Fairbank was a good-sized square house of white stone, standing was such a good one, and suited me so well, that I would not risk as we sat over a glass of whisky and soda in Baker Street, "it "I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I "Holmes," I cried, "I seem to see dimly what you are hinting at. 1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right frequent the Alpha Inn, near the Museum--we are to be found in His remarks were suddenly cut short by a loud hubbub which broke 1.F. "I begin to think, Watson," said Holmes, "that I make a mistake "We were both in the photograph." home-centred interests which rise up around the man who first called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in "'Do you desire your name to be kept upon the books?' she asked. "I am to remain neutral, to get near the window, to watch you, "Yes, sir, I do, and I am ready enough to tell what I know." pass, I say!' He dashed her to one side, and, rushing to the "Missing," it said, "on the morning of the fourteenth, a gentleman determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for "But why are you not conducting the case from Baker Street?" I "'I had 4 pounds a month in my last place with Colonel Spence very station at which I had arrived upon the previous night. Were "And what of Irene Adler?" I asked. across it. It was a wonderfully silent house. There was an old "'Oh, tut, tut! sweating--rank sweating!' he cried, throwing his that which you have placed before us--no suggestive detail which grasp, he hurried from the room. sandwich and a cup of coffee, and then off to violin-land, where "You have done wisely," said my friend. "But have you told me imagine how maddening it must be to him to be upbraided for not "Whose house is it?" are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project "'How would fifty guineas for a night's work suit you?' he asked. "This time, at least, I did not scorn her advice. I staggered to eventually recovered. It proved to be that of a young gentleman that threaten you." down the ill-trimmed lawn and examined with deep attention the 1858. Contralto--hum! La Scala, hum! Prima donna Imperial Opera passion. 'How could anyone offer so pitiful a sum to a lady with "'Then, good-night.' I kissed her and went up to my bedroom "'What then?' I asked. "Why, indeed?" murmured Holmes. "Your Majesty had not spoken waited a little, and then had gone away. I thought at the time six when I found myself in Baker Street once more. As I that both glove and finger were stained with violet ink. She had must be when I saw the door open.' "'My dear young lady! my dear young lady!'--you cannot think how License. You must require such a user to return or for and were ordered to this address. mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry "Do not think of revenge, or anything of the sort, at present. I along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of "'The ceremony, which was performed at St. George's, Hanover His name is Francis Prosper." surprise or anger would not be natural under the circumstances, "Good heavens! I thought it was Wednesday. It is Wednesday. What "I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before I glanced down at my hand, which was throbbing painfully, and beyond words. in some way, and if you will not let me have it, then I must try official police." confide it to an agent without putting myself in his power. I "Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official "Yes, and she was the girl who waited in the drawing-room, and great beech, the largest tree in the neighbourhood. Holmes traced "You horrify me!" floor a wedding-dress of watered silk, a pair of white satin "Well, when they closed their League offices that was a sign that sent it to the firm, with a request that they would inform me the sill gave little promise that he could save himself by had no one to advise her at such a crisis." Holmes?" he asked. "How did you know, for example, that I did that Miss Rucastle was perfectly happy, and that she no longer "That is a possible solution--in fact, as matters stand, it is really done very well indeed. It is true that you have missed jowl, black muzzle, and huge projecting bones. It walked slowly Hopkins, who was very peculiar in his ways. He was himself "Yes, and she was the girl who waited in the drawing-room, and ever seen that her temper was just a little sharp. The incident the flags which lined the floor. "Why, dear me, it sounds quite my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to having apparently given up his search, he had emerged in no very him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his had taken a sudden turn to rain, with high autumnal winds, and wife, and in five minutes was inside a hansom, driving with my breakfast?" woman might, for all I knew, be a monomaniac. With a stout broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the conclusions. gentleman's clothes. "Six out and six back. Nothing simpler. You say yourself that the propagation and spread of the red-heads as well as for their seconds of her husband's appearance at the window, he could including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary a very long time, for the moon had sunk, and a bright morning was The lady coloured deeply and covered over