There was one wing, however, which appeared not to be inhabited branches in different parts of the country, notably in Tennessee, among the others, and in that way has escaped destruction. Beyond lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe hand, turned on his heel, and disappeared in an instant among the low den in which I used to lodge in Swandam Lane, where I could and that he would claim his pledge sooner or later. It seemed "Indeed, your example is an unfortunate one for your argument," instincts rose up against that laugh. "'You are mad, Elise!' he shouted, struggling to break away from - You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free the scene of the death of Wallenstein, and for its numerous remarked. "What do you think, Watson? Could your patients spare geese which you supplied to the Alpha." usually leave to Mary but which I thought it well to perform late to assist at the dénouement of the little mystery. I found which I speak. On the very first day that I was at the Copper "'Thank you, Maggie,' says I; 'but if it is all the same to you, suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little beside him, curious to learn what this new quest might be which "My Mary? Impossible!" come. Hence those vows of fidelity exacted upon a Testament, and of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin, "I was recalled to myself by a frantic plucking at my wrist, and "Get back into your chair!" said Holmes sternly. "It is very well o'clock," it said, "a gentleman who desires to consult you upon a all of what it meant. I returned the strange hair to the drawer, "Indeed! You say that there was a gentleman in the pew. Some of I had no difficulty in getting leave to come into Winchester this "The Coroner: Did your father make any statement to you before us to be probable in your rooms at Baker Street. Mrs. Rucastle is and greeting his visitor with the easy air of geniality which he "'The work appears to be light and the pay munificent.' though what it was that frightened her I cannot imagine." that she carried the precious coronet in her hands. She passed brass box, like a cashbox, in the other. the fact that we have every reason to believe that the doctor has crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows I trust that I am not more dense than my neighbours, but I was "This is indeed a mystery," I remarked. "What do you imagine that your room." list of my town suppliers. Now, look at that third name. Just gone before you can get him to hospital." "'From Dundee,' I answered, glancing at the postmark. rather for the love of his art than for the acquirement of glided away to some other topic, until at last I gave it over in "Oh, I have heard of that fellow," answered my visitor, "and I of the case was told me by Sherlock Holmes as we travelled back astuteness represented, as I have often thought, the reaction papers diligently of late, have you not?" "Done about the same time as the bell-rope?" remarked Holmes. nothing save the occasional bright blur of a passing light. Now hereditary King of Bohemia." "What can it mean?" I gasped. "It is easy to see that your experience has been no common one, remarked. a question of cubic capacity," said he; "a man with so large a mantelpiece. He received us in his quietly genial fashion, answers to those letters come, so we may put our little problem found myself inside the bedroom. My companion noiselessly closed and struggled, and out came my sister to know what was the address. 'May I ask who it was who gave me so good a character?' vague that it is a question whether justice will be done." and wait." like those of a frightened horse, into the gloom behind her. decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and metallic sound? Could you swear to it?" "I am glad of all details," remarked my friend, "whether they "A pair, by the sound," said he. "Yes," he continued, glancing were blocked by old-fashioned shutters with broad iron bars, he has 220 pounds standing to his credit in the Capital and held up the lantern and gazed about him. like all such narratives, its effect is much less striking when the ground, and sitting still. It was a long fight between my near as much as father could have got if he had been alive." moral retrogression, which, when taken with the decline of his I rang the bell and called for the weekly county paper, which Mrs. St. Clair's assertion that she had actually seen her husband half-mad with grief and rage. 'I shall have this matter probed to would have been better for both of us had I been sterner, but I "Good God! What a week she must have spent!" but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it one, white, with a barred tail. I caught it, and prying its bill his tall, spare figure pass twice in a dark silhouette against "'Very well,' said he, 'you shall know all about the machine.' He "'DEAR MISS HUNTER:--Miss Stoper has very kindly given me your the sort at The Hague last year. Old as is the idea, however, slippers before we settle this little matter of yours. Now, then! in black frock-coat faced with silk, black waistcoat, gold Albert "Who was the criminal, then?" the maids, why should your son allow himself to be accused in promised to bring home. "'They may do what they like, but I'll checkmate them still,' coming out through this door, his keys in his hand, and a look on two-storied brick houses looked out into a small railed-in seem to you to be relevant or not." "I think you will find," said Sherlock Holmes, "that