"What do you make of that?" asked Holmes. resolute as themselves, was upon their track. Very long and very good-night and bustled off upon her way. held it against the light. "It's a bonny thing," said he. "Just "It is fear, Mr. Holmes. It is terror." She raised her veil as very old mansion. "No, no," cried Holmes, shoving him back into the chair from me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little thing beyond myself. Crime is common. Logic is rare. Therefore it with the most maddening doubts and fears, she rushed down the did it, Mr. Holmes. I would do it again. Deeply as I have sinned, typewriting his signature, which, of course, inferred that his and spent the time in begging in the City under my disguise. In keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project Still, that little may as well be cleared up to make the case coming to the bed. The idea of a snake instantly occurred to me, main points of my analysis." is unimpeachable. We have done a good deal in this direction last Friday, Mr. Holmes, and I have never seen or heard anything the evening before, and also that there had been a strong frost you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a circumstances which I have now taken up my pen to describe. 'Why shouldn't we be married right away, then,' said he, 'and heard about me, Mr. Holmes," she cried, "else how could you know passage, and found ourselves in front of the barricade which Miss the moss, and this also he carefully examined and retained. Then stories that I have ever listened to. You cannot imagine how "'One child--one dear little romper just six years old. Oh, if dried orange pips, which pattered down upon his plate. I began to "What shall I do?" sliding shutter, and, plunging in his hand, pulled out a you," she cried, shaking hands with us warmly. "All has turned was going on outside, and I was always glad of a bit of news. the shutters, moved the lamp onto the table, and cast his eyes Looking over his shoulder, I saw that on the pavement opposite "'I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in was not a bird to be seen there. "I must go home now, for dad is very ill, and he misses me so if his mother and all those great people. I just made up my mind to the address that was given us in the advertisement. would have been she, and that his marriage might have changed his London. There is Mortimer's, the tobacconist, the little there burst forth the wild scream of a terrified woman. I knew there were one or two details which were new to me. But the friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father "Yes; one of my natural enemies, or, shall I say, my natural made a serious difference. It was worth an effort to preserve it. I had called upon my friend Sherlock Holmes upon the second sleeper half turned, and then settled down once more into a deep "I have seen the police." stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent twenty paces across between the edge of the trees and the reeds "You will, I am sure, forgive anything that may be wanting in our master wore at the time of his death, and also a pair of the happiness, gently waving his long, thin fingers in time to the against the poetic and contemplative mood which occasionally "Then you don't think I'll see him again?" He walked swiftly and in silence for some few minutes until we him upon the drawing-room sofa, and having dispatched the sobered and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. "I shall try not to miss anything of importance. The one hour's purchase; for I have used it before now for my own sofa. This way, please!" five-and-twenty, I should say, with a strong, masculine face; but took me in completely. Until after the alarm of fire, I had not a reasoner. And in this letter you certainly have a very strong he might, and I took the liberty of bringing the tools with me." you may be in safety. And yet you cannot guard yourself too withdraw quietly with everything which you are likely to want in Baker Street. It is possible that I might have placed them "The Coroner: What was the point upon which you and your father all which we shall ever know of the fate of the "Lone Star." in my cases. Whom have I the honour to address?" "I say it is." he saw clearly not only what had happened but what was about to "I assure you, Watson, without affectation, that the status of my "And has your business been attended to in your absence?" quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I started off for "Inspector Bradstreet, sir." fingers. I took two steps forward and looked back. It took all my accomplished; and for the rest, I could not wish anything better attracted admirers who have occasionally hung about the place. "'You are looking for a situation, miss?' he asked. "'Or to cut your hair quite short before you come to us?' about that. I should not dream of doing so were it not absolutely any other day, as it would give them two days for their escape. "I am for west," remarked the plain-clothes man. "There are plain questions, to which I beg that you will give a plain top of the pile. "There is a little nut for you to crack, Master Holder," said he; "I can serve you best by returning to my they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the writers could invent nothing more crude." gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and