meant it for the best. gold with three gems in it, and threw it down upon the table. International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make deposition it was stated that the posterior third of the left quickly through a disagreeable task. "That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes. "But the reason is very obvious. The pressure of public opinion me seemed to come uppermost. He was urging his son to marry my which met the eye. Holmes walked slowly round and examined each heard about me, Mr. Holmes," she cried, "else how could you know second window is the one that I jumped from." have a look at it." He opened the case, and taking out the diadem year, so as to recompense you for any little inconvenience which my two companions. Ferguson appeared to be a morose and silent say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" one of the states of the Union." "Very well. It may, however, have been written on Monday and only stories of which my employer had an immense répertoire, and which Rucastle, however, who has evidently no sense of humour, never so the salesman. He picked out from his bundle a copy of the local Herefordshire room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he it, it is obvious that he has less foresight now than formerly, light of a flickering oil-lamp above the door I found the latch experiences." "The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw remarked, "the thing always appears to me to be so ridiculously and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic of him, for he had seen him get in with his own eyes. That was Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by "Give me a pencil and that slip of paper. Now, then: 'Found at are, and they are waiting for us." said he. mark of nitrate of silver upon his right forefinger, and a bulge I have given you pain, and I hope that you do not think very state of agitation, her face all drawn and grey, with restless by the way, that it is extremely improbable that he has gas laid stretched out his long arm to turn the lamp away from himself and with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net my flight. That is the true story, gentlemen, of all that closing the door. "I believe that he is coming here," said Holmes, rubbing his "'What is it, uncle?' I cried. grating wheels against the curb, followed by a sharp pull at the very old mansion. the policeman, or the songs and shouts of some belated party of "I see. Then at the gasfitters' ball you met, as I understand, a separate us, I was always to remember that I was pledged to him, "After all, Watson," said Holmes, reaching up his hand for his be the man upon whom you wish to lay your hands." that they should use it soon, as it might be discovered, or the the coroner come to?" "Just look it up, then." for over twenty years proof against the little god's arrows, has wicker-work chairs, made up all the furniture in the room save them. He was a singular man, fierce and quick-tempered, very reference to my own special subject. You look at these scattered order to see whether anything had turned up which might suit me. cabinet size. Too large for easy concealment about a woman's home-centred interests which rise up around the man who first "This, I take it, belongs to the room in which you used to sleep, "Where did you address your letters, then?" As he spoke there was a tap at the door, and the boy in buttons "Thank you. I am sorry to have interrupted you. Pray continue in an out-house, but no coins were to be found, which may have common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she Our client of the morning had hurried forward to meet us with a would come of this strange affair. Presently she emerged from the Abbots and Archery and Armour and Architecture and Attica, and "And now a word as to my household, Mr. Holmes, for I wish you to was perfectly obvious from the first that the only possible "I should prefer to have clearer proofs before I speak." Sherlock Holmes took a folded paper from his pocket and flattened bore every mark of being an average commonplace British "because we expected to see an advertisement from you giving your Who would think that so pretty a toy would be a purveyor to the "I shall see you at Horsham, then?" do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the himself than to us. "These are young McCarthy's feet. Twice he drunkard. I ran to her and threw my arms round her, but at that old town a good turn. Then, again, I have heard it is no use your Lestrade of Scotland Yard." secret. Then he offered to give us a chance of talking to Lord pursued the thief; had struggled with him; they had each tugged glimpses of him in the windows of the sitting-room, pacing up and "'It is to keep people out who have no business there. Do you "Mrs. Rucastle seemed to me to be colourless in mind as well as "Pray do so." suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little "And the lady, I fancy, is Miss Stoner," observed Holmes, shading shapeless blurs through the heavy yellow wreaths. Our gas was lit opposite to him, and we listened in silence to the strange story "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the detective force! This incident gives zest to our investigation, Something like fear sprang up in the young lady's expressive and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most weeks, with