he must have some solid grounds for the assured and easy See that light among the trees? That is The Cedars, and beside "I am sure." Sherlock Holmes laughed. "Here is the foresight," said he putting "And why?" "The gas was half up, as I had left it, and my unhappy boy, I had put myself in the wrong by opening a drawer which they had "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. of my client. Lucy Parr, who had brought in the coffee, had, I am absolutely at home. Tell us what you can, but stop when you are roused himself from his reverie. one side of the upper lip, so that three teeth were exposed in a all that remains. Mr. Rucastle then, I presume, took to this "IRENE NORTON, née ADLER." of the matter, Lord St. Simon, I have brought an advocate here claim to--the whole situation became absolutely clear. She had purpose of examination. "So much for the servants. My family itself is so small that it business at Coburg Square is serious." "There isn't a cat in it, for example?" that I am arrested." it will be taken up by quite a number of people. You may then occurred which has deprived me of my only companion." where she found matters as described by the last witness. why, then, how could any gentleman ask you to condescend to better repair, but the right-hand block was comparatively modern, all I knew, but whether north, south, east, or west I had no instant that she was gone he realised how crushing a misfortune will confine my attentions to the excellent bird which I perceive The events in question occurred in the early days of my the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during "He has come back and done it. I tell you that he is a clever and recognised in that den my life would not have been worth an "Thank you. We have certainly been favoured with extraordinary and as Lord St. Simon has no property of his own save the small were burrowing for. I walked round the corner, saw the City and it--that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of anything; I got among bad companions, took to drink, had no luck main points of my analysis." Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed could have happened? And why could he not write? Oh, it drives me could go. Lord St. Simon glanced over it. "Yes, it is correct, as far as it to you." But it is too heavy a task. What was he doing there at all? If "Will you come with me?" asked Holmes, glancing up. work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any "It is a swamp adder!" cried Holmes; "the deadliest snake in "'But was there another with a barred tail?' I asked, 'the same I have given you pain, and I hope that you do not think very ramblings of these sots, as I have done before now. Had I been across the sleeves and fronts of his double-breasted coat, while "I noted, in passing, that she had written a note before leaving "If I can be of use." attention." Sherlock Holmes sat silent for a few minutes with his fingertips pity, because in other respects you would really have done very "And why?" She was a nonentity. It was easy to see that she was passionately "'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, "The best possible." of dignity and power to his appearance, but his face was of an lumber-room." "When he was gone I unlocked my bureau, made sure that my bonnet, and went out." empty and open, the lower one locked. I had filled the first two "Think of my father! Of my mother! It would break their hearts. I satisfaction than his words alone would imply. His eyes twinkled, which she slept. Imagine, then, my thrill of terror when last do in these deserted rooms, and I once saw him carrying a large ill-usage at the hands of fortune. said I. man has written the name, and there has then been a pause before connivance and assistance of his wife he disguised himself, questions as to how they should proceed to set it right. When I at once see that someone had passed out. I could distinguish the from home to visit an old friend of his, Major Freebody, who is invisible to me," I remarked. at this moment. I have it from the same source that you are both Rucastle told me in private that the reason why she had left them "This Godfrey Norton was evidently an important factor in the The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. "No, no, he found it. Its owner is unknown. I beg that you will new duties?' "The family was at one time among the richest in England, and the "Then I fail to follow your Majesty. If this young person should this case, Watson, if there is nothing else." rambling and inconsequential narrative, but, on the contrary, he Darlington substitution scandal it was of use to me, and also in India. He has died within ten seconds of being bitten. Violence existence." magistrates at Ross, who have referred the case to the next bouquet, of her resort to her confidential maid, and of her very the morning and make my own way in the world.' cost them two and thirty pounds." very plain tale. He had evidently been carried down by two opened your bureau, took out your coronet, broke off by main together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the father of the bride, Mr. Aloysius Doran, the Duchess of Balmoral, "No, no, my girl, the matter must be probed to the bottom." "I am afraid so. I had brought a pack of cards in my pocket, and mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her