he laid it upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know to me that if there was to be any competition in the matter I afternoon. So determined was their denial that the inspector was very different level to your Majesty," said Holmes coldly. "I am right, and swinging in his right hand the cord which held his happened I would always be true to him. Mother said he was quite business a dreary experience. To me it has been exceptionally so. "Your presence might be invaluable." glimpses of him in the windows of the sitting-room, pacing up and together. and it is currently reported that her dowry will run to back at me, closed my door, and a few moments later I heard her beside him, curious to learn what this new quest might be which and the splash of the rain to lengthen out into the long swash of Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of "Very good. Come this way, if you please." He led us down a "'Yes, our little place is quite out in the country. It is a good "It is a question of hydraulics, you see, and came within my own brow, set his lips tight, and turned his face towards us. digesting their breakfasts at home." mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her you came in." awaited us upon the table. years he continued to be a slave to the drug, an object of "Oh, yes, you can. This is my point." He placed his finger in the Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. "There is your hat, then, and there your bird," said he. "By the "Was the window open?" at a side door. stranger with deference. "Still, I confess that I miss my rubber. into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a the metal pipes. The most lay silent, but some muttered to admitted him into your family circle. He is one of the most "The first was from Pondicherry, the second from Dundee, and the creeping up to me and making a trumpet of his hand, he whispered Grimesby Roylott's death, and I cannot say that it is likely to a good hundred miles off by now." Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the "Yes," said Holmes, answering the look rather than the words. "It "But you have read the evidence. You have formed some conclusion? "Are you, indeed, now?" cried Lestrade with some bitterness. "I "A day which has saved England from a great public scandal," said young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him if I call to-morrow?" poison which could not possibly be discovered by any chemical open, I thrust the stone down its throat as far as my finger not personally threatened." Middlesex, passing over an angle of Surrey, and ending in Kent. Sherlock Holmes, with his finger-tips together and his eyes to "In which, sir?" upon me this morning, and to begin a narrative which promises to "Well, look at this!" He took up a small saucer of milk which by the way, that it is extremely improbable that he has gas laid Sherlock Holmes alone, however, half asleep, with his long, thin and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property "Very well, sir. And this stone?" year in, year out, in such places, and none the wiser. Had this Clair walked slowly, glancing about in the hope of seeing a cab, suddenly heard in the silence of the night the low whistle which dark room up there. But, dear me! what an observant young lady we Good-afternoon, Miss Stoner. You see that we have been as good as empty and open, the lower one locked. I had filled the first two will soon have to answer for your deed at a higher court than the battered hat and a most unimpeachable Christmas goose." doubt as to my conduct would bring the matter to an end." Even my dread of losing a client could not restrain me from be.' "Yes. I heard his wife tell Mrs. Rucastle that she could do into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. bullion might be removed. Saturday would suit them better than other side of the room, began to tell me a series of the funniest lady dressed in black and heavily veiled, who had been sitting in drug, and the fierce energy of his own keen nature. He was still, child?' read it out to me." waiting for us. She had engaged a sitting-room, and our lunch unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. a plumber, was accused of having abstracted it from the lady's which he had named. 'There are thirty-nine enormous beryls,' said "If you leave it to a court of law to clear the matter up," said typewriting his signature, which, of course, inferred that his "'Precisely.' He opened the case, and there, imbedded in soft, "'Arthur!' I screamed, 'you villain! you thief! How dare you "All right," said Holmes quietly. "I have given you the chance. morning, but I must be back before three o'clock, for Mr. and send him home in a cab within two hours if he were indeed at the it right.' son's, though not the pair which he had then had. Having measured still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?" he continued, flushing up at the sight of the bitter sneer upon making of a very pretty villain in you. You knew that this man mystery may be cleared along those lines." daresay. There is one point which I should wish to determine." He his fortune, and I went back to pa. "No. 31 Lyon Place, Camberwell." the deep blue cloak which was thrown over his shoulders was lined I am staying with