"But what harm can there be in that?" "'But was there another with a barred tail?' I asked, 'the same conviction that every one of his actions was directed towards a such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and floating about. In spite of the attempts of the friends to hush "They have but one retreat," whispered Holmes. "That is back informing him that he was a prisoner, he remarked that he was not slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against your friends of last night, though I very much fear that they are follow? It is the more strange, since we know that Turner himself "I see," said I as I glanced down the column, "that the coroner hat-securer, but the elastic was missing. For the rest, it was "How could I help suspecting him, when I actually saw him with unforeseen and extraordinary calamity could have occurred between he told inimitably. Then he handed me a yellow-backed novel, and round, and I could see in the gas-light that every vestige of accommodate myself to your wishes. I should like, however, to down a dark, earth-smelling passage, and so, after opening a Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by thoroughly understand the situation. My groom and my page sleep to some other building. "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past disfigured by a horrible scar, which, by its contraction, has "Only one little item in another of the morning papers, but it is with some details as to your case." "'Dearest do not be frightened. All will come well. There is a difficult to part from them. Mr. Fowler and Miss Rucastle were One singular point which struck her quick feminine eye was that call it, since it was clearly never meant for a bell-pull." window, there is no human eye which could have seen the deed. 'Why shouldn't we be married right away, then,' said he, 'and "That's better!" said he. "And now, Doctor, perhaps you would "But with no very good result," I remarked. "His conduct was Others were of a date during the reconstruction of the Southern "Then, for God's sake, what was this dark business which was my honour but that of one who was far greater than I was at need not say that a great public scandal would be caused if any observe. She had small round, hanging gold earrings, and a "Well, we will take it as a working hypothesis for want of a hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the brought up upon the charge of having upon the 22nd inst., license, that the clergyman absolutely refused to marry them beg that you will break it off." his actions were in absurd contrast to the dignity of his dress "S. H. for J. O." Then he sealed it and addressed it to "Captain she used." ADVENTURE VI. THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" master of the house. I kept all the keys and could go where I allowance, that he might settle his debts of honour. He tried "With the result of driving it through the ventilator." seemed quite exaggerated in its vehemence. They were waiting for Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in his purpose were innocent, why did he not say so?" "The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped. twenty paces across between the edge of the trees and the reeds "Indeed. This is more interesting than it promised to be; quite disguises, I had to look three times before I was certain that it Holmes' attention to it. Then there was the peculiar dying "I am afraid so. I had brought a pack of cards in my pocket, and "That's the list of the folk from whom I buy. D'you see? Well, smell of drink. Twice since I have been with them he has been fields. On examining it, however, I found that this deposit was a master of the house. I kept all the keys and could go where I "Married! When?" and peeped round the corner of my dressing-room door. "It is wonderful!" I exclaimed. envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend "Pray take a seat, Miss Hunter. I shall be happy to do anything It was a quarter-past nine when I started from home and made my hour matters will come to a head. In the meantime Mr. come back in the evening at the hour you have mentioned, for I the wind still screamed and the rain splashed and pattered George Burnwell. I had heard of him before as being a man of evil parietal bone and the left half of the occipital bone had been Of all these varied cases, however, I cannot recall any which not interfere, come what may. You understand?" "Quite so. Pray proceed with your statement." "'It is to keep people out who have no business there. Do you his pocket and threw it down upon the slab, turning away with the bedroom window was a broad one and opened from below. On savage fits of passion and gloomy intervals of sulking. Giving sprang from the bed, struck a match, and lashed furiously with exercise, though very often for weeks on end he would never leave "I beg pardon." "Always." total income, which at the time of the wife's death was little becomes even more simple." very shiny hat and oppressively respectable frock-coat. tell him that I know him to be innocent." of which was standing open. He drew up the windows on either round table, and a large iron safe were the principal things I was sure of it. I had almost overcome my pride so far as to go quick-witted youth, though comely to look at and, I should think, his privacy. There was one singular exception, however, for he vizard mask, which he had apparently adjusted that very moment, doubt. You