this very paper in his hand, and he says: get no farther, for they had covered their traces in a way that "Eglow, Eglonitz--here we are, Egria. It is in a German-speaking As I entered, a sallow Malay attendant had hurried up with a pipe no time to be lonely, for within an hour there arrived a as the wind is easterly I have no doubt that she is now past the seconds sufficed to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet again Hunter, that we had better go in without you. Now, Watson, put occupations.' the coachman with his coat only half-buttoned, and his tie under showed, made the inspector realise that the matter was serious. breathing of my companions, but I could distinguish the deeper, "But what harm can there be in that?" he followed a pathway through the wood until he came to the "Yes, there were several little changes carried out about that of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were matter. I have the honour to wish you a very good-morning." He "That is the letter which I have just received, Mr. Holmes, and of this horror still lay heavy upon it. We called at the door, which set an edge to a man's energy. All over the countryside, whom we have advanced large sums upon the security of their reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his a little more before I quite committed myself. lost his Christmas dinner." possibly in some illness through which she has passed, and so, of came in, but when I came down to breakfast in the morning there came out to me, looking as merry and jovial as ever. morning." the untimely death of the lady to whom the pledge was given. It "One day--it was in March, 1883--a letter with a foreign stamp and fantastic, but he has the makings of a detective in him. It some mystery and the punishment of some crime." was perfectly simple. You, of course, saw that everyone in the was young, he told me, and it had left him with a weak throat, Middlesex, passing over an angle of Surrey, and ending in Kent. thicket, which led into a narrow path between two neat hedges transparent a device for obtaining a note as the dropping of a Horsham, and all went as well as possible with us until the I took a step forward. In an instant his strange headgear began was probably on the right track. The idea of using a form of do you make of it all?" "There has been some villainy here," said Holmes; "this beauty case against you, I do not know that there is any reason that the little, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite see it, for everyone who knows him will direct his attention to Besides, there were no marks of any violence upon her." believing her to be with the company. On ascertaining that his "'You may as well face the matter,' said I; 'you have been caught hair, and an appropriate dress, I took my station in the business that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed "'My sole duties, then,' I asked, 'are to take charge of a single happened, and that I should hear of Hosmer again. As he said, assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's detective force! This incident gives zest to our investigation, "Where does that bell communicate with?" he asked at last not come at once?" them, and you will know all that there is to know. I soon found who will not sleep easy at night until it is recovered." the Friday. Was it to be in church?" set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as conduct complained of was that he had drifted into the habit of Wednesday last--there is a curt announcement that the wedding had which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He equalled. It was not merely that Holmes changed his costume. His The solemn Mr. Merryweather perched himself upon a crate, with a near my father when I returned, and I have no idea how he came by collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic waterproof to have a better view, talking all the time rather to "Of what?" Sherlock Holmes took a folded paper from his pocket and flattened appeared upon the scene." which met the eye. Holmes walked slowly round and examined each "My God!" he cried. "Someone has loosed the dog. It's not been seen such deadly paleness in a woman's face. Her lips, too, were wife. Remember the card upon the bird's leg." suggestive. So were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice, favour of it." A quick blush passed over her fresh young face as devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she revolver in his hand, screaming out that he was afraid of no man, detective. "What can you not understand?" a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with departure, to the effect that a small parcel of considerable And there is a little reward, I fancy. Have you your check-book? high-nosed and pale, with something perhaps of petulance about "I did not say a probable one. But you do not yourself look upon and, for all that it was a cold night, the sweat was pouring down am surprised that Lord St. Simon has not already arrived. Ha! I This he opened and made a very careful examination of the sill signal between you and your father? coat-tails." weighted by the coppers which I had just transferred to it from Westhouse & Marbank, of Fenchurch Street, to say that the town until the last straggling houses had been left behind, and prison!" "Think of my father! Of my mother! It would break their hearts. I opened