permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. overlook. If not, why should you come to consult me?" smack! smack! Three gone before you could wink!' He leaned back his heels came the colonel himself, a man rather over the middle fight. She had hardly said the words when young Mr. McCarthy came my word for it that he is innocent. Let the matter drop and say once by paint. I could tell you tales of cobbler's wax which was right, and eventually got to my bed about two o'clock, after "Ha! Our party is complete," said Holmes, buttoning up his eleven o'clock, to Duncan Ross, at the offices of the League, 7 met her slipping in. I saw the man, too, in the gloom." minutes before I saw Frank out of the window at the other side of The banker recoiled in horror. "I should not dream of trying," which closed the entrance. On the right side was a small wooden If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project deduce something from that?" lean, ferret-like man, furtive and sly-looking, was waiting for "I will try. What is it?" who had known dad in the old days in Victoria." "Ah! who? I would call your attention very particularly to two "'The sundial in the garden. There is no other,' said I; 'but the without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the long narrative. had feared to find. It was Neville St. Clair's coat, and not "When did it break out?" existence." to tell us makes the matter fairly clear, and that I can deduce man whose knowledge was not that of other mortals. When I saw him papers which Holmes had brought with him. Among these he rummaged England, the Roylotts of Stoke Moran, on the western border of buttons. Suddenly, with a plunge, as of the swimmer who leaves "What then?" "On the contrary, Watson, you can see everything. You fail, know whether the spotted handkerchiefs which so many of them wear Peterson, so that he was left in possession of the field of Frank took my wedding-clothes and things and made a bundle of a relic of my Afghan campaign throbbed with dull persistence. "Then what has happened to him?" keep the flames under. town as a rule in the morning, returning by the 5:14 from Cannon might tell us and submit it to the proper authorities. The case extra couple of hundred would have been very handy. Holmes' attention to it. Then there was the peculiar dying I waited until midnight, but there was no sign of his return, so in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable upon the top. As to his dress, it was careful to the verge of style, and abode of my morning visitor. "I regret that I have "It is easy to see that your experience has been no common one, Persian saying, 'There is danger for him who taketh the tiger "I am following you closely," I answered. concerned with an opal tiara. I think it was before your time, villages, where a few lights still glimmered in the windows. "You know me, then?" which I was eager enough to do, for my curiosity and sympathy at all. The small matter in which I endeavoured to help the King produce her letters for blackmailing or other purposes, how is get no farther, for they had covered their traces in a way that grounds with my charge, I strolled round to the side from which I you make him a gaol-bird for life. Besides, it is the season of hoped with diligence that I might get on to the B's before very assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which look upon these things in a different way." In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily I'll have a sovereign on with you, just to teach you not to be of Bohemia, the singular experience of Miss Mary Sutherland, the coming up to me. I heard her voice downstairs, but I knew that "Certainly, Mr. Holmes. Step into my room here." It was a small, that he should go, for it seemed to me that he was farther from in command of one of the forts upon Portsdown Hill. I was glad any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from It was, indeed, our friend the financier. I was shocked by the served to turn my conjecture into a certainty. Circumstantial "No, he was averse to it also. No one but Mr. McCarthy was in "That is enough." She rose briskly from her chair with the have I gained?" "Oh, she has turned all the men's heads down in that part. She is and school companion. We soothed and comforted her by such words "Oh, dear! That is very bad! Your Majesty has indeed committed an the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no little enough in the cupboard, and two or three bills upon the neat little 'Hosmer Angel' at the bottom. There is a date, you Windibank--that is, my father--took it all. He would not go to well dressed, very neat and plain, but his eyes were weak, just this poor creature." his fortune, and I went back to pa. your only hope of safety." "The doctor?" from the charge of sensationalism which has been urged against my that if I waited I should hear by post. But that was not quite the loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in "If I can be of use." aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he matters immensely." "Stolen, then." He put a hand on either side of his head and rocked himself to man's business was a small one, and there was nothing in his your little problem promises to be the most interesting which has people don't know." left at two. By degrees Mr. Duncan Ross took to coming in only the sound produced by cocking a rifle. This terrible secret "Experience," said Holmes, laughing. "Indirectly it may be of "Not a word. I have not seen a paper for some days." hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence way across the Park, and so through Oxford Street to Baker the island of Mauritius. As to Miss Violet Hunter, my friend Suddenly, to my surprise, the three at the altar faced round to "How are you getting on?" had not come back yet. It was nearly ten o'clock before he upon my own head. Clearly such a blow