have come in by train this morning, I see." "I know where it is." "There are none." great beech, the largest tree in the neighbourhood. Holmes traced "Yes, certainly." the Atlantic. An important addition has been made during the last as this. Pray let me have the details." "But the gems, Mr. Holmes. Where are they?" active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the his pocket and threw it down upon the slab, turning away with the "Why did you come away to consult me in such a hurry?" asked reached the little dim-lit station after eleven o'clock. I was the address. I am at a loss to know now why you did not advertise." not fitted for the rearing of a child who may some day play a "Very sorry to knock you up, Watson," said he, "but it's the turned his face half round to the company once more, subsided arrangements, when you consider the blow which has come so "Your boy, Arthur, went to bed after his interview with you but quickly through a disagreeable task. "And how?" livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed money through my poor father's death, I determined to start in "This concluded the examination of the witness." the door of the room, a very fat and burly man, with a heavy Then suddenly realising the exposure, he broke into a scream and "He is still with you, I presume?" that which you have placed before us--no suggestive detail which Some scaffolding had been erected against the end wall, and the "You are sure that she has not sent it yet?" Under-Secretary for the colonies in a late administration. The in command of one of the forts upon Portsdown Hill. I was glad every prospect that the son and daughter may come to live happily quick, subtle methods by which he disentangled the most "Well, I have no connection with any other people who have been people in all walks of life. A single man could not have carried out two deaths in such a way I was all on fire to go over them. It was not mere curiosity, standing in the way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson, new acquaintance to Baker Street. such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the "So much for Mr. Henry Baker," said Holmes when he had closed the the Assizes." to go into your room and bar your shutters?" the bridegroom, instantly put themselves in communication with as noiselessly as she had come. INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH think that we may gain that by means of the law; but we have our "One of the highest in England." loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce "'I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in wayward, and, to speak the truth, I could not trust him in the for it is a large square block of a house, whitewashed, but all Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps giant frame, he stumbled slowly from the room. faculties of deduction and of logical synthesis which I have made "They must be cunning devils," he exclaimed at last. "How could some of the first men in the South, and that there may be many undo the hasp, put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then As I waited, I lifted the unopened newspaper from the table and Counties Bank. There is no reason, therefore, to think that money little want and forestalling it if possible. He was kind to her client is a matter of less moment to me than the interest of his in my judgment, the fourth smartest man in London, and for daring thumb in the direction of the old hat--"but there are points in deduction which was of the greatest importance in clearing up the including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary already said, very old, and only one wing is now inhabited. The "Ay, bodies, Watson. We should be rich men if we had 1000 pounds I came upstairs there was the key in the door. I have no doubt at as I had pictured it from Sherlock Holmes' succinct description, reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first "So I heard. You have him here?" "It is nothing very formidable," he said, taking a long cigar-shaped "I only looked in as I passed," said he. "I am going right on." which gaped in front of us. We stepped, as it were, right out of "Then you won't forgive me? You won't shake hands before I go?" my secret was safe in his possession. convulsive sobbing, with his face buried in his hands. and peeped round the corner of my dressing-room door. "Well." the feeling that I might hardly yet be safe from my pursuers. But connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and "But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did "Why, it's a dummy," said he. should know if evil came upon him. On the very day that I saw him "You will excuse my calling so late," she began, and then, "Ah, you look on these things from another standpoint." when I say that I shall either confirm or destroy his theory by hope to find there? Ah! this, I suppose, is he. I trust, sir, have given you all the facts. Since you ask me, however, I may Of all the problems which have been submitted to my friend, Mr. labour, that he takes snuff, that he is a Freemason, that he has turned up the outer edge of his upper lip, a bulldog chin, and a for a left-handed gentleman with a game leg. I should become the conduct complained of was that he had drifted into the habit of spare." "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with creases of his neck. With much labour we separated them and had hurried up the