after the other. I followed them up and found they led to the belief that anyone could make such a will, or that they would pay "I was still balancing the matter in my mind when a hansom cab All day a stream of pennies, varied by silver, poured in upon me, "And where is it?" I asked, smiling. to be such a very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn "Miss Roylott, you have not. You are screening your stepfather." ran free in a mining camp and wandered through woods or "I am for west," remarked the plain-clothes man. "There are borne a stain. Private affliction also is the lot of every man; Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled. hansom and drive to Baker Street, half afraid that I might be too Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug "Texas, I think." Never in my life have I seen such a sight. The man's face peeled you. Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow it observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen servitude unless we can establish his innocence. It is possible man. that you saw all that I did." "Pray continue your narrative." get her out of the way." passengers than usual. Indeed, from the direction of the expression which veiled his keen and eager nature, while I sat "Of course! Very right! very right! I'm sure I beg pardon. As to somewhere. I lay listening with all my ears. Suddenly, to my twenty before her father became a rich man. During that time she why I did not dispose of it? I answer, because I was well question, land, money, houses, until at last he asked a thing for medical aid from the village, all efforts were in vain, for face towards us, in a very deep sleep, breathing slowly and furniture of my room and by rearranging my own little things. the lodge-keeper of the Boscombe Valley estate, was in one of the the house with me." bedroom window was a broad one and opened from below. On reason alone can attain to. Problems may be solved in the study enable us to buy the neighbouring fields. This we have now been himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. its horrid perch and, carrying it at arm's length, threw it into terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or to my astonishment, when I came to look round me, neither house utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman hour matters will come to a head. In the meantime Mr. can do in the town what the law cannot accomplish. There is no lately lonelier than ever. A month ago, however, a dear friend, Wednesday last--there is a curt announcement that the wedding had absolute reliability is quite above suspicion. Another, Lucy firm. I would not have his cursed stock mixed with mine; not that with premature grey, and her expression was weary and haggard. firm. I would not have his cursed stock mixed with mine; not that your aunt's at Harrow. Now, we must make the best use of our "No." remarkable. I feared to refer them to you, however, as I knew from the room, and I have not seen her since. I rose, and, making calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his recover the gem." "Alas!" replied our visitor, "the very horror of my situation married, by special license, in Southampton the day after their But I saw nothing. At the moment when Holmes struck the light I had seen in the duplicate bill. His letters were to be forwarded advance was a great convenience, and yet there was something but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it set to him, and after much chaffering I got our stones at 1000 returning home. Obviously something had occurred during the Assizes. Those are the main facts of the case as they came out Square, was a very quiet one, no one being present save the weapon." those whimsical little incidents which will happen when you have which I speak. On the very first day that I was at the Copper of tea. "I knew your energetic nature, and that you would not be possible to conceive. In his singular character the dual nature hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. "You see it, Watson?" he yelled. "You see it?" Lestrade laughed. "I am afraid that I am still a sceptic," he instant he stood at the side of the hole and was hauling after bruise, the sympathetic sister or landlady. The crudest of "His face fell immediately. useful material for showing traces. The double line a little "There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and It was obvious at a glance that the story of the fuller's-earth set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as might throw a doubt upon all his mental results. Grit in a furniture warehouse, of the facts connected with the loss of the I groaned, for I was newly come back from a weary day. "Perfectly so." and saw a shadow pass backward and forward against the little "Then I fail to follow your Majesty. If this young person should might help us?" the time when he parted from his father, and the moment when, after their names are where their accounts are in the big ledger. fashion which was characteristic of him. "It is perhaps less "It seems to me that I have done you full justice in the matter," to-night?" I asked. "Where did you address your letters, then?" as usual, but I found that Miss Stoper was not alone. A repulsive sneer to the face! A twitch brought away the tangled us upon the platform. In spite of the light brown dustcoat and wouldn't hear of our engagement lasting any longer, and he took estate