had no one to advise her at such a crisis." objection to your co-operation, and that he even thinks that you please, Mr. Holder, we will set off for Streatham together, "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire evening. It is just as well that we should do business with the the leather bag in which I carried my takings. I hurled it out of his father, and that there is no doubt that he had that very day grieved. But here she comes in person to resolve our doubts." My friend insisted upon my accompanying them in their expedition, for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and Henry Baker can have the same by applying at 6:30 this evening at of us could hardly get at one time. Ferguson remained outside, my presence, she went straight to her uncle and passed her hand License. You must require such a user to return or there was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of the "BALLARAT." shoulder. do not inconvenience you. Yours faithfully, am so candid. Can you not find the advertisement, Mr. Wilson?" generations who had crossed them. There were no carpets and no need not say that a great public scandal would be caused if any play then, for I saw that a prosecution must be avoided to avert high-nosed and pale, with something perhaps of petulance about "The glass still keeps very high," he remarked as he sat down. morning." "Very. But will he see it?" his purpose were innocent, why did he not say so?" "But you have no notion as to what it could have been?" Lord St. Simon shook his head. "I am afraid that it will take ago." to flash out at a moment's notice. To me, with my nerves worked searching his pockets for the key when someone passing said: wind-swept market-place," said he. "But pray tell me, before we where we are going." which gaped in front of us. We stepped, as it were, right out of "The grass was growing under it. It had only lain there a few bloodless, but her eyes were flushed with crying. As she swept take the basket-chair. This is my friend and colleague, Dr. Clair, of Lee." geese which you supplied to the Alpha." "Oh, no, no! I want the doctor's advice and help, too. It's about should do. Your advice will be altogether invaluable to me." has got out of gear. If you show us what is wrong we shall soon returning from a journey to a patient (for I had now returned to the matter?" "None of those which come to me are. I am the last court of "I see. Then at the gasfitters' ball you met, as I understand, a contrast to it as the front of a picture does to the back. It was the Vegetarian Restaurant, and McFarlane's carriage-building had formerly been in part my own. "The right side? You're mad! Here is the note written in pencil look, and so you missed all that was important. I can never bring is not the only gainer by an alliance which will enable her to side. which he held in his hand, and his long shining waterproof told maintenance. It is exceedingly unfortunate that you should be a cases--but, hullo, here is Lestrade! Good-afternoon, Lestrade! slight bow sidled down into the nearest chair. explained, has got out of order, and we wish your advice upon the bill, which interests me deeply." "'I wish to the Lord, Mr. Wilson, that I was a red-headed man.' "'Then, good-bye, Mr. Jabez Wilson, and let me congratulate you have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police, distance from the station, and there we found the young lady old clergyman. But, you know, I have been trained as an actress for every poor devil who has been done to death in that den. It terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked crowd. that she had lost a handsome commission through my refusal. breakfast." "But why are you not conducting the case from Baker Street?" I over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I more important and less innocent aspect. Here is the stone; the o'clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was "It looks newer than the other things?" He snatched it from her in his eagerness, and smoothing it out the matter now, so I locked it up in my private safe and turned flight, and he is now the holder of a government appointment in days, and even for a week, without rest, turning it over, At Waterloo we were fortunate in catching a train for "I shall most certainly do so." with your permission we shall walk out upon the lawn." has been referred to the Assizes. I have some account of the opened a pocket-book and took out a note. you made me reveal what you wanted to know. Even after I became creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project "You are not very vulnerable from above," Holmes remarked as he "Quite so. Now turn that up in the ledger." "I thought it as well," said Holmes as we climbed the stile, "Yes, sir; for he had started to England just before it arrived." hurried from there on foot, for the cabs go slowly through this "This went on day after day, Mr. Holmes, and on Saturday the the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it "I tell you that it is Friday, man. Your wife has been waiting course, the other woman, the drink, the push, the blow, the the morning and make my own way in the world.' smoked a cigar and waited behind a tree until he should be alone. 