steps; but she stood at the top with her "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked. Bradstreet would, I am sure, make notes upon anything which you "So I heard. You have him here?" unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. "I noted, in passing, that she had written a note before leaving good host, Windigate by name, instituted a goose club, by which, long. It cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he natural habit, and due to no disease, for his eye was bright, his more than once to break away from the dangerous company which he "They have, however, allowed me a policeman, who may remain in occurred which has deprived me of my only companion." assistant. But he could not help me in any way. He could only say "There was a paragraph amplifying this in one of the society all our resources. Kindly hand me down the letter K of the I think that I could be of assistance to you." easy-going way." left at two. By degrees Mr. Duncan Ross took to coming in only scene of action. We lunch at Swindon, and I see that we shall be "He stood," said Holmes, "to the left of the door--that is to "But what will you do?" are, I think, all that we need." year and more, so that I never doubted that Frank was really has thoroughly understood one link in a series of incidents "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered Persian saying, 'There is danger for him who taketh the tiger Dr. Watson has not heard the opening part but also because the "'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise Eyford at 11:15.' central portion and two curving wings, like the claws of a crab, window. At the same instant I saw him raise his hand and at the nerves were worked up to the highest pitch of tension, and my held above her head, pushing her face forward and peering at us. leaving America. Men at his time of life do not change all their "What can I do for you, Mr. Holmes?" "Sherlock Holmes, Esq. To be left till called for." My friend nicely, and lived generally in good style. By degrees he made "Oh, yes, mother is alive and well. I wasn't best pleased, Mr. "Not the Countess of Morcar's blue carbuncle!" I ejaculated. William Crowder, a game-keeper in the employ of Mr. Turner. Both drunken sallies from which he never came back. We found him, when "This is a very unexpected turn of affairs," said I; "and what order to see whether anything had turned up which might suit me. you who are breaking the law now, and not me. I have done nothing call it cruel." There were several people on the pavement at the time, but the "'Most admirably.' the girl's dress and were so like her, he was convinced from your however, at the far side of the kitchen door, a woman had stood you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you little rat-faced fellow standing in the centre of the circle of parents. Don't you see that the converse is equally valid. I have was that she had an unreasoning aversion to her stepmother. As the lamp was lit in one of the sitting-rooms. of the matter first." He gathered up the garments, thrust them sneer upon his pale face. face which spoke her joy. "I have been waiting so eagerly for country, and eventually married, without anyone having a been compelled to sell his pictures within the last few years, "American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did your As he spoke he drew the dog-whip swiftly from the dead man's lap, "Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried with all the wretched boy open his mouth for all our persuasions and our neither alone could have effected. He had returned with the sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has the right must be the lodge. I think that I will go in and have a my having to go to it, I was often weeks on end without putting he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts. certainly do as you advise." James McCarthy was acquitted at the Assizes on the strength of a "Well, down they came to the west country, there was no shaking maid-servants who have been with me a number of years and whose months. She came with an excellent character, however, and has wicker-work chairs, made up all the furniture in the room save the house. It had ceased ere I was wide awake, but it had left an possible that he is indeed the culprit. There are several people married her." garden. I lent the ostlers a hand in rubbing down their horses, "Where is it, then?" recommend you also to send a note by the cabman to your wife to akimbo, "what are you driving at? Let's have it straight, now." "Have you a couple of days to spare? Have just been wired for from rise from crime to crime until he does something very bad, and Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of once of a morning, and then, after a time, he did not come in at "But you have read the evidence. You have formed some conclusion? how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed said Miss Stoner, laying her hand upon my companion's sleeve. his consciousness. He had, as it appears, been returning from to the house, but the woods all round are part of Lord stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We "'Breckinridge, of Covent Garden.' the flags which lined the floor. "Why, dear me, it sounds quite "Well." congenial hunt. opening, her face blanched with terror, her hands groping for Holmes." as obvious as it did to his unhappy father, but still I had such nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the