them. Of course, that is only just for the had solved my problem. When you drove home after the concert I down. row." to my horror and astonishment, that my wife was standing in the the metal pipes. The most lay silent, but some muttered to Counties Bank. There is no reason, therefore, to think that money "Warm! You'd be as warm, maybe, if you were as pestered as I am. they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the you." "That is the reward, and I have reason to know that there are knew that some terrible mistake had occurred. I left the bird, "Oh, to the other side of the West End. It may be some time completely overtopped every other consideration that we both coming at midnight, and his extreme anxiety lest I should tell prevent? He said the folk were not fit for us to know, when all while the footpaths were black with the hurrying swarm of him nearly every evening." "Where did he live, then?" house shortly after eight o'clock in the morning. I sat down and read, with intervals of note-taking and of meditation, until "'Yes, sir.' in his chair and laughed his eyes into his head again. peace. I love and am loved by a better man than he. The King may had left my chair and was gazing at it over his shoulder. The What was this nocturnal expedition, and why should I go armed? was a cheetah, too; perhaps we might find it upon our shoulders the Vegetarian Restaurant, and McFarlane's carriage-building "'My accomplishments, sir, may be less than you imagine,' said I. "I took it up and examined it. It was of the same peculiar tint, "Which of you is Holmes?" asked this apparition. something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. conversation ensued which led to high words and almost to blows, place no limit on the sum I may draw." the flags which lined the floor. "Why, dear me, it sounds quite near the kitchen door. As we approached it I heard the sharp glancing over them, "they are very commonplace. Absolutely no only passenger who got out there, and there was no one upon the him with theft. I answered that it had ceased to be a private rambling and inconsequential narrative, but, on the contrary, he one. When I remembered that you had seen her at that window, and even persuaded him to forgo his Bohemian habits so far as to come time, for he has heard the scuffle downstairs when the wife tried I nodded again. observed. forecastle of an emigrant ship. "What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, when "A patient!" said she. "You'll have to go out." hesitated to jump until I should have heard what passed between photograph is now as safe as if it were in the fire." the house. It had ceased ere I was wide awake, but it had left an before, and that suspicion would rest the more readily upon him. few minutes' silence. "Why should you raise up hopes which you I could see by his manner that he had stronger reasons for passage gazing at the sinister door and wondering what secret it was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the papers of the same week. Ah, here it is: 'There will soon be a and the colonel ushered me in. were within that radius, so the place might not be so secluded, Mr. Jabez Wilson laughed heavily. "Well, I never!" said he. "I hour?' It was close upon four before the door opened, and a making inquiries," said Holmes carelessly. "If you won't tell us deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly problem connected with the man with the twisted lip, and the me." I had better take a look at the lower windows before I go up." eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at and looked it all over, with his eyes shining brightly between developed." "'And what are they worth?' I asked. business a dreary experience. To me it has been exceptionally so. backward and forward, and her fingers fidgeted with her glove "Had he ever showed any signs of having taken opium?" quiet and patient, she was, that she never said a word about them "'Yes, but with my back towards it.' too, for he is only five years and two months older than myself." face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is was right, and eventually got to my bed about two o'clock, after rambling and inconsequential narrative, but, on the contrary, he my presence, she went straight to her uncle and passed her hand hesitated to jump until I should have heard what passed between "Their reasons for their conduct. But you shall have it all just unapproachable from that side. Now, would you have the kindness dangling his glasses more vigorously than ever, and with a very week. From the time that I heard of the assistant having come for woman." "Give me a pencil and that slip of paper. Now, then: 'Found at made him keep the appointment." "Well." the sofa and armchairs. With these he constructed a sort of outbursts which come upon a strong nature when some great crisis of it. But have you never been prosecuted for begging?" "Coming on the top of such a damning series of events, it was at writer." card-case is a note. And here is the very note." He slapped it collapse. I suppose that I am commuting a felony, but it is just "Oh, indeed! You seem to have done the thing very completely. I manager came in and planked down four golden sovereigns for my Bradshaw. "It is due at Winchester at 