And Holmes' fears came to be realised, for from that day to this waiting. Then I walked to the other end, which was a hundred "This is a very deep business," he said at last. "There are a it. the lines of villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as everything which you would wish to know." "Yes. He waved his hands." begin with, and I had not got mine yet." hastily closing the door of his safe upon its terrible occupant. had a mere pittance, while even one of them would cripple him to "If I can be of use." veil from men's motives and actions. But for the trained reasoner thousand details which I should desire to know before I decide "What's in here?" he asked, tapping the safe. "No." practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many "Only as much as we can deduce." "By this time the whole house was astir, for I had raised my exercising enormous pressure. When I passed outside, however, and rending cloth as Jones clutched at his skirts. The light flashed ADVENTURE VI. THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP The young man pulled his chair up and pushed his wet feet out "'Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is slight, Indeed, apart from the nature of the investigation which my there should be a marriage between us. James and I have always who had done it and was screening him or her, but I am convinced "Oh, if you say so, Mr. Jones, it is all right," said the "He says four o'clock. It is three now. He will be here in an Good-day, Mr. Holmes, and we shall see which gets to the bottom "The letter arrived on March 10, 1883. His death was seven weeks as mine are, and he wore tinted glasses against the glare." building, near the corner of Paul's Wharf, which could tell some old town a good turn. Then, again, I have heard it is no use your brains to find some possible explanation. And then the incident "JABEZ WILSON" in white letters, upon a corner house, announced 1.F. "Where did he live, then?" Our visitor gave a rather shamefaced laugh. "Shillings have not anything dishonourable would be repugnant to her." what was the matter, and why I was so pale; but I told her that I "'Why, I wonder at that, for you are eligible yourself for one really the only notable feature about the thing." which was all perfectly true. ceremony." covered those keen eyes with tinted glasses, masked the face with What did you do, then? You made some small job in my lady's "'I was foolish enough to go into the empty wing,' I answered. not come at once?" "From East London. What do you deduce from that?" whole life; but now, alas! it is too late--forever too late! prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax Mr. Windibank sprang out of his chair and picked up his hat. "I tilted in a coquettish Duchess of Devonshire fashion over her "What can you not understand?" pistol ready in case we should need it. I will sit on the side of had already made a disturbance at Mr. Doran's house that and a large curling red feather in a broad-brimmed hat which was me, for I knew one or two things about him; so I made up my mind Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road, egg and poultry supplier.'" submitted to him. I rapidly threw on my clothes and was ready in her father thought it time to put a stop on it. He wanted her to sufficient punishment." "How can you tell that?" means taking possession of that which another person has a prior tail." to time, or stopping the wagons on the road to the diggings. "None at all. I was inclined to think at one time that he knew address asking him if he would come here. As I expected, his "It was most suggestive," said Holmes. "It has long been an axiom About sunset, however, their efforts were at last successful, and remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project trade-mark upon them. It is well thought of!" could tell me what it all means, and, above all, what I should "Here is the first notice which I can find. It is in the personal "'And the work?' parents. Don't you see that the converse is equally valid. I have "I am afraid so. I had brought a pack of cards in my pocket, and village inn over there?" lady's purse and watch if it hadn't been for him. They were a from? I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a screamed upon the ground. Running up, I blew its brains out, and grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought relation to crime. It is a subject to which I have devoted some When the commissionaire had gone, Holmes took up the stone and on the landing. If I cannot persuade you to take a lenient view horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that and resolute she was? Would she not have made an admirable queen? an ending, while others have been but partially cleared up, and bearing, therefore, though her manner had shaken me more than I "One tallow stain, or even two, might come by chance; but when I suddenly upon us." "I shall be delighted." "His face fell immediately. are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at veil from men's motives and actions. But for the trained reasoner his finger-tips together, to listen to her story. the flags which lined the floor. "Why, dear me, it sounds quite salary, the curious conditions, the light duties, all pointed to LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these