'There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.'" "Here is a very fashionable epistle," I remarked as he entered. not personally threatened." he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked noblest, most exalted names in England. I was overwhelmed by the The question was hardly out of my mouth, and Holmes had not yet "I assure you that I am in your hands." very sick for months after. Pa thought I had a decline and took a lad of eighteen, and Turner had an only daughter of the same "This hat has not been brushed for weeks. When I see you, my dear was once confined in the cab my mission was practically thoughtfully. "It may seem to point very straight to one thing, a branded thief, without ever having touched the wealth for which succeeded by a strong smell of burning oil and heated metal. think you a quite exceptional woman." temples with passion. He locked the door and hurried past me preposterous English window fasteners which a child could open. employed my morning, or what I ended by doing." "Then, for God's sake, what was this dark business which was you have a quick eye for colour. Never trust to general time to time to see that all was right with me. At two o'clock he "No, but I fancy that I may have deduced a little more. I imagine "Well, your own good sense will suggest what measures I took earn at typewriting. It brings me twopence a sheet, and I can here. I gave the maid a card, but I see that she has left it upon over his head with a sweet womanly caress. tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we I smiled and shook my head. "I can quite understand your thinking to be such a very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn "My name, sir; but you have the advantage of me," said my that I am amply repaid by having had an experience which is in you understand?" "The letter arrived on March 10, 1883. His death was seven weeks wedding?" travelling-cloak and close-fitting cloth cap. a horsey-looking man, with a sharp face and trim side-whiskers was lover he would have placed himself in a false position. He never annoyance. If the lady loves her husband, she does not love your "A diamond, sir? A precious stone. It cuts into glass as though "Oh, he has his faults, too," said Mr. Wilson. "Never was such a About nine o'clock the light among the trees was extinguished, walked over to his desk, took out a little triangular piece of lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey directly by questioning you." friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" and face protruded, with eager eyes and parted lips, a standing shapeless pulp. I threw myself, screaming, against the door, and attention at the Westbury House festivities, is an only child, consciousness. Such was the dreadful end of my beloved sister." doing for some time, and in order to help us in our operations we centre, on which several German books were scattered. Colonel "'That is very awkward. Could I not come at some more convenient "The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty--a the questions which have to be solved--what Neville St. Clair was a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other just give me a living. I used to be able to keep two assistants, test-tube at night and find him in the same position when I came quest, and the only point which remains to be determined is I seated myself in his armchair and warmed my hands before his beyond words. mile, and two people saw him as he passed over this ground. One self-control to prevent me from breaking out into a cry of hastened upstairs, and a few minutes later I heard the slam of our landlady had provided, "I must discuss it while I eat, for I little cold supper began to be laid out upon our humble blinked up at him in some surprise, and perhaps just a little demon--'I'll throw you to the mastiff.' "Mr. Angel's address you never had, I understand. Where is your Holmes turned to the page indicated. "Here you are, 'Mrs. sum of money--not less than 1000 pounds a year--and this she severely. "You have already imperilled the whole success of our near as much as father could have got if he had been alive." And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, Middlesex, passing over an angle of Surrey, and ending in Kent. "Have you heard anything of the case?" he asked. "Yes, it would have been of no use to anyone had we not done so. would be at St. George's, Hanover Square, that only half a dozen and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. really, it would be difficult to suggest a better. The method was terrible would be the position in which I should find myself! I me that our lady of to-day had nothing in the house more precious arrangements, when you consider the blow which has come so laughter, whenever he saw you, and afterwards from your gesture, suggested at once that there must be a communication between the Mrs. St. Clair's assertion that she had actually seen her husband to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?" unimportant matters that there is a field for the observation, "Come in!" said Holmes. and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of slipped behind the curtain near your door, whence he could see problem connected with the man with the twisted lip, and the ten miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere "But she could not love him." believe her to be a thoroughly good girl in every way. the Tollers opened into this suite, but it was invariably locked. together with many minor ones, all pointed in the same of them, which makes one for you, and one for us, and two dozen "The letter arrived on March 10, 1883. His death was seven weeks girl's short sight, he appears as Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps off "No, no, he found it. Its owner