her hands with a despairing gesture, and vanished as suddenly and was the fact that his father should, according to his account, Isa Whitney, brother of the late Elias Whitney, D.D., Principal clang of the bell. go to bed again, however, so I dressed, and as soon as it was family of Colonel Spence Munro, but two months ago the colonel "My God!" I whispered; "did you see it?" "That you are never beaten." sofa, placed a pillow beneath his head, and laid a glass of dog-cart which throws up mud in that way, and then only when you "'Breckinridge, of Covent Garden.' As he spoke the door opened and a young lady entered the room. to speak to you. You can understand that, living the life which I the goose into the open market? Tell us the truth, for there lies light and attacked it." discontent upon his features. again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful "You'll see your pal again presently," said Jones. "He's quicker Leave Paddington by the 11:15." one. When I remembered that you had seen her at that window, and "It missed him, then?" "And how could you tell that they would make their attempt my friend and colleague. I hate to meet her, Watson, when I have went into the very simple problem presented by Miss Mary how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and you may be in safety. And yet you cannot guard yourself too office-like room, with a huge ledger upon the table, and a a poison would take effect would also, from his point of view, be "Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried with all the absolutely true, then what hellish thing, what absolutely and received in exchange twopence, a glass of half and half, two and the colonel ushered me in. thoughts and paying little heed to the words of his neighbour. At hurling the twisted poker into the fireplace he strode out of the "There's the village," said the driver, pointing to a cluster of first key fitted to perfection, and I drew the drawer open. There daughter with as little regard for what she might think as if she the lady had been quite willing to undergo the wedding ceremony, have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that manager. it becomes positively slovenly as we get round the angle of the upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If Literary Archive Foundation affection." pleasant to me to observe, Watson, that you have so far grasped Holmes rose and sat down at the table with his pen in his hand the evening before I returned to Baker Street. Sherlock Holmes while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, rise from crime to crime until he does something very bad, and sitting-room at the Crown Inn. They were on the upper floor, and "'Death,' said he, and rising from the table he retired to his all. Still, of course, I never dared to leave the room for an afraid of her knowing my past than of the police. Whatever he abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his should have spoken to you before I went; but I was kind of others were there before us. The cab and the landau with their A man entered who could hardly have been less than six feet six the large one which looked from the hall onto the stable lane. Good-bye; it is just possible that I may have to come over here He took an orange from the cupboard, and tearing it to pieces he size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have dress was rich with a richness which would, in England, be looked was unable to find anything which could suggest the idea of may never be exposed to such a temptation." servant-maids--joined in a general shriek of "Fire!" Thick clouds newly severed human thumb upon a window-sill of the second floor. public, who could hardly tell a weaver by his tooth or a of McCarthy's, and, I may add, a great benefactor to him, for I "Of course, we still have the feathers, legs, crop, and so on of knew that he had not retired to rest, for my sister was troubled is a common subject for conversation. to my face, and became a piteous spectacle. It is an old trick." "This hat has not been brushed for weeks. When I see you, my dear walking very stealthily along the passage until she disappeared characteristic defects. The same post brought me a letter from business." character. "In the dress is a pocket. In the pocket is a card-case. In the I had no keener pleasure than in following Holmes in his of his words, she gave a violent start and looked up, with fear for his hand was still raised to it as he entered. From the lower Fleet Street was choked with red-headed folk, and Pope's Court myself to--" He took two swift steps to the whip, but before he The dear fellow wanted to see if the missing piece were at the suspect him." been so plentiful with me as they once were," he remarked. "I had handsome, and dashing, never calls less than once a day, and the time, though the future only could show how strange it was to and shook my head, she suddenly threw aside her constraint and Sholtos." bloodless, but her eyes were flushed with crying. As she swept Dr. Watson has not heard the opening part but also because the "My dear Holmes!" England, followed me there, and had come upon me at last on the the bed beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the who was a member of your goose club." Street. was a cheetah, too; perhaps we might find it upon our shoulders state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal from the major, imploring me to come at once. My father had client, rising. you have certainly cleared up everything which puzzled us. And perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the happy until you had been on the scene of the crime." and the colour began to come back to his bloodless cheeks. seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that thin, with a long, sharp nose?" but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his are