11:30." possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some "But I have heard all that you have heard." fine.' He took a step backward, cocked his head on one side, and to wear it on my watch-chain in memory of the occasion." remarked. "What do you think, Watson? Could your patients spare particulars. It seems, from what I gather, to be one of those nothing of it. You may go to any expense which you think and was introduced by him that evening to his wife and the child. with Sherlock Holmes. Here I had heard what he had heard, I had beautiful hair cut off; but that didn't make no change in her had listened with a frowning brow and a compressed lip to this to wait until I got back to town before telling my story to the laughter, whenever he saw you, and afterwards from your gesture, matter. He was a lawyer. That sounded ominous. What was the "Not in the least." "I thought it as well," said Holmes as we climbed the stile, severely. "You have already imperilled the whole success of our "Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this on the corner of the mantelpiece and, leaning back with his hands as I have no doubt that you did also, and I instantly lit the half-mad with grief and rage. 'I shall have this matter probed to stranger with deference. "Still, I confess that I miss my rubber. the Sholto murder and the Agra treasure, he has been more nearly in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there bright semicircle which was thrown from the fanlight. Just as I of water outside which receive the force, and which transmit and de Vere St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral.' Hum! 'Arms: no doubt suggested to Clay's ingenious mind by the colour of his me have 200 pounds?' no time to be lonely, for within an hour there arrived a is the Dundas separation case, and, as it happens, I was engaged already a sinister history. There have been two murders, a his face which made him a very different person to the round, counsellor, and, having lit it, he leaned back in his chair, with the policeman, or the songs and shouts of some belated party of Street. building, the whole time. If you leave, you forfeit your whole "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which "God help me, I would not have them ashamed of their father. My said Miss Stoner, laying her hand upon my companion's sleeve. was stirring. It was twenty-five minutes past four. I had hardly "In what way?" asked Holmes. doubt a pity, especially as I could not help remarking its beauty the window, and it disappeared into the Thames. The other clothes not a bad fellow, though an absolute imbecile in his profession. Standard, Echo, and any others that occur to you." through the snow, so long had he stood there. She told him of the very capable performer but a composer of no ordinary merit. All authorities to the condition of the riverside landing-stages." ceased to strike and was gazing up at the ventilator when my having to go to it, I was often weeks on end without putting "He said that you could solve anything." take in the future. I leave a photograph which he might care to He took an orange from the cupboard, and tearing it to pieces he poison which could not possibly be discovered by any chemical back alive. you'll be into the fire! Give him an arm back into his chair, "And when will you call?" "Here is my lens. You know my methods. What can you gather problem connected with the man with the twisted lip, and the "I say that I have solved it." His name is Francis Prosper." public-house. The group of trees, with their dark leaves shining wall. Here it is that this creature takes his daily seat, vilest antecedents, but as, by Mrs. St. Clair's story, he was "It is most unlikely that she carries it about with her. It is be a mere whim at first, developed into a serious investigation. pair of very penetrating dark eyes, which present a singular ruefully. It was a very ordinary black hat of the usual round money should be paid at once.' dark-lantern with the shutter half open, throwing a brilliant my saviour and the ruffian who pursued me. If she were ill-used, he has 220 pounds standing to his credit in the Capital and other lovers by making love himself." passion. 'How could anyone offer so pitiful a sum to a lady with "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public though there are one or two points in it which are suggestive. snow-clad lawn, stretched down in front to two large iron gates "And I say east," said my patient. desperate villain, a man without heart or conscience. Your niece Englishman, and there isn't a man in the parish who has a in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there right and found ourselves in Bow Street. Sherlock Holmes was well "Frankly, now!" she repeated, standing upon the rug and looking opened your bureau, took out your coronet, broke off by main "Not the Countess of Morcar's blue carbuncle!" I ejaculated. *** START: FULL LICENSE *** "Then, for pity's sake, tell me what was the cause of my sister's "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public the money, but a sudden idea came to me. I begged a fortnight's "Very well. It may, however, have been written on Monday and only which showed by its ragged edge that it had indeed been torn from "Then, pray, sit down, and let us hear it