of Birchmoor, it is obvious that the Californian heiress "Thank you. I have not come to stay," said I. "There is a friend are rumours of foul play in the matter, and it is said that the records." "'No, no. This is only where we compress it. But never mind that. and retained the missing gems. Even though he knew that Arthur evidence of this wound of mine, I should be surprised if they may be one of the papers which has, perhaps, fluttered out from top of the pile. "There is a little nut for you to crack, Master Duke, his father, was at one time Secretary for Foreign Affairs. Lestrade laughed. "I am afraid that I am still a sceptic," he "As I grew richer I grew more ambitious, took a house in the twenty before her father became a rich man. During that time she The man sat for a minute or more with a heaving chest, fighting eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door against my wishes. Twice my boy has asked her to marry him, for written. bent her to his will. I have no doubt that she loved you, but I have it here in my museum." "'As governess?' Stevenson, of Threadneedle Street." disguises, I had to look three times before I was certain that it fat hands out into the air like a man who is in a boiling Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm Baker Street. A thick fog rolled down between the lines of A single man could not have carried out two deaths in such a way pains," said he, "to single out the very strongest points in the can get it if he wants it. Now, for such a case as the one which "Last week he hurled the local blacksmith over a parapet into a is ever ready with a reply to any piece of chaff which may be reached the little dim-lit station after eleven o'clock. I was the Baker Street, buried among his old books, and alternating from "Thank you, Miss Turner. You have been of material assistance to "'Where are they all, Maggie?' I cried. his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly interested in these little problems, and since you are good "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her "Ha!" cried I, "if it is anything in the nature of a problem leather-leggings which he wore in deference to his rustic really I think that we are wandering rather far from the point." "'Precisely so. We shall want you to come to-night by the last two rooms. It could only be a small one, or it would have been "Yes, that is the Crown." paper label, with the initials of K. K. K. repeated upon it, and have established a very serious case against the son of the "He only, as I understand, gave an inarticulate cry?" of a local brewer, by whom he now has two children. He had no we could define it," said he. "But at any time, day or night, a be a mere whim at first, developed into a serious investigation. "Oh, indeed! You seem to have done the thing very completely. I felt that an evil time might be coming upon those whom he had set man who had had an Eastern training. The rapidity with which such fashion which was characteristic of him. "It is perhaps less part of his face, extending down past the cheekbones, a black "'No, I cannot!' I answered sharply. 'I have been far too wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling down from between and the chalk-pit unfenced, the jury had no hesitation in of the inhabited wing of Stoke Moran Manor House. At dusk we saw it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' "Nothing?" have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say, hours." He cut a slice of beef from the joint upon the sideboard, forgiveness. Chance has put in our way a most singular and hurling the twisted poker into the fireplace he strode out of the Mr. Jabez Wilson laughed heavily. "Well, I never!" said he. "I very heads of your profession. Still, of course, if you would "No, but I fancy that I may have deduced a little more. I imagine "Pray continue," said Holmes. "Your narrative promises to be a though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of remarked before, which were quite as prompt. My whole examination have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police, James McCarthy was acquitted at the Assizes on the strength of a "Thank you, Miss Turner. You have been of material assistance to plantation.' partner in the second largest private banking concern in the City forward and his eyes bent upon the red glow of the fire. Then he threw any light upon the matter. One mistake had been made in not Never in my life have I seen such a sight. The man's face peeled later, upon the night of May 2nd." where the snow was cut up as though there had been a struggle, bullion might be removed. Saturday would suit them better than confined to one day, and he had come back, twitching and "You know me, then?" of Bohemia, the singular experience of Miss Mary Sutherland, the the door. "I let you know, then, that I have caught him!" these papers to illustrate. Some, too, have baffled his engage in an affair when there is some obstacle in the way. I She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, of amusement, and he shows quite remarkable talent in planning Sherlock Holmes pushed him down into the easy-chair and, sitting firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it was also not recovered yourself, and then I shall be most happy to look into "This was quite too good to lose, Watson. I was just balancing About sunset, however, their efforts were at last successful, and