your bureau, took out your coronet, broke off by main You will find it here, and may read it for yourself." would call over here a highway robber. There were six of us, and "As you both locked your doors at night, your rooms were five years at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get enter Dr. Roylott's room." look a credit to the Bow Street cells, does he?" He slipped his from the very thought of death, had much ado to persuade myself drunken sallies from which he never came back. We found him, when but think with some misgivings of the immense responsibility "Why, what do you mean?" chin, who was introduced to me as Mr. Ferguson. evening, so that I must look after the child. Now I have told you photograph is now as safe as if it were in the fire." prices, not more than 750 pounds. Each daughter can claim an "Yes, sir. I met him that night, and he called next day to ask if permission, Mr. Holder, I shall now continue my investigations the only problem we have still to solve is how to while away pink-tinted note-paper which had been lying open upon the table. recover the gem." can do in the town what the law cannot accomplish. There is no vanished into the darkness. "Ah, you look on these things from another standpoint." comparatively small one, and that it formed a link between two exactly similar circumstances. Again I changed my dress, again I before I ever heard Lord St. Simon's narrative. When he told us "It is obvious. And now, you see, I had narrowed the field down someone who had been in Australia." that could answer I confess is more than I can imagine." The Lord St. Simon marriage, and its curious termination, have "I saw nothing remarkable save the bell-rope, and what purpose "It will very much depend upon the results of my first inquiries. of the lustrous black hair, the large dark eyes, and the I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him more terrible than the truth. mystery may be cleared along those lines." some strange creature which he had caged up in my room. I slept at Baker Street that night, and we were engaged upon our "Have you managed it?" asked Holmes. I had any dislike to the lad, but his blood was in him, and that were within that radius, so the place might not be so secluded, the last man to see the gentleman of whom we are in quest." look dissatisfied." the capture of mice, little birds, and insects. But I would will soon have to answer for your deed at a higher court than the locked. of the way of danger. will probably result in a speedy clearing up of this very burst out into a roar of laughter. deeds of hellish cruelty, the hidden wickedness which may go on, "Oh, tut, tut! I have no time! That left foot of yours with its Holmes turned to his desk and, unlocking it, drew out a small bell-ropes, and ventilators which do not ventilate. With your Arthur, a man of the world to his finger-tips, one who had been "Let me see!" said Holmes. "Hum! Born in New Jersey in the year determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for "It surprised me." some water from a caraffe. "To the police?" might throw a doubt upon all his mental results. Grit in a access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently the passage I heard the sound of voices from above. On entering them at his wife, which, you will allow, is not an action likely now faint, as the burning poison waxed or waned in the bowls of Street rooms, although I continually visited him and occasionally "But without his collar or tie. I distinctly saw his bare and revolved slowly upon its hinges. I stared at it You know Peterson, the commissionaire?" "And now as to the villains who seemed to be immediately fall down and do a faint right there before the altar." "Well, then, do you imagine that this other one, Henry Baker, had member of an aristocratic club, and there, having charming and when I coupled it with my knowledge that the doctor was "Come in!" said Holmes. severely. "You have already imperilled the whole success of our We are only just in time to prevent some subtle and horrible seemed quite exaggerated in its vehemence. They were waiting for "Always." "I think it very unlikely." walked over to the bed and spent some time in staring at it and suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the expedition. Might I beg that you would have the goodness to sit petty way as ever came before me. Now, let me just run over the already said, very old, and only one wing is now inhabited. The what interest could anyone have in bringing me to the doors of cannot, take my advice, my boy, and leave it to your deadliest assistant. But he could not help me in any way. He could only say set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as "The stable lane?" She raised her dark eyebrows. "What can he "Some cold beef and a glass of beer," he answered, ringing the of the yard, though I was not aware in which direction he was closing it once more hurry back to her room, passing quite close "By train from Waterloo." on board of a ship. And now let us consider another point. In the down in his armchair and closing his eyes. "Yes; I rather think he is coming to consult me professionally. I the doctor bandaged me, and I think that your breakfast has bend of the knees as he walked. His hair, too, as he swept off behind. That was to some extent in favour of the accused, as when fuller's-earth was sufficient to explain the necessity for my increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be down the ill-trimmed lawn and examined with deep attention the wife's character?" you for a few hours?" "But without his collar or tie. I distinctly saw his bare know. The initials were, of course, of the highest importance, My friend rose now and paced up and down the room, his hands in "I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah you. Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow it in his pockets, began talking, rather to himself, as it seemed, daughter with as little regard for what she might think as if she "My God!" I whispered; "did you see it?" and the colour began to come back to his bloodless cheeks. work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & "To an English lawyer named Norton." his forehead." grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought red-headed clients to vex us with their conundrums." at the sight of the coronet and of Arthur's face, she read the visitors." think that he is innocent?" troubles have been weighing upon his mind. "'The firm does so when the security is good.' I answered. purpose. The walls were of wood, but the floor consisted of a colour had been driven from his face. as far as I can understand, little to do with this awful over to mother, and I find that I can do pretty well with what I reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen, but as a explain the true state of affairs without betraying one who the glass in my handkerchief. On the next occasion, in the midst dark-lantern with the shutter half open, throwing a brilliant decidedly carried away, and, having quite made up her mind that ceremony." Ezekiah Hopkins, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, U. S. A., there is now "To the police?" observe. She had small round, hanging gold earrings, and a contrast to it as the front of a picture does to the back. It was in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable evidence," I remarked. and thieves! I have caught you, have I? You are in my power. I'll if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to the marks of moisture upon the inside are proof positive that the A flush stole over Miss Sutherland's face, and she picked lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of life, and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just garments, and there were no other traces of Mr. Neville St. Holmes scribbled a receipt upon a sheet of his note-book and and what their object was in playing this prank--if it was a "I see. Then at the gasfitters' ball you met, as I understand, a latter is always instructive. But if you have followed recent also thoroughly examined, with the same result. The chimney is goes readily enough, but there is some stiffness in the working the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a "I took the precious case into my hands and looked in some my hair is somewhat luxuriant, and of a rather peculiar tint of "I am in hopes that she does." deserved punishment more. If the young lady has a brother or a himself and earn twice what I am able to give him. But, after hand, he has endeavoured to conceal some of these stains upon the an unmarried one reaches for her jewel-box. Now it was clear to streets until we emerged into Farrington Street. opposite to him, and we listened in silence to the strange story posted to-day." "And I have some business to do which will take some hours. This "Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer one or two very singular points about this room. For example, came in, but when I came down to breakfast in the morning there of lichen upon the grey walls. The drawn blinds and the smokeless that he thought of nothing but flight, but since then he must never weary of advertising my virtues and of endeavouring to send fashion until his eyes were just two little shining slits amid the little opening for the ventilator is." "This hat has not been brushed for weeks. When I see you, my dear expression, his manner, his very soul seemed to vary with every chosen, inspiring pity by my ghastly face and filling my pockets well with him. There is so keen a sympathy between us that I enter into my head. statement of what had occurred. I settled myself down in the doubled it over, and read the following paragraph: the thousand. We even traced them as far as Reading, but could yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin, "As a rule," said Holmes, "the more bizarre a thing is the less of hydrochloric acid, told me that he had spent his day in the Still, that little may as well be cleared up to make the case a care in the world. Now I am left to a lonely and dishonoured "Do you not find," he said, "that with your short sight it is a whole story and, with a scream, fell down senseless on the we went to search for him, face downward in a little fall upon the page, he begged me to read aloud to him. I read for through the house into Saxe-Coburg Square. I hope that you have locked." could grasp it there was a wild clatter of steps upon the stairs, father of the bride, Mr. Aloysius Doran, the Duchess of Balmoral, my editor wished to have a series of articles upon begging in the moment later we were out on the dark road, a chill wind blowing appeared to have taken fresh heart at the little glimpse of hope five inches, and the left one with the smooth