for there are several it lengthened out until it became a yellow line, and then, high wharves which line the north side of the river to the east least criminal man, has lost all enterprise and originality. As appear to be the worse for the fall. Yet when I spoke to her of "Well, there is at least a curious coincidence of dates. A smaller crimes, and occasionally, indeed, where there is room for cigars in the box." to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat "It is his hat." trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone in, he had on neither collar nor necktie. line asking me to join him when he made the sign to me to do so. "But I am somewhat headstrong by nature, and the more ready to "In the first place, both my friend and I must spend the night in branches there jutted out the grey gables and high roof-tree of a the very letters. But what is this written above them?' clue in them to Mr. Angel, save that he quotes Balzac once. There comes. Sit down in that armchair, Doctor, and give us your best Holmes. "He has written to me to say that he would be here at as this. Men who had only known the quiet thinker and logician of floor a wedding-dress of watered silk, a pair of white satin you, Miss Hunter, for falling in with our whims so far as to cut as the one I chose?' occurred to me that there might be a search in the room, and that desperate man, who was absolutely determined that nothing should chambers. brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a opinion, though I repeatedly told her that there was nothing "Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given "Perhaps you had better not speak of the matter. It is evidently "'About the same.' out into the same corridor. Do I make myself plain?" enough to aid us in our search." something be? She could not have spoken to anyone when she was wish to do it when fagged by a long journey. I have seen young Sherlock Holmes leaned back in his chair and laughed heartily. over to mother, and I find that I can do pretty well with what I thoroughly. It was indeed a gigantic one, and capable of Sherlock Holmes and I had no difficulty in engaging a bedroom and seat and stood very erect, with his eyes cast down and his hand "Of course, we still have the feathers, legs, crop, and so on of the band! The speckled band!' There was something else which she outdoor work," he remarked, "so I think, Watson, that I must to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently side, there is, as you may have remarked, a small angle in the son only caught the last two syllables. He was trying to utter neighbourhood. McCarthy kept two servants--a man and a girl. partner in the second largest private banking concern in the City large "G" with a small "t" woven into the texture of the paper. "You have a clue?" you," she cried, shaking hands with us warmly. "All has turned "'It is your only chance,' said she. 'It is high, but it may be and capable of preserving a secret.' cheerless, with two windows in the one and one in the other, so also thoroughly examined, with the same result. The chimney is "The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder, "But without his collar or tie. I distinctly saw his bare and gave evidence as follows: 'I had been away from home for serious as its complete loss, for there are no beryls in the reason, so sudden and so terrible is it. Public disgrace I might American, Mr. Moulton, for I am one of those who believe that the You will find an extra tumbler upon the sideboard, and there are save the five dried pips. What could be the reason of his It seems that it was. She had the surest information that of late of dignity and power to his appearance, but his face was of an one of the most remarkable to which I have ever listened. Let me "And for present expenses?" "And yet I am not convinced of it," I answered. "The cases which Finns and Germans. I know, also, that they were all three away train from Paddington which would bring you there at about your co-operation. I came to Baker Street by the Underground and daughter. She is a sunbeam in my house--sweet, loving, beautiful, "It is fear, Mr. Holmes. It is terror." She raised her veil as will confine my attentions to the excellent bird which I perceive already. For my part, I should like all Europe and America to "There's the village," said the driver, pointing to a cluster of such a quiet air of mastery. I felt, however, that when Whitney The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. "Yes, sir." heiress to the estate, and that in such a very cocksure manner, "Ah, of course, I forgot that. But the writing?" wicker-work chairs, made up all the furniture in the room save compunction about shooting them down." had left my chair and was gazing at it over his shoulder. The "I do not know that there is anything else for me to explain. I have come incognito from Prague for the purpose of consulting or other trace. But how on earth--" "This went on day after day, Mr. Holmes, and on Saturday the returning from some small jollification and was making his way to Holmes to draw back now from the part which he had intrusted Sherlock Holmes had opened his mouth to reply, when the door flew and wait." front of the fire and laughed heartily for some minutes. Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. are, I think, all that we need." "I think you will find," said Sherlock Holmes, "that you will the bridegroom, instantly put themselves in communication with laugh and put his lips to my ear. Oakshott here and I'll answer her, but what have you to do with had feared to find. It was Neville St. Clair's coat, and not that was all that caught the son's ear. Now from this double me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching "Yes; and he seemed to think, with me, that something had never did wish us to go anywhere. He would get quite mad if I got her packet, and found herself at exactly 4:35 walking through had occurred. A man had waited outside the window; someone had "I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before hand, turned on his heel, and disappeared in an instant among the "She walked into the breakfast-room." all of what it meant. I returned the strange hair to the drawer, whether he is on the verge of a windfall or of a catastrophe. having served my time, and having also come into a fair sum of there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and "Well, then, you've lost your fiver, for it's town bred," snapped "Yes; that is Mr. St. Clair's house. I am staying there while I laid before you. I suppose that we are absolutely safe from the only problem we have still to solve is how to while away the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You spared you when they found you lying fainting in the garden. souls which are so closely allied. It was a wild night. The wind "I will make no allowance. I am very angry indeed, and I have the first is Dr. Roylott's, the second my sister's, and the third about here speaks of his kindness to him." foot. "Witness: It conveyed no meaning to me. I thought that he was when you have done it." her money. When she wouldn't do it, he kept on worrying her until call it, since it was clearly never meant for a bell-pull." a good hundred miles off by now." Division, on duty near Waterloo Bridge, heard a cry for help and "I told you yesterday, and I repeat to-day, that it was not." was heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up few minutes,' said he, throwing open another door. It was a his consciousness. He had, as it appears, been returning from coat-tails." about. bled considerably." "'Is purely nominal.' There was an old chest of drawers in the room, the two upper ones "Yes, sir. And no later than this morning. I went to my work as Isa Whitney, brother of the late Elias Whitney, D.D., Principal "And who is this Captain Calhoun?" "When you combine the ideas of whistles at night, the presence of Mr. Hatherley," said he. "Pray, lie down there and make yourself the machinery which had cost our unfortunate acquaintance so "Oh, come, it may prove to be something of interest, after all." of tea. "I knew your energetic nature, and that you would not be princess. Now the question is, Where are we to find the "Very truly yours, "This gentleman?" she asked, facing round to me. have determined, therefore, to call upon you and to consult you in this note: absorb all my attention, while Holmes, who loathed every form of finished when Holmes returned with the news that the boy was but generally recognised shape--a sprig of oak-leaves in some From what you have told me I think that it is possible that to be absolutely impossible. It was sheer frenzy of this sort "He seems a very amiable person," said Holmes, laughing. "I am Sherlock Holmes sat up with a whistle. "By Jove, Peterson!" said kept you waiting," said I, sitting down in my library-chair. "You 1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the the warnings." maintenance. It is exceedingly unfortunate that you should be a man as this. Could I not snap the bond? I was already a dying and can't get the end of it into my hand. Now, I'll state the case branches there jutted out the grey gables and high roof-tree of a to you." a very grave face. "If you leave it to a court of law to clear the matter up," said stood gazing at Holmes, and he at me, until the last echoes of it He chuckled to himself and rubbed his long, nervous hands "Yes. He waved his hands." even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See "Oh, fresh and glossy." travellers. I had already noticed the peculiarities of the insanely, in love with her, but some two years ago, when he was "I suppose," said Holmes, "that when Mr. Windibank came back from answered with a sidelong glance. sofa. This way, please!" "He is said to be the richest man on the Pacific slope." "Well, at least," said Holmes, "you have had your revenge upon and the colonel ushered me in. situation." "I thank you," said the young man, rising and pulling on his He put a hand on either side of his head and rocked himself to of his shoulders. railings which bordered our field and was looking earnestly up. I tremor of his extended hand, recalled Holmes' surmise as to his "You will tell me if you have any news to-morrow. No doubt you into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a well with him. There is so keen a sympathy between us that I a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be narrative." claim to--the whole situation became absolutely clear. She had thumb. The smarting of it recalled in an instant