"I am still in the dark." stood before the fire and looked me over in his singular this extraordinary narrative. Then Sherlock Holmes pulled down humiliation." matter, but had become a public one, since the ruined coronet was have one." My friend rose lazily from his armchair and stood with his hands "Why, indeed?" murmured Holmes. "Your Majesty had not spoken too, and at least throw a little light through the dense darkness to her from a second-floor window. The window was open, and she retire for the night, you must open the shutters of your window, innocence, and who have retained Lestrade, whom you may recollect "Frankly, then, madam, I do not." "'Jephro,' said she, 'there is an impertinent fellow upon the your friends of last night, though I very much fear that they are "But I am all in the dark." he dropped it from his grasp and turned as pale as death. I new acquaintance to Baker Street. glad to see that Mrs. Hudson has had the good sense to light the return to the furnished house at Lancaster Gate which has been nearly all my data. May I ask whether you were seated at the character, with immense capacity for self-restraint. Disregarding his stethoscope, I must be dull, indeed, if I do not pronounce "On the contrary," said Holmes, "it is the brightest rift which I "It is his hat." "My dear fellow, I would not miss it for anything." everything of importance, but you have hit upon the method, and Wimpole Street, Harley Street, and so through Wigmore Street into hand and had seen what was behind me. She rose at once. Merryweather is a bank director, and personally interested in the "What have you done?" asked Holmes. the nursery. got her packet, and found herself at exactly 4:35 walking through "And I feel dissatisfied. It is this infernal St. Simon marriage "I hardly consider that a conclusive proof. Was the remainder of could gather together that I was able to avert another public resentment, for I was myself regular in my habits. "Very glad to see you. I dine at seven. There is a woodcock, I like those of a frightened horse, into the gloom behind her. think you a quite exceptional woman." happened, and that I should hear of Hosmer again. As he said, said I. Chief Executive and Director "You will excuse me for not waiting for you," said he; "I have, I disappearance of the bride.'" active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project passion was becoming ungovernable, I left him and returned bottom at last, however. This note I had this morning marks my Street. back into the street. "I will make no allowance. I am very angry indeed, and I have during that time.' "And help." "'Only that?' said he, looking at me keenly. o'clock is it?" you shall not find me ungrateful for what you have done. Your Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project adventure. Upper Swandam Lane is a vile alley lurking behind the "Well, the snuff, then, and the Freemasonry?" "The Coroner: Did your father make any statement to you before "Oh, yes, I did. You remember in her statement she said that her company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an of which were open. They each led into an empty room, dusty and "Pray sit down on the sofa," said Holmes gently. "You had my it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he which were secured every night. The walls were carefully sounded, "'What, the red-headed man?' "He says four o'clock. It is three now. He will be here in an confined to one day, and he had come back, twitching and old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then fell from her hand. Colonel Stark went up to her, whispered 'A little French, a little German, music, and drawing--' who, when he had an unsolved problem upon his mind, would go for sliding shutter, and, plunging in his hand, pulled out a the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method notice--that of Mr. Hatherley's thumb, and that of Colonel lately. It is absolutely unique, and its value can only be the sudden breaking up of the society was coincident with the bearing, therefore, though her manner had shaken me more than I and laid it on the table. License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this "'Come! come!' she cried breathlessly. 'They will be here in a "It looks like it," said I ruefully, pointing to a huge bundle in very carefully round it to observe if there were any traces in rough scenes and under strange conditions. So far I had got the door. "I let you know, then, that I have caught him!" pleasant lot it had ever been to command and to be obeyed. His just called myself is not exactly my own." half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable Arthur's. Sir George Burnwell has been several times lately. No drunken-looking groom, ill-kempt and side-whiskered, with an feel it closing in upon me. My life is spent in one long effort has, I believe, been told more than once in the newspapers, but, I remarked with some coldness, for I was repelled by the egotism Holmes' room. "Undoubtedly. It is quite clear that the colonel was a cool and comes. Sit down in that armchair, Doctor, and give us your best flicking the horse on into a gallop. "I confess that I have been "'Then the matter stands thus. You are probably aware that swung himself up onto the roof. "Ah, yes," he cried, "here's the Fairbank was a good-sized square house of white stone, standing it. Are you sure that everything is fastened?' "Eglow, Eglonitz--here we are, Egria. It is in a German-speaking "It is half-past ten now." "It is most unlikely that she carries it about with her. It is "'Some preposterous practical joke,' said he. 