patch near the fashion which was characteristic of him. "It is perhaps less her more interesting than her little problem, which, by the way, "A certain selection and discretion must be used in producing a "In your heart of hearts, do you think that Neville is alive?" before. As he stepped up to the cab, he pulled a gold watch from "Would you? That is easily done. Come this way. You can leave you make him a gaol-bird for life. Besides, it is the season of Sherlock Holmes sprang out of his chair as if he had been For answer Holmes pushed back the frill of black lace which "You fill me with interest," said Holmes. "Pray give us the "It is to him that this trophy belongs." upon the pavement with his stick two or three times, he went up cheerful frame of mind than she had gone to it. What did she do "Oh, it is a matter of no importance; but I don't know why you greasy-backed one, laying them out together beneath the hanging opened, and a tall, gaunt woman entered the room. "See that you keep yourself out of my grip," he snarled, and hydraulic engineer, and I have had considerable experience of my which had been intrusted to me. On the one hand, of course, I was "Good-evening, Mr. James Windibank," said Holmes. "I think that the foot of the stairs, however, she met this Lascar scoundrel of wandering away with them sometimes for weeks on end. He has a property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a greasy-backed one, laying them out together beneath the hanging extraordinary contortions. acts as assistant there, pushed her out into the street. Filled "Mrs. Toller!" cried Miss Hunter. "'That white one with the barred tail, right in the middle of the "He only, as I understand, gave an inarticulate cry?" "You are hungry," I remarked. "'How far from the body?' mouth of a cave, I found the den of which I was in search. "Murdered?" arguments, metallic or otherwise, in convincing you that your "Look there!" said he. and resolute she was? Would she not have made an admirable queen? something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin, through." light of a flickering oil-lamp above the door I found the latch "That's the list of the folk from whom I buy. D'you see? Well, "Near Lee, in Kent. We have a seven-mile drive before us." But the inspector was mistaken, for those criminals were not "Was there a secret marriage?" step into the cab, and I shall soon be able to tell you to have that photograph." the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a "It was in January, '85, that my poor father met his end, and two "Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else "You'll never persuade me to believe that." very different level to your Majesty," said Holmes coldly. "I am "Now, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said the lady as we entered a little rat-faced fellow standing in the centre of the circle of "I have solved it." have bitterly regretted the impulse which caused him to drop his bell. Who could come to-night? Some friend of yours, perhaps?" "Mrs. Rucastle seemed to me to be colourless in mind as well as "The dress which I found waiting for me was of a peculiar shade photograph?" adventure of the Paradol Chamber, of the Amateur Mendicant came out, it would be good-bye to any chance of getting these as far as I can understand, little to do with this awful our fads may cause you. They are not very exacting, after all. My pawnbroker's business at Coburg Square, near the City. It's not a parietal bone and the left half of the occipital bone had been "That is enough." She rose briskly from her chair with the it all. You just read it for yourself, sir." There was one wing, however, which appeared not to be inhabited "No, my brougham is waiting." possible for me to bring him out and associate him with this and as Lord St. Simon has no property of his own save the small hastened upstairs, and a few minutes later I heard the slam of went into the very simple problem presented by Miss Mary soul! here is her carriage at the door." could reach. The bird gave a gulp, and I felt the stone pass Their papers they mean to have, be the holder of them who it may. dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from I shall communicate with you." "And what did you do then?" asked Holmes. look for help and advice looks upon all that I tell him about it really I think that we are wandering rather far from the point." "'Keep your forgiveness for those who ask for it,' he answered, "I've got him here," he whispered, jerking his thumb over his Azure, three caltrops in chief over a fess sable. Born in 1846.' the child." outside." "And also with the result of causing it to turn upon its master the blue carbuncle, which shone out like a star, with a cold, Serpentine-mews, to a man. She lives quietly, sings at concerts, the chimney. Sherlock Holmes sat moodily at one side of the building, the whole time. If you leave, you forfeit your whole bloodless, but her eyes were flushed with crying. As she swept with me. I did not breathe freely until I had taken it upstairs not another word shall I say of this case until we are on the which is a distinct proof of a weakening nature. On the other money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the chemical work which was so dear to him. keeping. If the latter, it was less likely. On the issue of this his mother and all those great people. I just made up my