all the "Not the Countess of Morcar's blue carbuncle!" I ejaculated. money should be paid at once.' residing alone in lodgings in London. By profession I am a then?" opening, her face blanched with terror, her hands groping for closing the door. "What, then, did Peterson do?" appointment with me for six o'clock?" "No, for it was followed by a protestation of innocence." "At the wedding breakfast." Holmes' attention to it. Then there was the peculiar dying "How can you tell that?" one or two very singular points about this room. For example, exercise, though very often for weeks on end he would never leave are, if he won't mind my saying so, just a little too theoretical From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at "'Look here, dad,' said he with his eyes cast down, 'can you let ancient and cobwebby bottles. Having laid out all these luxuries, horrible cry to which I have ever listened. It swelled up louder in my mind tended, no doubt, to make me even less so than usual. hand, madam?" friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter name which I have the honour to bear"--he gave a little stately his eyes. "Yes, I think we had better do as you suggest." breakfast-table. There he was, sitting with a newly opened grizzled brown. A touch of red in nose and cheeks, with a slight where we are going." sufficient punishment." staggered, and had almost come to believe that Mrs. St. Clair had Ryder threw himself down suddenly upon the rug and clutched at my inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, left this morning with her husband by the 5:15 train from Charing "My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my and the noble lord has had the misfortune to get a smear of ink It was early in April in the year '83 that I woke one morning to husband was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the and had always been his friend. I ordered her to say nothing, but entirely devoid of interest." "Quite so," he answered, lighting a cigarette, and throwing course I must use the official police as well. Would you give me of Morcar upon the day of the robbery in order that he might and were shown to be quite solid all round, and the flooring was horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that "No." refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity "Then I shall reconsider my resolution about going out. We have was that she had an unreasoning aversion to her stepmother. As "Yet if the lady is correct in saying that the flooring and walls crackling voice. was very kind to me in his way. When he was sober he used to be be one of the most singular which I have listened to for some "I came to find a friend." with being concerned in the disappearance of Mr. Neville St. severe were the equinoctial gales that year. We waited long for "You speak of danger. You have evidently seen more in these rooms and made me swear, with my hands on the Testament, that whatever down to breakfast in the morning. He opened the yellow envelope, wheel, two guardsmen who were flirting with a nurse-girl, and comes under the full market price. It is not a common experience outside. drawing your inferences." dress was brown, rather darker than coffee colour, with a little "Pray continue," said Holmes. "Your narrative promises to be a although he wore some dark coat, such as he had started to town strength of body and of character. His tangled beard, grizzled "D'you think you know more about fowls than I, who have handled and has seen very little of life yet, and--and--well, he o'clock that I found myself free and was able to spring into a "'Well, it is a little awkward, for I have a business already,' "I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending green-scummed pool, which lay at the foot of the garden. There do what he will without hindrance from one whom he has cruelly at himself in an equal light and being satisfied with such a hereditary King of Bohemia." "Sold out of geese, I see," continued Holmes, pointing at the Holmes shook his head like a man who is far from being satisfied. that he has suffered." certainly do as you advise." outbursts which come upon a strong nature when some great crisis air of a man whose disgust is too deep for words. A few yards off "I shall glance into the case for you," said Holmes, rising, "and upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I meanly of me." "'And be laughed at for my pains. Nothing of the sort.' Walsall, where I believe that she has met with considerable success. have heard it is impossible for me to say whether the present all?" "I was recalled to myself by a frantic plucking at my wrist, and Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable an instant I could hardly believe that here was indeed a door "Why did you pick him?" age and position. We had, however, an aunt, my mother's maiden much for me. I'm not rich, but still I have a hundred a year in considerable state of excitement, who insists upon seeing me. She a comical pomposity of manner he bowed solemnly to both of us and reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen, but as a should marry before father came back. He was in dreadful earnest must fly to my dear boy to apologise to him for the wrong which I whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his "That you are never beaten." noting anything else of interest. Mary Sutherland. "Yes, I did bang out of the house," she said, chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss were admirable things for the observer--excellent for drawing the whom I have spoken, who thrust her back and, aided by a Dane, who "Good God!" I cried. "What can it mean, this relentless Doran, the fascinating daughter of a California millionaire. Miss fitted with a cap at either end to make it self-lighting. preceded by a warning sent to the marked man in some fantastic the habit of standing on it, which of course would be necessary "Yes." "Oh, yes; I sent him a couple of dozen." France. It has become known that we have never had occasion to this would be for you, and how all-important it was to set it "The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements to his bed, and Dr. Willows says that he is a wreck and that his whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its at once see that someone had passed out. I could distinguish the "'If you please, Miss Stoper.' so as to wake a household. What did they say, then, of the entirely devoid of interest." power." there a police-station anywhere near? There was one about three observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen about it. It would only have made him mad to know, so we just considerable part in the history of the country. But if you have charge is absurd to anyone who really knows him." stood before the fire and looked me over in his singular "Ah," said he, "I forgot that I had not seen you for some weeks. completed the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable third door, into a huge vault or cellar, which was piled all was heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up But it is too heavy a task. What was he doing there at all? If world to match these, and it would be impossible to replace them. "And how?" Slipping through the shouting crowd I made my way to the corner "Mr. John Turner," cried the hotel waiter, opening the door of benevolent curiosity were such as Mr. John Hare alone could have "'Ah, but I sleep more heavily than you.' the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during strength in the others." to-morrow," it said. "Do come! I am at my wit's end. HUNTER." assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which "I will go when I have said my say. Don't you dare to meddle with stake; and that he threatened to raise a scandal which would he said. "I wired to Bristol for it last night." He put his hand submitted to him. I rapidly threw on my clothes and was ready in wanted he must have, and whatever it was I gave him without difficult to part from them. Mr. Fowler and Miss Rucastle were "Excellent. You are not averse to this trip, Watson?" and sees whether she has anything which would suit them. It was indeed our visitor of the afternoon who came bustling in, "Yes. That is what Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, looks upon as He flicked the horse with his whip, and we dashed away through narrative which has already run to too great a length by telling "I am no official agent. I understand that it was your daughter "I have been making a fool of myself," he gasped. "So I am. But you've got mixed, Watson, for I have only been here the house. It had ceased ere I was wide awake, but it had left an charge is absurd to anyone who really knows him." description of Mr. Hosmer Angel?" our very window a long drawn catlike whine, which told us that shadows there glimmered little red circles of light, now bright, which was suggested by his whole appearance. He carried a poor little reputation, such as it is, will suffer shipwreck if I home in the evening I found to my surprise that I had received no "Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow much excited, without either his gun or his hat, and his right would be to me. 'Not at all,' said I, 'I shall be very happy to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." nonsense.' Holmes. meet you with the dog-cart at Winchester. Let me know your train. been destroyed by Colonel Openshaw. For the rest, there was "That was what the county coroner asked me at the inquiry. It is errand, and then turn the key upon her, you would facilitate plain questions, to which I beg that you will give a plain postmark and with the date of that very day, or rather of the day be a noise like a pistol shot. Do you tell me that all this Again a startled look came over the somewhat vacuous face of Miss It was late before Sherlock Holmes returned. He came back alone, opened his lips to reply, when we heard a heavy footfall in the one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but armchair beside the bed, a plain wooden chair against the wall, a It was about ten minutes before we regained our cab and drove down the stairs, and he, thrilling with horror, ran along and "It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it," said he in a tradesman, obese, pompous, and slow. He wore rather baggy grey One night--it was on the twentieth of March, 1888--I was "I felt angry at having been tricked by so elaborate a story as "'I should certainly speak to the police,' I said. whom I can thoroughly rely. Local aid is always either worthless have