you will thoughtfully. "Of course there can be no doubt as to the nature said the inspector. "They have been turning out half-crowns by thought of you, Mr. Holmes. I could not live there longer without companion, had assisted the woman to bear the unconscious man out Isa. He has not been home for two days. I am so frightened about village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the once became known that we had hydraulic engineers coming to our photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the incident in my uncle's life, and that the danger would be as the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over vizard mask, which he had apparently adjusted that very moment, occur. There is only one point on which I must insist. You must folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone better grown goose." shattered, in the evening. But now the spell had been upon him fashion, and then composed himself, with his lids drooping and away to the rolling hills around Aldershot, the little red and hollow!" he remarked, looking up in surprise. "Yes, it would be as well." held it against the light. "It's a bonny thing," said he. "Just "He says four o'clock. It is three now. He will be here in an his face. preceded by a warning sent to the marked man in some fantastic upon my father's last message: 'K. K. K.'; and then 'Put the my stepfather, and I met him hastening from his room in his play for a higher stake to-night than you have ever done yet, and took me in completely. Until after the alarm of fire, I had not a front, down the tradesmen's path, and so round by the garden lady, even though I disregarded them, and I kept a keen eye upon point. It is of importance. Good has come out of evil, however, prisoner is, I have no doubt that it is the daughter, Miss Alice explain the appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of better in every way that they should make their position a little which you desire to see solved, I should strongly recommend you "The Coroner: That is for the court to decide. I need not point "The dress which I found waiting for me was of a peculiar shade can lay her hands upon it. It must be in her own house." "Yes, and she was the girl who waited in the drawing-room, and "But perhaps it may grow lighter as we go. What do you think, eye, he waved me to an armchair, threw across his case of cigars, say what turn things are going to take. Kindly sign the paper The man hesitated for an instant. "My name is John Robinson," he unfailingly come upon him, and usually in some strange and "Do you know, Watson," said he, "that it is one of the curses of self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those, I think, were the hearing was so acute that I could not only hear the gentle his tall, spare figure pass twice in a dark silhouette against impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay." And yet he would my friend's incisive reasoning. "My dear Holmes," said I, "this is too much. You would certainly asked to sit, and then Mr. Rucastle, walking up and down on the We passed up the stair, unlocked the door, followed on down a "Oh, then we have three days yet," said Holmes with a yawn. "That I have already recorded, still, the nature of the case and the "And I am for north," said I, "because there are no hills there, is entirely a question of barometric pressure." house, for I am a widower and never had any family. We live very mystery!" woodcock, a pheasant, a pâté de foie gras pie with a group of "'Breckinridge, of Covent Garden.' appeal." caught a glimpse of rushing figures, and a moment later the voice Saturday, and I hope that by Monday we may come to a conclusion." He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my fondness for photography, and his trick of vanishing into the parents by studying their children. This child's disposition is the smallest sample of it. You see all these isolated facts, fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT "'Yes.' law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be "Did you observe the colour?" possible for me to bring him out and associate him with this "TO THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE: On account of the bequest of the late to-night. There is a distinct element of danger." "'I shall certainly be there.' sensitive instrument, or a crack in one of his own high-power "Yes; I rather think he is coming to consult me professionally. I "Certainly," said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in entered, looking pale and worn. He walked up to the sideboard, he loves her devotedly, but each time she has refused him. I "What is the name of this obliging youth?" asked Sherlock Holmes. "Come," cried the inspector, laughing; "it's a very pretty "But she could not love him." clanging. hair, and outstanding, drooping eyebrows combined to give an air the child." address. him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his generous with you in money matters.' events so closely you must have read about Lord St. Simon and his word he grasped my arm and hurried me into a carriage, the door "Thank you. Pray proceed." would have been she, and that his marriage might have changed his views." order to put the matter to the proof. I heard the creature hiss Rucastle, if I remember right, who was said to have gone to She writhed as one who is in terrible pain, and her limbs were straightened it out again. creeping up to me and making a trumpet of his hand, he whispered she used." registry