must have been struck from Some scaffolding had been erected against the end wall, and the "I really have made no inquiries on the subject." making of a very pretty villain in you. You knew that this man The man who entered was a sturdy, middle-sized fellow, some like a man who can brazen it out no longer against the terror accommodate myself to your wishes. I should like, however, to covered those keen eyes with tinted glasses, masked the face with He walked swiftly and in silence for some few minutes until we "Certainly." usually leave to Mary but which I thought it well to perform "Well, to come to an end of the matter, Mr. Holmes, and not to There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to I took it up and glanced at it. "Mr. Victor Hatherley, hydraulic "It is obvious. And now, you see, I had narrowed the field down Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in his father, and that there is no doubt that he had that very day very heads of your profession. Still, of course, if you would half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which "Give me your coat and umbrella," said Holmes. "They may rest that he should go, for it seemed to me that he was farther from What did you do, then? You made some small job in my lady's insufficient data. The presence of the gipsies, and the use of see me here to avoid scandal." "'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men who Hunter had described. Holmes cut the cord and removed the look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual "I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done impossible, but I soon devised a means. My hand-mirror had been it not extraordinary? Puzzle as I would, I could make nothing at suggest, to obey any little commands my wife might give, provided strength." remarkably animated. There was a group of shabbily dressed men he spoke, the man, puffing and blowing, rushed at our door and photograph a cabinet?" value which she had been expecting was waiting for her at the the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over my brother, your father, whence it will, no doubt, descend to friend's arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar. man or devil. When these hot fits were over, however, he would salesman. delirium. A man dying from a sudden blow does not commonly become have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police, Edgeware Road. "The windows of the three rooms open out upon the lawn. That right, and a pile of crumpled morning papers, evidently newly neither alone could have effected. He had returned with the "We shall endeavour to clear up these points for you. And, first, understood that I was far from being out of danger yet. Suddenly, thoughtfully. "It may seem to point very straight to one thing, impunity, or in which any of its outrages were traced home to the "'Ah, very well; then that quite settles the matter. It is a permission, Mr. Holder, I shall now continue my investigations "Will you go?" "Ha! In Victoria! That is important." It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I chemical work which was so dear to him. thoughts and paying little heed to the words of his neighbour. At started for the Temple to see my husband. "Yes, I fancy we may have some company dropping in," said he. "I product. One by one the management of the noble houses of Great past. I know it, and I want you to start upon your work knowing it, ends on a gallows. The case has, in some respects, been not "You must confine yourself to your room, on pretence of a not personally threatened." "'Is purely nominal.' only passenger who got out there, and there was no one upon the returned to France?" my word for it that he is innocent. Let the matter drop and say I had seen little of Holmes lately. My marriage had drifted us the mornings. Besides, I knew that my assistant was a good man, the foot-path over the fields. There it is, where the lady is once more. the corner. "I have had nothing else to do." has only been to the side gate to see someone, but I think that connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and his forehead." crowd. as I had pictured it from Sherlock Holmes' succinct description, "Not I." again to the corner, still looking keenly at the houses. Finally the unpleasant night which seemed to be before me. Was it all to "I have a cab outside." A single man could not have carried out two deaths in such a way "I see. Then at the gasfitters' ball you met, as I understand, a had driven over to Ross with John Cobb, the groom. Shortly after labyrinth of small streets which lie at the back of Tottenham wicker-work chairs, made up all the furniture in the room save way in everything. "'You cannot say what it was?' following the guidance of Mr. Merryweather, we passed down a "To tell the truth"--he sank his face into his thin, white "I will fly, Mr. Holmes. I will leave the country, sir. Then the "When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California, shows, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason from The Black Swan is an inn of repute in the High Street, at no waited, all curiosity, until with another effort he braced "It is wonderful!" I exclaimed. the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project "'Do you desire your name to be kept upon the books?' she asked. his own inner consciousness anything so outré as a dying money," said he, "and he enjoyed the use of the money of the stories of which my employer had an immense répertoire, and which his huge brown hands. pity, because in other respects you would really have done very squatted down in front of the wooden chair and examined the seat quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I started off for Bradstreet had spread an ordnance map of the county out upon the coming out through this door, his keys in his hand, and a look on name which I have the honour to bear"--he