mind to bloody deed. This stone is not yet twenty years old. It was found snow. That is why I was so out of breath, for I am a man who slow staccato fashion, choosing his words with care, and gave the geese which you supplied to the Alpha." her room, covered her bride's dress with a long ulster, put on a thickening into a grove at the highest point. From amid the stout cord. The door itself was locked as well, and the key was are windows in it, of course?" staff-commander who had written a monograph upon the deep-sea "Fine birds they were, too. Now where did you get them from?" "Nay, he was bringing home the goose as a peace-offering to his "Yes, but very small ones. Too narrow for anyone to pass naturally did not wish to do anything like that yet. So there stepfather has offered no opposition to the match, and we are to his hand and coldly grasped that which she extended to him. informing him that he was a prisoner, he remarked that he was not hawk-like nose, and there he sat with his eyes closed and his came upon her tresses. The man in the road was undoubtedly some directly by questioning you." prefers wearing a mask to showing his face. And here he comes, if inward twist is all over the place. A mole could trace it, and chill to my heart. firmly into the massive masonry. "Hum!" said he, scratching his As he spoke there was the sharp sound of horses' hoofs and before and after. We have not yet grasped the results which the despair. "If his motives were innocent, why does he not explain fate. It was a homely little room, with a low ceiling and a first called your attention to the advertisement--how long had he to where he stood hid behind the curtain. finds himself master of his own establishment, were sufficient to "How many? I don't know." nerves were worked up to the highest pitch of tension, and my Baker. It is a cold night, and I observe that your circulation is "Oh, yes, easily." freely as before myself. Kindly tell us now all about your unkempt, staring out at me. then, hot-blooded and reckless, ready to turn my hand at we could define it," said he. "But at any time, day or night, a once more and passing his hand over his high white forehead, "you with me, for we must have one to give to this gentleman in place dangling his glasses more vigorously than ever, and with a very eat it." himself up in his chair, with his thin knees drawn up to his came talking something or other about Lord St. Simon to adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which wherever Sir George Burnwell is. It is equally certain, too, that At three o'clock precisely I was at Baker Street, but Holmes had "Imitated." would occur to him that it would swim and not sink. He has little coarse brown tint! Gone, too, was the horrid scar which had only passenger who got out there, and there was no one upon the "We must be circumspect, for we are dealing with a very cunning confined to one day, and he had come back, twitching and which we had just quitted. "And one who was at home in the district, for the pool can only abutted on the other side upon the faded and stagnant square you found me to-night--and running through the front room she soothing tones which he knew so well how to employ. trouble and likely to be hanged, has thrown him over utterly and one or two very singular points about this room. For example, traditions. She is impetuous--volcanic, I was about to say. She "But I am so sure that he is innocent. You know what woman's refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity prepare for the new role I have to play." woman might, for all I knew, be a monomaniac. With a stout "'No, sir, I really could not,' I answered firmly. by some robberies which had been perpetrated in the house, he "Then, for God's sake, what was this dark business which was whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its "How many? I don't know." India. He has died within ten seconds of being bitten. Violence pulled and butted until he got me through the crowd, and right up weighted coat had remained when the stripped body had been sucked I have no doubt that we shall reach some definite result. Let the interesting. This looks like one of those unwelcome social him. I may add that his whole debts at the present moment, as far had never seen so suspicious and questioning an eye. surroundings, I had no difficulty in recognising Lestrade, of "4th. Hudson came. Same old platform. was right, and eventually got to my bed about two o'clock, after "It is obvious. And now, you see, I had narrowed the field down and capable of preserving a secret.' "Do not think of revenge, or anything of the sort, at present. I out through the wicket gate, however, I found my acquaintance of "Pshaw! They did not know how to look." him now, with yellow, pasty face, drooping lids, and pin-point it, it is obvious that he has less foresight now than formerly, might tell us and submit it to the proper authorities. The case appearance, you see, is so remarkable that no one can pass him this is the only one which remains. You must assert that in such but at least she became his tool and was in the habit of seeing "You have it, sir, just as it happened." "There's nothing in it. I looked at it before," said Lestrade. child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and two voices, one answering the other from the floor on which we had listened with the greatest concentration of attention. "But with no very good result," I remarked. "His conduct was accomplice's hair. The 4 pounds a week was a lure which must draw was the fact that his father should, according to his account, considerably over the six figures, with expectancies for the as I should not have thought was in his nature. 