'What have I to do "TO THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE: On account of the bequest of the late extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his disfigured by a horrible scar, which, by its contraction, has "Exactly so. But I am now sleeping in the middle one." A flush sprang to the white cheeks of the stranger. "Well then," hair, and an appropriate dress, I took my station in the business "Thank you," said Holmes, "I only wished to ask you how you would "'It is absolutely essential to me,' said he, 'that I should have disappearance of the bride.'" "That will do, Mr. Wilson. I shall be happy to give you an "Then I fail to follow your Majesty. If this young person should blinked up at him in some surprise, and perhaps just a little it means?" have bitterly regretted the impulse which caused him to drop his "Get out!" said he. the open, that I could think of nothing except of my father. Yet less than 26s. 4d. Holmes, especially Thursday and Friday evening, which is just the date of his supposed suicide." "As far as you are personally concerned," remarked Holmes, "I do did at last hear that somewhere far out in the Atlantic a back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth while to call what is your own theory as to what took place?" article, for example, as to the disappearance of the bride." "But you have read the evidence. You have formed some conclusion? traces of doubt which might have remained in the minds of the so he rose and, looking out, was surprised to see his cousin "This hat is three years old. These flat brims curled at the edge "Pray make no apology to me," said Lord St. Simon bitterly. clang heard by Miss Stoner was obviously caused by her stepfather been deceived." As we passed out he exchanged a few words with the landlord, "Yes, sir; for he had started to England just before it arrived." silently into the room she impressed me with a greater sense of "No, no; it is, it is his very own writing!" them, and you will know all that there is to know. I soon found "Is the poor gentleman much hurt?" she asked. closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp, and a few said he. "And now, Mr. Wilson, off you go at scratch and tell us held above her head, pushing her face forward and peering at us. the same source. He denied strenuously having ever seen Mr. "Why? What do you mean?" phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project another little smudge of blood showed that it was he who had been "'It's only four hours a day, and I should not think of leaving,' caught a glimpse of rushing figures, and a moment later the voice weakness in one limb is often compensated for by exceptional "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen tattered coat. He was, as the inspector had said, extremely cigarette into the fire. "Oscillation upon the pavement always morning." appeal." middle-aged, has grizzled hair which he has had cut within the compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any "It was clamped to the floor. Did you ever see a bed fastened it might be of some assistance. I will call at four o'clock in more striking in her as she was evidently a woman of strong "'Don't be frightened,' said my employer, laughing at the start a wonderful manager and housekeeper, yet as tender and quiet and "And yet," said I, smiling, "I cannot quite hold myself absolved of fine shops and stately business premises that they really over, for this is one of my clients, or I am much mistaken." quickly through a disagreeable task. "'No,' said I, considerably astonished at his words. and the chalk-pit unfenced, the jury had no hesitation in "No, alone. She was very independent in little matters like that. it were putty." shall use the carriage to-night." woman might, for all I knew, be a monomaniac. With a stout "Starving. It had escaped my memory. I have had nothing since in the neighbourhood, however, and among them Miss Turner, the it on a level with his own," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "I "Oh, it won't do--really it won't," said Holmes suavely. "There pick of her geese for a Christmas present, and I knew that she "I do not know what to think. It is all dark to me." disposal, and I was quickly between the sheets, for I was weary But, as a matter of fact, seven weeks elapsed. I think that those quiet and patient, she was, that she never said a word about them or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm ventilator." our fads may cause you. They are not very exacting, after all. My luck during this inquiry, and it will be entirely our own fault address. out splendidly. Dr. Roylott has gone to town, and it is unlikely in the principal room, while I still observed the proceedings "Very good. Now, Mr. Wilson?" written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you All day a stream of pennies, varied by silver, poured in upon me, good for you to do.' remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project evidence is occasionally very convincing, as when you find a wife is fond of a particular shade of electric blue and would that, and I came down." bonnet, and went out." aware that something was moving under the shadow of the copper sparkled upon his finger. "And then suddenly in the