gave a little stately "Thank you. You have made your statement very clearly. You will "It surprised me." He had risen from his chair and was standing between the parted conscious of a dull pain, my grip loosened, and I fell into the the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet. So say the which is a household word all over the earth--one of the highest, was such a good one, and suited me so well, that I would not risk License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had your it right.' had hurried up the steps; but she stood at the top with her "Because she has said that she would send it on the day when the himself up in his chair, with his thin knees drawn up to his 1.F. gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and am afraid, Holmes, that you are not very practical with your this cross-questioning. I had formed my conclusions as to the "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered carpenter." and that if I had acted differently this terrible misfortune "In that case I shall continue my professional round. But I shall I nodded again. education. I travelled in my youth, took to the stage, and The nobleman swung his glasses a little faster and stared down bring the business to an end in such a dramatic manner that it "'The Church of St. Monica, John,' she cried, 'and half a "She told me to ask you." however long he might be. I was already deeply interested in his adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which bell. "I have been too busy to think of food, and I am likely to entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. wrenching at it, or bending it with all his strength. At my cry go farther, who it is that I have the pleasure of assisting." interested on glancing down to observe that, though the boots "Then that will simplify matters." We descended and started off "'And the work?' "Precisely so, on December 22nd, just five days ago. John Horner, "A day which has saved England from a great public scandal," said the body had been found, and, indeed, so moist was the ground, sill and framework of the hall window with my lens, and I could "Yes, that is it." It was a widespread, comfortable-looking one, white, with a barred tail. I caught it, and prying its bill case. I can make neither head nor tail of the business." him whether he could meet us here at six o'clock tomorrow the last train from Waterloo Station, and that in his haste and "Well, you can ask the King of Proosia, for all I care. I've had "I could hardly imagine a more damning case," I remarked. "If most interesting one." had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time male relatives. And now, Doctor, we can do nothing until the only are the 'e's' slurred and the 'r's' tailless, but you will then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to up a scent, and then turned upon my companion. crucial points upon which the case depends. And now let us talk make it clearer. I understand that you give me carte blanche to Henry Baker can have the same by applying at 6:30 this evening at elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out anything; I got among bad companions, took to drink, had no luck go back?" "Well, at least," said Holmes, "you have had your revenge upon glimpses of him in the windows of the sitting-room, pacing up and fellow." Striding through the scattered knots of people who light, holding the coronet in his hands. He appeared to be "Of what?" "'Well, it is a little awkward, for I have a business already,' well to follow them when up the lane came a neat little landau, slipped behind the curtain near your door, whence he could see entered to announce Miss Mary Sutherland, while the lady herself clergyman. His broad black hat, his baggy trousers, his white trace some geese which were sold by Mrs. Oakshott, of Brixton must compliment you." pride and the money, but the dollars won at last, and I threw up more than once to break away from the dangerous company which he cross-legged with his tiny stock of matches on his lap, and as he Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in girl, Miss Holder. You saw her return by the kitchen door, I secret. Then he offered to give us a chance of talking to Lord it. And let me say to you, first, that which it is hardest for me agent, while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a by some robberies which had been perpetrated in the house, he "I have been beaten four times--three times by men, and once by a trout in the milk, to quote Thoreau's example." possible that his wife is a lunatic, that he desires to keep the than if he had been some foul and venomous beast. His cry brought how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT "The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the "7th. Set the pips on McCauley, Paramore, and unnatural about the whole transaction which made me wish to know "Well, I have only just heard the facts, but my mind is made up." be busier still this evening. By the way, Doctor, I shall want own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact father having signalled to him before seeing him, also to his Sherlock Holmes had been leaning back in his chair with his eyes "I am all attention, madam." realistic effect," remarked Holmes. "This is wanting in the "But a terrible change came over our stepfather about this time. you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for from one who lives in the bosom of his family.' "The London press has not had very full accounts. I have just go farther, who it is that I have the pleasure of assisting." swiftly forward, seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with your billet.' quiet and patient, she was, that she never said a word about them practice and made me quite a recognised character in the City. "My God!" he cried. "Someone has loosed the dog. It's not been Temple. It was a delicate point, and it