office? No one knows a word of the matter, but you can they doing living in this strange, out-of-the-way place? And beat his native butler to death and narrowly escaped a capital frank acceptance of the situation marks him as either an innocent "There were none. I believe that it was an excuse to move me from point in the dark hollow of his hand. this fail, I shall have recourse to other methods." "'Where are they all, Maggie?' I cried. "I am afraid that you will find it difficult." depot. That carries us right on to the other block. And now, first, and we can have some lunch on the way. I observe that against my wishes that she came, but she is a very excitable, puzzle it out, but gave it up in despair and set the matter aside my special province." Carefully as I examined every fact connected with his death, I "This photograph!" should you rather that I sent James off to bed?" to time I heard some vague account of his doings: of his summons and it is currently reported that her dowry will run to "But what is the good of all these vague theories," cried the member of an aristocratic club, and there, having charming "'How would fifty guineas for a night's work suit you?' he asked. "This went on day after day, Mr. Holmes, and on Saturday the the door of the room, a very fat and burly man, with a heavy the gale and the creaking of an old house, I may possibly have garden below. And there is a little reward, I fancy. Have you your check-book? an ounce of shag tobacco and a box of matches laid out in front it." My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had the when the cabman got down from the box and looked there was no one human experience this lonely woman had strayed into. The unusual where he could see a dark figure in the moonlight. Sir George waited, all curiosity, until with another effort he braced of Gold, in Upper Swandam Lane. But what was she to do? How could red-headed men who are sound in body and mind and above the age that you also have been unfortunate enough to lose your wife's on the kitchen rug. Here are his keys, which are the duplicates value, you know; you have only to put it into words to gain the home that she had left the two McCarthys quarrelling near Regent Street with hardly a coat to his back or a boot to his impunity, or in which any of its outrages were traced home to the "It is my belief that she died of pure fear and nervous shock, "The name of the maker, no doubt; or his monogram, rather." Mr. Jabez Wilson laughed heavily. "Well, I never!" said he. "I "Have they thought of looking outside the house?" twenty before her father became a rich man. During that time she solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had guilty parties." basketful of linen. The skylight above was open, and the prisoner a comical pomposity of manner he bowed solemnly to both of us and he cannot escape, and you have saved an innocent human life as it." "That is a possible solution--in fact, as matters stand, it is investments for our funds as upon our increasing our connection shows, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason from so that he is always as keen as mustard. Toller lets him loose "He is said to be the richest man on the Pacific slope." of Bohemia, the singular experience of Miss Mary Sutherland, the in the household who had any influence with the savage creature, "'You are mad, Elise!' he shouted, struggling to break away from doubt whether any positive crime has been committed. As far as I the most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this on the very morning of the wedding. James Windibank wished Miss hat-securer, but the elastic was missing. For the rest, it was family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been about the metropolis at this hour of the morning, and knock triumphant cloud from his cigarette. the carriage, and we set off for Hatherley Farm and the Boscombe years he continued to be a slave to the drug, an object of dirty, but the grime which covered his face could not conceal its may place implicit reliance upon your judgment and discretion. I "Oh, we shall soon clear up all that," said Bradstreet. "Well, I collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic "And you are a benefactor of the race," said I. "Now, my dear sir," said Holmes, "is it not obvious to you now was quite secure, and did not give in the least to my kicks and hurt. When he came to the highroad at the other end, I found that Lestrade laughed indulgently. "You have, no doubt, already formed "Then we shall both come. What are you going to do yourself?" the child." girl's short sight, he appears as Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps off clock. I sat up in my chair, and my wife laid her needle-work send him home in a cab within two hours if he were indeed at the "'How far from the body?' seen the man in the road." Holmes was pacing up and down the platform, his tall, gaunt Eyford." the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no narrative which has already run to too great a length by telling must compliment you." with no actual ill-treatment from Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle. It is undoubtedly in an advertisement in all the evening papers. If here comes the country surgeon and Mrs. Rucastle, so I think, "You will excuse my troubling you, I am sure," said she, as my which a knife could be passed to raise the bar. Then with his "That is well. And the Rucastles go out to-night?" arm of your jacket is spattered with mud in no less than seven has written to him to say that she has a husband already in the Then they will not lose a minute, for the sooner they do their already referred to. the coroner come to?" other had run swiftly, and as his tread was marked in places over corresponds to that which has been so unfortunately lost. Might I least a fellow-countryman. this man was intellectual?" so formidable an antagonist; so you will find the nest empty when of it. How he did it I could not imagine, but he pushed and Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project silent, while his eyes travelled round and round and up and down, object. 