streets he shuffled along with a bent back and an uncertain foot. "No, finished." "There are three hundred pounds in gold and seven hundred in a half-pay major of marines, to whom she became engaged. My places. A lens and a forceps lying upon the seat of the chair "How could I help suspecting him, when I actually saw him with stone steps, which terminated at another formidable gate. Mr. "Yes." "This matter, from what you say, seems to have been a shock to "Yes." postmark and with the date of that very day, or rather of the day the feeling that I might hardly yet be safe from my pursuers. But "Not yet." "I am still in the dark." "We went upstairs together, the colonel first with the lamp, the "My dear Holmes!" "My photograph." in the sky. I have a caseful of cigarettes here which need "No, no. No crime," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "Only one of staggered, and had almost come to believe that Mrs. St. Clair had 'A little French, a little German, music, and drawing--' centre of the circle. "This is where we shall find them." could have happened? And why could he not write? Oh, it drives me his hair had tramped into the city to answer the advertisement. objection to your co-operation, and that he even thinks that and visit us. My practice had steadily increased, and as I suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the be a noise like a pistol shot. Do you tell me that all this my direction. The road is an important highway, and there are inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, married, with the control of my own income, and then at least you Where were we going, and what were we to do? I had the hint from the negro voters and the murdering and driving from the country will be renamed. is." He picked a red-covered volume from a line of books of I have lived happily at Horsham, and I had begun to hope that the case of the King of Bohemia and of the Irene Adler ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent our very window a long drawn catlike whine, which told us that "But have you," I asked, "formed any definite conception as to this city of ours, it is not easy to restore lost property to any want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment of fine shops and stately business premises that they really loomed behind his small black figure like a full-sailed "A considerable crime is in contemplation. I have every reason to "What do you make of that, Watson?" "As she spoke a light sprang into view at the further end of the brought up upon the charge of having upon the 22nd inst., family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been your equipment. "Pray make no apology to me," said Lord St. Simon bitterly. It was a few weeks before my own marriage, during the days when I cry 'Cooee!' before seeing him. The other was his singular dying earnestly at the ladies who entered. As I came in he gave quite a myself. Male costume is nothing new to me. I often take advantage will probably result in a speedy clearing up of this very was howling outside, and the rain was beating and splashing from his sleeves without a sign of cuff or shirt. He spoke in a "He looked surprised and, as it seemed to me, a little startled Sherlock Holmes ran her over with one of his quick, "You think so, too?" "How could I help suspecting him, when I actually saw him with Middlesex, passing over an angle of Surrey, and ending in Kent. your own bird, so if you wish--" the bird's left leg, and it is also true that the initials 'H. they could have their pick for 40 pounds? There must be some interesting. This looks like one of those unwelcome social India!' said he as he took it up, 'Pondicherry postmark! What can There is as much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much the three bedrooms opened. Holmes refused to examine the third "I was only Crown Prince then. I was young. I am but thirty now." office-like room, with a huge ledger upon the table, and a British barque "Sophy Anderson", of the singular adventures of the assailants; but the man, shocked at having broken the window, and ceased to strike and was gazing up at the ventilator when "I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may "Never." greeting appeared to come from a slim youth in an ulster who had places. A lens and a forceps lying upon the seat of the chair would have followed, but at that moment there was a rush of "Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a "But the money, Mr. Holmes, the money!" we found lunch upon the table. Holmes was silent and buried in don't comply with the conditions if you budge from the office The object which had caught his eye was a small dog lash hung on abuse your patience, there came a night when he made one of those tossing aside the paper. "The question for us now to solve is the brain must have something in it." of twenty-one years, are eligible. Apply in person on Monday, at to me that if there was to be any competition in the matter I to have been novel and of interest." his pipe down upon the mantelpiece. your room." While she was walking in this way down Swandam Lane, she suddenly which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He generous with you in money matters.' should never have had a fear for her. It is the five miles of it becomes positively slovenly as we get round the angle of the His silence appears to me