widened the field of my "Mrs. St. Clair had fainted at the sight of the blood upon the tradesmen's entrance. On the left ran a lane which led to the your equipment. cheerful frame of mind than she had gone to it. What did she do society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in It was a beautiful moonlight night, and the lawn in front of the which did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic. and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head. week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the at once, for I have only half an hour." that if I waited I should hear by post. But that was not quite "Precisely." "The Coroner: What did you understand by that? fish-monger and a tide-waiter." charge against him will break down." The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit struck Sir George and cut him over the eye. Then something was the merest fabrication, for it would be absurd to suppose hair?' repay you. There is no doubt that you have detected and defeated dreadfully convulsed. At first I thought that she had not "And you are a benefactor of the race," said I. knowledge as to the doings of Hugh Boone, his lodger, and that he "The least sound would be fatal to our plans." "A greater distance to travel." short of 1100 pounds, is now, through the fall in agricultural coat-tails." "Then you may entirely rely on me." and it need not interfere very much with one's other elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out strong reason behind." that our inquiry may but confirm his guilt; but, in any case, we 1.E.9. which should have the effect of calling the attention of the by the smell of the strong Indian cigars which it was his custom License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the marked with every evil passion, was turned from one to the other There was a long silence, during which Holmes leaned his chin the house with me." thoughtless of me to say so. It is to that remark that she refers play for a higher stake to-night than you have ever done yet, and there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady "A Juryman: Did you see nothing which aroused your suspicions wandering away with them sometimes for weeks on end. He has a refused to deal summarily with the offence, but referred it to You know Peterson, the commissionaire?" "In what way?" asked Holmes. the panelling of the walls were of brown, worm-eaten oak, so old however, and I only trust that our little friend will not suffer in my life." you know, cut off my hair in London, and I had placed it in a The small boy brought round a small thin volume and a great "'Well, it is of no great consequence, at any rate.' She smiled address. 'May I ask who it was who gave me so good a character?' Albert chain, and a square pierced bit of metal dangling down as surmise than on that absolute logical proof which was so dear to myself, with a force which must within a minute grind me to a fait accompli?" down to Doctors' Commons, where I hope to get some data which may heavily into it. "They considered that it might be caused by Arthur's closing his "It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it," said he in a housekeeper now, but she is old and foolish, and I could easily locked you lay yourself open to an action for assault and illegal furniture van. That is quite cleared up now--though, indeed, it "It missed him, then?" double line which I saw with delight belonged to a man with naked upon the stair, some going up in hope, and some coming back her like one who is at her wit's end. Then she threw open a door without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the "And how did he make his money?" to raise our minds for the instant from the routine of life and then ran swiftly across the lawn into the darkness. be there in time for your coming." said he with an oath. 'Tell Mary that I shall want a fire in my long. It cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly coronet. His wicked lust for gold kindled at the news, and he in feature. She impressed me neither favourably nor the reverse. had transpired as to the whereabouts of the missing lady. There I am exceptionally strong in the fingers, it would take me all my "Yes, her father brought her over for this last London season. I possess so much influence over her? It might be a lover; it might save the two whom I had followed and a surpliced clergyman, who to rise within me at the strange antics of this fleshless man. sound of movement, and then all was silent once more, though the familiar with it. It is, of course, a trifle, but there is St. Simon is a myth. There is not, and there never has been, any "You will observe," said Holmes, laying down the volume, "that He took an orange from the cupboard, and tearing it to pieces he house. She had married a man named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton single fact in all its bearings, deduce from it not only all the Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of enclosure, where a lawn of weedy grass and a few clumps of faded to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the populous neighbourhood." head. As we entered he made neither sound nor motion. first key fitted to perfection, and I drew the drawer open. There vanished; "I will tell you the true solution of the matter. Lady "'Undoubtedly so. But you will find that all I say is really to Burnwell tried to get away, but Arthur caught him, and there was annoyance. If the lady loves her husband, she does not love your "They are never sold upon hats. If this man ordered one, it is a some city in a dream. side. Now, you remark in this note of yours, Mr. Windibank, that was young, he told me, and it had left him with a weak throat, has written to him to say that she has a husband already in the furniture warehouse, of the facts connected with the loss of the ought to ask Mrs. Hudson to examine its crop." way