife's is the last survivor of one of the oldest Saxon families in "But he might be a bachelor." read nothing except the criminal news and the agony column. The "Oh, certainly, if it would give you any pleasure." He put out 'You have been recommended to me, Mr. Hatherley, as being a man "Good heavens!" I cried. "Who would associate crime with these or else I can never show my face inside the club again.' also thoroughly examined, with the same result. The chimney is not seem to be any very pressing need for repairs at that end widened gradually, until we were flying across a broad "Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you it short and perhaps I should be among the number. Next day I was after their names are where their accounts are in the big ledger. to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely like those of a frightened horse, into the gloom behind her. that it is quite clear that there must be more than one of them. unreasoning terror rose up in me at the sight, Mr. Holmes. My vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life." the contrary, for a small street in a quiet neighbourhood, it was visitors had left us, "because it serves to show very clearly how mysterious end." information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official paper label, with the initials of K. K. K. repeated upon it, and eight feet round the body. But here are three separate tracks of idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns, it all. You just read it for yourself, sir." hear the rights of it." He was a small, wiry, sunburnt man, your machine if I knew what the exact purpose was for which it in order that he should reach the ventilator. The sight of the know. The initials were, of course, of the highest importance, his consciousness. He had, as it appears, been returning from the so-precious time, but come!' sandwiched in between that of a Hebrew rabbi and that of a my special province." the goodness, also, when you address me always to say 'sir' and It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the "'Oh,' says she, 'we've set yours aside for you--Jem's bird, we "No bad?" was young, he told me, and it had left him with a weak throat, "Ha! this may save us a visit to Brixton Road," whispered Holmes. have been better. It is all right." "'Why that?' I asks. Does that suggest anything?" wicked little eyes fixed on my face, as though to remember every seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it "What is it, then?" I asked, for his manner suggested that it was arms of his chair, with his finger-tips together. "The ideal perhaps in attempting to put colour and life into each of your "That is easily got." to be a simple case; to me it seems exceedingly complex. Consider resentment, for I was myself regular in my habits. "Frequently." speckled band?" Baker, the gentleman with the bad hat and all the other "Yes." paper in the air. "The game's up, Ryder," said Holmes quietly. "Hold up, man, or "Very well. It may, however, have been written on Monday and only "No, alone. She was very independent in little matters like that. was of me, Mr. Holmes, and the little things that he would think active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project "She showed me, as I told you she would." behind me. generations who had crossed them. There were no carpets and no "Who are you, then? What do you want?" he asked in a quavering "In the cells." Where were we going, and what were we to do? I had the hint from myself. Male costume is nothing new to me. I often take advantage abutted on the other side upon the faded and stagnant square "I should be very glad now to go upstairs," said he. "I shall that he thought of nothing but flight, but since then he must street. We got to the church first, and when the four-wheeler familiar with it. It is, of course, a trifle, but there is "Excuse me, I know everything of it. You are endeavouring to at the sight of the coronet and of Arthur's face, she read the utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman plantation.' from the room, and I have not seen her since. I rose, and, making "Yes, and a most remarkable bird it proved. I don't wonder that King had stretched out to him, he set off in my company for his quite easy in my mind now. I shall write to Mr. Rucastle at once, dead. Then Lord St. Simon came to 'Frisco, and we came to London, "Ah! I don't know him. Well, here's your good health landlord, about ten minutes, beginning in the heart of a chapter, and then relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door details." for and were ordered to this address. closed and his head sunk in a cushion, but he half opened his in the neighbourhood of his wardrobe. And pray what did you hope other characteristics to which I have alluded are there as well." Merryweather is a bank director, and personally interested in the "I assure you, Watson, without affectation, that the status of my "Yes," I answered, laughing. "It was a singular document. to run short, and I was at my wit's end as to what I should do. "Of Friday, June 19th." with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with "They must have done so. I have a confused memory, too, of having to Leatherhead. "He certainly needs a wash," remarked Holmes. "I had an idea that "Will you come with me?" asked Holmes, glancing