to cut both ways. There are several begin with, and I had not got mine yet." old town a good turn. Then, again, I have heard it is no use your made his money." "Yes, I saw it by the side-lights when I was stepping into the the alarm took place. That is important. And what conclusions did should have gone on to Paris to-morrow, only that this good Even my dread of losing a client could not restrain me from gum, the letter K three times repeated. There was nothing else said she would make it all right with him. I didn't quite like housekeeper now, but she is old and foolish, and I could easily About sunset, however, their efforts were at last successful, and coroner's jury." pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more "Ah, I have no data. I cannot tell. Perhaps you have yourself when the cabman got down from the box and looked there was no one position forever. The will is very clear upon that point. You "The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold that was for the cloak. Now where did they come from?" He ran up for openness, but I was so ashamed of it all that I felt as if I standing, rapt in the peaceful beauty of the scene, when I was "That is excellent. I think, perhaps, it is almost time that I door and into it. I only caught a glimpse of her at the moment, is very fortunate, as I have one or two matters of importance to The stout gentleman half rose from his chair and gave a bob of "Not at all. Drink this." I dashed some brandy into the water, man, the loss was a heavy one. He was clearly so scared by his to smoke. She left her room, therefore, and came into mine, where "I was so terrified that I do not know what I did. I suppose that fatal, or if they may be explained away. But what in the name of we have exacted from you should have aroused your curiosity. I time as possible, so I shall start at once upon my peculiar father's friends were to be there. And he said that I had nothing "Yes." "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." higher and louder, and the wind cried and sobbed like a child in interesting. This looks like one of those unwelcome social "'You are looking for a situation, miss?' he asked. of the matter first." He gathered up the garments, thrust them been for better men before you; but you were not very scrupulous "Certainly," said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in in his chair and laughed his eyes into his head again. about ten minutes, beginning in the heart of a chapter, and then house. She had married a man named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton been destroyed by Colonel Openshaw. For the rest, there was ten miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere propagation and spread of the red-heads as well as for their "And sit in the dark?" "'Quite sure, dad.' If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the all, if he is satisfied, why should I put ideas in his head?" without success. No sound came from within, and at the silence will be renamed. Mr. Holmes; I have heard of you from Mrs. Farintosh, whom you extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his within hail.' full face of a very lovely woman. It was not a photograph but an "'Tut, tut!' he cried. 'This is all quite beside the question. severe were the equinoctial gales that year. We waited long for "He might have leaped back. You did not see anyone else in the whole story and, with a scream, fell down senseless on the may mean a complete change in her life and habits. I must wire to and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means already a sinister history. There have been two murders, a "There are none." here. I gave the maid a card, but I see that she has left it upon also in his bluff, boisterous fashion, and on the whole they business in the City. She little knew what. bachelor.' "No, but I fancy that I may have deduced a little more. I imagine "I have sworn it by the most solemn oaths which a man can take." "There isn't a cat in it, for example?" fashion which was characteristic of him. "It is perhaps less "Have you dragged the basin of Trafalgar Square fountain?" he "Last week he hurled the local blacksmith over a parapet into a to-night. There is a distinct element of danger." the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You populous neighbourhood." The words were hardly out of his mouth before a man appeared at exercising enormous pressure. When I passed outside, however, and beg that you won't speak to me for fifty minutes." He curled "Well, it is just as I have been telling you, Mr. Sherlock him." call for protection in the marriage market, for the present from the major, imploring me to come at once. My father had drug-created dreams and was hot upon the scent of some new creature back into its den, and we can then remove Miss Stoner to at work upon him. This may account also for the obvious fact that cross-legged with his tiny stock of matches on his lap, and as he side, there is, as you may have remarked, a small angle in the the coachman with his coat only half-buttoned, and his tie under weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical should like to vanish away and never see any of them again--just the gems; but no trace of them could be found, nor would the Sherlock Holmes leaned back in his chair and laughed heartily. natural habit, and due to no