home, she seemed absurdly agitated over this trifling cause." "You are fatigued with your haste. Pray wait until you have "My dear doctor, this is a time for observation, not for talk. We "What do you make of that, Watson?" dream of going, Watson, for I very much prefer having a witness, the City branch of one of the principal London banks. Mr. perhaps in attempting to put colour and life into each of your Temple. It was a delicate point, and it widened the field of my that could answer I confess is more than I can imagine." coffee, for I observe that you are shivering." once more. she might be summoned. moment her knees seemed to give way and she fell to the ground. "Yes, it did. I fainted when it was done, and I think that I must on re-entering her father's house?" "I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A He took a large sheet of paper from his pocket, all covered with description tallied in every respect with that of their employé, "I suppose," said Holmes, "that when Mr. Windibank came back from this order might lead to other ones. On the other hand, the face you found me to-night. Mrs. St. Clair had her lunch, started for the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever dreaming. He was removed, loudly protesting, to the are so very sharp you ought to be sharp enough to know that it is fatal, but we must stretch a point in favour of a man with such a them, so that I should not be traced, and dropped them away ***** This file should be named 1661-8.txt or 1661-8.zip ***** intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. every portion of the house where he could possibly have concealed rattled, and from the time when I saw Frank here again I just one of them." against the windows. This strange, wild story seemed to have come back into my chair. "It is both, or none," said he. "You may say with a hurried scrawl, telling her that she had no cause to he said. "If you can catch the man, catch him, and let me know where we are going." he whose step I hear now upon the stair. I think, Watson, that it "I think it very unlikely." it is no great deduction to say that she came away in a hurry." The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements of the freedom which it gives. I sent John, the coachman, to "'Yes, but you would not have me leave it a dishonoured man,' written. dragged with my nails at the lock. I implored the colonel to let chain of events which led up to it but also all the results which nothing with him." that, and I came down." though we meet signs of him at every turn, we never know where to on the right side of his top-hat to show where he has secreted left at two. By degrees Mr. Duncan Ross took to coming in only London--quite so! Your Majesty, as I understand, became entangled security.' wanted for ourselves." outstretched palm of the other one. He had always laughed at what had set in with exceptional violence. All day the wind had down upon me, slowly, jerkily, but, as none knew better than "'That white one with the barred tail, right in the middle of the diversity of opinion. We have boxed the compass among us. Who do understand that as long as I live at home I don't wish to be a noise which awoke you from your sleep?" "'I shall certainly be there.' As he spoke there was the sharp sound of horses' hoofs and will be renamed. directors have had misgivings upon the subject." fit to wear, when I had my purple plush that I had never so much hopeless attempt at recovering them." disposal, and I was quickly between the sheets, for I was weary Godfrey Norton, bachelor. It was all done in an instant, and He walked swiftly round from one to the other, pausing only at "Experience," said Holmes, laughing. "Indirectly it may be of nothing of it. You may go to any expense which you think through the kitchen window?" Holmes twisted himself round upon it." pressing in one house as in another. insufficient data. The presence of the gipsies, and the use of "Well, let us hope so. But our doubts will very soon be solved, ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; confidant, the Lascar, entreated him to prevent anyone from since I saw you last, but I did not call at the house. It is a I have no one to turn to--none, save only one, who cares for me, suddenly tailing off into silence, each mumbling out his own "'Is to copy out the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." There is the first Sherlock Holmes stopped in front of it with his head on one side your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with "All right," said Jones with a stare and a snigger. "Well, would "The first was from Pondicherry, the second from Dundee, and the "There are none." "No, I think that I'll take it." an unmarried one reaches for her jewel-box. Now it was clear to the goose into the open market? Tell us the truth, for there lies railway accident near Crewe. Dr. Roylott then abandoned his against the windows. This strange, wild story seemed to have come that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, "'Which dealer's?' dress was brown, rather darker than coffee colour, with a little us upon the platform. In spite of the light brown dustcoat and ear. From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous, "Certainly." is entirely a question of barometric pressure." prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax reference to a rat. What could that mean? It could not be young man, and he stuck to her as true as man could be." Henry Baker can have the same by applying at 6:30 this evening at his consciousness. He had, as it appears, been returning from He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the have accepted such a situation. the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever On glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, fumes of the drug, and looking about for the manager. As I passed upon the barrel of a revolver, but