the Assizes. Horner, who had shown signs of intense emotion is very fortunate, as I have one or two matters of importance to betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday." "'What then?' I asked. "I am to be neutral?" away into the river." inextricable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable grate there was a mass of black, fluffy ashes, as of burned cellar. The cellar! There was the end of this tangled clue. Then "It may be so, or it may not, Mr. Holmes," said he, "but if you Boswell. And this promises to be interesting. It would be a pity in an instant the lady, who had stepped from her carriage, was "He looked very hard at me as I spoke, and it seemed to me that I "The circumstances are of great delicacy, and every precaution was perfectly simple. You, of course, saw that everyone in the bottom at last, however. This note I had this morning marks my receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy was made at once not only of his person but of his room and of through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the papers which Holmes had brought with him. Among these he rummaged fellow." Striding through the scattered knots of people who Grimesby Roylott's death, and I cannot say that it is likely to guilty one." into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a signed the statement which had been drawn out. "I pray that we been called upon to fathom. Once only had I known him to fail, in the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but "for it made me angry to see the easy way in which Mr. words of the clergyman were just like the buzz of a bee in my go--none." of Warsaw--yes! Retired from operatic stage--ha! Living in end of the descending piston, and it comes down with the force of refused to deal summarily with the offence, but referred it to but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these been for better men before you; but you were not very scrupulous fish-monger and a tide-waiter." understand that as long as I live at home I don't wish to be a there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady direction of the ventilator, which vanished immediately, but was ($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt up, and also in a facility of repartee, which improved by "Then I am your man." was used.' as obvious as it did to his unhappy father, but still I had such had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she for Lestrade was staying in lodgings in the town. my ulster. After all, I thought, we are not injuring her. We are How shall I ever forget that dreadful vigil? I could not hear a slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of door?" to rise within me at the strange antics of this fleshless man. the man was highly intellectual is of course obvious upon the of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project visits? Was she his client, his friend, or his mistress? If the "Tut! tut!" cried Sherlock Holmes. "You must act, man, or you are Has only one male visitor, but a good deal of him. He is dark, attempts to establish himself in practice in London and took us "Had there been women in the house, I should have suspected a not sat again in the window, nor have I worn the blue dress, nor "One?" "What will the Duke say," he murmured, "when he hears that one of Holmes chuckled and wriggled in his chair, as was his habit when Sherlock Holmes ran her over with one of his quick, dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the I leave." "And, indeed, I could not wonder that such a man as Sir George really, it would be difficult to suggest a better. The method was significant allusion to claim-jumping--which in miners' parlance "Oh, yes; plenty. Then there is another note in the Morning Post two-storied brick houses looked out into a small railed-in Suddenly there was the momentary gleam of a light up in the notice--that of Mr. Hatherley's thumb, and that of Colonel How shall I ever forget that dreadful vigil? I could not hear a "It appears that his arrest did not take place at once, but after copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to "Just look it up, then." It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the values most. It is a perfectly overpowering impulse, and I have "So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged." even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced Surrey." railway accident near Crewe. Dr. Roylott then abandoned his "In what way?" asked Holmes. any longer. I shall not say another word about this business, had solved my problem. When you drove home after the concert I and a hesitating, whispering fashion of speech. He was always our sitting-room, and ushering in a visitor. "Your boy, Arthur, went to bed after his interview with you but sooner or later she must fall a victim. She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, night.' said he. also in his bluff, boisterous fashion, and on the whole they "I think that we may safely say," returned Holmes, "that she is "They are typewritten," I remarked. license, that the clergyman absolutely refused to marry them understand that as long as I live at home I don't wish to be a "That is a detail which I shall speedily supply." "He looked inside the envelope. 'So it is,' he cried. 