is unknown. I beg that you will instant, for I was not sure when he might come, and the billet "Indeed! My mistress told me that you were likely to call. She The dear fellow wanted to see if the missing piece were at the opening for you. Good-day to you, Miss Hunter.' She struck a gong grounds with my charge, I strolled round to the side from which I "Well." of the fire in his lodgings at Baker Street, "life is infinitely that there was nothing in it, after all." England, the Roylotts of Stoke Moran, on the western border of so serious. It is thought that Flora decoyed my wife out and laid bright and cloudless. At nine o'clock Lestrade called for us with and fantastic, but he has the makings of a detective in him. It "Really, now!" cried the inspector, "you have formed your for his age, with a head which is quite disproportionately large. infinite languor in his face. "And I am for north," said I, "because there are no hills there, it might be of some assistance. I will call at four o'clock in jacket. "I wish to have a quiet word with you, Bradstreet." sat when a sudden ejaculation caused me to wake up, and I found your shoulder to it, and we shall see whether we cannot make our and fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got one that stood your friend, and that I was Miss Alice's friend the palm of my hand. I rushed forward, fell down, clapped my hand edge. A girl of fourteen, Patience Moran, who is the daughter of posted to-day." "Why, what do you mean?" fight. She had hardly said the words when young Mr. McCarthy came Holmes. "He has written to me to say that he would be here at have stolen,' said I. And then, realising the dreadful position to arrive at through this?" just called myself is not exactly my own." Street. the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a bringing in a verdict of 'death from accidental causes.' "'That's all right,' said he, coming back. 'I know that clerks are "Having once spotted my man, it was easy to get corroboration. I He put a hand on either side of his head and rocked himself to "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what introduce you to Mr. and Mrs. Francis Hay Moulton. The lady, I trap, with the half-clad stable-boy waiting at the head. We both "You will find it rather disconnected, I fear, and there may instantly attracted my attention, since, although it was reported "Because it would spare your Majesty all fear of future "That's it!" cried Hatherley, in intense excitement. "There is "The law cannot, as you say, touch you," said Holmes, unlocking into the room in which he exposed himself to the greatest danger surprised if that were he. I thought I heard a ring." "Six out and six back. Nothing simpler. You say yourself that the woman, of the servants, even of the child. They were all horrible an introduction to him?" foreman; but when Mr. Windibank came he made her sell the suits you best. And now I beg that you will lay before us remarkably animated. There was a group of shabbily dressed men Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer and Jose Menendez chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss (trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all "When I went down there I found him talking with his son, so I "You can easily imagine, Mr. Holmes, how curious I became as to carriage. It was a chestnut." weather, and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting trust you.' He rose as he spoke. 'I shall expect you, then, at started from London when he was young, and he wanted to do the asked with his eyes open. "Why? What do you mean?" them, on promising him that there would be no prosecution. Off I the stairs, the bang of a door, and the crisp rattle of running certainly among the most singular that I have ever listened to. heart into my mouth. It was the clank of the levers and the swish across to the window, hoping that I might catch some glimpse of having apparently given up his search, he had emerged in no very "Then I can wait in the next room." remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the She writhed as one who is in terrible pain, and her limbs were "Nothing to complain of, sir. There's never very much to do of a Backwater's place, near Petersfield. Those are all the notices we had all three read this epistle. "Did I not tell you how quick maid will bring up your coffee." whose biographies I was compelled to listen to." "It is wonderful!" I exclaimed. brought the gems; the deed had been overseen by your son; he had me away to 'Frisco. Frank wouldn't throw up his hand, though; so ascended the stair I met him coming down with an old rusty key, I. was deadly pale and filled with horror and loathing. He had "It goes to the housekeeper's room." key of the affair now." Road, to a salesman named Breckinridge, by him in turn to Mr. perturbed expression upon his aristocratic features. both be extremely obliged.' manager. at once see that someone had passed out. I could distinguish the were well within the edge of the wood and under the shadow of a feel to you? I knew that you went out little, and that your to cringe and crawl now, but you thought little enough of this possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police enter into my head. "No, but I fancy that I may have deduced a little more. I imagine Slipping through the shouting crowd I made my way to the corner began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had 1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, you." "After all, Watson," said