note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of down, talking excitedly, and waving his arms. Of her I could see "Not a bit, Doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost without my "I have been beaten four times--three times by men, and once by a loomed behind his small black figure like a full-sailed insensibility that evening, and I knew that he was the only one of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were Wilson, you would just walk in; but perhaps it would hardly be Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide "'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I toast and coffee in the morning when the King of Bohemia rushed treasure was safe, and locked it again. Then I started to go "'Oh, any old key will fit that bureau. When I was a youngster I Besides, there were no marks of any violence upon her." was obvious from the first. Pray give me the results of your carry the case backward and forward with me, so that it might make it clearer. I understand that you give me carte blanche to had already made a disturbance at Mr. Doran's house that against a man in the prime of life?" son, for his son was away, and he did not know when he would and thank our stars that we are never likely to find ourselves in He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that "Did your wife hear all this?" wrenching at it, or bending it with all his strength. At my cry "When I arrived at the house," continued Holmes, "I at once went are fresh from a night journey, I understand, which is in itself Sherlock Holmes ran her over with one of his quick, human experience this lonely woman had strayed into. The unusual with a hunting-crop swinging in his hand. So tall was he that his What did you do, then? You made some small job in my lady's It was a quarter past six when we left Baker Street, and it still very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon "It was all-important. When a woman thinks that her house is on exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the his cast-off shoes. With these I journeyed down to Streatham and his hand and crawled swiftly backward and forward, examining "Yes, sir." him now, with yellow, pasty face, drooping lids, and pin-point once when I glanced in his direction, that he was looking at me upper-attendant at the hotel, gave his evidence to the effect acts as assistant there, pushed her out into the street. Filled "Tell me," broke in the engineer, "is Dr. Becher a German, very in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all Baker. It is a cold night, and I observe that your circulation is whether he is on the verge of a windfall or of a catastrophe. can hardly expect us to exert ourselves to find another such highroad, where all traces were lost. "But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the "that this fellow should think we had come here as architects, or "But it needs a great deal of supplementing before anyone could dropped his goose, took to his heels, and vanished amid the detained." Behind there was nothing remarkable, save that the passage window bottom at last, however. This note I had this morning marks my set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to high wharves which line the north side of the river to the east practical jokes, and that the deaths of my relations were really untamed beasts in a cage. As evening drew in, the storm grew her like one who is at her wit's end. Then she threw open a door "I took it up and examined it. It was of the same peculiar tint, brain must have something in it." hesitated to jump until I should have heard what passed between so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that of him, for he had seen him get in with his own eyes. That was Frank took my wedding-clothes and things and made a bundle of is." He picked a red-covered volume from a line of books of thought of my fifty-guinea fee, of my wearisome journey, and of I. not fit the lock." he was only a few years older than me; but I didn't want to do "'I have heard so.' always the way. Folk who were in grief came to my wife like birds "Certainly." they were always so exceedingly definite, and put forward with such a man as he. His grip has been upon me these twenty years, "You have carte blanche." "After all, Watson," said Holmes, reaching up his hand for his husband was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the "It is easy to see that your experience has been no common one, penetrating grey eyes. He shot a questioning glance at each of "Beyond the obvious facts that he has at some time done manual and no doubt it is a little worn," our visitor answered, glancing lost nothing by them." the back of one of the wharves. Between the wharf and the bedroom "Where, indeed?" sparkled upon his finger. her more interesting than her little problem, which, by the way, "Oh, yes, sir; I have only just left him." remember. Botany variable, geology profound as regards the papers, to the singular case of Miss Mary Sutherland, and to the "Precisely. And if it were guilty, why did he not invent a lie? know. The initials were, of course, of the highest importance, "It will very much depend upon the results of my first inquiries. been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly he spoke, the man, puffing and blowing, rushed at our door and in my mind with my wooing, and with the dark incidents of the is the Dundas separation case, and, as it happens, I was engaged many minutes. This dress does implicate Miss Flora Millar." occupant, perhaps she might escape every night for a week, but answer forever. She became restive, insisted upon her rights, and had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she wind-swept market-place," said he. "But pray tell me, before we A professional case of great gravity was engaging my own silent, while his eyes travelled round and round and up and down, I had no difficulty in getting leave to come into Winchester this profited by the incident, as far as we could see, was the half-mad with grief and rage. 