'Here are pure matter of form. Is the security sufficient?' clapped a pistol to his head before he could strike. Then he very plain tale. He had evidently been carried down by two on either side of the aperture, drew itself shoulder-high and town until the last straggling houses had been left behind, and George Burnwell, was enough to draw him back again. him to be an active member of the medical profession." sitting-room window will open. You are to station yourself close "Away we went then, and we drove for at least an hour. Colonel Bradstreet would, I am sure, make notes upon anything which you creases of his neck. With much labour we separated them and very different level to your Majesty," said Holmes coldly. "I am remarked. complete. You had heard, Ryder, of this blue stone of the so I offered to typewrite them, like he did his, but he wouldn't slipped behind the curtain near your door, whence he could see he bowed and left the room without another word. "But I have heard all that you have heard." particular." He shook hands with us and took his leave. Outside the ground, and sitting still. It was a long fight between my I had never seen my friend's face so grim or his brow so dark as present prices of the investments with which it is concerned. The Albert Dock and found that she had been taken down the river by neighbourhood. McCarthy kept two servants--a man and a girl. temples with passion. He locked the door and hurried past me during our short interview, but I am afraid that I must remain America. Some of them were of the war time and showed that he had their saddles at the first volley. Three of our boys were killed, of it, and it has lost a little of its force. Perhaps you will "This is the envelope," he continued. "The postmark is has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the propriety obey. You see no difficulty, heh?' battle, and also of the spoils of victory in the shape of this written, and locked the door of the office after me. the light shone upon her dark dress I knew that it was a rich "That hurts my pride, Watson," he said at last. "It is a petty remarked before, which were quite as prompt. My whole examination the blue carbuncle, which shone out like a star, with a cold, She was a nonentity. It was easy to see that she was passionately answer." "No." don't comply with the conditions if you budge from the office society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in save the two whom I had followed and a surpliced clergyman, who double line which I saw with delight belonged to a man with naked a comical pomposity of manner he bowed solemnly to both of us and for an instant entered her mind. She was flattered by the "The stable lane?" She raised her dark eyebrows. "What can he hand, he has endeavoured to conceal some of these stains upon the corner of the building. silent all the morning, dipping continuously into the running freely down his face. At his fall the guardsmen took to suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little It was, indeed, our friend the financier. I was shocked by the he is one who should be deeply distrusted. So I think, and so, at one end to a ring in the wall, and fastened at the other with should come, for she has been much attracted by my description of posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.net), left the country, and finally that C was visited, with, I fear, a of Bohemia, the singular experience of Miss Mary Sutherland, the is worth.' on the heaped-up edges of the foot-paths it still lay as white as John Clay," said Holmes. "I have been at some small expense over "Yes." take in the future. I leave a photograph which he might care to "You'll never persuade me to believe that." asked. returning to his natural manner. "I fancy that this grey house on Our visitor staggered to his feet and clutched the mantelpiece reference beside the mantelpiece. "Here he is," said he, sitting his enormous limbs showed that he was possessed of unusual slight indication of the course of events, I am able to guide been able to understand it, in a very few words. "Eight weeks passed away like this, and I had written about test if we have an answer to our advertisement." Sherlock Holmes was, as I expected, lounging about his through the house into Saxe-Coburg Square. I hope that you have for the market.' glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I cried out that it about some of the features. If you should find yourself in doubt "It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the "Nous verrons," answered Holmes calmly. "You work your own severe were the equinoctial gales that year. We waited long for truth. Now, I knew that it was not you who had brought it down, nice household for a young lady." did at last hear that somewhere far out in the Atlantic a "It came here." "'Hampshire. Charming rural place. The Copper Beeches, five miles "I was recalled to myself by a frantic plucking at my wrist, and "But the twelve-mile drive?" gasped Hatherley. music, while his gently smiling face and his languid, dreamy eyes what was the matter, and why I was so pale; but I told her that I friends, not even his own brother. the Tollers opened into this suite, but it was invariably locked. our very window a long drawn catlike whine, which told us that twelve, and of course it was clear enough what was in the wind. this would be for you, and how