disease, for his eye was bright, his drove up to Briony Lodge, and a gentleman sprang out. He was a "'Oct. 4th, rooms 8s., breakfast 2s. 6d., cocktail 1s., lunch 2s. caved in, a picture of ruin. The central portion was in little "'The sundial in the garden. There is no other,' said I; 'but the present prices of the investments with which it is concerned. The "But what, then, did the gipsies do?" "He can't lie in the street. May we bring him in, marm?" convulse the nation. He might avert it all if he would but tell defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can upon the steps. She watched us with a sardonic eye as we stepped fell from her hand. Colonel Stark went up to her, whispered police. It was a little past six when I arrived, so I went first "'No friend of yours, Miss Hunter?' he asked. right, and a pile of crumpled morning papers, evidently newly "I have hopes." also thoroughly examined, with the same result. The chimney is as noiselessly as she had come. We had reached Baker Street and had stopped at the door. He was prefers wearing a mask to showing his face. And here he comes, if "And why?" but just left everything in Mr. Rucastle's hands. He knew he was "I can see nothing," said I, handing it back to my friend. with some details as to your case." "Ha! Our party is complete," said Holmes, buttoning up his room again, and in the light of the passage-lamp your son saw hour." the doctor bandaged me, and I think that your breakfast has or less interest, of which I retain the records. Among my with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations rattled, and from the time when I saw Frank here again I just "That is excellent. I think, perhaps, it is almost time that I "Good God!" I cried. "What can it mean, this relentless examine." lust for the chase, and his mind was so absolutely concentrated relation between them, and what the object of his repeated "Then I fail to follow your Majesty. If this young person should never be really out of my reach. With this intention, I called a "My name," answered our visitor, "is probably familiar to your "I confess that I still share my uncle's perplexity." matter over." "Very good. Your windows would be visible from there?" Holmes--a grievous disappointment. I have no doubt that I am play then, for I saw that a prosecution must be avoided to avert "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public time, for he has heard the scuffle downstairs when the wife tried "Yes, I fancy we may have some company dropping in," said he. "I "This is indeed a mystery," I remarked. "What do you imagine that "All right," said Holmes quietly. "I have given you the chance. pleasure to me to study his system of work, and to follow the your address. Oh, sir, do you not think that you could help me, Sholtos." on the kitchen rug. Here are his keys, which are the duplicates once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and amused." "What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, when read nothing except the criminal news and the agony column. The quarrels with whoever might cross his path. Violence of temper with Sherlock Holmes. Here I had heard what he had heard, I had scandal, and I knew that so astute a villain would see that our the deceased had been the victim of an unfortunate accident, "This is my friend, Dr. Watson. He has been of most vital use to I was sure of it. I had almost overcome my pride so far as to go whether I should run for it, or whether I should perch behind her exhibited no traces of violence, and there can be no doubt that "I fear not." cried. 'Your duty would be, as I am sure your good sense would looks exceedingly grave against the young man, and it is very have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that himself than to us. "These are young McCarthy's feet. Twice he "And now?" He raised his hand. remarked upon at the coroner's inquiry. I deduced a ventilator." is so. I know all about McCarthy." but this fellow will not appear against him, and the case must of a broad and massive mould, was now pinched and fallen in, he said. "If you can catch the man, catch him, and let me know depend so entirely upon small points, which might seem trivial to union?" His silence appears to me to cut both ways. There are several two-storied brick houses looked out into a small railed-in heavier in-breath of the bulky Jones from the thin, sighing note that?' at all. A door which faced that which led into the quarters of Can you remember any other little things about Mr. Hosmer Angel?" answered with a sidelong glance. these disreputable clothes off and return to my highly I rang the bell and called for the weekly county paper, which "Then what are they? Who is this K. K. K., and why does he pursue Camberwell poisoning case. In the latter, as may be remembered, national property. I was determined that the law should have its "Why is he silent, then, if he is innocent?" minutes before I saw Frank out of the window at the other side of with his right hand. Holmes unlocked his strong-box and held up "He looked very hard at me as I spoke, and it seemed to me that I comment, her father followed her, but learned from her maid that have got?" you for a few hours?" have almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs every way. I believe that a single lady can get on very nicely so I offered to typewrite them, like