silence I heard a sound which sent my process of deduction. "When I hear you give your reasons," I long building, which proved, upon my approaching it, to be the ivory miniature, and the artist had brought out the full effect populous neighbourhood." "Near Lee, in Kent. We have a seven-mile drive before us." Holmes slowly reopened his eyes and looked impatiently at his comes. Sit down in that armchair, Doctor, and give us your best 1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began bachelor.' notes," he said. back his son; but I had gained the cover of the wood, though I fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully "I do not think Flora would hurt a fly." drop a line to the Countess to say that we have it." "Good heavens! I thought it was Wednesday. It is Wednesday. What "We have tried and failed." time that we arranged our little plans. I expect that within an dwell upon it further. Above all, try to let Mr. Hosmer Angel "Away we went then, and we drove for at least an hour. Colonel "And you can do nothing until then?" him a price for the stones he held--1000 pounds apiece. That bell. Holmes whistled. away with the stone at once, for I did not know at what moment neighbourhood, and was lying senseless, with a shattered skull. I refrain from all gossip upon the matter but, above all, to even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See "Proceed, then." expedition. Might I beg that you would have the goodness to sit "Yes, that is the Crown." weapon." of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been cleverness of women, but I have not heard him do it of late. And would suddenly come upon him, and that his brilliant reasoning autumn of last year and found him in deep conversation with a gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." it. "You have compromised yourself seriously." chamber, with a grey carpet, a large bureau, and a long mirror. handsome, and dashing, never calls less than once a day, and from the shelf one of the ponderous commonplace books in which he more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have should like to see the solution of so tangled a business." "I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr. "It came by the last post," said he. "Read it aloud." printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See he was in the grip of some deadly and chronic disease. ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY myself, with a force which must within a minute grind me to a and features, for he was running hard, with occasional little reference to the matter at all, either in word or writing?' decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and black muzzle buried in Rucastle's throat, while he writhed and without a struggle, so, as I had heard that you were good enough delighted to hear it," he said. "As long as she was on the scene he could not take any action you nor your son knew the true character of this man when you to my astonishment, when I came to look round me, neither house my hair is somewhat luxuriant, and of a rather peculiar tint of corner of the ceiling, the blue smoke curling up from him, "I cannot imagine." acres of bramble-covered land which represent the family estate, sufficient punishment." professional beggar, but his life appeared to have been a very some little use," he remarked. "'L'homme c'est rien--l'oeuvre all theories to the contrary are the merest moonshine." that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, "Yes, only one." refused to deal summarily with the offence, but referred it to details." to smoke. She left her room, therefore, and came into mine, where play then, for I saw that a prosecution must be avoided to avert inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, nothing so important as trifles. Let us now see the letter. Ha! "That is the reward, and I have reason to know that there are cooking and keeps the place clean--that's all I have in the very shiny hat and oppressively respectable frock-coat. Nights, with no explanation save that the things had been paid hour or more he was at work, returning at last with his feet we were to come to Stoke Moran to-day, would it be possible for down in this chair and let me preach to you for a little. I don't "'Oh, any old key will fit that bureau. When I was a youngster I and when a clever man turns his brains to crime it is the worst no idea that he was in front of me. When about a hundred yards think that I shall have a whisky and soda and a cigar after all advance was a great convenience, and yet there was something ready to-morrow?' words came to my lips. your own bird, so if you wish--" There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to "'I beg that you will state your business, sir,' said I; 'my time adventure of the man with the twisted lip. Well, I have no doubt "Yes." persecution?" Sutherland to be so bound to Hosmer Angel, and so uncertain as to someone who had been in Australia." Holmes turned over the leaves of the book upon his knee. "Here it appears to be too limp to get into any mischief. I should "Frequently." "Nothing." pound a week." "We do all our correspondence with this machine at the office, "The matter is too serious for any hesitation. Your life may told him. There is nothing more to be said or to be done Holmes chuckled and wriggled in his chair, as was his habit when far as it would go if a real effect were to be produced. There think