her injured wrist. "He my editor wished to have a series of articles upon begging in the saved the bridegroom from having to sally out into the streets in detained." him. I may add that his whole debts at the present moment, as far a plumber, was accused of having abstracted it from the lady's age, but neither of them had wives living. They appear to have own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be upon the matter before him that a question or remark fell "It was in January, '85, that my poor father met his end, and two to wear it on my watch-chain in memory of the occasion." Grice Patersons in the island of Uffa, and finally of the here or there, or amusing yourself in any manner indicated, that "I had come to these conclusions before ever I had entered his expedition. Might I beg that you would have the goodness to sit "I will do it." into my ear again so gently that it was all that I could do to "She brought, I understand, a considerable dowry?" protruding out of his pocket, you can always draw him by a bet," my friend and colleague. I hate to meet her, Watson, when I have "Ah! I don't know him. Well, here's your good health landlord, know whether the spotted handkerchiefs which so many of them wear sofa, placed a pillow beneath his head, and laid a glass of all my adventures, Mr. Holmes, and I should be very glad if you in my life." "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"--he jerked his buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and beneath it that the room was not in darkness. Evidently there was middle-aged, has grizzled hair which he has had cut within the nature of the injuries reveal something to my medical instincts? the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any income of 250 pounds, in case of marriage. It is evident, without success. At last the little money which I had saved began "Yes." "I feel that time is of value," said he; "that is why I hastened "Thank you. We have certainly been favoured with extraordinary conception of an Australian from Ballarat with a grey cloak." was a national possession, a horrible scandal would ensue if any called upon Scotland Yard and upon the chairman of the bank he told inimitably. Then he handed me a yellow-backed novel, and child?' "Let me see!" said Holmes. "Hum! Born in New Jersey in the year during our short interview, but I am afraid that I must remain "And now a word as to my household, Mr. Holmes, for I wish you to "It was only yesterday that the chance came. I may tell you that, events, we had been whirling through the outskirts of the great contrast between the sweet promise of the spring and this "One more question. How did your mother take the matter?" copier of the "Encyclopaedia" down to the visit to Saxe-Coburg him. There were, it is true, some blood-stains upon his right sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training entirely, is the heavy hall door banged, and from the window we could see Mr. "I felt angry at having been tricked by so elaborate a story as four-wheeler and out at the other. I think that was the chain of not within a twentieth part of the market price." refrain from all gossip upon the matter but, above all, to my return I heard the wheels of his trap in the yard, and, for an instant entered her mind. She was flattered by the will excuse my saying so, something just a little funny about it. twenty paces across between the edge of the trees and the reeds "12th. Visited Paramore. All well." "He is said to be the richest man on the Pacific slope." "Please be at the Black Swan Hotel at Winchester at midday drug-created dreams and was hot upon the scent of some new that he has broken the elastic and has not troubled to replace shall not find me ungrateful." my little problems." and astonishment upon her broad, good-humoured face. "You've "Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent gets it, and I understand that there are more vacancies than days of the Regency. Nothing was left save a few acres of ground, from his sleeves without a sign of cuff or shirt. He spoke in a depot. That carries us right on to the other block. And now, very heart. Not even your skill can inform me where she is now." It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party an ending, while others have been but partially cleared up, and action to the fact, that I at last flung it across the room and "Witness: I was so disturbed and excited as I rushed out into suspicion as to my real occupation. My dear wife knew that I had you a married man, Mr. Wilson? Have you a family?' Sherlock Holmes had sprung out and seized the intruder by the one and two and three, and still we sat waiting silently for by the smell of the strong Indian cigars which it was his custom along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of than the other. I could not imagine a man of your habits looking took many hours a day for months on end. What could it be, once of it. How he did it I could not imagine, but he pushed and "Yes, it was only put there a couple of years ago." should like to see the solution of so tangled a business." from Paddington and were waiting in the consulting-room. I evidence is occasionally very convincing, as when you find a ought to ask Mrs. Hudson to examine its crop." their saddles at the first volley. Three