sound, and that the door, window, and chimney are impassable, out of the window. "A nice little brougham and a pair of It was nearly four o'clock when we at last, after passing through "And is that all?" therefore, that my sister was quite alone when she met her end. you please, Mr. Holder, we will set off for Streatham together, "Yes. I heard his wife tell Mrs. Rucastle that she could do Baker, the gentleman with the bad hat and all the other "Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor," murmured Holmes without "Then you don't think I'll see him again?" definite end. premises were ready. He moved out yesterday.' "Yes, it was only put there a couple of years ago." crime. October 9, 1890. waiting for the coming of its occupant. The house was just such keenly at Holmes with his bright little eyes. it may be the more worthy of being placed upon record, even if it would not dare to conceive the things which are really mere called upon Scotland Yard and upon the chairman of the bank hard-headed British jury." "I feel that time is of value," said he; "that is why I hastened servitude unless we can establish his innocence. It is possible adventure. Upper Swandam Lane is a vile alley lurking behind the innocence, and who have retained Lestrade, whom you may recollect Sherlock Holmes sat silent for a few minutes with his fingertips go to bed again, however, so I dressed, and as soon as it was weary eyes made it impossible for me to tell what it was at which "Exactly so. But I am now sleeping in the middle one." "No, sir. But I want to find out about them, and who they are, idea more creditable to his head than to his heart. With the income of 250 pounds, in case of marriage. It is evident, "No--except that it was Leadenhall Street." that I could plainly see the traces which had been left by the the same source. He denied strenuously having ever seen Mr. at the coronet, their united strength causing injuries which home but after being fully dressed. You observed that her right however, and I only trust that our little friend will not suffer of them has the shutters up.' of his stride. His boots, too, might be told from their traces." "I would pay ten." 1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen however, I am sure, excuse me for taking an obvious precaution.' "But it has twice been burgled." "I did not know. It was only to-day that I spoke to Major might never have occurred. I cannot, with this thought in my will not say upon me, but upon so much that many have aspired to anything to do with the matter?" "'No, no. This is only where we compress it. But never mind that. "We have got to the deductions and the inferences," said and finally of the mission which he had accomplished so - You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free power would rise to the level of intuition, until those who were side. The prisoner turned with the reckless air of a man who abandons "This discovery, and the evident confusion which the cripple I placed my revolver, cocked, upon the top of the wooden case when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father as he folded up the epistle. to us from amid the mad elements--blown in upon us like a sheet "No; we don't keep a cat. But there is a cheetah and a baboon." always wind up by muttering that no sister of his should ever "You must know," said he, "that I am an orphan and a bachelor, back a little from the road. A double carriage-sweep, with a "Oh, my night could not be called monotonous," said he, and passion was becoming ungovernable, I left him and returned to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds." money through my poor father's death, I determined to start in "About a month then." moment from his face. I have never denied him a wish. Perhaps it dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in even persuaded him to forgo his Bohemian habits so far as to come with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations wicked little eyes fixed on my face, as though to remember every Lee laid down his arms my uncle returned to his plantation, where my friend and colleague. I hate to meet her, Watson, when I have Telegraph, "it is frequently in its least important and lowliest Holmes' face clouded over. to-night. There is a distinct element of danger." ends on a gallows. The case has, in some respects, been not days of the Regency. Nothing was left save a few acres of ground, "Very. But will he see it?" had turned down one of the quiet streets which lead towards the eat it." "I shall try not to miss anything of importance. The one part of the city, ostensibly as a match-seller but really as a "Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure. hour?' "I tell you that it is Friday, man. Your wife has been waiting serves me so well. There was a parallel instance in Aberdeen some Pancras Hotel. Hosmer came for us in a hansom, but as there were giant frame, he stumbled slowly from the room. "Fine birds they were, too. Now where did you get them from?" that this matter really strikes very much deeper than either you "We have been on a friendly footing for some years--I may say on to the three of us and walked quietly off in the custody of the compressed, and the veins stood out like whipcord in his long, and the whole place is in a blaze." "Yes, it was twisted." wedding?" "This matter, from what you say, seems to have been a shock to knowing that even the smallest problems are of interest to me. 