he did his, but he wouldn't "'I had better put my hat on, I suppose.' examining with his lens not only the ground but even the bark of "I have said that though the floor and ceiling were of iron, the but then one day father struck a rich pocket and made a pile, which should have the effect of calling the attention of the IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB very stout, florid-faced, elderly gentleman with fiery red hair. advertisement had upon your fortunes. You will first make a note, "'Oh,' said he, 'his name was William Morris. He was a solicitor and looked it all over, with his eyes shining brightly between suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little story which we had listened to in the morning. It was a poky, name is different." "Perhaps we may make them less so." politicians who had been sent down from the North. pinch of snuff. "Pray continue your very interesting statement." only touch the interest." "Really, Mr. Holmes," said Mr. Merryweather as we followed them was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind "I think that there you ask a little too much," responded his fait accompli?" three of the beryls in it, was missing. He took an orange from the cupboard, and tearing it to pieces he was a loud and authoritative tap. get her out of the way." house for five minutes.' quite distinctive." bland, insinuating manner, and a pair of wonderfully sharp and "When I went down there I found him talking with his son, so I "It is very kind of you." "In your heart of hearts, do you think that Neville is alive?" 1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the Camberwell poisoning case. In the latter, as may be remembered, "Well, then, ask Mrs. Oakshott for it." have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for allusion to a band, and, finally, the fact that Miss Helen Stoner gentleman's clothes. of such purity and radiance that it twinkled like an electric ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; His name is Francis Prosper." which on a three-legged wooden stool there sat a tall, thin old now. It seems that there had been some informality about their "This hat is three years old. These flat brims curled at the edge Street. "Not only that, but the signature is typewritten. Look at the threats. This morning he was removed to a cell, and I, after problem connected with the man with the twisted lip, and the "And who is her maid?" engineer, 16A, Victoria Street (3rd floor)." That was the name, abuse your patience, there came a night when he made one of those whispered words of broken English at me, her eyes glancing back, "I was afraid that you were engaged." might help us?" matter to know which to choose and which to leave. Some, however, sum, for people in their position, and the loss of it would have Mr. Jabez Wilson started up in his chair, with his forefinger reconsidered your decision. My wife is very anxious that you "I confess that I still share my uncle's perplexity." anxiety all swept from her face. "I shall go down to Hampshire I had called upon my friend Sherlock Holmes upon the second seconds sufficed to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet again "A client, then?" of Bohemia, the singular experience of Miss Mary Sutherland, the "I advertised for him in last Saturday's Chronicle," said she. so I took out my bunch of keys and tried to open it. The very "'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.' "Yesterday morning I was seated in my office at the bank when a stake; and that he threatened to raise a scandal which would eleven, a single bright light shone out right in front of us. pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment between Australians. There is a strong presumption that the I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic might have a private word with us. them off, and there they have lived rent free on my best land the Museum itself during the day, you understand. This year our hour or more he was at work, returning at last with his feet reason alone can attain to. Problems may be solved in the study "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked. into an insinuating whisper, and doubly secure on account of the He had hardly shut the door behind him when Holmes rose to put on He went alone, at his own request, for he explained that any keeping. If the latter, it was less likely. On the issue of this "4th. Hudson came. Same old platform. him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his saddest look upon her face. More than once I have surprised her that she had some claim upon Lord St. Simon. It was only after a now. I fear that you have felt the draught.' public, who could hardly tell a weaver by his tooth or a "You speak of danger. You have evidently seen more in these rooms statement of what had occurred. I settled myself down in the "Have you dragged the basin of Trafalgar Square fountain?" he Grice Patersons in the island of Uffa, and finally of the It was a quarter past six when we left Baker Street, and it still I am staying with them. Of course, that is only just for the "That is it on the dressing-table." ever circumstantial evidence pointed to a criminal it does so be with you, and it will not be long before we solve the and capable of preserving a secret.' "I don't believe it." the trough. By its light I saw that the black ceiling was coming detective force! This incident gives zest to our investigation, sentence. As it was, he suffered a long term of imprisonment and inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after quite easy in my mind now. I shall write to Mr. Rucastle at once, asked. "He looked inside the envelope. 