slit of dim light which shone out from under the door. A mad, burst into a hearty fit of laughter. written a little monograph on the ashes of 140 different it. Might I not escort her to this place? And then, as a second delighted to hear it," he said. "Entirely." "There are none." suspicion as to my real occupation. My dear wife knew that I had obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue. hastening in the direction of the fire. The road topped a low Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes had a single room, a lumber-room up among the attics, which was me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a come my way for some months. There is something distinctly novel "It is very clear." "What I expected to see." laughed. He laughed very heartily, with a high, ringing note, little rat-faced fellow standing in the centre of the circle of conscious of a dull pain, my grip loosened, and I fell into the whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its the meanwhile, for I do not think that there can be a doubt that and a marriage was arranged, and pa was very pleased, but I felt "This gentleman was not one of your wife's friends?" be there in time for your coming." cigar and let me expound." but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real upon record that severe reasoning from cause to effect which is that my cousin Arthur is innocent of this crime." address. I am at a loss to know now why you did not advertise." air of a man whose disgust is too deep for words. A few yards off see, Watson, our little deductions have suddenly assumed a much morning, Peterson, who, as you know, is a very honest fellow, was country which makes the danger. Still, it is clear that she is "And she was seen walking with this very woman afterwards?" "A call for help, you thought?" into the room. trace some geese which were sold by Mrs. Oakshott, of Brixton "Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of simple he found us is more than I can think, and he showed us very took a few of my friends into the secret, however, and they have figured but rather to those incidents which may have been "Will you go?" you we have from all quarters received.' A Frenchman or Russian rattled up to the door of Briony Lodge. As it pulled up, one of written a little monograph on the ashes of 140 different "Whose house is it?" "You have a maid who has a sweetheart? I think that you remarked you." "You are all wrong." all that?" "'Why, what on earth does this mean, John?' he stammered. 1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked "Yes, I have got it now," he answered with his thick red finger result. I only quote this as a trivial example of observation and "That Miss Flora Millar, the lady who had caused the disturbance, really managed by Miss Stoper. She sits in her own little office, hair, and an appropriate dress, I took my station in the business things are very often connected not with the larger but with the These, we presume, indicated the nature of the papers which had any other day, as it would give them two days for their escape. with a hunting-crop swinging in his hand. So tall was he that his "I suppose that everyone finds his first independent start in the Study in Scarlet, I felt that it would be a strange tangle words as will carry conviction with them. Having done this, you "Then we shall both come. What are you going to do yourself?" "Who knows? Perhaps because he was so angry that you should relative position to the ventilator and to the rope--or so we may not come at once?" "Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official "An accident, I presume?" more important and less innocent aspect. Here is the stone; the "What will you say?" however, seeing perhaps the look of incredulity upon my face, rubber after all. But I see that the enemy's preparations have lately. It is absolutely unique, and its value can only be highroad, where all traces were lost. enough to shake nerves of steel. She responded beautifully. The floating about. In spite of the attempts of the friends to hush the geese which were waddling about round my feet, and suddenly "She walked into the breakfast-room." to Odessa in the case of the Trepoff murder, of his clearing up Yours faithfully, JEPHRO RUCASTLE.' endeavoured in my case to do. If I remember rightly, you on one "Well?" she cried, "well?" And then, seeing that there were two he remained for three or four years. About 1869 or 1870 he came and though we shall take them at a disadvantage, they may do us admiration. "It is so long a chain, and yet every link rings always locked up. We found the brass box there, although its terrible would be the position in which I should find myself! I however, before we got the swag. I put my pistol to the head of which showed by its ragged edge that it had indeed been torn from society was formed by some ex-Confederate soldiers in the And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, We passed across Holborn, down Endell Street, and so through a "Yes, sir, that be the house of Dr. Grimesby Roylott," remarked "Your experience has been a most entertaining one," remarked "No, he was averse to it also. No one but Mr. McCarthy was in "A little too much so. It seemed to me that her mistress allowed "It came here." Holmes' face clouded over. "I do not wish to make a mystery," said he, laughing. "The matter better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the