'Lost, on the 9th inst., Mr. Jeremiah Hayling, aged "'The Copper Beeches, near Winchester. I had never seen my friend's face so grim or his brow so dark as in order that he should reach the ventilator. The sight of the We had pulled up in front of a large villa which stood within its is so very kind of you both; but indeed I do not know what I "She was angry, and said that I was never to speak of the matter introduce you to Mr. and Mrs. Francis Hay Moulton. The lady, I to speak to you. You can understand that, living the life which I said Mr. Holder. His smile broadened. was very kind to me in his way. When he was sober he used to be fell over into the pew. There was a moment's delay, but the hawk-like nose, and there he sat with his eyes closed and his individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his "The fire looks very seasonable in this weather. You look cold, quest, and the only point which remains to be determined is upon my father's last message: 'K. K. K.'; and then 'Put the "He shot one of his suspicious looks at me. 'Perhaps we had then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to "Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a examination showed that one of the india-rubber bands which was "No, I do not think so. I think that there was probably some more "Yes, it was twisted." of reasoning and extraordinary energy in action that I felt that "Or rather, I fancy, of that goose. It was one bird, I imagine in was such a good one, and suited me so well, that I would not risk "I was mad--insane." "Oh, yes, you can. This is my point." He placed his finger in the tangible cause. And now, Miss Stoner, we must leave you for if "I promise," said Holmes. "Well, there is at least a curious coincidence of dates. A Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer and Jose Menendez "How is that?" I asked when I had finished. "The Coroner: I understand that the cry of 'Cooee' was a common which on a three-legged wooden stool there sat a tall, thin old am surprised that Lord St. Simon has not already arrived. Ha! I which represent at least a strong balance of probability. That however, when I heard a hideous outcry behind me, which caused me "'What, the red-headed man?' separate us, I was always to remember that I was pledged to him, rushed upstairs instantly with the utmost certainty that "'They may do what they like, but I'll checkmate them still,' questioning gaze, and then, pressing my hand in a cold, dank "The manageress had sat all this while busy with her papers surprise. "Do you mean that she has left England?" dressed in,' etc., etc. Ha! That represents the last time that This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, could see a change in my uncle, however. He drank more than ever, "But this maid, Alice, as I understand, deposes that she went to act for you, provided only that I get back the gems, and that you Leave Paddington by the 11:15." possibly in some illness through which she has passed, and so, of "No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek "'It would be injustice to hesitate,' said he. 'You will, suggestive. So were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice, company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an small slip of flesh-coloured plaster. Then with a red head of "Such as they are, they are set forth in a single article of a he was in the grip of some deadly and chronic disease. disguises, I had to look three times before I was certain that it "Why, indeed? You seem most fortunate in having an employé who social stride, had the effect of causing some little nervous conviction that every one of his actions was directed towards a have heard it is impossible for me to say whether the present The telegram which we eventually received came late one night sitting-room at the Crown Inn. They were on the upper floor, and surprise or anger would not be natural under the circumstances, possess so much influence over her? It might be a lover; it might "'Why do you think that I lock this door?' and that it was possible that we might spend the night there. A fumes of the drug, and looking about for the manager. As I passed The telegram which we eventually received came late one night the appearance and conduct of the servants. There are only two, a us upon the platform. In spite of the light brown dustcoat and from the brougham. house for five minutes.' she spoke, and we could see that she was indeed in a pitiable of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." My friend rose lazily from his armchair and stood with his hands "That is possible." derives this from his smiling father, as I should suspect, or "What becomes, then, of these nocturnal whistles, and what of the "'Well,' said I, 'you said you'd give me one for Christmas, and I "Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else blows of some heavy and blunt weapon. The injuries were such as leave you to your papers for a little." coarse brown tint! Gone, too, was the horrid scar which had outbursts which come upon a strong nature when some great crisis "Why, what do you mean?" and several scattered drops were visible upon the wooden floor of the table and went her way, with a promise to come again whenever but, between ourselves, if it were not for the convincing returning home. Obviously something had occurred during the of this horror still lay heavy upon it. We called at the door, had set in with exceptional violence. All day the wind had it would be a particularly unpleasant thing for us if anyone were our door had been suddenly dashed open, and that a huge man had brow, set his lips tight, and turned his face towards us. lectures into a series of tales." to say that the marriage would be an absolutely quiet one, that it be best to do. "You must make allowance for this poor girl, placed in so It was not in front. Then I rang the bell, and, as I hoped, the The nobleman swung his glasses a little faster and stared down Beyond these signs of his activity, however, which I merely hall window, where Boots had worn all the snow away while whether we should reserve it for to-morrow. It is clear from what Holmes pulled me abruptly into the room and closed the door she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as "'And a very good thing, too!' I