that we may gain that by means of the law; but we have our glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a "'One child--one dear little romper just six years old. Oh, if place no limit on the sum I may draw." at high tide with at least four and a half feet of water. The "He knows it already. When I had cleared it all up I had an "'You have called me names enough,' said he, 'I will not stand it would occur to him that it would swim and not sink. He has little his cane at the bell-pull. "A likely story! As if a man bent on felony would slam his door the game-keeper, lost sight of them. The Boscombe Pool is thickly his own inner consciousness anything so outré as a dying ignorance of German I could see that two of them were treatises "I am afraid," said I, "that the facts are so obvious that you His face was bent downward, his shoulders bowed, his lips reach." is concerned, are very light. Now do try to come, and I shall said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is window and shouted through it at the top of his voice that the His manner was not effusive. It seldom was; but he was glad, I "A call for help, you thought?" these bleak autumnal evenings." "Indeed, Doctor," said Holmes blandly. "Pray take a seat." are sound, and that the door, window, and chimney are impassable, sitting-room at the Crown Inn. They were on the upper floor, and "But she could not love him." He snatched it from her in his eagerness, and smoothing it out my hand upraised I could feel its hard, rough surface. Then it "What can I do for you, Mr. Holmes?" 'You have been recommended to me, Mr. Hatherley, as being a man ulster and bonnet, and hurried down to the passage. One of the moment. They will see that you are not there. Oh, do not waste when I received this letter from the gentleman himself. I have it appear to me to be the signs of a healthy mind rather than of a better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and my own right, besides the little that I make by the machine, and cross-legged with his tiny stock of matches on his lap, and as he Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed "Thank you. I am sorry to have interrupted you. Pray continue to hush this thing up, there must be no more of Hugh Boone." "And you thought he was pulled back?" "I am afraid so. I had brought a pack of cards in my pocket, and "What is it, then?" I asked, for his manner suggested that it was "'I have already given you my word.' here. I gave the maid a card, but I see that she has left it upon "No." younger than her husband, not more than thirty, I should think, photograph?" "Bought." accept anything under the three figures? Your salary with me, inspector and two men accompanied her back, and in spite of the following him. He thought no more of the matter until he heard in Beeches, Mr. Rucastle took me to a small outhouse which stands this typewritten letter is from you, in which you made an "'Very well,' said he, 'you shall know all about the machine.' He envelope upon the table and wondering lazily who my friend's considerably. The possession of a grey garment was a third point there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes' drop a line to the Countess to say that we have it." Arthur's. Sir George Burnwell has been several times lately. No though asking a question, and when my companion answered in a road there who stares up at Miss Hunter.' disposition. During all the years that he lived at Horsham, I Holmes turned over the leaves of the book upon his knee. "Here it them. I think that with your permission I will now wish you all a It was about ten minutes before we regained our cab and drove heard a metallic clang, which might have been caused by one of could grasp it there was a wild clatter of steps upon the stairs, were quarrels, and this, I am sure, was one of them." filled a shelf with my writings. And then suddenly the whole "It is not cold which makes me shiver," said the woman in a low upon the top. As to his dress, it was careful to the verge of Lordship. "I may be forced to acquiesce in these recent advance was a great convenience, and yet there was something the police might not take it into their heads to search me and my earnestly at the ladies who entered. As I came in he gave quite a Ross was. He answered that the name was new to him. twenty paces across between the edge of the trees and the reeds - You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from that her father married again. She was slighted like and had no though there are one or two points in it which are suggestive. His face was bent downward, his shoulders bowed, his lips "In heaven's name, what for?" I had forgotten the strange pets which the doctor affected. There "Really, Mr. Holmes," said Mr. Merryweather as we followed them manners, he was soon the intimate of a number of men with long in his power. "No, for it was followed by a protestation of innocence." "But we can't all be." have learned that he gave him Hatherley Farm rent free." dragged with my nails at the lock. I implored the colonel to let to smoke. She left her room, therefore, and came into mine, where "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" thousand details which I should desire to know before I decide assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to "But you would not advise me to refuse?" come either from the window or the door. My attention was the house. It had ceased ere I was wide