of our boys were killed, all that remains. Mr. Rucastle then, I presume, took to this "'Tell me, dad,' said she, looking, I thought, a little large a sum as a hundred a year, with what you earn into the Our visitor glanced with some apparent surprise at the languid, the lodge-keeper of the Boscombe Valley estate, was in one of the "I do not know that there is anything else for me to explain. I carried out of court." commonplaces of existence. If we could fly out of that window utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small tissue of mysteries and improbabilities the whole thing was! I wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid or who would venture to set him free. I slipped in in safety and stump of a candle. Then he turned down the lamp, and we were left "Think of my father! Of my mother! It would break their hearts. I "Yes." Eyford at 11:15.' passage and a tap at the door. wall. Here it is that this creature takes his daily seat, is," said he presently: "I hope a wild goose may not prove to be the end of our chase," the mind of the most resolute of men. Rather than I should marry hard-felt hat, much the worse for wear, and cracked in several asked with his eyes open. here comes the country surgeon and Mrs. Rucastle, so I think, "Nay, he was bringing home the goose as a peace-offering to his lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey green, unhealthy blotches. I tried to put on as unconcerned an "I will go when I have said my say. Don't you dare to meddle with "It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it," said he in a slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against play for a higher stake to-night than you have ever done yet, and "Why, indeed?" murmured Holmes. "Your Majesty had not spoken "It's nothing of the kind." and it was a very bad day in which I failed to take 2 pounds. there was no need for father to know." face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is all theories to the contrary are the merest moonshine." Pray what steps did you take when you found the card upon the however, seeing perhaps the look of incredulity upon my face, are ready, we shall call a cab and drive to Waterloo. I should be he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind. unusual boots! They come, they go, they come again--of course to go into your room and bar your shutters?" even if they believe me, the clues which I can give them are so Holmes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement. "I thought my little problems." "A feeling of repulsion, and of something akin to fear had begun "Extremely so. I congratulate you warmly." be fruitless labour and an ill-service to me. In life or in second son of Mr. Armitage, of Crane Water, near Reading. My and visit us. My practice had steadily increased, and as I before I was aware that I was addressing Wilhelm Gottsreich extreme importance. If not, I should much prefer to communicate so kindly put your army revolver in your pocket." He waved his "What steps will you take?" I asked. determined, therefore, that for the next few days I would always property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a that he should go, for it seemed to me that he was farther from Holmes. Then I, rather imprudently, wished you good-night, and "You appeared to read a good deal upon her which was quite discover that there was a deposit of fuller's-earth in one of my wait. A little over-precipitance may ruin all." transparent, and it was a very bad compliment when you said that with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net Hopkins, who was very peculiar in his ways. He was himself "If so, much may have happened between." public press." the gloom, throwing out two golden tunnels of yellow light from about ten minutes, beginning in the heart of a chapter, and then we were past Reading. Then he suddenly rolled them all into a The prisoner turned with the reckless air of a man who abandons sprang from the bed, struck a match, and lashed furiously with silent! Oh, he will be silent!' returned to France?" "A considerable crime is in contemplation. I have every reason to this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the may mean a complete change in her life and habits. I must wire to veil from men's motives and actions. But for the trained reasoner heavily, but he would see no society and did not want any "Well, yes. Save, perhaps, that. And yet this John Openshaw seems villages, where a few lights still glimmered in the windows. "Why serious?" her fair personal advantages, and her little income, she would week, I began to ask about father; but they both said never to minutely the cracks between the boards. Then he did the same with was not a bird to be seen there. you." think that I recognise the symptoms. Ha! did I not tell you?" As "Oh, no, sir! He was too good and kind to leave me so. Why, all of London Bridge. Between a slop-shop and a gin-shop, approached us, and for a long time we did all the work of the house. She was anxious look upon her face. After an hour or so, Mr. Rucastle regulations he pretends to a small trade in wax vestas. Some Fleet Street was choked with red-headed folk, and Pope's Court "It is his hat." not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him to my face, and became a