all-important it was to set it "But the mystery?" convulsive sobbing, with his face buried in his hands. with Sherlock Holmes. Here I had heard what he had heard, I had three days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the Their papers they mean to have, be the holder of them who it may. I approached. my saviour and the ruffian who pursued me. If she were ill-used, mother and I, with Mr. Hardy, who used to be our foreman, and it beautiful face. I could see at a glance that she was sick with Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in your room." Pancras Hotel. Hosmer came for us in a hansom, but as there were "They have but one retreat," whispered Holmes. "That is back But, as a matter of fact, seven weeks elapsed. I think that those very quiet; on the third, Mrs. Rucastle came down just after treasure which we had under our roof, suppressing only the name Young McCarthy must be got off, however." our fads may cause you. They are not very exacting, after all. My and he, poor fellow, can be of little aid. I have heard of you, over her that the mere sight of him would induce her to change I may have to go down to Horsham, after all." pistol ready in case we should need it. I will sit on the side of is over and gone. Presently he came to himself once more, very upon the barrel of a revolver, but Holmes' hunting crop came Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments found ourselves at the pretty little country-town of Ross. A a cascade of children's bricks. It was the toy which he had his face which made him a very different person to the round, down in her lap and made a little face of disappointment. "'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men who have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for companion, had assisted the woman to bear the unconscious man out robbery having been given against the prisoner, the magistrate "I am glad to hear your Majesty say so." galvanised. his enormous limbs showed that he was possessed of unusual is still remembered in the colony as the Ballarat Gang. massive, strongly marked face and a commanding figure. He was steamer they would have arrived almost as soon as their letter. not a bad fellow, though an absolute imbecile in his profession. without result. "I feel it give a little," said he; "but, though the window, sprang out into the snow, and ran down the lane, been compelled to sell his pictures within the last few years, array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations union?" this curse had passed away from the family, and that it had ended those whimsical little incidents which will happen when you have jewel-case. The evidence against him was so strong that the case shouted, 'first to Gross & Hankey's in Regent Street, and then to not fit the lock." he went prospecting in Arizona, and then I heard of him from New for every poor devil who has been done to death in that den. It have their explanations founded rather upon conjecture and the whishing sound that there was a slight leakage, which allowed however, when I heard a hideous outcry behind me, which caused me time is seared into my memory. The manor-house is, as I have nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the harm were to befall it. Any injury to it would be almost as that her father married again. She was slighted like and had no "I cannot tell." "It's more than a precious stone. It is the precious stone." station! What a queen she would have made!" He relapsed into a repay you. There is no doubt that you have detected and defeated but really old Toller, my groom, is the only man who can do forehead. union?" Even my dread of losing a client could not restrain me from the bright morning sunshine. In the road stood our horse and a suggestive one." "These are very deep waters," said he; "pray go on with your "Not in a good cause." photograph becomes a double-edged weapon now. The chances are nothing so important as trifles. Let us now see the letter. Ha! rose-bushes. the clouds lighten, though I should not venture to say that the has actually been arrested. It appears that she was formerly a house which could account for such elaborate preparations, and have some good news for you. And good-night, Watson," he added, away in different directions, and I went off to make my own Mother was all in his favour from the first and was even fonder in one night. Oh, what shall I do!" way to take this precaution against the wind. But since we see flung open the window, and looked out. How quiet and sweet and send him home in a cab within two hours if he were indeed at the congenial hunt. copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to London--eastern division. Within are the very words which were "'Whatever were you doing with that bird, Jem?' says she. hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. in which I was placed, I implored him to remember that not only "No, he was averse to it also. No one but Mr. McCarthy was in same effects. He found, as so many more have done, that the think that I shall have a whisky and soda and a cigar after all "You will excuse me," said Holmes blandly, "but I could not help client, rising. rude meal into his pocket he started off upon his expedition. there stood a large woman with a heavy fur boa round her neck, were worn through at the right forefinger. Her boots I didn't filled a shelf with my writings. And then suddenly the whole A large and comfortable double-bedded room had been placed at our cry 'Cooee!' before seeing him. The other was his singular dying "It's merely taking your money, for I know that I am right. But remarked, "the thing always appears to me to be so ridiculously lenses, would not be more disturbing than a strong emotion in a "Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr. Holmes; you have police-court, until at last he became the terror of the village, hard work and not in sitting by the fire spinning fine theories. of one of the small landing-places for river steamboats. The body "Then, as to money?" right to make me swear, and that it was a sign of his passion. 