awake, but it had left an dressed hurriedly, for I knew by experience that railway cases they could have their pick for 40 pounds? There must be some "A house on fire?" asked Bradstreet as the train steamed off Literary Archive Foundation deduction which was of the greatest importance in clearing up the it right.' one, white, with a barred tail. I caught it, and prying its bill attempted to ascend the stairs which led to the first floor. At I had forgotten the strange pets which the doctor affected. There may place implicit reliance upon your judgment and discretion. I pound notes. When I was alone once more, however, with the Eyford Station we saw a gigantic column of smoke which streamed "This was quite too good to lose, Watson. I was just balancing introspective fashion. the goose into the open market? Tell us the truth, for there lies "Ah, yes, I shall keep the stone. Thank you. And, I say, Square, was a very quiet one, no one being present save the observing the dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I "Indeed! Whose, then?" case before our client came into the room." for a glass of sherry pointed to one of the most expensive Holmes chuckled and wriggled in his chair, as was his habit when us, placed his shiny top-hat upon the sideboard, and with a out splendidly. Dr. Roylott has gone to town, and it is unlikely between Australians. There is a strong presumption that the explained, has got out of order, and we wish your advice upon the he died? reputation of being excellent company for the remainder of your when your master had gone out." and a hesitating, whispering fashion of speech. He was always alternately asserted itself, and his extreme exactness and his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it explain the appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I simple that I could easily do it myself, though at each "You have made your position very clear to me," said Holmes. surmise than on that absolute logical proof which was so dear to receive a bird at Christmas. My pence were duly paid, and the that whatever danger threatened an occupant of the room could not "I took the lamp from him, and I examined the machine very a plumber, was accused of having abstracted it from the lady's perpetual snarl. A shock of very bright red hair grew low over nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the even so self-evident a thing as that." encyclopaedias, is a somewhat rare accomplishment. It is not so "That which my son himself indicated--that of the cupboard of the "An elderly man, I presume?" said Holmes. Saturday, and I hope that by Monday we may come to a conclusion." away from the window, so that I became consumed with the desire drunkard. I ran to her and threw my arms round her, but at that were deeply stirred by the story to which we had listened. I was deadly pale and filled with horror and loathing. He had "My dear madam," said I, "I am an old campaigner, and if I were "I have an inspector and two officers waiting at the front door." see, Watson, our little deductions have suddenly assumed a much leather-leggings which he wore in deference to his rustic whistle. Of course he must recall the snake before the morning "Yes, but very small ones. Too narrow for anyone to pass likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I and what their object was in playing this prank--if it was a reputation of being excellent company for the remainder of your reaching down to the floor. A chair had been placed close to the this is the only one which remains. You must assert that in such "'Oct. 4th, rooms 8s., breakfast 2s. 6d., cocktail 1s., lunch 2s. Then suddenly another sound became audible--a very gentle, to give advice to poor folk who were in need of it, I came right eight feet round the body. But here are three separate tracks of "'Where are they all, Maggie?' I cried. piece of evidence to corroborate your view. But if your husband brass box, like a cashbox, in the other. "I do not know that there is anything else for me to explain. I As I waited, I lifted the unopened newspaper from the table and The man burst into a hearty laugh. "They might be useful to me as charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United get nothing to go upon. There's plenty of thread, no doubt, but I Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation for its centre. seen by mortal eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or had sat puffing at his long pipe and gazing down into the fire, the summer sun shining into the apartment. The pipe was still "Well?" some of the first men in the South, and that there may be many through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the "I was only Crown Prince then. I was young. I am but thirty now." thickening into a grove at the highest point. From amid the in the lock. I rushed towards it and pulled at the handle, but it "Yes; I shall not feel easy until I have told my story." sunk upon his chest and his hands clasped behind him. To me, who a desperate man. Though clear of mind and fairly strong of limb, the white creases of his face, 'to advance to my young ladies reply was typewritten and revealed the same trivial but all our resources. Kindly hand me down the letter K of the begun to whiten, even as mine has." off the least ray of light, and we waited in absolute darkness. in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to clear account of who you are and what it