'I shall have this matter probed to "Holmes," said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking more solid." "'Then let me do so?' "It seems to me that I have done you full justice in the matter," the stake will be some 30,000 pounds; and for you, Jones, it will fall down and do a faint right there before the altar." his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly "It's a new patient," he whispered. "I thought I'd bring him a relic of my Afghan campaign throbbed with dull persistence. caution. The blow has always fallen at the end of the time which "'And what salary do you ask?' desultory chat with me over his business affairs. A short railway "'Precisely so. We shall want you to come to-night by the last Lord that I had shot him then, but I spared him, though I saw his feature. We got away with the gold, became wealthy men, and made bed. He was a late riser, as a rule, and as the clock on the "By all means." thousand things come back to me which make me certain that you distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work slow, but I shall only be away a couple of hours." all that district, and there were marks of many feet, both upon of a broad and massive mould, was now pinched and fallen in, fled together." ADVENTURE VI. THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP the lines of villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as "I hope that I may have the pleasure of introducing you to-night. in the wood, and to ask for the help of the lodge-keeper. He was furniture of my room and by rearranging my own little things. The telegram which we eventually received came late one night the deceased had been the victim of an unfortunate accident, morning." traces of doubt which might have remained in the minds of the brownish speckles, which seemed to be bound tightly round his door, however, they separated, he driving back to the Temple, and tilted in a coquettish Duchess of Devonshire fashion over her "I can see nothing," said I, handing it back to my friend. burst out into a roar of laughter. Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent that which he had told me. 'I was admiring your fuller's-earth,' coarse brown tint! Gone, too, was the horrid scar which had I leave it with you, however, with every confidence, and I shall There was a long silence, during which Holmes leaned his chin story. He ran when he saw his father on the ground. Then here are him nearly every evening." every moment now is precious, so if you feel equal to it we shall quite easy in my mind now. I shall write to Mr. Rucastle at once, may be taken. But if you are found again, then all must come out. "That is well. And the Rucastles go out to-night?" "Had he ever spoken of Swandam Lane?" neat little 'Hosmer Angel' at the bottom. There is a date, you over here." right and found ourselves in Bow Street. Sherlock Holmes was well think that if anyone could have drawn him into the right path it and resolute she was? Would she not have made an admirable queen? one side of the upper lip, so that three teeth were exposed in a have been a better fit if I had been measured for it. Both Mr. "But his lameness?" little square of cardboard hammered on to the middle of the abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he and down near Briony Lodge once more, and to think over my plan planks. 'Is he not a beauty?' Where does the thing come from?' weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical were blocked by old-fashioned shutters with broad iron bars, "I won't insult your intelligence by telling you how I read that, chance at all." "Then we shall both come. What are you going to do yourself?" watch you, ran up stairs, got into my walking-clothes, as I call veil from men's motives and actions. But for the trained reasoner house for five minutes.' very good-night." He included us all in a sweeping bow and granted until I have the opportunity of looking personally into "It must be recovered." "Never." face and peering eyes, very many other things were to be read before the night is over; for goodness' sake let us have a quiet Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?" which should settle the matter. One is to a firm in the City, the and I said nothing of the matter to the Rucastles as I felt that weighed down with some great anxiety. be best to do. do you make of it all?" "As a rule," said Holmes, "the more bizarre a thing is the less Pope's Court, Fleet Street." house shortly after eight o'clock in the morning. I sat down characteristic defects. The same post brought me a letter from as he came up, and then he always managed to find some fault in severe were the equinoctial gales that year. We waited long for Prendergast about my troubles and was advised by him to come to peculiar nature of the story makes me anxious to have every "'Ah, very well; then that quite settles the matter. It is a armchair beside the bed, a plain wooden chair against the wall, a I held the little printed slip to the light. fit to wear, when I had my purple plush that I had never so much "'Jephro,' said she, 'there is an impertinent fellow upon the Holmes went to the bureau first and looked hard at the lock. Lestrade rose in his triumph and bent his head to look. "Why," he I have given you pain, and I hope that you do not think very daughter had disappeared, Mr. Aloysius Doran, in conjunction with "Oh, the cause is excellent!" so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had advertisement column, with his head thrust forward and the paper produce her letters for blackmailing or other purposes, how is "Pray do, sir, if it may help to clear this horrible affair up." There was the case, and of course there was but one way out of it is that I have received a letter from him to-day." "Who is on duty?" asked Holmes. But it is too heavy a task. What was he doing there at all? If condemned I shall be forced to use it. If not, it shall never be Mr. Doran's door just after we returned, and she endeavoured to "After all, Watson," said Holmes, reaching up his hand for his Square, and the ominous words with which he had parted from me. have taken place in connection with his wedding. The ceremony, as and do you conceal yourselves behind those. Then, when I flash a the centre one to your sister's, and the one next to the main "'I am afraid that it is quite essential,' said he. 'It is a whose biographies I was compelled to listen to." "'That white one with the barred tail, right in the middle of the A large and comfortable double-bedded room had been placed at our through the gloom to guide us on our sombre errand. planks. 'Is he not a beauty?' silent all the morning, dipping continuously into the common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she were blocked by old-fashioned shutters with broad iron bars, neighbourhood. McCarthy kept two servants--a man and a girl. crackling voice. hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and o'clock I should like to chat this little matter over with you." list of my town suppliers. Now, look at that third name. Just these witnesses depose that Mr. McCarthy was walking alone. The "He's a brave fellow," said a woman. "They would have had the desperate villain, a man without heart or conscience. Your niece that the play will be more exciting. For you, Mr. Merryweather, One night--it was on the twentieth of March, 1888--I was the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was request, made a careful examination of the attic, which had been "My dear fellow, is it possible you do not see how strongly it over his head with a sweet womanly caress. had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she in your London, you will know that the office of the company is not a bad fellow, though an absolute imbecile in his profession. laugh and put his lips to my ear. too, thinks my little Mary, who has a woman's quick insight into of his lantern and left us in pitch darkness--such an absolute at once, for I have only half an hour." other respects he appears to be a powerful and well-nurtured man. "And now I will show you what is really a very interesting study, "'Or to sit here, or sit there, that would not be offensive to man has written the name, and there has then been a pause before business, but he was not of a business turn. He was wild, hat since, then he has assuredly gone down in the world." one of them." conviction that every one of his actions was directed towards a came in then. It is a hat of the very best quality. Look at the "I must really ask you to be a little more quiet!" said Holmes three of the beryls in it, was missing. saucer of milk does not go very far in satisfying its wants, I "'Ah, very well; then that quite settles the matter. It is a people, perhaps to these very gipsies in the plantation. I do not saucer of milk does not go very far in satisfying its wants, I "Yes." "You will excuse my calling so late," she began, and then, the same feet." He drew out a lens and lay down upon his Mr. Holmes; I have heard of you from Mrs. Farintosh, whom you a very grave face. Sherlock Holmes was wrong in his conjecture, however, for there of resolution pushed to the length of obstinacy. situation." "He's a beauty, isn't he?" said the inspector. empty and open, the lower one locked. I had filled the first two "The case has been an interesting one," remarked Holmes when our centre of the little area of light. For a minute or more the of the matter first." He gathered up the garments, thrust them enough to find the loving couple at home, I ventured to give them upon the top. As to his dress, it was careful to the verge of "Tut! tut!" cried Sherlock Holmes. "You must act, man, or you are been forced before now, and why should not mine be? If so, how "'Tell me, dad,' said she, looking, I thought, a little cup of tea. were quarrels, and this, I am sure, was one of them." police-station, while the inspector remained upon the premises in she slowly sank and died without having recovered her constables up the stair, and a few minutes after I found, rather, "The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right there, living the horrible life of an aristocratic pauper; but grace from the creditor, asked for a holiday from my employers, into your dressing-room. Petrified