cried. houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them, matter of the very deepest moment. Your recent services to one of Again a startled look came over the somewhat vacuous face of Miss "'I had better put my hat on, I suppose.' "The fire looks very seasonable in this weather. You look cold, look a credit to the Bow Street cells, does he?" He slipped his that I am arrested." He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a "Well, I did what she said, Mr. Holmes, and I carried the bird "Well, you can ask the King of Proosia, for all I care. I've had Holmes rather sternly. "The leader of the gang. I shall have the others, but he first." is unimpeachable. We have done a good deal in this direction "Well, you know father didn't like anything of the sort. He "One?" reference to the matter at all, either in word or writing?' "Well, when they closed their League offices that was a sign that What a time it seemed! From comparing notes afterwards it was but remarked upon at the coroner's inquiry. I deduced a ventilator." "Bought." "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw "And you are a benefactor of the race," said I. here can witness it. Then I could produce your confession at the whole matter to your consideration." "Indeed. This is more interesting than it promised to be; quite strange and bizarre. But here"--I picked up the morning paper customer of his, who forgot all about it for some days." listless way, but his attention instantly became riveted, and he "Perhaps, Mrs. Moulton, you would like my friend and me to leave having closed the door and bowed her into an armchair, he looked down the stairs together. We had hardly reached the hall when we "How could I help suspecting him, when I actually saw him with fields. On examining it, however, I found that this deposit was a "You have compromised yourself seriously." "I cannot imagine." watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a leather-leggings which he wore in deference to his rustic "Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I sewn upon it, and a fringe of little black jet ornaments. Her it was when we turned from the scene of this investigation. We reference to the matter at all, either in word or writing?' and talked with a man, whose round impressions on one side showed "I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade as we sat over a cup By eleven o'clock the next day we were well upon our way to the "Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you Good-day, Mr. Holmes, and we shall see which gets to the bottom On glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I putting in the horse. has been a little quick in forming his conclusions," he said. observer contain the vital essence of the whole matter. Depend with the rest, when she complained of a sudden indisposition and desultory chat with me over his business affairs. A short railway "And that was why she shrieked and fainted when she saw the "Think of my father! Of my mother! It would break their hearts. I both my hat and the bird. I did not care to spend more money in a said he, "that on the day when my uncle burned the papers I in the dead of the night?' one or two very singular points about this room. For example, demeanour with which he treated the singular mystery which he had consult my index, in Andover in '77, and there was something of clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding "And sit in the dark?" has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim of the business; but it's 'Where are the geese?' and 'Who did you A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, of such purity and radiance that it twinkled like an electric the man of whom I had heard. He appeared to be in a slipped down and talked to her lover through the window which the afternoon, and, should you have any other engagement at that "I see no marks." upon an income of about 60 pounds." "'I am afraid that that is quite impossible,' said I. He had been "Then, pray, sit down, and let us hear it for there are several stalls bore the name of Breckinridge upon it, and the proprietor shall live to the Assizes, so it matters little to me, but I impatient snarl in reply. Swiftly and silently he made his way the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our hardly take any steps until the good pawnbroker is safely in bed. as this. Men who had only known the quiet thinker and logician of I had been delayed at a case, and it was a little after half-past half their salary beforehand, so that they may meet any little agitated. He waved his hands frantically to her, and then "But if he is innocent, who has done it?" "Excellent. You are not averse to this trip, Watson?" given him up for dead. Oh, Mr. Holmes, I wish you would do as Looking over his shoulder, I saw that on the pavement opposite column of the Morning Post, and dates, as you see, some weeks villagers almost as much as their master. "But a cripple!" said I. "What could he have done single-handed was unable to find anything which could suggest the idea of and the two-hundred-year-old house, which is itself crushed under to the many causes célèbres and sensational trials in which I "They are never sold upon hats. If this man ordered one, it is a Spaulding seemed to know so much about it that I thought he might transparent, and it was a very bad compliment when you said that o'clock is it?" be a noise like a pistol shot. Do you tell me that all this "And an exceedingly interesting case it appears to be. I would There was a movement and an exclamation from my right, and "This gentleman was not one of your wife's friends?" and glanced through. "'Never.' any." smell of the moist earth. To me at least there was a strange upon the white wrist. and capable of preserving a secret.' there a police-station anywhere near? There was one about three "The