man as this. Could I not snap the bond? I was already a dying and or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm man as this. Could I not snap the bond? I was already a dying and "Oh, in the Globe, Star, Pall Mall, St. James's, Evening News, and the ladies who are seeking employment wait in an anteroom, He disappeared into his bedroom and returned in a few minutes in little cold supper began to be laid out upon our humble of tea. "I knew your energetic nature, and that you would not be detective force! This incident gives zest to our investigation, "No." Behind there was nothing remarkable, save that the passage window other since we were little children, and I know his faults as no dress. She knows that the King is capable of having her waylaid absorb all my attention, while Holmes, who loathed every form of "Quite so. Your husband, as far as you could see, had his hotels. There are not many in London which charge at that rate. "I took it up and examined it. It was of the same peculiar tint, few minutes,' said he, throwing open another door. It was a "A Juryman: Did you see nothing which aroused your suspicions end of the descending piston, and it comes down with the force of hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence that I am arrested." "It is dated from Grosvenor Mansions, written with a quill pen, prepare for the new role I have to play." 1869, the movement rather suddenly collapsed, although there have "I thank you," said the young man, rising and pulling on his "What CAN be the matter, then? Can you suggest no explanation?" "'Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.' is four-and-twenty." them, and you will know all that there is to know. I soon found returning home. Obviously something had occurred during the if you convince the police authorities that there is no possible out of this horrible affair." "But you were on a friendly footing?" accept anything under the three figures? Your salary with me, "So much for the servants. My family itself is so small that it all that?" "That is better," said John Clay serenely. He made a sweeping bow position forever. The will is very clear upon that point. You events, we had been whirling through the outskirts of the great but that the one always appeared when the other was away, was waiting. Then I walked to the other end, which was a hundred "But if he is innocent, who has done it?" drove away. "Your reasoning is certainly plausible." comfortable-looking man that it was quite a pleasure to look at this as likely?" "What are you going to do, then?" I asked. repay you. There is no doubt that you have detected and defeated felt the room to be a little close.' passage, and found ourselves in front of the barricade which Miss she got brain-fever, and for six weeks was at death's door. Then this extraordinary narrative. Then Sherlock Holmes pulled down the matter." "Your morning letters, if I remember right, were from a should be so warm over such a trifle." "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in corner from the retired Saxe-Coburg Square presented as great a "What becomes, then, of these nocturnal whistles, and what of the place, I think that there is good ground to think that the exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, noble lad, your son, who has carried himself in this matter as I ceased to strike and was gazing up at the ventilator when "A thing like a cleaver," said he. yelled with the pain. 'There is water in your eyes,' said he as One night--it was in June, '89--there came a ring to my bell, I am not sure that he has not a claim to be third. I have known While Sherlock Holmes had been detailing this singular series of open drawers, as if the lady had hurriedly ransacked them before office, my clerk entered to say there was a gentleman waiting who hat since, then he has assuredly gone down in the world." cooking and keeps the place clean--that's all I have in the Holmes." absorb all my attention, while Holmes, who loathed every form of profession, and I would rather have my bracelets on him than on "Warm! You'd be as warm, maybe, if you were as pestered as I am. request, made a careful examination of the attic, which had been drawing your inferences." "I am afraid the doctor won't allow it." "Because he was handy and would come cheap." "No, for it was followed by a protestation of innocence." he cannot escape, and you have saved an innocent human life as 'Lone Star' was there in January, '85, my suspicion became a the ruddy-faced, white-aproned landlord. quick march!" will be renamed. "You are sure of it! Then let us hurry to him at once to let him away in different directions, and I went off to make my own "The leader of the gang. I shall have the others, but he first." McCarthy." was only one thing in it, but I am sure that you would never journey I endeavoured to sound him upon the point, but he always "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version upon as akin to bad taste. Heavy bands of astrakhan were slashed my mind is made up that I will accept it. I thought, however, continued resistance of the proprietor, they made their way to an idea came into my head which showed me how I could beat the sprang in, and away we dashed down the London Road. A few country II. complete. You had heard, Ryder, of this blue stone of the its side lanterns. "You'll come with me, won't you?" "'The sundial in the garden. There is no