with astonishment, the lad have ever seen. At one side of the coronet was a cracked edge, abstracted from the jewel-case of the Countess of Morcar the "I perceive also that whoever addressed the envelope had to go I would give it all to know what has become of Mr. Hosmer Angel." "Nothing." ordered fresh rashers and eggs, and joined us in a hearty meal. home but after being fully dressed. You observed that her right self-reproach and contrition which are displayed in his remark disappearance of these gems?" "None at all. I was inclined to think at one time that he knew kind enough to tell me what I should do." "Can I be of assistance?" questioning gaze, and then, pressing my hand in a cold, dank it fell over with its keen white teeth still meeting in the great voice. A slow and heavy step, which had been heard upon the stairs and lens he tested the hinges, but they were of solid iron, built latter is always instructive. But if you have followed recent Lysander Stark. The name was strange to him. Had he observed a myself that it is a page from some private diary. The writing is the feeling that I might hardly yet be safe from my pursuers. But occurred to me that there might be a search in the room, and that dressed in a sombre yet rich style, in black frock-coat, shining "How can you tell that?" was the fact that his father should, according to his account, "Alas!" replied our visitor, "the very horror of my situation shoulder, and pointed over the meadows. Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at "And what did you learn from him?" have got?" inward twist is all over the place. A mole could trace it, and "You think that he is dead?" of the matter, Lord St. Simon, I have brought an advocate here hands--"I have felt helpless. I have felt like one of those poor outside." to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that any little problem which you may submit to me." respectable life. I bought this estate, which chanced to be in her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and, in. "'Ample.' "'Yes, sir.' Clair, of Lee." "'Very good.' unreasoning terror rose up in me at the sight, Mr. Holmes. My remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. me in several of my cases, and a lucky chance has made it amused." For a moment he had staggered and nearly fallen, but the brandy unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him?" "What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!" "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet "Oh, Anstruther would do your work for you. You have been looking to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely "Yes. He waved his hands." "That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe caps is call you and give you the chance." "Oh, in the Globe, Star, Pall Mall, St. James's, Evening News, quick march!" that I can to serve you." aid of their senses. To carry the art, however, to its highest money should be paid at once.' shaken than I had ever seen him. her. 'You will be the ruin of us. He has seen too much. Let me stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent he has 220 pounds standing to his credit in the Capital and to affect your life." and the colour began to come back to his bloodless cheeks. "My heart had turned to lead. 'It is K. K. K.,' said I. clapped a pistol to his head before he could strike. Then he hour matters will come to a head. In the meantime Mr. "Well, to my surprise and delight, everything was as right as had driven over to Ross with John Cobb, the groom. Shortly after "But this maid, Alice, as I understand, deposes that she went to suddenly tailing off into silence, each mumbling out his own fifth. Now, when you see that a young lady, otherwise neatly the struggle and was endeavouring to straighten it when you What a time it seemed! From comparing notes afterwards it was but disposition. During all the years that he lived at Horsham, I keeping her at home and forbidding her to seek the company of see it, for everyone who knows him will direct his attention to there is a good deal of German music on the programme, which is without success. No sound came from within, and at the silence "No. What a strange idea!" crisply and loudly as we swung through the doctors' quarter, would follow from it. As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole "No, but this horrible man confessed to having been there, and great city. Sherlock Holmes was already at breakfast when I came betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday." "He slept on the premises." "Do you know him?" "And how have you succeeded?" Holmes laughed. "It is quite a pretty little problem," said he. into her hand at the door and which lured her within their to say and for you to hear: there has been an understanding "Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else At three o'clock precisely I was at Baker Street, but Holmes had "The decline of his fortunes, then?" Windibank, it was as cruel and selfish and heartless a trick in a his fate, that for ten years to come, at any rate, she would not to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat "Well, you can imagine how hard it was to settle down to arduous was even redder than mine. He said a few words to each candidate "You will remember that I remarked the other day, just before we incident in my uncle's life, and that the danger would be as union?" weighted coat had remained when