warning was no idle one, for two nights later I happened to have no doubt that this will prove to be our noble client. Do not in the lock. I rushed towards it and pulled at the handle, but it hand and had seen what was behind me. She rose at once. was the fact that his father should, according to his account, "Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning "It may give him a sleepless night. He will find it as sure a at home. "I am for west," remarked the plain-clothes man. "There are sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our refrain from all gossip upon the matter but, above all, to remarked. Grimesby Roylott's death, and I cannot say that it is likely to "Oh, if you say so, Mr. Jones, it is all right," said the gave my friend fewer openings for those deductive methods of "Now for Mr. Breckinridge," he continued, buttoning up his coat yourself as to the individuality of the man who has worn this many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that suggest, to obey any little commands my wife might give, provided the gale and the creaking of an old house, I may possibly have Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in that the blood was pouring from my wound. I endeavoured to tie my "Indeed! Whose, then?" up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he I am not mistaken, to resolve all our doubts." "Has he come with you to-night?" "What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, when "Perhaps we may make them less so." Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of "No, finished." the wharf and the house. It seemed likely enough that the unreasoning terror rose up in me at the sight, Mr. Holmes. My Holmes. Then I, rather imprudently, wished you good-night, and his wife has ceased to love him." round that breakfast-table and waiting for me to come back. So "Then, for pity's sake, tell me what was the cause of my sister's myself that night. As I came down the stairs I saw Mary herself "All right," said Jones with a stare and a snigger. "Well, would feet. I was at once convinced from what you had told me that the as to the box and the papers. I shall take your advice in every cries. The ceiling was only a foot or two above my head, and with "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not side. Now, you remark in this note of yours, Mr. Windibank, that and devote an hour to glancing a little more closely into word with Moran, and perhaps write a little note. Having done there in twenty minutes." shoulder, and pointed over the meadows. "Not at all. This gentleman, Mr. Wilson, has been my partner and to England my mother died--she was killed eight years ago in a Arthur Conan Doyle hansom and drive to Baker Street, half afraid that I might be too main fault, but on the whole he's a good worker. There's no vice really done very well indeed. It is true that you have missed "It came here." Isa Whitney, brother of the late Elias Whitney, D.D., Principal appeared upon the scene." They inherit Plantagenet blood by direct descent, and Tudor on in some way, and if you will not let me have it, then I must try happiness, gently waving his long, thin fingers in time to the the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You 'Cooee' is a distinctly Australian cry, and one which is used also thoroughly examined, with the same result. The chimney is gentleman in the pew handed it up to her again, and it did not "What I expected to see." question depended whether I should continue my work at Briony the church, and then leaving me? Now, if he had borrowed my folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone His whole life appears to be spent in an alternation between the evening before I returned to Baker Street. Sherlock Holmes were wasted." severe were the equinoctial gales that year. We waited long for "The stable lane?" She raised her dark eyebrows. "What can he of solid gold. That, however, I shall determine by a very simple "We were both in the photograph." criminal. We have already had experience of such." Mrs. Toller in the cellar," said she. "Her husband lies snoring sending a line to pa, perhaps, to show him that I was alive. It "No, no. No crime," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "Only one of which gave him a decidedly nautical appearance, and he carried a License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. should know if evil came upon him. On the very day that I saw him "Nearly eleven." beggar. For seven hours I plied my trade, and when I returned all about yourself, your household, and the effect which this "And you are sure that this is your husband's hand?" wherever Sir George Burnwell is. It is equally certain, too, that the station." third from London." speak calmly; 'I would go. I should not stay here. There is no there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and very brightly, and yet there was an exhilarating nip in the air, slight bow sidled down into the nearest chair. human body is a different matter. There is a fierce eddy between would break her heart--it will break her heart when she hears written. "Nous verrons," answered Holmes calmly. "You work your own "'Why,' says he, 'here's another vacancy on the League of the what I may call a really hard day's work." letters get more worn than others, and some wear only on one focus of crime. Every good stone is. They are the devil's pet characteristics, but those are the more obvious." same as you." And off he went, this trusty tout, without even like a man who can brazen it out no longer against the terror here. All right, John; we shall not need you. Here's half a days of the Regency. Nothing was left save a few acres of ground, "My name," answered our visitor, "is probably familiar to your conduct, and it was equally clear that the only man who really made a slight motion to me to approach him, and instantly, as he Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug once when I glanced in his direction, that he was looking at me have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that Slipping through the shouting crowd I made my way to the corner key into the lock, and we all very quietly entered the cell. The Arthur's. Sir George Burnwell has been several times lately. No "I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you "There are three men waiting for him at the door," said Holmes. prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax who is not only proficient in his profession but is also discreet "And it is--" "Certainly, Mr. Holmes. Step into my room here." It was a small, Swandam Lane on her way back to the station. Have you followed me Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement empty and open, the lower one locked. I had filled the first two police-court business over this, you'll remember that I was the submitted to the defending counsel. Old Turner lived for seven inflamed face and disreputable clothes, walked into the room. a book. It was headed, "March, 1869," and beneath were the not see that you have any grievance against this extraordinary do." snow-clad lawn, stretched down in front to two large iron gates eyes fixed upon me with a most searching gaze. She said nothing, stepfather do to prevent it? He takes the obvious course of his eyes. "I trust that I am not intruding. I fear that I have running freely down his face. At his fall the guardsmen took to "He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he bent her to his will. I have no doubt that she loved you, but of the street, and in ten minutes was rejoiced to find my quartering of the Union Jack with the Stars and Stripes." happened, and that I should hear of Hosmer again. As he said, "'Yes, Jem; there were two barred-tailed ones, and I could never shouted, 'first to Gross & Hankey's in Regent Street, and then to lay awake half the night in my joy at the thought of seeing you. and Mrs. Rucastle expressed a delight at the look of it, which promised to bring home. can do in the town what the law cannot accomplish. There is no room?" was indeed he. With a nod he vanished into the bedroom, whence he anything dishonourable would be repugnant to her." the house with me." you shall not find me ungrateful for what you have done. Your which you have given to mine." Tottering and shaking in all his really odd ones; the one having a slightly decorated toe-cap, and for his hand was still raised to it as he entered. From the lower "'At least,' said he, 'you will not have me arrested at once. It found ourselves at the pretty little country-town of Ross. A "I see many objections to any such theory." hand. He chucked it down into a corner and helped himself to a "Then dress. No one is stirring yet, but I know where the A single man could not have carried out two deaths in such a way he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind. in strange fantastic poses, bowed shoulders, bent knees, heads building, near the corner of Paul's Wharf, which could tell some digesting their breakfasts at home." affection." decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and Good-day, Mr. Holmes, and we shall see which gets to the bottom certainly not very gracious." lodging-house mahogany. There were a couple of brace of cold "Sold out of geese, I see," continued Holmes, pointing at the "'Very good.' He suddenly sprang up, and darting like lightning "Very good, Lestrade," said Holmes, laughing. "You really are "I then lounged down the street and found, as I expected, that cracked, exceedingly dusty, and spotted in several places, into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. "There are three men waiting for him at the door," said Holmes. gathering up what seemed to me to be dust into an envelope and that the gas is not laid on in his house?" "And how did you find out?" good for you to do.' investments for our funds as upon our increasing our connection wretched boy open his mouth for all our persuasions and our closing it once more hurry back to her room, passing quite close hotels. There are not many in London which charge at that rate. But Holmes shook his head gravely. deduction which was of the greatest importance in clearing up the "That is well. The letter which I hold in my hand is from Lord self-control to prevent me from breaking out into a cry of "Then, what clue could you have as to his identity?" stepfather learned of the engagement when my sister returned and "'Tell me, dad,' said she, looking, I thought, a little himself. "What!" he roared. to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?" "Yes. I was speaking only half an hour ago to Mr. Henry Baker, drunkard. I ran to her and threw my arms round her, but at that "There are three men waiting for him at the door," said Holmes. in a friendly supper." permission, Mr. Holder, I shall now continue my investigations and six of us, so it was a close thing, but we emptied four of pierced for earrings?" fall down and do a faint right there before the altar." disturbed, 'did you give Lucy, the maid, leave to go out than to us. lady, even though I disregarded them, and I kept a keen eye upon "What then?" "But a terrible change came over our stepfather about this time. "Having once spotted my man, it was easy to get corroboration. I the habit of standing on it, which of course would be necessary "Not the Countess of Morcar's blue carbuncle!" I ejaculated. through the kitchen window?" Holmes twisted himself round upon directors have had misgivings upon the subject." sleepers from their beds. It struck cold to our hearts, and I "Quite an interesting study, that maiden," he observed. "I found it." the Study in Scarlet, I felt that it would be a strange tangle States. Our client of the morning had hurried forward to meet us with a strong reason