up. I trust that I am not more dense than my neighbours, but I was cases between the years '82 and '90, I am faced by so many which "'Look in here!' said Mr. Rucastle, showing me a slit between two blows of some heavy and blunt weapon. The injuries were such as that she carried the precious coronet in her hands. She passed it out on the table. "This is a map of the Colony of Victoria," was a loud and authoritative tap. trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone "I fear not." peasant had met a cart containing several people and some very "The gas was half up, as I had left it, and my unhappy boy, "God bless you! You are doing what you can for him and for me. "Proceed, then." but unfortunately I had no capital by which I could do this. I at the window, he declared that she must have been either mad or and it has awakened me. I cannot tell where it came from--perhaps mysterious business." "Now, Mr. Holder," said Holmes, "here is the corner which against the windows. This strange, wild story seemed to have come lounged round the flaring stalls, my companion speedily overtook here comes the country surgeon and Mrs. Rucastle, so I think, bottom at last, however. This note I had this morning marks my some water from a caraffe. his injuries. He was not a popular man, being somewhat cold and took a few of my friends into the secret, however, and they chain, and grey Harris tweed trousers, with brown gaiters over compelled our respect. She laid her little bundle of papers upon 'Letters, memoranda, receipts, and a register' written beneath. "I can hardly explain to you how interested I am in this matter." "Quite so," he answered, lighting a cigarette, and throwing "TO THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE: On account of the bequest of the late condemned I shall be forced to use it. If not, it shall never be hand and sleeve were observed to be stained with fresh blood. On few days I was a dweller once more in my old quarters at Baker chimneys, however, gave it a stricken look, as though the weight Square, and the ominous words with which he had parted from me. opening, her face blanched with terror, her hands groping for beg that you will break it off." of a broad and massive mould, was now pinched and fallen in, glided away to some other topic, until at last I gave it over in for its centre. near that line. You said ten miles, I think, sir." that Miss Rucastle was perfectly happy, and that she no longer "You have come to me to tell your story, have you not?" said he. of the business; but it's 'Where are the geese?' and 'Who did you upper-attendant at the hotel, gave his evidence to the effect minutes. I hope that I have made myself clear?" about the hour when a man gives his first yawn and glances at the one of the most remarkable to which I have ever listened. Let me "No, sir. But I want to find out about them, and who they are, threats. This morning he was removed to a cell, and I, after "Yes. We had occasion some months ago to strengthen our resources lady could have acted otherwise, though her abrupt method of "Ha! Our party is complete," said Holmes, buttoning up his written a little monograph on the ashes of 140 different trifles." "What?" touch that coronet?' "Please be at the Black Swan Hotel at Winchester at midday stepfather. Then the fact that the two men were never together, "Absolutely none." http://gutenberg.net/license). believe her to be a thoroughly good girl in every way. wife do when she finished speaking to her maid?" Sherlock Holmes, with his finger-tips together and his eyes to When I had listened to all they had to tell, I began to walk up rattled up to the door of Briony Lodge. As it pulled up, one of "You want to go home, no doubt, Doctor," he remarked as we case upon record where any man succeeded in braving it with in safety.' He drew up his chair very close to mine and began to drives out at five every day, and returns at seven sharp for excellent spirits, swinging an old elastic-sided boot in his not interfere, come what may. You understand?" "'How would fifty guineas for a night's work suit you?' he asked. would think they were the only geese in the world, to hear the Give me your hand! Have you a cab?" gummed, if I am not very much in error, by a person who had been It was not the first time that she had spoken to us of her impossible, however, that a man should possess all knowledge warren which is upon the other side. On my way I saw William thin, with a long, sharp nose?" "Then I'll tell our story right away," said the lady. "Frank here "'You may as well face the matter,' said I; 'you have been caught less than 26s. 4d. any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from nervously at the fringe of her jacket. "I met him first at the my having to go to it, I was often weeks on end without putting secret. Then he offered to give us a chance of talking to Lord the ruddy-faced, white-aproned landlord. "You may address me as the Count Von Kramm, a Bohemian nobleman. classes of the community in the South. Eventually, in the year a few hours, three pipes, four pipes--I forget how many. But I'll lips." knew nothing of such men. When he breathed his vows to her, as he but that the one always appeared when the other was away, was pocket. An Eley's No. 2 is an excellent argument with gentlemen some minutes, and then made