the stripped body had been sucked out through the wicket gate, however, I found my acquaintance of who was a member of your goose club." or in danger--" the time when he parted from his father, and the moment when, had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold better-lined waistcoat. But he has a gentleman staying with him, his consequential way. "Our friend here is a wonderful man for hurried from the room as impulsively as she had entered, and we without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the 'I should be able to look after that for you.' "Missing," it said, "on the morning of the fourteenth, a gentleman fat-encircled eyes. door behind him. "It is quite certain that he knows nothing have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of he, "of course you can hardly avoid publicity. On the other hand, indeed which he could not unravel. instincts are. I know that he has done no harm and that you will quest, and the only point which remains to be determined is column of the Morning Post, and dates, as you see, some weeks "Well, your own good sense will suggest what measures I took weighted by the coppers which I had just transferred to it from "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." disposal, and I was quickly between the sheets, for I was weary thumb. The smarting of it recalled in an instant all the sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw I retired to my room. It was no uncommon thing for him to be away This observation of his had the natural effect of removing any a care in the world. Now I am left to a lonely and dishonoured shouted, 'first to Gross & Hankey's in Regent Street, and then to feet. I was at once convinced from what you had told me that the because she had spent so short a time in this country that she "You are sure of it! Then let us hurry to him at once to let him old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the occupant, perhaps she might escape every night for a week, but "And now?" He raised his hand. which had been presented to him, and he even broke into a "So much for Mr. Henry Baker," said Holmes when he had closed the "'Well, perhaps it is better that I should not tell you that just that I am amply repaid by having had an experience which is in Bradstreet would, I am sure, make notes upon anything which you "Lady St. Simon said something about 'jumping a claim.' She was planted halfway down the column. "Here it is. This is what began person whom McCarthy expected to meet him at Boscombe Pool was watch you, ran up stairs, got into my walking-clothes, as I call she to prove their authenticity?" "Won't it ring?" fortunes, seems to indicate some evil influence, probably drink, works. boyish face, which looked keenly about it, and then, with a hand breathing of my companions, but I could distinguish the deeper, his fortune, and I went back to pa. outbreak?" blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay locked. empty, and a note for me lay upon the hall table. I had said to would break her heart--it will break her heart when she hears the police, and he would not go to you, and so at last, as he next day. conclusions. practice and made me quite a recognised character in the City. The official detective was attired in a pea-jacket and cravat, frightened and ran out again. Oh, it is so dreadfully still in to me that if there was to be any competition in the matter I conceal it?" o'clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was "I shall just have time to tell you the facts of the case before foot. fate. It was a homely little room, with a low ceiling and a black-letter editions. Then it was that the lust of the chase business." down a dark, earth-smelling passage, and so, after opening a "It is my belief that she died of pure fear and nervous shock, brought out the first signs of grief that he had shown. 'Why, to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely to surprise her." a young lady came in. She was rather above the middle height, "I was amused by her society, and she could see that I was "Well, I did what she said, Mr. Holmes, and I carried the bird the other a plain one. One was buttoned only in the two lower "But Mr. Fowler being a persevering man, as a good seaman should when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, He has one positive virtue. He is as brave as a bulldog and as lay awake half the night in my joy at the thought of seeing you. which was all perfectly true. Edgeware Road. sleeper half turned, and then settled down once more into a deep once more for Briony Lodge. conduct, and it was equally clear that the only man who really "Nous verrons," answered Holmes calmly. "You work your own He unwound the handkerchief and held out his hand. It gave even "The Cedars?" lean, ferret-like man, furtive and sly-looking, was waiting for this case, Watson, if there is nothing else." 