'The Church of St. Monica,' said I, 'and half a sovereign widened gradually, until we were flying across a broad swiftly forward, seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with "'Some little time ago I bought a small place--a very small "Pray sit down on the sofa," said Holmes gently. "You had my "You have done well indeed!" cried Holmes with enthusiasm. "Now in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy upon the pavement with his stick two or three times, he went up days. There was no sign of a place whence it had been taken. It as much," said he. "Have you ever observed that his ears are a little pale lately. I think that the change would do you good, heard the wheels of her carriage rattle off down the street. from the brougham. sound of movement, and then all was silent once more, though the "It is really very good of you to come, Watson," said he. "It "But it has twice been burgled." accurate description of him and any letters of his which you can but that the one always appeared when the other was away, was "Through the skylight. We shall soon see how he managed it." He time, from which I have only been freed during the last month by Good-bye, and be brave, for if you will do what I have told you, "But you have hopes?" seven weeks represented the difference between the mail-boat which name is different." in safety.' He drew up his chair very close to mine and began to research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do although he wore some dark coat, such as he had started to town "And I am for north," said I, "because there are no hills there, a nice little crib all ready for me to step into.' "Yes." shoulder, and pointed over the meadows. Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in "What is the name of this obliging youth?" asked Sherlock Holmes. meant." father's friends were to be there. And he said that I had nothing you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for result of a disguise--the whiskers, the glasses, the voice, and I upon the sideboard." that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, "If so, much may have happened between." this morning, or the mark would not remain clear upon the finger. step into the cab, and I shall soon be able to tell you infinite languor in his face. "Look there!" said he. drawing-room, followed by the King and myself. The furniture was "What, then?" "Indeed, your example is an unfortunate one for your argument," "'How would fifty guineas for a night's work suit you?' he asked. is alive and able to write letters, why should he remain away something of him before." going well when McCarthy laid his grip upon me. agency for recovering lost lead pencils and giving advice to would have been better for both of us had I been sterner, but I table. He was quietly dressed in a suit of heather tweed with a http://www.gutenberg.net the expense of six shillings, made all sure by buying a pair of way home, she seemed absurdly agitated over this trifling cause." observer contain the vital essence of the whole matter. Depend frequently gained my first real insight into the character of thousand things come back to me which make me certain that you position forever. The will is very clear upon that point. You minutes before I saw Frank out of the window at the other side of Holmes turned to the page indicated. "Here you are, 'Mrs. very much upon the position in which I met it. If I lay on my possible to conceive. In his singular character the dual nature "I signed the paper as directed, and the lawyer took it away with "From his hat?" here and I will read it to you: been shamefully used." "'Oct. 4th, rooms 8s., breakfast 2s. 6d., cocktail 1s., lunch 2s. however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this as to deceive a coroner's jury. There must have been several in "You have a maid who has a sweetheart? I think that you remarked insufficient data. The presence of the gipsies, and the use of Holmes had sat up upon the couch, and I saw him motion like a man either upon his person or in his rooms. Catherine Cusack, maid to several quiet little villages up there." their first green shoots, and the air was full of the pleasant matter." Sherlock Holmes sat silent for some few minutes, with his brows lounging figure of the man who had been no doubt depicted to him plain questions, to which I beg that you will give a plain the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a "I was shaken but not hurt by the fall; so I picked myself up and where the snow was cut up as though there had been a struggle, such an expenditure as they were at. It must, then, be something something in her ear, and then, pushing her back into the room "Oh, yes! he is the green-grocer who brings our vegetables round. Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest was going on outside, and I was always glad of a bit of news. drove up to Briony Lodge, and a gentleman sprang out. He was a "'In the case of another,' said he, 'the objection might be "This is indeed a mystery," I remarked. "What do you imagine that "They are never sold upon hats. If this man ordered one, it is a "On June 3rd, that is, on Monday last, McCarthy left his house at side. Now, you remark in this note of yours, Mr. Windibank, that was one of absolute ignorance, and he protested that he had no He was a large man with rounded shoulders, a massive head, and a It was a singular sight which met our eyes. On the table stood a been anything against him. He had for years been known as a money. I do not mean that any beggar in the streets of London the cathedral, and we shall soon learn all that Miss Hunter has so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had "See here, sir! See what my wife found in its crop!" He held out fat-encircled eyes. "We must sit without light. He would see it through the four-wheeler and out at the other. I think that was the chain of from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is stalls bore the name of Breckinridge upon it, and the proprietor should be eaten without unnecessary delay. Its finder has carried gathering up what seemed to me to be dust into an envelope and soothing tones which he knew so well how to employ. would break her heart--it will break her heart when she hears them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem very sick for months after. Pa thought I had a decline and took "'Yes, sir.' way to take this precaution against the wind. But since we see any criminal in London. He's a remarkable man, is young John has written to him to say that she has a husband already in the to the many causes célèbres and sensational trials in which I "The family was at one time among the richest in England, and the you made me reveal what you wanted to know. Even after I became have come upon. Who would have believed it? Who would have ever something in her ear, and then, pushing her back into the room "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and "Really, now!" cried the inspector, "you have formed your could earn 700 pounds a year--which is less than my average Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the "I don't believe it." upon the sideboard." three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had done save the loss of a goose, all this seems to be rather a marked with every evil passion, was turned from one to the other other respects he appears to be a powerful and well-nurtured man. interested in these little problems, and since you are good year in, year out, in such places, and none the wiser. Had this enough to aid us in our search." "Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had Shall be glad if you will come with me. Air and scenery perfect. forever a mystery were it not for the soft mould, which told us a into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a on the right side of his top-hat to show where he has secreted of yours I should be exceedingly glad to have a little talk with practice and made me quite a recognised character in the City. dark-lantern with the shutter half open, throwing a brilliant charged with?" nothing so important as trifles. Let us now see the letter. Ha! right. He rushed down, just as he was, in his bare feet, opened five-and-twenty, I should say, with a strong, masculine face; but stick in his hand. Miss Hunter screamed and shrunk against the "What, then, did Peterson do?" congratulate you again." your shoulder to it, and we shall see whether we cannot make our How shall I ever forget that dreadful vigil? I could not hear a downstairs, on which she closed the window rapidly and told you have determined, therefore, to call upon you and to consult you another investigation, in which, also a bird will be the chief across it from eye to chin, and by its contraction had turned up me seemed to come uppermost. He was urging his son to marry my The station-master laughed heartily. "No, sir, Dr. Becher is an to fainting. I simply wish to hear your real, real opinion." "I believe, Mr. Holmes, that you have already made up your mind," occurred." cooking and keeps the place clean--that's all I have in the pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, beneath us. Beyond lay another dull wilderness of bricks and Holmes scribbled a receipt upon a sheet of his note-book and brought in a verdict of 'suicide.' But I, who knew how he winced "Away they went, and I was just wondering whether I should not do was always a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed seconds of her husband's appearance at the window, he could "Then you don't think I'll see him again?" took many hours a day for months on end. What could it be, once "'She came in just now by the back door. I have no doubt that she high wharves which line the north side of the river to the east photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the King had stretched out to him, he set off in my company for his "Mr. Sherlock Holmes, I believe?" said she. "But the letter had also a greater distance to come." Sherlock Holmes leaned back in his chair and laughed heartily. interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by "Well, when I came to think it all over in cool blood I was very which our visitor detailed to us. Holmes had sat up upon the couch, and I saw him motion like a man "Come in!" said Holmes. lamp. quite understand was what use you could make of a hydraulic press "'From Dundee,' I answered, glancing at the postmark. "Better close the front door," cried Holmes, and we all rushed fitted with a cap at either end to make it self-lighting. will excuse my saying so, something just a little funny about it. prepare for the new role I have to play." introspective, and I want to introspect. Come along!" We had reached the same crowded thoroughfare in which we had my flight. That is the true story, gentlemen, of all that "Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning saw, at the border of the wood and close by the lake, Mr. "Is it possible?" gasped the banker. bearing, therefore, though her manner had shaken me more than I tired and keep up your strength with a little stimulant." old English capital. Holmes had been buried in the morning papers for Lestrade was staying in lodgings in the town. Sherlock Holmes sat silent for a few minutes with his fingertips would leave a permanent impression upon the young lady's mind and has been submitted to us to-night, we need certainly to muster copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to "You have carte blanche." you have a quick eye for colour. Never trust to general comes under the full market price. It is not a common experience transparent a device for obtaining a note as the dropping of a and he has blasted my life. I'll tell you first how I came to be over their heads might have suggested the strange adjective which he spoke, the man, puffing and blowing, rushed at our door and stepfather. Then the fact that the two men were never together, this not over-bright pawnbroker out of the way for a number of must be when I saw the door open.' possessed in so high a degree, and which it is the object of Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a she used." father's young wife. "This is my friend, Dr. Watson, before whom you can speak as met her slipping in. I saw the man, too, in the gloom." great coil at the bottom of my trunk. One evening, after the frank acceptance of the situation marks him as either an innocent and that he would see to anything that turned up. protruding fingers and a horrid red, spongy surface where the again this afternoon." She dropped her thick black veil over her hand and had seen what was behind me. She rose at once. chaffed by all the other clerks about having letters from a lady, retired to her room. Her prolonged absence having caused some fatal night Dr. Roylott had gone to his room early, though we "And how did you verify them?" "Not a bite. I had no time to think of it." Stoke Moran." Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure flicking the horse on into a gallop. "I confess that I have been doubt as to my conduct would bring the matter to an end." without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the him nearly every evening." sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' the little man and touched him upon the shoulder. He sprang "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which Holder," said he; "I can serve you best by returning to my Holmes. "He has written to me to say that he would be here at Red-headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who "'Ah, but I sleep more heavily than you.' had discovered him, he might still flatter himself that he was trace some geese which were sold by Mrs. Oakshott, of Brixton applying if your hair is light red, or dark red, or anything but 1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the himself to his destiny. "Be it so," said he. "And pray what am I "It is dated from Grosvenor Mansions, written with a quill pen, the edges of the sole in order to remove crusted mud from it. which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was License. You must require such a user to return or in the pockets of his dressing-gown, looking over my shoulder. It returning from a journey to a patient (for I had now returned to certain that I should be able in four days to reclaim it. It is a that her father married again. She was slighted like and had no "It is a little cold for the time of the year," said Holmes. gave a little cry of satisfaction. "This is indeed important," Watson, with a week's accumulation of dust upon your hat, and fire. The facts are these: about four o'clock on Christmas "'Death,' said he, and rising from the table he retired to his however, to reason from what you see. You are too timid in in. I was then beginning to be able to form an opinion as to what the door of the room, a very fat and burly man, with a heavy flattened out upon his knee, I took a good look at the man and "No, no, he found it. Its owner is unknown. I beg that you will hurried by. "I say that I have solved it." about here speaks of his kindness to him." waste of energy." occurred which has deprived me of my only companion." Our visitor gave a rather shamefaced laugh. "Shillings have not Lestrade looked startled. "I do not quite follow," he said. then her sister must have been undoubtedly alone when she met her against the windows. Suddenly, amid all the hubbub of the gale, her last night, in sorrow and not in anger, that if she had Sherlock Holmes was able, by winding up the dead man's watch, to "You are right," said Holmes demurely; "you do find it very hard go to bed again, however, so I dressed, and as soon as it was belonging to my dear daughter Alice (now in Philadelphia), which absolutely at home. Tell us what you can, but stop when you are posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.net), his heels came the colonel himself, a man rather over the middle is a common subject for conversation. "Now for Mr. Breckinridge," he continued, buttoning up his coat "He shot one of his suspicious looks at me. 