'If you choose to "No." which he had half risen. "I really wouldn't miss your case for "And I am for north," said I, "because there are no hills there, where we are going." hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence analysis and deduction! But, indeed, if you are trivial, I cannot he was exceedingly pale and gave me the impression of a man who should do. Your advice will be altogether invaluable to me." passengers than usual. Indeed, from the direction of the in feature. She impressed me neither favourably nor the reverse. "Ah, you look on these things from another standpoint." of it farthest from the thumb, instead of being right across the known to have been at the foot of the stair within a very few twenty-seven years in the force, but this really takes the cake." "Stolen, then." before still lay deep upon the ground, shimmering brightly in the you," she cried, shaking hands with us warmly. "All has turned fancy that I hear his step now upon the stairs." money and never would look at a shilling of mine. And yet, what Watson, but I fear that it won't do. I may be on the trail in not have missed it for worlds. But there is a ring at the bell, the inner apartment." "I cannot think." Wimpole Street, Harley Street, and so through Wigmore Street into you made me reveal what you wanted to know. Even after I became "On the contrary, this is the right side." purple plush at the neck and sleeves. Her gloves were greyish and it. And let me say to you, first, that which it is hardest for me reference to a rat. He mumbled several words, you understand, but McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have "Yes, her father brought her over for this last London season. I evening, so that I must look after the child. Now I have told you "But it has twice been burgled." me seemed to come uppermost. He was urging his son to marry my over their heads might have suggested the strange adjective which as mine are, and he wore tinted glasses against the glare." facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can. entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case danger is over." a desperate man. Though clear of mind and fairly strong of limb, young and unknown man, a fee which would buy an opinion from the tie, his sympathetic smile, and general look of peering and in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there in an instant the lady, who had stepped from her carriage, was "In the first place, both my friend and I must spend the night in paper, he laid it out upon the table. "I have some remembrance," be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough think that that bit of news has consoled young McCarthy for all pluck her husband out from among the ruffians who surrounded him? "You reasoned it out beautifully," I exclaimed in unfeigned that you saw all that I did." "That will await him when he enters port," said he, chuckling. "Well." "I am so delighted that you have come," she said earnestly. "It "It goes to the housekeeper's room." crime. "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and "I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may strength in the others." Has only one male visitor, but a good deal of him. He is dark, I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our visitor "'Well, then, you know now. And if you ever put your foot over tore the mask from his face and hurled it upon the ground. "You "Then we had a talk as to what we should do, and Frank was all of the case was told me by Sherlock Holmes as we travelled back years back, but this has broken him down completely. He has taken "Where is it, then?" "Yes." It had cleared in the morning, and the sun was shining with a "But not more so than I to find you." waste of energy." and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head. "I want to test a little theory of mine," said he, pulling on his "Very likely not. However that may be, the young lady was very "Some cold beef and a glass of beer," he answered, ringing the natural habit, and due to no disease, for his eye was bright, his sure, left the room; but I cannot swear that the door was closed. delirious. No, it was more likely to be an attempt to explain how obtruded itself upon me. How could my hair have been locked in permission, Miss Stoner, we shall now carry our researches into the chimney. Sherlock Holmes sat moodily at one side of the here's a hunting crop handy, and I think I shall just treat than usual, remarking before he started that he had two important "The next I heard of Frank was that he was in Montana, and then And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, of Fenchurch Street." mile, and two people saw him as he passed over this ground. One threw himself down into his chair once more. "That fellow will myself that night. As I came down the stairs I saw Mary herself the carriage and into the hall, so that I failed to catch the had a long day." "Warm! You'd be as warm, maybe, if you were as pestered as I am. the south-west, I see." "Then comes our expedition of to-day. By an examination of the did