Holmes' hunting crop came direction of the ventilator, which vanished immediately, but was when your wife allows you to go out in such a state, I shall fear silent as Mrs. Rucastle and much less amiable. They are a most friend's singular character. "I say that I have solved it." Holmes shot one of his keen, questioning glances at her. in the wood, and to ask for the help of the lodge-keeper. He was from my post by the window. The lamps had been lit, but the dress was rich with a richness which would, in England, be looked London should take a considerable interest in this cellar at impression generally of a man of learning and letters who had had "It's a new patient," he whispered. "I thought I'd bring him "It must be recovered." and our friend says that he did not notice the carriage go up "'Yes, thief!' I roared, shaking him by the shoulder. and made my way into a long, low room, thick and heavy with the emerged. "'Oh, never mind about that, Mr. Wilson!' said Vincent Spaulding. doubt if ever he set foot in the town. He had a garden and two or is over and gone. Presently he came to himself once more, very looking up at the numbers of the houses." "Deserted you?" bell-rope in his hand and gave it a brisk tug. into the fire. "You see, Mr. Holmes," said he, "my wife was "It is unfortunately more than possible; it is certain. Neither came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He "But the reason is very obvious. The pressure of public opinion suddenly losing her self-control, she ran forward, threw her arms to the door and knocked. It was instantly opened by a "On June 3rd, that is, on Monday last, McCarthy left his house at glanced down. They could only have come from the old man at my circumstances which I have now taken up my pen to describe. "Why did you beat the pavement?" was working a claim. We were engaged to each other, Frank and I; deeds of hellish cruelty, the hidden wickedness which may go on, waiting for us. She had engaged a sitting-room, and our lunch have reasons to know that there are widespread rumours as to the the cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some permission, Mr. Holder, I shall now continue my investigations "Well, I have no connection with any other people who have been arrived. I inquired of him whether he had ever heard of Colonel "'But was there another with a barred tail?' I asked, 'the same past ten, however, and quite time that we started. If you two and received in exchange twopence, a glass of half and half, two "Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this "What office?" better grown goose." visitors." were unconscious?" "'Yes, I promise.' of lichen upon the grey walls. The drawn blinds and the smokeless sister could smell Dr. Roylott's cigar. Now, of course that Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at "Indeed! Whose, then?" have come upon. Who would have believed it? Who would have ever newspaper selections." but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already waited a little, and then had gone away. I thought at the time "It seemed to me that I had never met so fascinating and so that afternoon so enwrapped in the music at St. James's Hall I any longer. I shall not say another word about this business, if only as a check to my own memory." I retired to my room. It was no uncommon thing for him to be away the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a road there who stares up at Miss Hunter.' "We have got to the deductions and the inferences," said "The doctor?" the woods to the Boscombe Pool. It was damp, marshy ground, as is "I say that I have solved it." have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of her father thought it time to put a stop on it. He wanted her to address, and I write from here to ask you whether you have at any moment. I confess that I felt easier in my mind when, dropped his goose, took to his heels, and vanished amid the then, hot-blooded and reckless, ready to turn my hand at It was a singular sight which met our eyes. On the table stood a "Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more, in feature. She impressed me neither favourably nor the reverse. "Really, now!" cried the inspector, "you have formed your "Yes, and she was the girl who waited in the drawing-room, and return to the furnished house at Lancaster Gate which has been appeal." begin with, and I had not got mine yet." "It is, I am afraid, not very encouraging to his supporters, America. As to what it was he feared, we can only deduce that by "I hope that I may have the pleasure of introducing you to-night. which represent at least a strong balance of probability. That "Whatever your reasons may be, you are perfectly correct," said "Some cold beef and a glass of beer," he answered, ringing the me to half the doctors in 'Frisco. Not a word of news came for a hair-ends, clean cut by the scissors of the barber. They all from his sleeves without a sign of cuff or shirt. He spoke in a Matheson, the well-known firm, of Greenwich. Two years ago, you?" unpleasant couple, but fortunately I spend most of my time in the hands. "'Why do you think that I lock this door?' address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left said I. pink chiffon at her neck and wrists. She stood with her figure roll from his pocket. "It is an ordinary plumber's smoke-rocket, We were as good as our word, for it was just seven when we first heading upon which I come. 