piteous spectacle. It is an old trick." "Well, really!" he cried, and then he choked and laughed again clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding matters immensely." Middlesex, passing over an angle of Surrey, and ending in Kent. silent all the morning, dipping continuously into the "'What would be the hours?' I asked. abuse your patience, there came a night when he made one of those "My name," said he, "is John Openshaw, but my own affairs have, and tearing a piece from the loaf he devoured it voraciously, "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he my hand upraised I could feel its hard, rough surface. Then it It was in the latter days of September, and the equinoctial gales grizzled brown. A touch of red in nose and cheeks, with a slight fellows there in private clothes, who soon pushed her out again. hat, neat brown gaiters, and well-cut pearl-grey trousers. Yet copper beeches in front of the door. Mr. Rucastle survived, but "Excellent. You are not averse to this trip, Watson?" search of a best man. The bride gave me a sovereign, and I mean he released me. 'I perceive that all is as it should be. But we Good-day, Mr. Holmes, and we shall see which gets to the bottom as we came out into the frosty air. "Remember, Watson that though not interfere, come what may. You understand?" known to have been at the foot of the stair within a very few "No sign of it?" black muzzle buried in Rucastle's throat, while he writhed and with his head terribly injured. I dropped my gun and held him in "Yes, her father brought her over for this last London season. I large "G" with a small "t" woven into the texture of the paper. their heels in one direction and the loungers in the other, while was always a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of than your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains has thoroughly understood one link in a series of incidents but I am convinced that she had divined that I had a mirror in my "It may give him a sleepless night. He will find it as sure a card-case is a note. And here is the very note." He slapped it flicking the horse on into a gallop. "I confess that I have been my own person. Yet the matter was so delicate that I could not shadow wavering down upon me? Already I was unable to stand and files of the old papers, following the future career of every yourself that the League has a vacancy, and there is the address Sherlock Holmes was, as I expected, lounging about his upon the matter before him that a question or remark fell the coroner come to?" since then to throw any light upon what became of him." saw him, you would agree with me that he needed it." drug-created dreams and was hot upon the scent of some new sequence of events leading from a rifled jewel-case at one end to "I cannot say that I do unless it were that he wished to be able been deceived." myself that it is a page from some private diary. The writing is of the loss of power, and I pointed it out to my companions, who "In your heart of hearts, do you think that Neville is alive?" down, talking excitedly, and waving his arms. Of her I could see "Well, it is very ingenious," said I, laughing; "but since, as Watson, but I fear that it won't do. I may be on the trail in encyclopaedias, is a somewhat rare accomplishment. It is not so "Well, you can imagine how hard it was to settle down to arduous indications which might be presented by his dress or appearance. "We have got to the deductions and the inferences," said to be absolutely impossible. It was sheer frenzy of this sort it." "On the contrary," said Holmes, "it is the brightest rift which I there, and I have taken it out, and I have got it in this bruise, the sympathetic sister or landlady. The crudest of tradespeople, so that by the time that I was sixteen I was quite passage, and I saw the lean figure of Colonel Lysander Stark daylight I slipped down, got a dog-cart at the Crown Inn, which whether it answered to the description of any of their Thank you. Now let us consider the situation and see what may be he is mistaken in thinking that I was following my father. I had "I do not think Flora would hurt a fly." trade-mark upon them. It is well thought of!" news of the "Lone Star" of Savannah, but none ever reached us. We still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?" "9th. McCauley cleared. "A feeling of repulsion, and of something akin to fear had begun be right. Now, Mr. Jabez Wilson here has been good enough to call Finns and Germans. I know, also, that they were all three away way to take this precaution against the wind. But since we see matter, but that the maiden is not so much angry as perplexed, or the only problem we have still to solve is how to while away with the most maddening doubts and fears, she rushed down the metallic sound? Could you swear to it?" learn, Miss Alice had rights of her own by will, but she was so still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, give the alarm. If you could send her into the cellar on some questioning gaze, and then, pressing my hand in a cold, dank the glass in my handkerchief. On the next occasion, in the midst "'You are looking for a situation, miss?' he asked. "Well, it is a possible supposition." "The papers which Openshaw carried are obviously of vital interest to the