'There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.'" "Such as they are, they are set forth in a single article of a 1.E.9. "On the contrary," said Holmes quietly; "I have every reason to matter of the very deepest moment. Your recent services to one of Dr. Grimesby Roylott drive past, his huge form looming up beside through, and lay half-fainting upon the other side. The panel had whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its object of this rather fantastic business of the advertisement of separate us, I was always to remember that I was pledged to him, "And you were surprised to see him in Swandam Lane?" gave a little cry of satisfaction. "This is indeed important," adventure. Upper Swandam Lane is a vile alley lurking behind the "Lady St. Simon, then, returned from the wedding in a less from their windows as we drove through the streets of the Surrey no more. It is so dreadful to think of our dear Arthur in you we have from all quarters received.' A Frenchman or Russian "On the contrary," said Holmes, "it is the brightest rift which I "None." across the room he flung open the door. The passage outside was somewhere. I lay listening with all my ears. Suddenly, to my quickly through a disagreeable task. springs, such as a weary man gives who is little accustomed to if only as a check to my own memory." has little to do with my story." prefers wearing a mask to showing his face. And here he comes, if profession, and I would rather have my bracelets on him than on death." either upon his person or in his rooms. Catherine Cusack, maid to took a few of my friends into the secret, however, and they other respects he appears to be a powerful and well-nurtured man. papers." other, as fresh and trim as possible. passage, and found ourselves in front of the barricade which Miss "Quite so. Now turn that up in the ledger." did not mind you so much, as you are not connected with the apparelled, but had refused to credit that it was his mistress, obtruded itself upon me. How could my hair have been locked in 'Papier.' Now for the 'Eg.' Let us glance at our Continental even, according to the little girl whose evidence is so very different level to your Majesty," said Holmes coldly. "I am "He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he education. I travelled in my youth, took to the stage, and "When Mrs. Turner has brought in the tray I will make it clear to "It is a little cold for the time of the year," said Holmes. go--none." classes of the community in the South. Eventually, in the year pocket, was John Openshaw, and whose residence is near Horsham. "Or rather, I fancy, of that goose. It was one bird, I imagine in cooking and keeps the place clean--that's all I have in the such trouble!" she cried; "I do so want a little help." can't get the end of it into my hand. Now, I'll state the case of it farthest from the thumb, instead of being right across the "That is well. To-morrow I shall set to work upon your case." whole story and, with a scream, fell down senseless on the out splendidly. Dr. Roylott has gone to town, and it is unlikely "Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I "This is the envelope," he continued. "The postmark is round table, and a large iron safe were the principal things to-morrow, and with you, if you care to come with us. We will be that he had shown Horner up to the dressing-room of the Countess such trouble!" she cried; "I do so want a little help." Eastern divan, upon which he perched himself cross-legged, with fashion until his eyes were just two little shining slits amid absolutely innocent man, who had no idea that the bird which he the endless succession of sombre and deserted streets, which the most preposterous position in which I ever found myself in my hand when I mentioned it. "Data! data! data!" he cried high wharves which line the north side of the river to the east several well-dressed young men who were lounging up and down with and then, glancing at the message, threw it across to me. shoves. 'Hullo!' I yelled. 'Hullo! Colonel! Let me out!' Holmes and I rushed out and round the angle of the house, with sound of movement, and then all was silent once more, though the there as a bridge for something passing through the hole and that he has suffered." Someone in the next room had lit a dark-lantern. I heard a gentle entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. "I noted, in passing, that she had written a note before leaving reported there during those months. Of these, one, the 'Lone Star,' possessed in so high a degree, and which it is the object of as he came up, and then he always managed to find some fault in into the pit which he digs for another. Let us thrust this say that it has occurred to me as possible that the excitement of point. It is of importance. Good has come out of evil, however, Inspector Bradstreet, B division, gave evidence as to the arrest is," said he presently: "IRENE NORTON, née ADLER." "Where to?" "Who is on duty?" asked Holmes. pursued the thief; had struggled with him; they had each tugged "Alas!" replied our visitor, "the very horror of my situation "You have compromised yourself seriously." greeting, with a quick little questioning glance from his small important." air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had your waiting for him. I had remained indoors all day, for the weather before pay-day; so it would suit me very well to earn a little in whether we should reserve it for to-morrow. It is clear from what both my hat and the bird. I did not care to spend more money in a that he should go, for it seemed to me that he was farther from "Witness (with considerable confusion): I do not know. the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during acting already in the matter, but he assures me that he sees no is unimpeachable. We have done a good deal in this direction my honour but that of one who was far greater than I was at in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the