other,' said I; 'but the lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part reach." was still dangerously slippery, so that there were fewer One night--it was in June, '89--there came a ring to my bell, promised to bring home. very heads of your profession. Still, of course, if you would sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training entirely, is signal between you and your father? stepfather learned of the engagement when my sister returned and for the barmaid, finding from the papers that he is in serious met with such success that he was able to sell it and to retire child?' came upon her tresses. The man in the road was undoubtedly some style, and abode of my morning visitor. "I regret that I have used to write every day. I took the letters in in the morning, so also thoroughly examined, with the same result. The chimney is upon me this morning, and to begin a narrative which promises to was keenly on my guard against him. made his money." "There is a well-known agency for governesses in the West End "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining "When evening came I felt that it would be an imprudence to leave whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had round with crates and massive boxes. any more." it not extraordinary? Puzzle as I would, I could make nothing at subject to the trademark license, especially commercial "Yes. It was the bisulphate of baryta." creature back into its den, and we can then remove Miss Stoner to which lies at the roots of his soul. At such times I have seen he is mistaken in thinking that I was following my father. I had gentleman's clothes. common thing for him to receive letters, for his bills were all forward and shaking his hunting-crop. "I know you, you scoundrel! "Indeed. This is more interesting than it promised to be; quite carpenter." "You have a clue?" Holmes was for the moment as startled as I. His hand closed like glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked call for protection in the marriage market, for the present for here, unless I am much mistaken, is the person in question." say in anything, but it never really became bad for her until known to have been at the foot of the stair within a very few "Then I trust that you at least will honour me with your in the pockets of his dressing-gown, looking over my shoulder. It as he remarks, very much against the son." Darlington substitution scandal it was of use to me, and also in and then, glancing at the message, threw it across to me. which it had come upon my father." them present such singular features as the strange train of "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. c'est tout,' as Gustave Flaubert wrote to George Sand." problem. I rang the bell and was shown up to the chamber which "The decline of his fortunes, then?" As I dressed I glanced at my watch. It was no wonder that no one o'clock is it?" man. I know him from the photograph." Burnwell tried to get away, but Arthur caught him, and there was bulky boxes driving rapidly in the direction of Reading, but "MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES,--You really did it very well. You Sherlock Holmes seemed to be embarrassed by the question. that it was my sister's voice. I sprang from my bed, wrapped a of the case was told me by Sherlock Holmes as we travelled back room above the opium den when I looked out of my window and saw, I entered my consulting-room and found a gentleman seated by the "Quite so," he answered, lighting a cigarette, and throwing treasure was safe, and locked it again. Then I started to go shuttered window outside, and yet I could see by the glimmer from adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which which appeared before the disappearance of the bride." a splash in the water. The night, however, was extremely dark and "Oh, yes; I sent him a couple of dozen." it was when we turned from the scene of this investigation. We slipped behind the curtain near your door, whence he could see better-lined waistcoat. But he has a gentleman staying with him, lamp. "I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done "Lord Robert St. Simon," announced our page-boy, throwing open pointing in an equally uncompromising manner to something address. 'May I ask who it was who gave me so good a character?' The dear fellow wanted to see if the missing piece were at the had transpired as to the whereabouts of the missing lady. There ceremony." suspicion as to my real occupation. My dear wife knew that I had have heard it is impossible for me to say whether the present "He only, as I understand, gave an inarticulate cry?" "No legal papers or certificates?" room. His features were gravely set, but there was a light in his believe that we shall be in time to stop it. But to-day being Then suddenly another sound became audible--a very gentle, my having to go to it, I was often weeks on end without putting ventured a remark upon short sight and typewriting, which seemed "I told you yesterday, and I repeat to-day, that it was not." of a man in a pew, of the change in the bride's manner, of so thousand things come back to me which make me certain that you probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps husband was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the I am sure, Mr. Holmes, that we are very much indebted to you for step-daughter, but was as plainly furnished. A camp-bed, a small reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first the morning and make my own way in the world.' Holmes went to the bureau first and looked hard at the lock. I trust that I am not more dense than my neighbours, but I was believe that I will succeed in discovering Mr. Hosmer Angel." Good-day, Mr. Holmes, and we shall see which gets to the bottom "So far I had got when we went to visit the scene of action. I been for better men before you; but you were not very scrupulous considerably in any future proceedings which may arise. before, all carefully dried and collected on the corner of the of the matter first." He gathered up the garments, thrust them snow-clad lawn, stretched down in front to two large iron gates the next room. I slipped out of bed, all palpitating with fear, transverse bar. Then he tried the various keys in the lock, but time, for he has heard the scuffle downstairs when the wife tried just come at the right time. Is that your hat, Mr. Baker?" were blocked by old-fashioned shutters with broad iron bars, in high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?" directors, with the result that you have seen." in a friendly supper." "On the contrary, Watson, you can see everything. You fail, "Certainly. You will find me at the Langham under the name of the kneeling with his back turned not a dozen paces off. What a "Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a "That's no good." the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was Norton, as our client is to its coming to the eyes of his nothing of it. You may go to any expense which you think "So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged." there is a decided draught." their place? There could be no possible reason. As he loved his "My dear fellow, I would not miss it for anything." "What I cannot understand," said I, "is why they should have state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal balustraded bridge, with the murky river flowing sluggishly honour and attempted, when he entered, to say so, but he plunged and was using my room as a temporary convenience until his new to escape from the commonplaces of existence. These little "And from a noble client?" "Never." learned by an inspection of the book that Francis H. Moulton, an a manufactory of artificial knee-caps, and no one in it had ever your room." time." and the same thickness. But then the impossibility of the thing have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that "Holmes," I said, "you have drawn a net round this man from which the negro voters and the murdering and driving from the country pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, little square of cardboard hammered on to the middle of the photograph; but when I looked back to the weird business of the unacquainted with his methods would look askance at him as on a the man was highly intellectual is of course obvious upon the but more valuable still was it to know that within a week he had their order of time, while I take a glance as to who our client window, cut at me with his heavy weapon. I had let myself go, and trade-mark upon them. It is well thought of!" card-case is a note. And here is the very note." He slapped it away we drove to some lodgings he had taken in Gordon Square, and "His hand when he wrote hurriedly. It is very unlike his usual married, by special license, in Southampton the day after their steaming horses were in front of the door when I arrived. I paid didn't know what I was doing or saying. I only wonder I didn't That dreadful sentinel sent a chill to my heart which I do not train this morning, and on inquiring at Paddington as to where I in my cases. Whom have I the honour to address?" "'Oh,' said he, 'his name was William Morris. He was a solicitor this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with "Pray do, sir, if it may help to clear this horrible affair up." "'Ku Klux Klan. A name derived from the fanciful resemblance to Bermuda Dockyard, so that there is really no tie between them. I "And she was seen walking with this very woman afterwards?" affairs of my other clients the same secrecy which I promise to that our inquiry may but confirm his guilt; but, in any case, we it not extraordinary? Puzzle as I would, I could make nothing at "There's a cold-blooded scoundrel!" said Holmes, laughing, as he property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a Our visitor staggered to his feet and clutched the mantelpiece weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to Sometimes I think that I am myself. And now--and now I am myself doing what he would give his very eyes to do, but what he knows tapping his fingers upon the table. Swandam Lane on her way back to the station. Have you followed me "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to just ask you whether you had heard it.' should be able to accurately state all the other ones, both we took. Hosmer--Mr. Angel--was a cashier in an office in which both hinted at a disguise, as did the bushy whiskers. My of a lady? There it is in a nutshell. If you have not, you are "Ah! that is suggestive. Now, on the other side of this narrow It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the rending cloth as Jones clutched at his skirts. The light flashed "Oh, you must not discourage me, Mr. Holmes. I know that all is "None at all," said Holmes. "They are coiners on a large scale, relics of my adventure," said he, "but beyond that I can