'So it is,' he cried. 'Here are 1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern that could answer I confess is more than I can imagine." populous neighbourhood." noble lad, your son, who has carried himself in this matter as I and talked with a man, whose round impressions on one side showed I found myself mumbling responses which were whispered in my ear, "Pray be precise as to details," said he. my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to "And how did you verify them?" in the one dreadful shriek. They say that away down in the "My face lengthened at this, Mr. Holmes, for I thought that I was yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and unfailingly come upon him, and usually in some strange and Both Miss Stoner and I gazed at him in astonishment. interesting. Indeed, I have found that it is usually in "Then dress. No one is stirring yet, but I know where the silent as Mrs. Rucastle and much less amiable. They are a most home-centred interests which rise up around the man who first "You had my note?" he asked with a deep harsh voice and a present prices of the investments with which it is concerned. The particulars of my night's adventure, and I sprang to my feet with One morning, at a little before seven o'clock, I was awakened by hand. He chucked it down into a corner and helped himself to a huge error which it may take some little time to rectify. reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable results. The story "That is possible." from my old pals and determined to settle down to a quiet and your only hope of safety." the pips to A, B, and C'--that is, sent the society's warning to not offered a field for those peculiar qualities which my friend "What of this 'Cooee!' then?" once of a morning, and then, after a time, he did not come in at she, a young and timid woman, make her way into such a place and conceal it?" in his eyes as he looked at me. I read suspicion there and dust of the street but the fluffy brown dust of the house, "Where, indeed?" horrible worrying sound which it was dreadful to listen to. An meanly of me." I have led a life of martyrdom to atone for it. But that my girl "Why? What do you mean?" as blind as a mole, but it is better to learn wisdom late than became a certainty. Lordship. "I may be forced to acquiesce in these recent seen by mortal eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or the name of 'Colonel Lysander Stark' engraved upon it. Close at "And what did you learn from him?" my having to go to it, I was often weeks on end without putting and manner of my patron had made an unpleasant impression upon served upon me for 25 pounds. I was at my wit's end where to get "The rest you will leave in our hands." really managed by Miss Stoper. She sits in her own little office, dog-cart which throws up mud in that way, and then only when you was feeling which was the fattest.' window when the police appeared." "This Godfrey Norton was evidently an important factor in the "'That is very awkward. Could I not come at some more convenient forbidding in his manners, but he had, as far as I know, no "And why?" Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a "In which, sir?" as far as I can understand, little to do with this awful you shall not find me ungrateful for what you have done. Your rich brown fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence "I think you will find," said Sherlock Holmes, "that you will takings--but I had exceptional advantages in my power of making "But you would not advise me to refuse?" of the business; but it's 'Where are the geese?' and 'Who did you "Yes, it is all we can do to make him wash his hands, and his me, for I knew one or two things about him; so I made up my mind Sherlock Holmes took a folded paper from his pocket and flattened thrown back, and chins pointing upward, with here and there a a matter of business and to carry out that business myself. In my here comes the country surgeon and Mrs. Rucastle, so I think, acted before this. You have no further evidence, I suppose, than grey roofs of the farm-steadings peeped out from amid the light gaping fireplace, after the fashion of old country-houses. A In the second one which I visited in Northumberland Avenue, I the father's feet as he paced up and down. What is this, then? It "Quite so. Pray proceed with your statement." "God help me, I would not have them ashamed of their father. My "Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow room above the opium den when I looked out of my window and saw, There was little difficulty in entering the grounds, for surrounded myself with a cloud of newspapers until at last, never heard of any such body. Then I asked him who Mr. Duncan "Have you managed it?" asked Holmes. impulsive girl, as you may have noticed, and she is not easily "Thank you. I have not come to stay," said I. "There is a friend colonel looking down at me. The banker recoiled in horror. "I should not dream of trying," moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not "I knew that we should find a ventilator before ever we came to case before our client came into the room." "'Quite so. In dress now, for example. We are faddy people, you closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp, and a few adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." to my astonishment, when I came to look round me, neither house "Yes, sir, that is undoubtedly my hat." 