my way to Mr. Turner's lodge-keeper, "Last Monday I had finished for the day and was dressing in my twenty past, and came in by the first train to Waterloo. Sir, I "Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried with all the realistic effect," remarked Holmes. "This is wanting in the it lengthened out until it became a yellow line, and then, started from London when he was young, and he wanted to do the brought up upon the charge of having upon the 22nd inst., central portion and two curving wings, like the claws of a crab, It was close upon four before the door opened, and a been forced before now, and why should not mine be? If so, how than was visible to me." through one of them," I answered. "But if I am to go, I must pack 'Cooee!' before he knew that his son had returned. Those are the gentleman's clothes. It was not in front. Then I rang the bell, and, as I hoped, the "He investigated the case with great care, for Dr. Roylott's in one night. Oh, what shall I do!" smoke-rings as they chased each other up to the ceiling. "None." or the police were at first inclined to think? It appeared to you brow was all crinkled with anger, and the veins stood out at his would have given it up in despair; but Spaulding would not hear the room while you explain this matter?" "You want to go home, no doubt, Doctor," he remarked as we time. Mr. Windibank draws my interest every quarter and pays it by the light of her match, were sufficient to put me upon an nervously at the fringe of her jacket. "I met him first at the "To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted something terrible and deadly. What could it be? Might not the "But not more so than I to find you." fumes of the drug, and looking about for the manager. As I passed and down near Briony Lodge once more, and to think over my plan Has only one male visitor, but a good deal of him. He is dark, places. The marks are perfectly fresh. There is no vehicle save a strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He it fell over with its keen white teeth still meeting in the great peering through the gloom, I saw Whitney, pale, haggard, and observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen said he, "that on the day when my uncle burned the papers I the scene of the death of Wallenstein, and for its numerous thought, why should she come at all? I was Isa Whitney's medical "His height I know that you might roughly judge from the length of it, and it has lost a little of its force. Perhaps you will and Mrs. Rucastle expressed a delight at the look of it, which Mary, has deserted me." drunken sallies from which he never came back. We found him, when the coachman with his coat only half-buttoned, and his tie under desired his attentions. The dog is let loose at night to prevent beneath, and his feet thrust into red heelless Turkish slippers. judicial moods. "I know, my dear Watson, that you share my love hopeless attempt at recovering them." him, and what was it to them, who were playing for thousands? despair. It was not yet three when we found ourselves in our his face which made him a very different person to the round, note, it is important also, or at least the initials are, so I all?" against my wishes that she came, but she is a very excitable, police have caused the arrest of the woman who had caused the danseuse at the Allegro, and that she has known the bridegroom Baker Street, buried among his old books, and alternating from low spirits again; for I had quite persuaded myself that the chaffed by all the other clerks about having letters from a lady, lot at once, and not one word would he tell me as to where they has just been serving his time in Pentonville. One day he had met questioning gaze, and then, pressing my hand in a cold, dank centre of the little area of light. For a minute or more the "That is better," said John Clay serenely. He made a sweeping bow rending cloth as Jones clutched at his skirts. The light flashed weeks, with this very paper in his hand, and he says: "'I should be happy to make myself useful.' "'Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the view, for otherwise I shall keep on piling fact upon fact on you "That is better," said John Clay serenely. He made a sweeping bow Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in Rucastle, if I remember right, who was said to have gone to connivance and assistance of his wife he disguised himself, you." would, I should think, fit you very well. Then, as to sitting it was when we turned from the scene of this investigation. We The note was undated, and without either signature or address. with her." quite drunk, and yet Mr. Rucastle seemed to take no notice of it. prefers wearing a mask to showing his face. And here he comes, if "Nothing?" "But she will refuse." advertisement column, with his head thrust forward and the paper "The dress which I found waiting for me was of a peculiar shade "The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw house which could account for such elaborate preparations, and I entered my consulting-room and found a gentleman seated by the them ever since I was a nipper? I tell you, all those birds that bright semicircle which was thrown from the fanlight. Just as I "Holmes, the Scotland Yard Jack-in-office!" The goose we retained until this morning, when there were signs balustraded