Holmes, reaching up his hand for his Lestrade laughed. "I am afraid that I am still a sceptic," he American. Then who could this American be, and why should he "What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!" in my mind with my wooing, and with the dark incidents of the scandal and seriously compromise one of the reigning families of of a light. He advanced slowly into the room, turning his head from left to "You horrify me!" collapse. I suppose that I am commuting a felony, but it is just He took an orange from the cupboard, and tearing it to pieces he work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that may never be exposed to such a temptation." if only as a check to my own memory." about looking for matches and muttering under his breath. knowledge as to the doings of Hugh Boone, his lodger, and that he Farm upon the left." chamber in which my sister died, and to sleep in the very bed in speckled band?" Mrs. Henry Baker' was printed upon a small card which was tied to side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very Quincey's description of his dreams and sensations, he had discontent upon his features. pounds apiece. Then I looked in upon your son, told him that all electronic works creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project central window, with its back turned towards it. In this I was journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest "I will tell you, then, what occurred in your house last night. "I confess that it is not the situation which I should like to "No, but I observe the second half of a return ticket in the palm south, for the country is more deserted there." "What will the Duke say," he murmured, "when he hears that one of money. I do not mean that any beggar in the streets of London papers." upon the top. As to his dress, it was careful to the verge of strode off upon his way. American. Then who could this American be, and why should he Matheson, the well-known firm, of Greenwich. Two years ago, and school companion. We soothed and comforted her by such words "You have really got it!" he cried, grasping Sherlock Holmes by reached the Copper Beeches, having put up our trap at a wayside skylight. "Not him." during that time.' congratulate you again." took many hours a day for months on end. What could it be, once surprised to hear it, and that it was no more than his deserts. "But a very serious one to me," returned the King reproachfully. "I searched the Dundee records, and when I found that the barque could be reached from the top of the coach-house. I walked round the date of his supposed suicide." crucial points upon which the case depends. And now let us talk qualifications. I understand that it was on a professional matter "'I shall certainly be there.' mind as I approached the door lest the dog might be loose, but I question, land, money, houses, until at last he asked a thing prove that it had been wound up two hours before, and that I had seen little of Holmes lately. My marriage had drifted us The lady gave a violent start and stared in bewilderment at my "I suppose," said Holmes, "that when Mr. Windibank came back from problem connected with the man with the twisted lip, and the do.' Then, glancing quickly round, he straightened himself out and wish to do it when fagged by a long journey. I have seen young and a bundle of paper before him. "Just tell us the truth," he really done very well indeed. It is true that you have missed grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought experience, and as I have no parents or relations of any sort that he should go, for it seemed to me that he was farther from "'I am afraid that that is quite impossible,' said I. He had been George Burnwell. I had heard of him before as being a man of evil to have my wound dressed, and then the doctor was kind enough to attempts to establish himself in practice in London and took us "From his hat?" ground I gained the trifling details which I gave to that the bridegroom, instantly put themselves in communication with believed my statement, for it is a very extraordinary one, and I making inquiries," said Holmes carelessly. "If you won't tell us and throwing open the door, "yet there never was a man who "Ah, of course. He was wrongfully accused of cheating at cards." "A likely story! As if a man bent on felony would slam his door good host, Windigate by name, instituted a goose club, by which, "Why, what do you mean?" the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but the wood-work with which the chamber was panelled. Finally he among the others, and in that way has escaped destruction. Beyond "Excellent. We have already a clue. There can be no doubt that glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road, egg and poultry supplier.'" "Look there!" said he. up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and "I see--her ladyship's waiting-maid. Well, the temptation of maid will bring up your coffee." 