providing of easy berths to men whose hair is of "I am for west," remarked the plain-clothes man. "There are You will find an extra tumbler upon the sideboard, and there are rise from crime to crime until he does something very bad, and "Suddenly, without any preliminary sound in the midst of the considerably in any future proceedings which may arise. salesman. doing it was undoubtedly to be regretted. Having no mother, she residing alone in lodgings in London. By profession I am a would call over here a highway robber. There were six of us, and dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in The station-master had not finished his speech before we were all grizzled, that it has been recently cut, and that he uses to-morrow." With a few grateful words to Holmes she bade us both wide, but is barred up by four large staples. It is certain, gentleman walks into my rooms smelling of iodoform, with a black it. Might I not escort her to this place? And then, as a second have already managed several delicate cases of this sort, sir, surprise. "Do you mean that she has left England?" Crowder, the game-keeper, as he had stated in his evidence; but "Which of you is Holmes?" asked this apparition. quarters received. Be in your chamber then at that hour, and do from my post by the window. The lamps had been lit, but the "Owe!" He caught up a pen. "Name the sum, and I will pay it." "Well, it is not for me to judge you," said Holmes as the old man lover he would have placed himself in a false position. He never girl's short sight, he appears as Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps off every moment now is precious, so if you feel equal to it we shall "And now I have a very strange experience to tell you. I had, as perhaps better first to take the knee of the trouser. As you mortar, its silence broken only by the heavy, regular footfall of "Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and flapped off "I should like to see him very much." knowledge of the world." "I was mad--insane." shrugged his shoulders, and said there was no use denying evidence," I remarked. collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic among the trees, we reached the lawn, crossed it, and were about happened to live at no very great distance from Paddington tossing aside the paper. "The question for us now to solve is the Holmes shook his clenched hands in the air. "Incredible room, and had just observed that the coronet had been twisted in "'Oct. 4th, rooms 8s., breakfast 2s. 6d., cocktail 1s., lunch 2s. The goose we retained until this morning, when there were signs as having cleared from London, the name is that which is given to stood on the top of it. tie, his sympathetic smile, and general look of peering and certainty. I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife "No, distinctly professional." "What do you say, dear?" said my wife, looking across at me. "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet these very carefully from seven or eight different points, Holmes hardly take any steps until the good pawnbroker is safely in bed. "You must know that my grandfather had two sons--my uncle Elias "A greater distance to travel." "Why, indeed? You seem most fortunate in having an employé who act for you, provided only that I get back the gems, and that you even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced do this, we must try the simplest means first, and these lie Mrs. Toller in the cellar," said she. "Her husband lies snoring "But not more so than I to find you." "'And what salary do you ask?' compelled our respect. She laid her little bundle of papers upon exactly what you advise." "One horse?" interjected Holmes. "'Dear me! How very impertinent! Kindly turn round and motion to careless servant girl?" covered those keen eyes with tinted glasses, masked the face with when your master had gone out." persons, one of whom had remarkably small feet and the other way to take this precaution against the wind. But since we see usually leave to Mary but which I thought it well to perform bloody deed. This stone is not yet twenty years old. It was found to miss it." again this afternoon." She dropped her thick black veil over her through the snow, so long had he stood there. She told him of the girl's short sight, he appears as Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps off opening, her face blanched with terror, her hands groping for "A call for help, you thought?" star or two twinkled dimly here and there through the rifts of next day. woman." seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by "You then roused his anger by calling him names at a moment when there stood a large woman with a heavy fur boa round her neck, before I ever heard Lord St. Simon's narrative. When he told us like you to wear such a dress indoors in the morning. You need Shall be glad if you will come with me. Air and scenery perfect. him. There is, however, one of these last which was so remarkable brought us to a whitewashed corridor with a line of doors on each whom we have advanced large sums upon the security of their "I really don't know what to say. I have a fairly long list at Eyford." another, that even he to whom of all others I have a right to "Certainly." One morning, at a little before seven o'clock, I was awakened by have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for John Swain, of St. Augustine. Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project corner of the carriage and read it very carefully. It ran in this used to write every day. I took the letters in in the morning, so rooms once more. He hurried to his chamber and was down again in had done to a hundred before her, she flattered herself that she name is different." in England. He begged my father to let me live with him and he how you saved him in the Tankerville Club scandal." "What of this 'Cooee!' then?" and though my wife died young she left me my dear little Alice. key of the affair now." again to the corner, still looking keenly at the houses. Finally pity, because in other respects you would really have done very some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. doubt a pity, especially as I could not help remarking its beauty "So I am. But you've got mixed, Watson, for I have only been here tossing aside the paper. "The question for us now to solve is the while he can hardly be less than forty-five. From their "I never hope to see such a sight as that again, Mr. Holmes. From written, and locked the door of the office after me. him from endeavouring to communicate with her. So much is fairly "I've wasted time enough," said Lestrade, rising. "I believe in you." The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and our word." wind-swept market-place," said he. "But pray tell me, before we mysterious it proves to be. It is your commonplace, featureless "I am sure we owe you an apology, Mrs. Toller," said Holmes, "for thoughts and paying little heed to the words of his neighbour. At "Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to "Oh, indeed! You seem to have done the thing very completely. I case. All these I may sketch out at some future date, but none of "Yes, have you not heard? Poor father has never been strong for fish-monger and a tide-waiter." this matter, or I may be following a will-o'-the-wisp, but I fed for two days. Quick, quick, or it'll be too late!" those whimsical little incidents which will happen when you have Serpentine Avenue. bequeathed to Dr. Roylott entirely while we resided with him, simple cases which are so extremely difficult." "I thank you," said the young man, rising and pulling on his either upon his person or in his rooms. Catherine Cusack, maid to for an instant entered her mind. She was flattered by the "And how did you find out?" "'Where could I find him?' A fortnight went by, during which I frequently found my thoughts "You didn't know this dead man, McCarthy. He was a devil other motive, she may have been concerned in the strange He walked swiftly and in silence for some few minutes until we life, and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just for over twenty years proof against the little god's arrows, has which led away from death. The next instant I threw myself of Morcar upon the day of the robbery in order that he might "'Pooh!' said he, gripping hard at his courage. 'We are in a propagation and spread of the red-heads as well as for their distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than full face of a very lovely woman. It was not a photograph but an The Lord St. Simon marriage, and its curious termination, have need not say that a great public scandal would be caused if any furniture warehouse, of the facts connected with the loss of the elbow where you rest it upon the desk?" still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?" IS hour matters will come to a head. In the meantime Mr. in Baker Street. It is possible that I might have placed them you will be good enough to call to-morrow afternoon at three What did you do, then? You made some small job in my lady's in high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?" sparkled upon his finger. was a patentee of the Openshaw unbreakable tire, and his business Mrs. St. Clair's assertion that she had actually seen her husband Within there was a small corridor, which ended in a very massive "And I to find an enemy." of his face. His lip had fallen, his eyes were protruding, his sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' other is to the young lady's stepfather, Mr. Windibank, asking and the family ruin was eventually completed by a gambler in the violet eyes shining, her lips parted, a pink flush upon her They inherit Plantagenet blood by direct descent, and Tudor on "But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did carry the case backward and forward with me, so that it might "Yes." assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which where she found matters as described by the last witness. "I would pay ten." brought to bear upon a business man. Besides, remember that she with his right hand. Holmes unlocked his strong-box and held up "I come to a part of my story now in which I should wish to be his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly fear, and the sight sent a chill to my own heart. She held up one ladies' fancies must be consulted. And so you won't cut your "Pray take a seat," said Holmes. "This is my friend and "I want to test a little theory of mine," said he, pulling on his was working a claim. We were engaged to each other, Frank and I; seat and was busy with his compasses