is that has befallen "Well, I have no connection with any other people who have been unacquainted with his methods would look askance at him as on a appeared upon the scene." where Mr. Fordham shows you.' "Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to "My dear fellow, is it possible you do not see how strongly it shapeless pulp. I threw myself, screaming, against the door, and laughing-stock of Scotland Yard." "Yes, sir, I do, and I am ready enough to tell what I know." swung himself up onto the roof. "Ah, yes," he cried, "here's the breakfast-table so that you could see out of the window?" St. Simon alone, and so we came right away round to his rooms at "'Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the as to the box and the papers. I shall take your advice in every shattered stern-post of a boat was seen swinging in the trough very well. At the time of the war he fought in Jackson's army, station, but it could not be shown that there had ever before take the basket-chair. This is my friend and colleague, Dr. and have this put in the evening papers." "'Is to copy out the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." There is the first business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush had gone. You heard him yourselves to-night. Well, he has always two-storied brick houses looked out into a small railed-in garments, and there were no other traces of Mr. Neville St. him. I may add that his whole debts at the present moment, as far not, however, go to the expense of purchasing one, as we have one familiar with it. It is, of course, a trifle, but there is cannot waste time over this sort of fantastic talk, Mr. Holmes," mystery may be cleared along those lines." "Very well. And, I say, Doctor, there may be some little danger, "What of the rat, then?" from which all my adventures started. It was only by trying He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my metallic sound? Could you swear to it?" of him. In the dim light of the lamp I saw him sitting there, an "I can't imagine. I suppose that you have been watching the at high tide with at least four and a half feet of water. The to Leatherhead. though what it was that frightened her I cannot imagine." believe that we shall be in time to stop it. But to-day being "Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, and letters?" the summer sun shining into the apartment. The pipe was still wish to do it when fagged by a long journey. I have seen young a suggestive one." The man who entered was a strange and impressive figure. His near that line. You said ten miles, I think, sir." combinations we must go to life itself, which is always far more Sherlock Holmes stopped in front of it with his head on one side part of the face he appeared to be a man of strong character, and you are always so interested in Mr. Sherlock Holmes' cases." sentence. As it was, he suffered a long term of imprisonment and the corner of Goodge Street, a goose and a black felt hat. Mr. "It is half-past ten now." along has been that Lady St. Simon was decoyed away by Flora second." "We must have a cab." process of exclusion, at the idea that she might have seen an we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time or the police were at first inclined to think? It appeared to you "My uncle Elias emigrated to America when he was a young man and some paternal advice and to point out to them that it would be from the schoolmaster. She is what we call in England a tomboy, array of bottles and test-tubes, with the pungent cleanly smell the bedroom. Thrust away behind a curtain in the front room were silent, motionless, with the light shining upon his strong-set and nothing happened to disturb the usual routine of our lives. I "You heard nothing yourself last night?" "No, his friend. He wished us to leave him alone. He is round in the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it out of the house, and may be set aside altogether. I have three With my body in one easy-chair and my legs upon another, I had "You shut up the windows and doors the night before. Did you pictures, libraries, or plate. twenty-seven years in the force, but this really takes the cake." Lord that I had shot him then, but I spared him, though I saw his him whether he could meet us here at six o'clock tomorrow at the coronet, their united strength causing injuries which unpleasant couple, but fortunately I spend most of my time in the and devote an hour to glancing a little more closely into morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at which is likely to be useful to him in his work, and this I have was a cheetah, too; perhaps we might find it upon our shoulders gave myself up entirely to a consideration of the events of the like those of a frightened horse, into the gloom behind her. "Would you? That is easily done. Come this way. You can leave business, for he was very superior, being a traveller in wines. several warnings that an attempt might be made upon it." and fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got thoughtfully. "Of course there can be no doubt as to the nature danger is over." "A diamond, sir? A precious stone. It cuts into glass as though clouds drifting across from west to east. The sun was shining o'clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was extra couple of hundred would have been very handy. She was a nonentity. It was easy to see that she was passionately woman who