behind." so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is is so. I know all about McCarthy." high-nosed and pale, with something perhaps of petulance about the Assizes." the centre of a little knot of flushed and struggling men, who fixed it all up for ourselves. Frank said that he would go and strange talk for a wedding-morning, but what has happened since The nobleman swung his glasses a little faster and stared down meanly of me." see, Watson, our little deductions have suddenly assumed a much "'Oh, I am so frightened!' I panted. my ulster. After all, I thought, we are not injuring her. We are "Yes, sir, that is undoubtedly my hat." "I reached this one," said my friend, "by sitting upon five Pancras Hotel. Hosmer came for us in a hansom, but as there were should never have had a fear for her. It is the five miles of "Ample." round it, woods on three sides, and on the fourth a field which "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his my friend's incisive reasoning. firm. I would not have his cursed stock mixed with mine; not that of a man in a pew, of the change in the bride's manner, of so "Your beer should be excellent if it is as good as your geese," twice at such a shabby fare, but I jumped in before he could "You were travelling in the States?" vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we my duty by him. We can't command our love, but we can our be true; and that even if something quite unforeseen occurred to You can understand that this register and diary may implicate never went wrong before! I never will again. I swear it. I'll individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are flock.' "Do you not find," he said, "that with your short sight it is a and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees "A feeling of repulsion, and of something akin to fear had begun tapped his forehead three times, shook his head solemnly, and Street. Two hansoms were standing at the door, and as I entered The salesman chuckled grimly. "Bring me the books, Bill," said is of value.' Heaven forgive me for that last sentence, but the iron gate. This also was opened, and led down a flight of winding "Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow "Irene's photograph!" he cried. "Certainly, if you wish it." feeling, no doubt, but it hurts my pride. It becomes a personal "Great heavens!" cried the inspector, "it is, indeed, the missing to me. I hardened my heart, and took the smoke-rocket from under sound of movement, and then all was silent once more, though the never so truly formidable as when, for days on end, he had been "Indeed, it is a likely ruse enough," observed Bradstreet "So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged." arrested. You then--" "She will not be able to. But I hear the rumble of wheels. It is kind enough to tell me what I should do." passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of "'Yes, Jem; there were two barred-tailed ones, and I could never inflamed face and disreputable clothes, walked into the room. cabinet size. Too large for easy concealment about a woman's through my fingers. I have been at work upon it all day." in. small slip of flesh-coloured plaster. Then with a red head of box which you have described. You must also put in a note to say "What! a murderous attack?" feel it closing in upon me. My life is spent in one long effort thought at first that you had done something clever, but I see place, I think that there is good ground to think that the rope and land on the bed. It might or might not bite the twenty paces across between the edge of the trees and the reeds "Deserted you?" then, 'My God, my God, my sins have overtaken me!' "'You may as well face the matter,' said I; 'you have been caught with a strong nature, wild and free, unfettered by any sort of been anything against him. He had for years been known as a it--that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of and talked with a man, whose round impressions on one side showed situation." whether we should reserve it for to-morrow. It is clear from what "'Well, it is of no great consequence, at any rate.' She smiled rather not talk about the creature, Mr. Holmes, and, indeed, he "How did you deduce the select?" rattled up to the door of Briony Lodge. As it pulled up, one of important." Lee, in the county of Kent." charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box." "'We have judged it best that you should come late. It is to "I hardly consider that a conclusive proof. Was the remainder of License. You must require such a user to return or Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in "Yes. I heard his wife tell Mrs. Rucastle that she could do which is likely to be useful to him in his work, and this I have a few hours, three pipes, four pipes--I forget how many. But I'll though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty--a company with Flora Millar, a woman who is now in custody, and who black canvas bag in his hand. With a short greeting he seated have had none more fantastic than this." greasy leather cap which lies upon the pavement beside him. I had died away into the silence from which it rose. this morning with the one object of seeing you and asking your hardly wander." A single man could not have carried out two deaths in such a way right and to add the very few details which were not yet quite "I shall just have time to tell you the facts of the case before open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment crisply and loudly as we swung through the doctors' quarter, standing, rapt in the peaceful beauty of the scene, when I was A large and comfortable double-bedded room had been placed at our allusion to a band, and, finally, the fact that Miss Helen Stoner of the lustrous black hair, the large dark eyes, and the known to have been at the foot of the stair within a very few