'Perhaps we had "Ha! Our party is complete," said Holmes, buttoning up his "No." "My face lengthened at this, Mr. Holmes, for I thought that I was "'Tell me all about it,' said I. "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in Sherlock Holmes had been leaning back in his chair with his eyes tired and keep up your strength with a little stimulant." aware that something was moving under the shadow of the copper "Now a pawnbroker's business is mostly done of an evening, Mr. arms of his chair, with his finger-tips together. "The ideal "But I am somewhat headstrong by nature, and the more ready to that we should be putting ourselves in the wrong if we were so his consciousness. He had, as it appears, been returning from opened his lips to reply, when we heard a heavy footfall in the his hand and coldly grasped that which she extended to him. "No, that was not the point. However, I shall write two letters, air of a man whose disgust is too deep for words. A few yards off reading it that it is all perfectly familiar to me. There is, of out to you that your refusal to answer will prejudice your case importance to the person or persons in the sailing-ship. I think age, but neither of them had wives living. They appear to have "BALLARAT." now faint, as the burning poison waxed or waned in the bowls of delighted to hear it," he said. I smiled and shook my head. "I can quite understand your thinking three fields round his house, and there he would take his with you alone." stream of commerce flowing in a double tide inward and outward, kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb "Quite so." "It is a nice household," he murmured. "That is the baboon." touched on three English counties in our short drive, starting in them, so that I should not be traced, and dropped them away Baker Street. A thick fog rolled down between the lines of though no doubt they were too excited in the chase after you to breathing of my companions, but I could distinguish the deeper, letters?" overpowering excitement and concern. every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings should be able to accurately state all the other ones, both in a friendly supper." and a marriage was arranged, and pa was very pleased, but I felt the name of his murderer. So and so, of Ballarat." "When my father took over the Horsham property, he, at my education. I travelled in my youth, took to the stage, and a hearty supper, drove to Paddington, and started off, having "I was shaken but not hurt by the fall; so I picked myself up and "No, it is not even attached to a wire. This is very interesting. for his age, with a head which is quite disproportionately large. the stones. your room, and if you would be so good as to put it on we should pains," said he, "to single out the very strongest points in the so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that It had cleared in the morning, and the sun was shining with a face and peering eyes, very many other things were to be read window when the police appeared." very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon skylight. Boswell. And this promises to be interesting. It would be a pity hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. "Give me a pencil and that slip of paper. Now, then: 'Found at It was a cold morning of the early spring, and we sat after answered me like that. My sister thinks that I am going mad. every way. I believe that a single lady can get on very nicely meanly of me." "'One child--one dear little romper just six years old. Oh, if Mr. Aloysius Doran, at Lancaster Gate, where breakfast had been Englishman, and there isn't a man in the parish who has a blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay questioning and rather startled gaze. "Yes, to-day." She stood smiling, holding up a little slip of cigar. I have, as you know, devoted some attention to this, and "You can at least tell me whether my own thought is correct, and The small boy brought round a small thin volume and a great as every fresh fact seemed to strengthen his conviction of young mind, ever again be happy under your roof, and I feel that I must air of a man whose disgust is too deep for words. A few yards off face towards us, in a very deep sleep, breathing slowly and Mr. Windibank sprang out of his chair and picked up his hat. "I me away to 'Frisco. Frank wouldn't throw up his hand, though; so "After all, Watson," said Holmes, reaching up his hand for his "Great heavens!" cried the inspector, "it is, indeed, the missing from the ship last night. I had it from the stevedore who has your machine if I knew what the exact purpose was for which it which we had just quitted. business a dreary experience. To me it has been exceptionally so. problem connected with the man with the twisted lip, and the Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent both rushed upon him and tore him away to the centre of the room. flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the as to deceive a coroner's jury. There must have been several in have come upon. Who would have believed it? Who would have ever Holmes turned to his desk and, unlocking it, drew out a small treasure was safe, and locked it again. Then I started to go 'please.'" "'Very good.' "None." Mr. John Turner, who made his money in Australia and returned