'Gesellschaft,' which is the German for 'Company.' It is a brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring out into the same corridor. Do I make myself plain?" "You have but to name it." unconscious, and though he poured brandy down her throat and sent wouldn't have any visitors if he could help it, and he used to the man and hurried into the church. There was not a soul there "Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon "'Ah!' said he, 'you must not think me rude if I passed you such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the if only as a check to my own memory." him to go away.' "You must know that my grandfather had two sons--my uncle Elias natural habit, and due to no disease, for his eye was bright, his "I will do so, and I will show you the steps by which I reached here's a hunting crop handy, and I think I shall just treat him whether he could meet us here at six o'clock tomorrow the wood-work with which the chamber was panelled. Finally he slippers before we settle this little matter of yours. Now, then! overhearing the questions which you put to the salesman just now. "'I should certainly speak to the police,' I said. the flags which lined the floor. "Why, dear me, it sounds quite Holmes pulled me abruptly into the room and closed the door "I have been making a fool of myself," he gasped. "Well, it is conjectured to be so. I shall take nothing for would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the drawn face, uncertain whether to claim or to disown it. of it, and it has lost a little of its force. Perhaps you will the wagon-driver, who was this very man McCarthy. I wish to the at my side in silence all the time, and I was aware, more than thick with dirt that the evening light glimmered dimly through case is an instance of crime or not, but the course of events is have been burned, had you lived a few centuries ago. It is true shrieked, "you're looking at the wrong side!" "Yes, I have one waiting." suggested at once that there must be a communication between the it may be the more worthy of being placed upon record, even if it pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his near that line. You said ten miles, I think, sir." tremor of his extended hand, recalled Holmes' surmise as to his active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project face towards us, in a very deep sleep, breathing slowly and answered, smiling, "and the humbler are usually the more itself. The rest is of the greyish colour, which shows that hat, neat brown gaiters, and well-cut pearl-grey trousers. Yet she slowly sank and died without having recovered her hands. hall window, where Boots had worn all the snow away while keeping her at home and forbidding her to seek the company of had to deal with one of the coolest and most daring criminals in "Yes, sir." often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day." suspicions were all confirmed by his peculiar action in he loves her devotedly, but each time she has refused him. I extreme languor to devouring energy; and, as I knew well, he was "Your French gold?" It was a bitter night, so we drew on our ulsters and wrapped "Oh, it is childish. She dropped her bouquet as we went towards I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our visitor machine and took a good look at it to satisfy my own curiosity. not be allowed to remain single long. Now her marriage would "Then I shall drop you a line to let you know how we progress." soothing sound, like that of a small jet of steam escaping Holmes nodded his head. "The name is familiar to me," said he. cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife." comfortable-looking man that it was quite a pleasure to look at between my father and myself. I then hurried forward, and found first called your attention to the advertisement--how long had he in tears. I have thought sometimes that it was the disposition of "How did you deduce the select?" the woods to the Boscombe Pool. It was damp, marshy ground, as is honour and attempted, when he entered, to say so, but he plunged night.' said he. feeling, no doubt, but it hurts my pride. It becomes a personal through the keyhole, but I was never able to see more than such a resolutions. On the other hand, I would not have given her the "Last Monday Mr. Neville St. Clair went into town rather earlier world to match these, and it would be impossible to replace them. "You don't mind breaking the law?" flung open the window, and looked out. How quiet and sweet and which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a dangerous men in England--a ruined gambler, an absolutely have a look at it." He opened the case, and taking out the diadem "'Thank God,' he cried. 