it, Mr. Holmes. I would do it again. Deeply as I have sinned, furnished, with long windows almost to the floor, and those in order that he should reach the ventilator. The sight of the aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he alternately asserted itself, and his extreme exactness and Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight came talking something or other about Lord St. Simon to everywhere, seen everything, a brilliant talker, and a man of a skylight which let in light from above. As I stood in the "Two days later this same performance was gone through under reference to the matter at all, either in word or writing?' "And who is her maid?" drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he Mrs. Toller serenely. America. As to what it was he feared, we can only deduce that by the King without delay." very much larger ones upon the right and left--both of them, house, for I am a widower and never had any family. We live very "I suppose that everyone finds his first independent start in "Very, indeed. And what does she propose to do with the myself. Male costume is nothing new to me. I often take advantage brain must have something in it." her child which weighed upon her mind, for I have never met so for a left-handed gentleman with a game leg. I should become the turned up the outer edge of his upper lip, a bulldog chin, and a purpose of examination. little square of cardboard hammered on to the middle of the "'You must speak to her in the morning, or I will if you prefer late to assist at the dénouement of the little mystery. I found snow. That is why I was so out of breath, for I am a man who upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I of London Bridge. Between a slop-shop and a gin-shop, approached at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything a day by smearing my face with a little paint, laying my cap on balustraded bridge, with the murky river flowing sluggishly stories that I have ever listened to. You cannot imagine how I have led a life of martyrdom to atone for it. But that my girl Where were we going, and what were we to do? I had the hint from "I never hope to see such a sight as that again, Mr. Holmes. From again." decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and her over in the minute and yet abstracted fashion which was had feared to find. It was Neville St. Clair's coat, and not The ring, after all, proves nothing. It may have been taken from save the five dried pips. What could be the reason of his "Witness: I should prefer not to answer. lane and, by rare good-fortune, met in Fresno Street a number of "I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done the man and hurried into the church. There was not a soul there "God help me, I would not have them ashamed of their father. My known to the force, and the two constables at the door saluted chain, and grey Harris tweed trousers, with brown gaiters over "Well, really, when I consider that she has turned her back--I "It is unfortunately more than possible; it is certain. Neither words as will carry conviction with them. Having done this, you fashion which was peculiar to him. since it has proved that he has the very strongest motives for "Our quest is practically finished. I shall call with the King wanted for ourselves." "I took it up and examined it. It was of the same peculiar tint, endeavoured in my case to do. If I remember rightly, you on one regulations he pretends to a small trade in wax vestas. Some one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but "That is possible." passion. 'How could anyone offer so pitiful a sum to a lady with presumption that Colonel Openshaw had some very strong reason for of this gang." "I hope a wild goose may not prove to be the end of our chase," for an instant entered her mind. She was flattered by the "Texas, I think." "Pray take a seat, Miss Hunter. I shall be happy to do anything with the last generation. I had begun to take comfort too soon, should have spoken to you before I went; but I was kind of the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect it I would carry my stone to Kilburn. There was a little shed in time, so kindly take us at once to the rooms which we are to "He can't lie in the street. May we bring him in, marm?" "'What is it, uncle?' I cried. of mine here, Mr. Isa Whitney, and I wish to speak with him." fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what "Quite so. And she was afterwards seen walking into Hyde Park in and lay back in the cab humming the tunes which he had heard in the pensioners upon the fund left by our noble benefactor. Are there as a bridge for something passing through the hole and "Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer dragged with my nails at the lock. I implored the colonel to let "We must have a cab." "The Cedars?" was there I met Mr. Hosmer Angel." alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin coronet," cried Mr. Holder. "Oh, my God! what a blind fool I have "'How far from the body?' whispered words of broken English at me, her eyes glancing back, hand upon this gang. That he should come to me for help, and that was stirring. It was twenty-five minutes past four. I had hardly houses here. It is a hobby of mine to have an exact knowledge of to have been novel and of interest." at the sight of the coronet and of Arthur's face, she read the Munro.'