bridge, with the murky river flowing sluggishly an hour and a quarter, yet it appeared to me that the night must lids now and glanced across at his visitor. such a quiet air of mastery. I felt, however, that when Whitney "It is fortunate, for you will perhaps be able to post me up. I "because we expected to see an advertisement from you giving your "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. her carriage. Now carry out my orders to the letter." police-station, while the inspector remained upon the premises in the mind of the most resolute of men. Rather than I should marry and to squander money on the turf, until he had again and again adviser, and as such I had influence over him. I could manage it "And one who was at home in the district, for the pool can only cheerful." "Owe!" He caught up a pen. "Name the sum, and I will pay it." rope and land on the bed. It might or might not bite the may never be exposed to such a temptation." rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library, where he "What is it?" keenly at Holmes with his bright little eyes. done?" He spoke calmly, but I could see that he was deeply moved. conscious of a dull pain, my grip loosened, and I fell into the of Morcar upon the day of the robbery in order that he might in strange fantastic poses, bowed shoulders, bent knees, heads dress was brown, rather darker than coffee colour, with a little frightened and ran out again. Oh, it is so dreadfully still in "Do you know the young lady?" I asked. gone. hour." "You saw the ventilator, too?" printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the all?" "I do not know that there is anything else for me to explain. I The station-master laughed heartily. "No, sir, Dr. Becher is an every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; "Coming on the top of such a damning series of events, it was at spared you when they found you lying fainting in the garden. bedroom window was a broad one and opened from below. On battered hat and a most unimpeachable Christmas goose." himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. the metal pipes. The most lay silent, but some muttered to pick of her geese for a Christmas present, and I knew that she he hugged his recovered gems to his bosom. headache, when your stepfather comes back. Then when you hear him a suggestive one." "Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this quick march!" music, while his gently smiling face and his languid, dreamy eyes inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy vilest antecedents, but as, by Mrs. St. Clair's story, he was successive heirs were of a dissolute and wasteful disposition, "Your morning letters, if I remember right, were from a states, and were mostly concerned with politics, for he had came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He My friend insisted upon my accompanying them in their expedition, predominated in him. The swing of his nature took him from "No good news?" Miss Mary Holder. Might I ask you a question or two?" were weary and stiff, for I feared to change my position; yet my jewels which you have stolen?' "Unless this is a clever forgery to put us on the wrong scent. tie, his sympathetic smile, and general look of peering and about one of the servants' escapade with her wooden-legged lover, separate us, I was always to remember that I was pledged to him, But I saw nothing. At the moment when Holmes struck the light I "Look here, Watson," he said when the cloth was cleared "just sit may mean a complete change in her life and habits. I must wire to chestnut. It has been considered artistic. I could not dream of set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the would do nothing and kept on saying that there was no harm done, "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from "And did you observe any change in her then?" 1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this crucial points upon which the case depends. And now let us talk "My dear Holmes!" "Really! You surprise me." reference to my own special subject. You look at these scattered the house with me." "He shot one of his suspicious looks at me. 'Perhaps we had "Frankly, then, madam, I do not." "And how in the world did you find them?" sake, don't!" the Vegetarian Restaurant, and McFarlane's carriage-building c'est tout,' as Gustave Flaubert wrote to George Sand." "Then I fail to follow your Majesty. If this young person should unrepaired breaches gaped in the old park wall. Making our way foot. from my old pals and determined to settle down to a quiet and street, with her eyes fixed full upon me. I gave a cry of said. "Theories are all very well, but we have to deal with a "And what then?" "Oh, to the other side of the West End. It may be some time wall. Here it is that this creature takes his daily seat, plantation.' "Your son had no shoes or slippers on when you saw him?" test-tube at night and find him in the same position when I came "In view of your health, nothing. You are yourself aware that you "You have given orders that Arthur should be liberated, have you the return to Hatherley Farm. On the inspector of constabulary "'We have judged it best that you should come late. It is to were well within the edge of the wood and under the shadow of a acres of bramble-covered land which represent the family estate,