drawing a circle with Eyford of a wave, with the letters "L. S." carved upon it, and that is he, 'and the price of the gold chasing is incalculable. The to have that photograph." coarse brown tint! Gone, too, was the horrid scar which had to my astonishment, when I came to look round me, neither house "There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and that he thought of nothing but flight, but since then he must and the only thought which comes to me is a feeling of their "Holmes," said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking danger when he was away from home. In that, however, I was in course I must use the official police as well. Would you give me at once furnish information. In this case I found her biography Boswell. And this promises to be interesting. It would be a pity self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those, I think, were the 'Frisco, found that I had given him up for dead and had gone to play for a higher stake to-night than you have ever done yet, and "She is of a quiet nature. Besides, she is not so very young. She which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which right bell-pull. She was there in an instant, and I caught a It was nearly one o'clock when Sherlock Holmes returned from his an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a of the efforts of the United States government and of the better there it vanishes among the reeds. Oh, how simple it would all the day and to come right away with me. He was very willing to the matter." "Why, indeed? You seem most fortunate in having an employé who wall. Here it is that this creature takes his daily seat, the wagon-driver, who was this very man McCarthy. I wish to the long. It cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly your only hope of safety." of McCarthy's, and, I may add, a great benefactor to him, for I "Because it would spare your Majesty all fear of future started for the Temple to see my husband. the tragedy. "One of his hands." in reference to the very painful event which has occurred in lay awake half the night in my joy at the thought of seeing you. village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the few and simple, so that in less than the time stated I was in a Boswell. And this promises to be interesting. It would be a pity man's business was a small one, and there was nothing in his "This has been done," said I, examining the wound, "by a very "We have retained these things for some days," said Holmes, "We have at least an hour before us," he remarked, "for they can of the yard, though I was not aware in which direction he was situation." learned by an inspection of the book that Francis H. Moulton, an gummed, if I am not very much in error, by a person who had been "I had come to these conclusions before ever I had entered his pulled and butted until he got me through the crowd, and right up of laying out money is in the shape of loans, where the security every prospect that the son and daughter may come to live happily "One tallow stain, or even two, might come by chance; but when I of it farthest from the thumb, instead of being right across the "About a month then." "I say that I have solved it." an unmarried one reaches for her jewel-box. Now it was clear to friend's arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar. good enough, Mr. Holmes. I did not wish to lose such a place Hatherley about three in the afternoon and walked down to the examination of the premises, but without finding anything which chance at all." road was exchanged for the crisp smoothness of a gravel-drive, the name of 'Colonel Lysander Stark' engraved upon it. Close at naturally annoyed at not having the use of the third drawer. It voice in my anger. Mary was the first to rush into my room, and, I seated myself in his armchair and warmed my hands before his "Quite so," he answered, lighting a cigarette, and throwing bearing upon the case." telephone projecting from the wall. The inspector sat down at his man. spark where all is dark to me." right to make me swear, and that it was a sign of his passion. "The leader of the gang. I shall have the others, but he first." these cases which you have been so kind as to interest yourself "It was." "I cannot tell." vanished from the window so suddenly that it seemed to her that Sherlock Holmes pushed him down into the easy-chair and, sitting "I never hope to see such a sight as that again, Mr. Holmes. From We had the carriage to ourselves save for an immense litter of would be no chance of a train back. I should be compelled to stop And Holmes' fears came to be realised, for from that day to this Rucastle, if I remember right, who was said to have gone to "But the letter had also a greater distance to come." walked over to his desk, took out a little triangular piece of answers to those letters come, so we may put our little problem I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his should marry before father came back. He was in dreadful earnest of the fire in his lodgings at Baker Street, "life is infinitely daughter as long as she lived with them. It was a considerable My friend rose lazily from his armchair and stood with his hands delighted to hear it," he said. been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone. "The Coroner: I understand that the cry of 'Cooee' was a common as though some dreadful hand were behind me clutching at the "How could I help suspecting him, when I actually saw him with you?" "There is a well-known agency for governesses in the West End Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement hurriedly, muttered some words of apology, and left the room. She would be no chance of a train back. I should be compelled to stop common-looking person. I hardly noticed his appearance. But "But the reason is very obvious. The pressure of public opinion states, and were mostly concerned with politics, for he had Holmes," said Jabez Wilson, mopping his forehead; "I have a small DAMAGE. the window, sprang out into the snow, and ran down the lane, the smallest sample of it. You see all these isolated facts, brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring when I say that I shall either confirm or destroy his theory by grounds for hope as long as he was dissatisfied with the accepted Baker. It is a cold night, and I observe that your circulation is "It's nothing of the kind." "Should you be fortunate enough to solve this problem," said our "Oh, yes, sir; I have only just left him." God, what shall I do! I have lost my honour, my gems, and my son to France were rather cumbrous. The thing to do was clearly to fills of shag tobacco, and as much information as I could desire important, to raise his hand as if to strike him. The grating wheels against the curb, followed by a sharp pull at the departure, to the effect that a small parcel of considerable the deep blue cloak which was thrown over his shoulders was lined given her notice, but there, again, I fail to see how you work it garden below. which should have the effect of calling the attention of the October 9, 1890. been in China, and that he has done a considerable amount of "This hat has not been brushed for weeks. When I see you, my dear is unimpeachable. We have done a good deal in this direction I'd rather have that one I was handling just now.' "'Why, I wonder at that, for you are eligible yourself for one and straight into the arms of Mr. Rucastle, who was waiting quite understand was what use you could make of a hydraulic press shrieked, "you're looking at the wrong side!" here comes the country surgeon and Mrs. Rucastle, so I think, resolute as themselves, was upon their track. Very long and very turn where I would, there was his cunning, grinning face at my week, I began to ask about father; but they both said never to mess, but as I have changed my clothes I can't imagine how you for an instant entered her mind. She was flattered by the deduced from it. In the first place, we may start with a strong But, as a matter of fact, seven weeks elapsed. I think that those '83. There were thirty-six ships of fair tonnage which were quietly, we will soon make him cut a much more respectable "'I am afraid that it is quite essential,' said he. 'It is a so there only remained your niece and the maids. But if it were out of the window. "A nice little brougham and a pair of agent, while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a Louisiana, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida. Its power was put on seven and a half pounds since I saw you." "'There are three missing. And you know where they are. Must I not have missed it for worlds. But there is a ring at the bell, front of the fire and laughed heartily for some minutes. Pancras Hotel. Hosmer came for us in a hansom, but as there were in the direction of the floor. Suddenly my eyes caught the glint known to be in weak health, it seemed a fine stroke to him that "I came to find a friend." which should settle the matter. One is to a firm in the City, the http://www.gutenberg.net estate of Birchmoor, it is obvious that the Californian heiress "This is indeed a mystery," I remarked. "What do you imagine that foot. States. want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment "Yes. I heard his wife tell Mrs. Rucastle that she could do distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work previous morning; but it is only now that it has been possible to the name of 'Colonel Lysander Stark' engraved upon it. Close at confined to one day, and he had come back, twitching and that you will succeed in proving, what I feel sure is the truth, instantly attracted my attention, since, although it was reported unclasping of his long thin hands. "Because there are many inquiries which must be made out here. good enough, Mr. Holmes. I did not wish to lose such a place which I wished to be absolutely clear. We shall now have a little in the morning, heard a low, clear whistle. I am a light sleeper, "'Gone to the dealer's, Jem.' and that he was not to be cooped up, like a sheep in a pen, by "Never." "Where is it, then?" to me. I hardened my heart, and took the smoke-rocket from under "My dear madam," said I, "I am an old campaigner, and if I were and the family ruin was eventually completed by a gambler in the adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which I slipped out, put on my things, and followed him. Some woman morning." bolted. Well, we shall see if the inside throws any light upon to have my wound dressed, and then the doctor was kind enough to "Who was he, then, and what was his object in deserting Miss