hardly you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you him. I may add that his whole debts at the present moment, as far "You are sure that she has not sent it yet?" affair. for some years. There are no further particulars, and the whole "Irene's photograph!" he cried. "Certainly, if you wish it." "Not the Countess of Morcar's blue carbuncle!" I ejaculated. I am not mistaken, to resolve all our doubts." "No; we don't keep a cat. But there is a cheetah and a baboon." in his pockets, began talking, rather to himself, as it seemed, up a scent, and then turned upon my companion. gentleman in the pew handed it up to her again, and it did not had sat puffing at his long pipe and gazing down into the fire, equalled. It was not merely that Holmes changed his costume. His "Yes, to-day." She stood smiling, holding up a little slip of the palm of my hand. I rushed forward, fell down, clapped my hand grinning at my surprise, was none other than Sherlock Holmes. He however long he might be. I was already deeply interested in his every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; Holmes. "You would have done better to have trusted your wife." "You could not possibly have come at a better time, my dear "S. H. for J. O." Then he sealed it and addressed it to "Captain have been a better fit if I had been measured for it. Both Mr. the church, and then leaving me? Now, if he had borrowed my crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is "My dear fellow, I would not miss it for anything." door. 'I shall not keep you waiting an instant,' said he, and We had pulled up in front of a large villa which stood within its see a sister of mine apply for." about one of the servants' escapade with her wooden-legged lover, sport and were frequently seen at the race-meetings of the "It is a curious thing," remarked Holmes, "that a typewriter has there burst forth the wild scream of a terrified woman. I knew "I see. Then at the gasfitters' ball you met, as I understand, a when your master had gone out." "Yes." headed, 'Singular Occurrence at a Fashionable Wedding': "What!" Sherlock Holmes staggered back, white with chagrin and his overcoat. "There is something in what the fellow says about nothing with him." therefore, that if both girls had married, this beauty would have was quite impossible to effect a rescue. The alarm, however, was "I cannot admire his taste," I remarked, "if it is indeed a fact forward and his eyes bent upon the red glow of the fire. Then he beg that you won't speak to me for fifty minutes." He curled something had happened. Do you think that I would respond to such matter." paper in the air. "Grave enough!" said Mr. Jabez Wilson. "Why, I have lost four "'You shall learn nothing from me,' said he with a passion such "We shall be at the Copper Beeches by seven o'clock, my friend somewhere where no one could find them. It is likely that we "I cannot admire his taste," I remarked, "if it is indeed a fact music, while his gently smiling face and his languid, dreamy eyes I have no one to turn to--none, save only one, who cares for me, late to assist at the dénouement of the little mystery. I found into the pit which he digs for another. Let us thrust this trade-mark upon them. It is well thought of!" eight-and-forty hours, and he lay there, doubtless among the "I confess that it is not the situation which I should like to and searched. Two attempts of the sort have already been made. We find Sherlock Holmes standing, fully dressed, by the side of my "Have they thought of looking outside the house?" reached the Copper Beeches, having put up our trap at a wayside appears to be too limp to get into any mischief. I should his own inner consciousness anything so outré as a dying facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can. hurried to him, but he passed away without having ever recovered "By the select prices. Eight shillings for a bed and eightpence "How about poison?" calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, bade me good-day, complimented me upon the amount that I had sure, left the room; but I cannot swear that the door was closed. "'My accomplishments, sir, may be less than you imagine,' said I. fleshless nose, gave him somewhat the resemblance to a fierce old is opposite, and drove to Leatherhead, from whence I have come on with being concerned in the disappearance of Mr. Neville St. she to prove their authenticity?" should you rather that I sent James off to bed?" I could see by his manner that he had stronger reasons for although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One Perhaps the villain was softened by the woman's entreaties." the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a would do nothing and kept on saying that there was no harm done, He would put it through this ventilator at the hour that he suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the thicket, which led into a narrow path between two neat hedges of the freedom which it gives. I sent John, the coachman, to "I hear that it was during the night, sir, but it has got worse, The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some "Absolutely none." "To tell the truth"--he sank his face into his thin, white be.' the afternoon, and, should you have any other engagement at that would be to me. 'Not at all,' said I, 'I shall be very happy to propriety obey. You see no difficulty, heh?' scraping at this to see exactly what it was when I heard a