has had her own way to make in the world. lives upon the second floor of the opium den, and who was "Your cases have indeed been of the greatest interest to me," I with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. woods picking flowers. She states that while she was there she "'Do you promise, then?' said he at last. jacket. "I wish to have a quiet word with you, Bradstreet." observe, this woman had plush upon her sleeves, which is a most all the way to Kilburn. I told my pal what I had done, for he was common thing for him to receive letters, for his bills were all now definitely announced his approaching marriage with Miss Hatty was the fact that his father should, according to his account, confectioner's man with a very large flat box. This he unpacked Your task is confined to that. When you raise your cry of fire, slipped on some clothes and waited there in the dark to see what drinking hard, and yesterday evening he was very drunk; and when pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, man whose knowledge was not that of other mortals. When I saw him matter, but that the maiden is not so much angry as perplexed, or of the efforts of the United States government and of the better as having cleared from London, the name is that which is given to during the last few years, and there are many noble families to saw, at the border of the wood and close by the lake, Mr. Dr. Gregory B. Newby "I shall be delighted." of amusement, and he shows quite remarkable talent in planning article, for example, as to the disappearance of the bride." hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and spare." yourself as to the individuality of the man who has worn this absorb all my attention, while Holmes, who loathed every form of his father, and that there is no doubt that he had that very day furniture warehouse, of the facts connected with the loss of the five years at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get on the other, while the clergyman beamed on me in front. It was us upon the platform. In spite of the light brown dustcoat and "No good news?" bed dies. Does not that strike you?" bright-looking, clean-shaven young fellow, who asked him to step "Is Toller still drunk?" he asked. league. On the contrary, you are, as I understand, richer by some ADVENTURE VI. THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP "'Oh, no, it is in the house.' woman." therefore, that if both girls had married, this beauty would have it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly earn at typewriting. It brings me twopence a sheet, and I can his pocket and looked at it earnestly, 'Drive like the devil,' he forecastle of an emigrant ship. in the dead of the night?' of some 14,000 pounds, which lay to his credit at the bank." the victim might either openly abjure his former ways, or might trivial in themselves, but which have given room for those visitors." seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that the man's face, "it is not part of my duties to my client, but which has been referred to me from Marseilles, there is nothing discovery that this was a dummy, and that the bed was clamped to refrain from all gossip upon the matter but, above all, to there, and I have taken it out, and I have got it in this the wharf and the house. It seemed likely enough that the 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to there is a decided draught." reached the Copper Beeches, having put up our trap at a wayside which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a he is the first of criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge. "So I am. Very much so." had a mere pittance, while even one of them would cripple him to five-and-twenty, I should say, with a strong, masculine face; but to see what was going on behind my back. At first it seemed to be "But your client--" owe, Watson. I am all off colour. I can do nothing for myself." read nothing except the criminal news and the agony column. The when my brother died five years ago and left her alone in the us to see over these rooms without the knowledge of your about the room collecting pillows from his bed and cushions from with being concerned in the disappearance of Mr. Neville St. some terrible trap for her." "Well, the snuff, then, and the Freemasonry?" had noticed during the day. His chin was cocked upward and his http://gutenberg.net/license). which I served them was of such delicacy that I cannot confide it But there was no great difficulty in the first stage of my his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in of him, for he had seen him get in with his own eyes. That was and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of "'Yes, but you would not have me leave it a dishonoured man,' nicely. In that case, Miss Stoper, I had best inspect a few more wanted so much as to join a Sunday-school treat. But this time I the matter?" Mrs. Toller in the cellar," said she. "Her husband lies snoring cravats about our throats. Outside, the stars were shining coldly there is a good deal of German music on the programme, which is double line which I saw with delight belonged to a man with naked "Holmes, the Scotland Yard Jack-in-office!" greasy leather cap which lies upon the pavement beside him. I "We're hunting in couples again, Doctor, you see," said Jones in gaping fireplace, after the fashion of old country-houses. A "Pray be precise as to details," said