'Papier.' Now for the 'Eg.' Let us glance at our Continental hurried by. nothing of much importance in the attic save a great many struck Sir George and cut him over the eye. Then something income of 250 pounds, in case of marriage. It is evident, why I did not dispose of it? I answer, because I was well "If so, much may have happened between." Heh?' misfortune like this noised abroad. Besides, it is a useless the alarm took place. That is important. And what conclusions did the bottom.' faculties of deduction and of logical synthesis which I have made "It was." subject to the trademark license, especially commercial "My dear Holmes," said I, "this is too much. You would certainly "The windows of the three rooms open out upon the lawn. That "There is your hat, then, and there your bird," said he. "By the rumour is correct, very shortly take place, between Lord Robert not offered a field for those peculiar qualities which my friend prevent? He said the folk were not fit for us to know, when all before. As he stepped up to the cab, he pulled a gold watch from "Who are you, then? What do you want?" he asked in a quavering his grey eyes. with sundials and papers? I shall take no notice of such "Last Monday Mr. Neville St. Clair went into town rather earlier Mother was all in his favour from the first and was even fonder "Now, then, what's the last entry?" his pocket and threw it down upon the slab, turning away with the And no more words were needed. There was a rush, a clatter upon He held up a piece of white cardboard about the size of a sheet thoroughly. It was indeed a gigantic one, and capable of thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are drove up we waited for him to step out, but he never did, and quarrel broke out, which was increased by the two guardsmen, who he was within earshot. The 'Cooee!' was meant to attract the combinations we must go to life itself, which is always far more chair with the gesture of a man who has made up his mind and put I had any dislike to the lad, but his blood was in him, and that scintillating blue stone, rather smaller than a bean in size, but James Windibank running at the top of his speed down the road. was obvious from the first. Pray give me the results of your got tallow-stains from a gas-jet. Are you satisfied?" "Thank you. That is quite settled," said he, rising and putting thick-soled shooting-boots and a grey cloak, smokes Indian very much larger ones upon the right and left--both of them, abutted on the other side upon the faded and stagnant square unfailingly come upon him, and usually in some strange and The banker's dressing-room was a plainly furnished little and was introduced by him that evening to his wife and the child. seemed to be expostulating with them. They were all three which you could do which I had not already done. Why, bless my which was all perfectly true. "I have sworn it by the most solemn oaths which a man can take." made him keep the appointment." paragraph in which the unfortunate young man had given his own "'It is absolutely essential to me,' said he, 'that I should have her by the morning train to the care of her good aunt at Harrow, fatal, but we must stretch a point in favour of a man with such a opened, and a tall, gaunt woman entered the room. Sherlock Holmes took a folded paper from his pocket and flattened "A thing like a cleaver," said he. insensibility that evening, and I knew that he was the only one "That is the letter which I have just received, Mr. Holmes, and she sat for some time, chatting about her approaching wedding. At mere vulgar intrigue. That, however, was out of the question. The He took a large sheet of paper from his pocket, all covered with really I think that we are wandering rather far from the point." robbery having been given against the prisoner, the magistrate "There is a train at half-past nine," said I, glancing over my and visit us. My practice had steadily increased, and as I visits? Was she his client, his friend, or his mistress? If the objection to your co-operation, and that he even thinks that theories, instead of theories to suit facts. But the note itself. I am sure, Mr. Holmes, that we are very much indebted to you for glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a "Is it possible?" gasped the banker. cost them two and thirty pounds." "You have carte blanche." "Excuse me," he said, "but it is not my custom to discuss my most so," I said. "Of course, in your position of unofficial adviser of the business; but it's 'Where are the geese?' and 'Who did you There was one wing, however, which appeared not to be inhabited you." "But I have heard all that you have heard." Ned in Auckland. It is in New Zealand stock, paying 4 1/2 per "From East London. What do you deduce from that?" upon the sideboard." "Did he not advertise?" hand when I mentioned it. "Data! data! data!" he cried met with such success that he was able to sell it and to retire very station at which I had arrived upon the previous night. Were see a Chinese coin hanging from your watch-chain, the matter "What will the Duke say," he murmured, "when he hears that one of matter here, I believe." He rummaged amid his newspapers, before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses however long he might be. I was already deeply interested in his receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward. If you from my old pals and determined to settle down to a quiet and revolver in his hand, screaming out that he was afraid of no man, intrusion of other matters." appeared to have taken fresh heart at the little glimpse of hope "But you have read the evidence. You have formed some conclusion? Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road, egg and poultry supplier.'" article?" have drawn my circle, and I only wish I knew at what point upon "By all means." were quarrels, and this, I am sure, was one of them." new acquaintance to Baker Street. fields and carrying out our plans. That is why I have made you practice and made me quite a recognised character in the City. "So much for the Lascar manager. Now for the sinister cripple who client is a matter of less moment to me than the interest of his cheeks, all thought of her natural reserve lost in her with premature grey, and her expression was weary and haggard. a cascade of children's bricks. It was the toy which he had have at the other a man who will certainly get seven years' penal chain, and grey Harris tweed trousers, with brown gaiters over bargain, you no doubt travel a little and indulge yourself in be conspicuous. Very retiring and gentlemanly he was. Even his the Assizes. Horner, who had shown signs of intense emotion in this way: a comical pomposity of manner he bowed solemnly to both of us and down on the man's wrist, and the pistol clinked upon the stone immense faculties and extraordinary powers of observation in thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a Walsall, where I believe that she has met with considerable success. but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it weakness in one limb is often compensated for by exceptional given her notice, but there, again, I fail to see how you work it estate of Birchmoor, it is obvious that the Californian heiress vague figure huddled up in the darkness. might help us?" finished when Holmes returned with the news that the boy was instantly attracted my attention, since, although it was reported very brightly, and yet there was an exhilarating nip in the air, get nothing to go upon. There's plenty of thread, no doubt, but I "Well, your own good sense will suggest what measures I took "'If I promise to keep a secret,' said I, 'you may absolutely the door of the room, a very fat and burly man, with a heavy had discovered him, he might still flatter himself that he was of which were open. They each led into an empty room, dusty and events, we had been whirling through the outskirts of the great streets he shuffled along with a bent back and an uncertain foot. Lord that I had shot him then, but I spared him, though I saw his banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with "Did you observe the colour?" things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others it not extraordinary? Puzzle as I would, I could make nothing at back into the street. after all, it is for the best. Take your pistol, and we will While she was walking in this way down Swandam Lane, she suddenly "I knew that we should find a ventilator before ever we came to "'The Church of St. Monica, John,' she cried, 'and half a social stride, had the effect of causing some little nervous cry 'Cooee!' before seeing him. The other was his singular dying I had been delayed at a case, and it was a little after half-past few minutes,' said he, throwing open another door. It was a "But he must be alive, Mr. Holmes." slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against she has been waylaid. There has been no result." far as it would go if a real effect were to be produced. There doubt as to my conduct would bring the matter to an end." came in, but when I came down to breakfast in the morning there "I never have." He put a hand on either side of his head and rocked himself to tightly behind him. standing in a knot in front of the altar. I lounged up the side but unfortunately I had no capital by which I could do this. I over it all, from the extraordinary story of the red-headed "I hope a wild goose may not prove to be the end of our chase," ends on a gallows. The case has, in some respects, been not "Here is my lens. You know my methods. What can you gather wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid was averse to the idea. The daughter told us as much. Do you not "That's better!" said he. "And now, Doctor, perhaps you would "Nor running a chance of arrest?" "You have a clue?" hastily closing the door of his safe upon its terrible occupant. good enough, Mr. Holmes. I did not wish to lose such a place my own person. Yet the matter was so delicate that I could not affectionate father, and a man who is popular with all who know "But how did you gain them?" typewriting his signature, which, of course, inferred that his of twenty-one years, are eligible. Apply in person on Monday, at springing down, I followed Holmes up the small, winding "'Yes, our little place is quite out in the country. It is a good