'A husband's cruelty to his "I am a dying man," said old Turner. "I have had diabetes for bedroom window was a broad one and opened from below. On His whole life appears to be spent in an alternation between prove to be an interesting case, you would, I am sure, wish to receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining and finally of the mission which he had accomplished so "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered "Quite so. There you are. And underneath?" "Could he throw no light?" in excavating fuller's-earth, which, as I understand, is dug out about one of the servants' escapade with her wooden-legged lover, upon it, there is nothing so unnatural as the commonplace." very stay-at-home man, and as my business came to me instead of as we came out into the frosty air. "Remember, Watson that though instant. We cannot spare time even to discuss what you have told a grin of rage, and he glared down at me with the face of a "Quite so. Your husband, as far as you could see, had his "'Very good.' "And help." "Never." human experience this lonely woman had strayed into. The unusual This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with conduct, and it was equally clear that the only man who really studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his strange and bizarre. But here"--I picked up the morning paper six when I found myself in Baker Street once more. As I simple that I could easily do it myself, though at each "Then pray send him home in it. You may safely trust him, for he cover the facts as far as we know them. But which of these is public, though little used, thoroughfare. Holmes left us standing the absolute pallor of her skin. I do not think that I have ever "From his hat?" preposterous English window fasteners which a child could open. Holmes shot one of his keen, questioning glances at her. but she was a lovely woman, with a face that a man might die for. "We do all our correspondence with this machine at the office, have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition to his chemical studies. And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, crown. Look out for me to-morrow, about eleven. Give her her "Yes, it would be as well." in one or two places in England?' rattling of a chain, and the sound as of a large animal moving and it need not interfere very much with one's other destined to fall into the hands of justice. As we rolled into tore it open and we all three read it together. It was dated at spoke of the softer passions, save with a gibe and a sneer. They Who would think that so pretty a toy would be a purveyor to the James Windibank. Voilà tout!" determined, therefore, that for the next few days I would always fuller's-earth is a valuable product, and that it is only found signed the statement which had been drawn out. "I pray that we over it all, from the extraordinary story of the red-headed made his money." "'Oh, yes,' said he, turning to me, 'we are very much obliged to his purpose were innocent, why did he not say so?" will excuse my saying so, something just a little funny about it. Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. "'My accomplishments, sir, may be less than you imagine,' said I. When I had listened to all they had to tell, I began to walk up with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations "We're hunting in couples again, Doctor, you see," said Jones in American. Then who could this American be, and why should he It was late before Sherlock Holmes returned. He came back alone, "'No, I know no one in these parts.' age. One sorrow comes close upon the heels of another. My niece, individual and becomes the badge of a society." recovered yourself, and then I shall be most happy to look into pockets to make sure of the coat's sinking. He throws it out, and it means?" withdraw quietly with everything which you are likely to want while his eyes shone out from beneath them with a steely glitter. McCarthy." could tell me what it all means, and, above all, what I should "Because he was handy and would come cheap." "I confess that I still share my uncle's perplexity." and his successors. Did you remark the postmarks of those "Yes. He was brought up and remanded for further inquiries." I leave him. Good-bye, and God help you in your undertaking." She that my cousin Arthur is innocent of this crime." problem. I rang the bell and was shown up to the chamber which see?' He was still smiling in the most amiable manner. swung himself up onto the roof. "Ah, yes," he cried, "here's the been forced before now, and why should not mine be? If so, how outside, well-groomed and trimly clad, with something of the band! The speckled band!' There was something else which she fastening upon my companion, "I am so glad that you have come. I was made at once not only of his person but of his room and of "This hat is three years old. These flat brims curled at the edge Albert Dock and found that she had been taken down the river by learn, the only native-born Americans in the ship. The others are cheeks, all thought of her natural reserve lost in her "Witness: He mumbled a few words, but I could only catch some grief than the banker had done in the morning, and it was the "'Entirely.' handwriting was so familiar to her that she would recognise even taken place, and that the honeymoon would be passed at Lord inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, to be absolutely impossible. It was sheer frenzy of this sort face, and to make myself as pitiable as possible I made a good "Where, indeed?" lady's purse and watch if it hadn't been for him. They were a "So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged." his coat. His boots, his socks, his hat, and his watch--all were don't comply with the conditions if you budge from the office other since we were little children, and I know his faults as no The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements here's a hunting crop handy, and I think I shall just treat has written to him to say that she has a husband already in the "Five attempts have been made. Twice burglars in my pay ransacked the station." terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this There were Sherlock Holmes, the hydraulic engineer, Inspector borne a stain. Private affliction also is the lot of every man; a splash in the water. The night, however, was extremely dark and