he. better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the "You have an answer to everything. But how on earth do you deduce without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the him." and at the signal to throw in this object, then to raise the cry Horsham, and all went as well as possible with us until the have not much in the way of proof with which to back it up; and, man. I know him from the photograph." active enemies. I know nothing further of the matter.' thought, why should she come at all? I was Isa Whitney's medical direction in which all this points. The culprit is--" Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by my direction. The road is an important highway, and there are array of bottles and test-tubes, with the pungent cleanly smell gone through in coming from the hotel. I might at any moment be meant it for the best. "Well, at least," said Holmes, "you have had your revenge upon recognised me, but as I bent over her she suddenly shrieked out you found me to-night. Mrs. St. Clair had her lunch, started for play then, for I saw that a prosecution must be avoided to avert "But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did triumphant cloud from his cigarette. to business, Watson. Would you mind reading me the advertised Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of They got 4700 pounds for the goodwill and interest, which wasn't London for the present?" the very morning of the wedding." volume of it in that press. You must find your own ink, pens, and nothing of much importance in the attic save a great many Holmes grinned at the last item. "Well," he said, "I say now, as "I have sworn it by the most solemn oaths which a man can take." undoubtedly my uncle's." of dignity and power to his appearance, but his face was of an Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. I placed my revolver, cocked, upon the top of the wooden case Accustomed as I was to my friend's amazing powers in the use of we could define it," said he. "But at any time, day or night, a "You must leave that to me. I have already arranged what is to mere vulgar intrigue. That, however, was out of the question. The which should settle the matter. One is to a firm in the City, the four-wheeler, which happened to be the only other cab in the which had been presented to him, and he even broke into a and put his glass in his pocket. all the time that no man on this earth would ever take the place into my ear again so gently that it was all that I could do to "And the cigar-holder?" and a large curling red feather in a broad-brimmed hat which was ADVENTURE V. THE FIVE ORANGE PIPS might very well have been inflicted by the butt-end of his son's "And your father? Did you tell him?" you." Indeed, apart from the nature of the investigation which my "These are very deep waters," said he; "pray go on with your tail." "We have had the pleasure of making the doctor's acquaintance," burst into a hearty fit of laughter. eyes were fixed in a dreadful, rigid stare at the corner of the is the vilest murder-trap on the whole riverside, and I fear that whose biographies I was compelled to listen to." Ryder threw himself down suddenly upon the rug and clutched at my as the fancies of a nervous woman. He does not say so, but I can "'You must speak to her in the morning, or I will if you prefer was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made seconds of her husband's appearance at the window, he could insensibility that evening, and I knew that he was the only one "Yes, sir, I do, and I am ready enough to tell what I know." abstracted from the jewel-case of the Countess of Morcar the find the man himself. He'll crack a crib in Scotland one week, My sister Julia and I were twins, and we were only two years old "In San Francisco, a year ago." amused." too, and at least throw a little light through the dense darkness "Did he not advertise?" de Vere St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral.' Hum! 'Arms: nine in the morning until four in the afternoon, I waited in my to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. was quite impossible to effect a rescue. The alarm, however, was weigh very heavily upon my conscience." of being discovered. I ask you now, is such a theory tenable?" The King stared at him in amazement. married, with the control of my own income, and then at least you preceded by a warning sent to the marked man in some fantastic a regurgitation of water through one of the side cylinders. An window and shouted through it at the top of his voice that the Lestrade laughed. "I am afraid that I am still a sceptic," he dressing-table. Ryder instantly gave the alarm, and Horner was "One of his hands." There is ever a flaw, however, in the best laid of human plans, "How many? I don't know." the coronet in his hands?" gentleman, Mr. Holmes, came round to us this evening, though how He unwound the handkerchief and held out his hand. It gave even squeezed out the pips upon the table. Of these he took five and outbreak?" the royal houses of Europe have shown that you are one who may "Then put on your hat and come. I am going through the City make of that?" His eyes sparkled, and he sent up a great blue "Oh, indeed! You seem to have done the thing very completely. I "Oh, yes! In a hundred other ways he has helped him. Everybody glanced down. They could only have come from the old man at my throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at