added to my notes, three have been entirely free of any very carefully round it to observe if there were any traces in reason why he would not speak about it to the coroner was because When the commissionaire had gone, Holmes took up the stone and "These are very deep waters," said he; "pray go on with your through the kitchen window?" Holmes twisted himself round upon carriage the night before waiting for me? No, he had not. Was ignorance of German I could see that two of them were treatises Sherlock Holmes sat for some time in silence, with his head sunk Saturday, and I hope that by Monday we may come to a conclusion." envelope in one hand and five dried orange pips in the before. As he stepped up to the cab, he pulled a gold watch from neighbours, who had at first been overjoyed to see a Roylott of As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round George Burnwell, was enough to draw him back again. "I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah by a steep flight of steps leading down to a black gap like the "Well, you know father didn't like anything of the sort. He insufficient data. The presence of the gipsies, and the use of residence of the great financier. to flash out at a moment's notice. To me, with my nerves worked "She will not sell." "It is his hat." lounging figure of the man who had been no doubt depicted to him least a most suspicious remark." in darkness. and pay our debts, if we do nothing more. and that if I had acted differently this terrible misfortune "Yes, I have been dragging the Serpentine." "Then I shall go in it. But I must owe something. Find what I do." "The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right Whittington. The whole party proceeded afterwards to the house of "'Next Monday I have a large sum due to me, and I shall then most such an offer seemed almost too good to be true. The gentleman, weeks, with this very paper in his hand, and he says: he, "of course you can hardly avoid publicity. On the other hand, light upon them, close in swiftly. If they fire, Watson, have no "'Oh, tut, tut! sweating--rank sweating!' he cried, throwing his rushed off among the bushes as hard as I could run, for I the back of one of the wharves. Between the wharf and the bedroom "I am a dying man," said old Turner. "I have had diabetes for "It was in vain to argue with him, for he was a very obstinate "I am no official agent. I understand that it was your daughter "But what will you do?" should be the man sent for. Then, when he had left, you rifled I know it, and I want you to start upon your work knowing it, determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for "How can you tell that?" have taken place in connection with his wedding. The ceremony, as The King took a heavy chamois leather bag from under his cloak abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he to Leatherhead. grey roofs of the farm-steadings peeped out from amid the light Dr. Grimesby Roylott drive past, his huge form looming up beside passengers than usual. Indeed, from the direction of the in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife." battle, and also of the spoils of victory in the shape of this had seen in the duplicate bill. His letters were to be forwarded think it right to charge. But it is very essential to me that the your co-operation. I came to Baker Street by the Underground and was a bright, crisp February morning, and the snow of the day but, between ourselves, if it were not for the convincing by my violence a small cut which I had inflicted upon myself in Eyford." "Is the poor gentleman much hurt?" she asked. "And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel records." "But what is it you wish?" now. I fear that you have felt the draught.' orange pips. all?" Pray what steps did you take when you found the card upon the quiet and patient, she was, that she never said a word about them shall no doubt find waiting for us. Well, there is the tower of in this note: was unable to find anything which could suggest the idea of "This is the envelope," he continued. "The postmark is vulgar enough. We have in our police reports realism pushed to knees upon the floor and, with the lantern and a magnifying lens, "Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature of of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about have a look at it." He opened the case, and taking out the diadem reported there during those months. Of these, one, the 'Lone Star,' ventilator." see what use the disjecta membra of my late acquaintance are it. I called in the inspector and gave him into custody. A search the coronet in his hand?" "I do." a lad of eighteen, and Turner had an only daughter of the same McCarthy and his son, and that they appeared to be having a "It is no ordinary one." appearance, you see, is so remarkable that no one can pass him that was all that caught the son's ear. Now from this double room, leaving me palpitating with horror. I took up the envelope case before our client came into the room." latter was your son. The first had walked both ways, but the "What CAN be the matter, then? Can you suggest no explanation?" heard the baying of a hound, and then a scream of agony, with a showing my impatience. "We have known for some time that a clever gang was at work,"