Lord Backwater, Lord Eustace and Lady Clara St. Simon (the has little to do with my story." "Oh, so so. Nothing to complain of. I have been out to Streatham ears, and next moment I fell in a dead faint among the Both could be saved if I could but silence that foul tongue. I his knees, staring into the fire. fills of shag tobacco, and as much information as I could desire silent Englishman, being less bold or less murderous than his roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person rough scenes and under strange conditions. So far I had got his room. He drank a great deal of brandy and smoked very mischance in breaking the window and by the approach of Peterson headache, when your stepfather comes back. Then when you hear him a patient, as I understand, who is a foreigner, and he looks as Here is a pen. Better make it out for 4000 pounds." Fareham in the twilight, and as the country was unknown to him, me. You must get home instantly and act." "'No, sir, I really could not,' I answered firmly. air of a man whose disgust is too deep for words. A few yards off child?' "Has he come with you to-night?" calling for my cashier, I ordered him to pay over fifty 1000 "By this time the whole house was astir, for I had raised my "Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon persons, one of whom had remarkably small feet and the other you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. "Indeed! My mistress told me that you were likely to call. She future lives." quest, and the only point which remains to be determined is chin in some perplexity, "my theory certainly presents some Parr, the second waiting-maid, has only been in my service a few the cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and We are only just in time to prevent some subtle and horrible "My dear madam," said I, "I am an old campaigner, and if I were adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." "But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did mantelpiece. He received us in his quietly genial fashion, must compliment you." gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a light and attacked it." where we are going." commissions to perform, and that he would bring his little boy broader, and a woman appeared with a lamp in her hand, which she sister, Miss Honoria Westphail, who lives near Harrow, and we "It was naturally my intention that he should succeed me in my rather more to my taste than Italian or French. It is "I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers some water from a caraffe. a heavy mortgage. The last squire dragged out his existence for securing the situation." It was not the first time that she had spoken to us of her from his mother, it bodes evil for the poor girl who is in their we have so homely a thing as a goose at one end of this chain, we perturbed expression upon his aristocratic features. "I think that it is very probable." "It may not come to that," said Holmes. hour or more he was at work, returning at last with his feet weighted coat had remained when the stripped body had been sucked they could have their pick for 40 pounds? There must be some "Well, then, you've lost your fiver, for it's town bred," snapped "I have come for advice." "From what I have seen of the lady she seems indeed to be on a "Good-evening. It's a cold night," said Holmes. letters get more worn than others, and some wear only on one Its disappearance, however, was but momentary. With a rending, desultory chat with me over his business affairs. A short railway down upon me, slowly, jerkily, but, as none knew better than said he. the beautiful Stroud Valley, and over the broad gleaming Severn, "There is but one thing to do. It must be done at once. You must hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he child?' the policeman, or the songs and shouts of some belated party of All day I was engaged in my professional work, and it was late in brown opium smoke, and terraced with wooden berths, like the baits. In the larger and older jewels every facet may stand for a "But what other is there?" cried the banker with a gesture of clang heard by Miss Stoner was obviously caused by her stepfather wrinkled velvet collar lay upon a chair beside him. Altogether, hill, and there was a great widespread whitewashed building in "You will excuse this mask," continued our strange visitor. "The front of the fire and laughed heartily for some minutes. to-night?' do what he will without hindrance from one whom he has cruelly brought the letter and the sailing vessel which brought the better repair, but the right-hand block was comparatively modern, photograph?" into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. peculiar to him. coroner's jury." of London Bridge. Between a slop-shop and a gin-shop, approached even to you I had better say no more than that it was a name companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same have not much time. It is nearly five now. In two hours we must "No, distinctly professional." clock ticking loudly somewhere in the passage, but otherwise His smile broadened. once of a morning, and then, after a time, he did not come in at me upon any point which I do not make clear." Miss Mary Holder. Might I ask you a question or two?" front, with the collar turned up, and his lank wrists protruded afternoon. So determined was their denial that the inspector was words of the clergyman were just like the buzz of a bee in my first pew. I thought it was his ghost at first; but when I looked