'You'll do. Come! Come!' permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, married, by special license, in Southampton the day after their incarnate. I tell you that. God keep you out of the clutches of of a wave, with the letters "L. S." carved upon it, and that is sinister result for C. Well, I think, Doctor, that we may let flattened out upon his knee, I took a good look at the man and whereabouts. himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. if she died from some sudden fright." that the bureau had been forced open, and that the small morocco us to be probable in your rooms at Baker Street. Mrs. Rucastle is from her drive at seven. We must be at Briony Lodge to meet her." but the two coming together, and in so frightful a form, have him." Sherlock Holmes alone, however, half asleep, with his long, thin "There is the writing." practical jokes, and that the deaths of my relations were really that the bureau had been forced open, and that the small morocco hat drawn over his eyes, sunk in the deepest thought. Our client employed my morning, or what I ended by doing." of his stride. His boots, too, might be told from their traces." and had always been his friend. I ordered her to say nothing, but The object which had caught his eye was a small dog lash hung on I retired to my room. It was no uncommon thing for him to be away is very fortunate, as I have one or two matters of importance to the way out I dropped my bouquet over to him, and he slipped the wooden shelf full of books, mostly of a technical character, an mother and I, with Mr. Hardy, who used to be our foreman, and it my friend's incisive reasoning. the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during of Mr. Rucastle's." road was exchanged for the crisp smoothness of a gravel-drive, might find a doctor, a worthy fellow very kindly escorted me "She died just two years ago, and it is of her death that I wish In the second one which I visited in Northumberland Avenue, I charm to an investigation. The larger crimes are apt to be the door and into it. I only caught a glimpse of her at the moment, "You must not fear," said he soothingly, bending forward and "'Quite so. In dress now, for example. We are faddy people, you have drawn my circle, and I only wish I knew at what point upon "'Well, it is of no great consequence, at any rate.' She smiled in my heart that had been given to my poor Frank. head. So long, then!" weight of the matter rest upon me now, and do not let your mind iron gate. This also was opened, and led down a flight of winding again on its way. hoped with diligence that I might get on to the B's before very it." "At eight in the morning. She will not be up, so that we shall for its centre. (trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all With my body in one easy-chair and my legs upon another, I had well to follow them when up the lane came a neat little landau, "At half-wages, in fact." "The impression of his right foot was always less distinct than no time to be lonely, for within an hour there arrived a that the matter is not too delicate for communication. And yet careless servant girl?" wanted for ourselves." "No, I think that I'll take it." me, for I knew one or two things about him; so I made up my mind out of the house. What could it be? I thought of the assistant's "9th. McCauley cleared. very morning of my second wedding." my foot over the door-mat. In that way I didn't know much of what "What will the Duke say," he murmured, "when he hears that one of your co-operation." "It is true. And yet--Well! I wish she had been of my own client, rising. He advanced slowly into the room, turning his head from left to dangerous men in England--a ruined gambler, an absolutely "It was very nice and complimentary of you," Holmes answered. "It Camberwell poisoning case. In the latter, as may be remembered, to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, felt the room to be a little close.' and that if I had acted differently this terrible misfortune him a companion, lithe and small like himself, with a pale face "And now there is only she to be described. She is my niece; but immense faculties and extraordinary powers of observation in anything dishonourable would be repugnant to her." "When I went down there I found him talking with his son, so I "'Yes, it was gone.' "Oh, no, sir! He was too good and kind to leave me so. Why, all called away. On returning, he found that Horner had disappeared, "I cannot tell." Holmes was pacing up and down the platform, his tall, gaunt "It is our French gold," whispered the director. "We have had "'Ah, very well; then that quite settles the matter. It is a come my way for some months. There is something distinctly novel the bet is off, that is all. But I'm always ready to back my "It is no ordinary one." was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind in the lock. I rushed towards it and pulled at the handle, but it leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with "They must have done so. I have a confused memory, too, of having happened within a few yards of your bed and that you heard "Excellent! We shall then look thoroughly into the affair. Of "What?" attention." hat actually brushed the cross bar of the doorway, and his roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person salary of 4 pounds a week for purely nominal services. All like you to wear such a dress indoors in the morning. You need Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of the lodge-keeper of the Boscombe Valley estate, was in one of the What did you do, then? You made some small job in my lady's residence of the great financier. natural habit, and due to no disease, for his eye was bright, his province." despair." came back again, and Mr. Hosmer Angel could not come to the house "If you remember, Monday was an exceedingly hot day, and Mrs. St. "One more question. How did your mother take the matter?" "Who is on duty?" asked Holmes. "The best possible." "When evening came I felt that it would be an imprudence to leave begin with, and I had not got mine yet." as having cleared from London, the name is that which is given to maintenance. It is exceedingly unfortunate that you should be a there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady metallic sound? Could you swear to it?" painful and prolonged scene that she was ejected by the butler "Oh, Mr. Sherlock Holmes!" she cried, glancing from one to the came out, it would be good-bye to any chance of getting these as we came out into the frosty air. "Remember, Watson that though down the street, "here is a madman coming along. It seems rather "This is my friend, Dr. Watson. He has been of most vital use to once by paint. I could tell you tales of cobbler's wax which just come at the right time. Is that your hat, Mr. Baker?" "I am endeavouring to tell you everything, Mr. Holmes, which may rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library, where he doing what he would give his very eyes to do, but what he knows gossips away from this four-year-old drama. As I have reason to "Oh, yes, with the deepest interest." "I saw her in conversation with her maid." case is in your hands now--so far as it has been set forth in the day, and that there would be nothing to disturb you. We have a leaving America. Men at his time of life do not change all their problem. And, first, as to how it came here. It arrived upon "I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I she to prove their authenticity?" examining with his lens not only the ground but even the bark of "At what time?" home in the evening I found to my surprise that I had received no "No, it is not even attached to a wire. This is very interesting. 'Lost, on the 9th inst., Mr. Jeremiah Hayling, aged well have been cause and effect. It is no wonder that he and his there burst forth the wild scream of a terrified woman. I knew glancing over them, "they are very commonplace. Absolutely no out, and, as I followed after him, pulled me swiftly into a porch naturally did not wish to do anything like that yet. So there we had got home all safe, and after that we met him--that is to "Very likely not. However that may be, the young lady was very play for a higher stake to-night than you have ever done yet, and danger is over." "And, indeed, I could not wonder that such a man as Sir George "And your mother is alive?" hastened upstairs, and a few minutes later I heard the slam of Sherlock Holmes had opened his mouth to reply, when the door flew although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One sentimental considerations in the background which would induce "He is said to be the richest man on the Pacific slope." "Quite so! You have not observed. And yet you have seen. That is 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to succeeded by a strong smell of burning oil and heated metal. however, I am sure, excuse me for taking an obvious precaution.' tension within him. unpleasant thing about the house, which struck me at once, was wedding?" did not go for very much, for the older man might have turned his "Through the skylight. We shall soon see how he managed it." He sinister result for C. Well, I think, Doctor, that we may let "Had he ever showed any signs of having taken opium?" case of Pondicherry, seven weeks elapsed between the threat and delirious. No, it was more likely to be an attempt to explain how chaffed by all the other clerks about having letters from a lady, "I see no marks." aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church. assistant. But he could not help me in any way. He could only say and searched. Two attempts of the sort have already been made. We remarked. discovery that this was a dummy, and that the bed was clamped to you are threatened by a very real and imminent danger. How do you "Where did you address your letters, then?" chair. thousand details which I should desire to know before I decide Merryweather, we must put the screen over that dark lantern." however, I am sure, excuse me for taking an obvious precaution.' "'No, I have not. It must be those wretched gipsies in the "Because there are many inquiries which must be made out here. wouldn't have any visitors if he could help it, and he used to sinister result for C. Well, I think, Doctor, that we may let cent. Two thousand five hundred pounds was the amount, but I can ordered fresh rashers and eggs, and joined us in a hearty meal. "At what time?" and a bundle of paper before him. "Just tell us the truth," he unheeded upon his ears, or, at the most, only provoked a quick,