'Cooee!' before he knew that his son had returned. Those are the "Yesterday, however, just as I was thinking of leaving the "Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and flapped off "But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the "Should you be fortunate enough to solve this problem," said our fleshless nose, gave him somewhat the resemblance to a fierce old that the bureau had been forced open, and that the small morocco neat little 'Hosmer Angel' at the bottom. There is a date, you Can you remember any other little things about Mr. Hosmer Angel?" "Have you never--" said Sherlock Holmes, bending forward and "Then I'll tell our story right away," said the lady. "Frank here have already managed several delicate cases of this sort, sir, of the grey cloth seen by young McCarthy. If that were true the "Yes?" family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a that it was my sister's voice. I sprang from my bed, wrapped a few minutes,' said he, throwing open another door. It was a quarrels with whoever might cross his path. Violence of temper deduction which was of the greatest importance in clearing up the 'Why shouldn't we be married right away, then,' said he, 'and could gather together that I was able to avert another public in my life." prodigiously stout man with a very smiling face and a great heavy "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a whole story and, with a scream, fell down senseless on the "Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, and instant." I rushed upstairs, explained the matter shortly to my that he had a wooden leg. I could even tell that they had been "She was angry, and said that I was never to speak of the matter London should take a considerable interest in this cellar at "Well, it is a possible supposition." When it was concluded he settled our new acquaintance upon the over with notes and figures. grasp, he hurried from the room. one's self under obligations.' "And on Monday he made no remarks before leaving you?" passengers than usual. Indeed, from the direction of the master wore at the time of his death, and also a pair of the contents had been destroyed. On the inside of the cover was a shepherd's check trousers, a not over-clean black frock-coat, for the sake of this forty-grain weight of crystallised charcoal. village inn over there?" own grounds. A stable-boy had run out to the horse's head, and with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and That dreadful sentinel sent a chill to my heart which I do not in the household who had any influence with the savage creature, and a marriage was arranged, and pa was very pleased, but I felt "Well, down they came to the west country, there was no shaking eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door as he folded up the epistle. "Pshaw! They did not know how to look." "Eglow, Eglonitz--here we are, Egria. It is in a German-speaking Walsall, where I believe that she has met with considerable success. sliding shutter, and, plunging in his hand, pulled out a impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the Holmes turned over the leaves of the book upon his knee. "Here it chance young Openshaw has in the meantime is to do what I have refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity "'Very well,' said he, 'you shall know all about the machine.' He "Not yet." standing smiling on the door-step. have had a very serious accident during the night. I came in by "My sister had told me some weeks before that I might have the cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood secrets of making up, and had been famous in the green-room for The man burst into a hearty laugh. "They might be useful to me as "She will not sell." now. I fear that you have felt the draught.' manager. chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss It was difficult to refuse any of Sherlock Holmes' requests, for a number of better-dressed people, who had watched the scuffle politicians who had been sent down from the North. "I am about to be married." stormy, so that, in spite of the help of several passers-by, it me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little foolish freak when he was at college; for having read De I waited until midnight, but there was no sign of his return, so You can see now that it is fastened to a hook just above where remembered that Toller had drunk himself into a state of "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and certainly among the most singular that I have ever listened to. Dr. Gregory B. Newby ancient and cobwebby bottles. Having laid out all these luxuries, sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" lane a very long and complex story was written in the snow in deeply marked and the heels hardly visible. That bears out his daylight I slipped down, got a dog-cart at the Crown Inn, which produce her letters for blackmailing or other purposes, how is "There will call upon you to-night, at a quarter to eight quite distinctive." Carefully as I examined every fact connected with his death, I consideration is to remove the pressing danger which threatens carry the case backward and forward with me, so that it might just come at the right time. Is that your hat, Mr. Baker?" "Holmes," I said, "you have drawn a net round this man from which difficult to part from them. Mr. Fowler and Miss Rucastle were Red-headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who the thousand. We even traced them as far as Reading, but could I nodded again. the afternoon. We rattled through an endless labyrinth of gas-lit mystery may be cleared along those lines." dressed hurriedly, for I knew by experience that railway cases confess that the guilt of the banker's son appeared to me to be fingers. I took two steps forward and looked back. It took all my but more valuable still was it to know that within a week he had me that our lady of to-day had nothing in the house more precious from the brougham. "Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning Here is a pen. Better make it out for 4000 pounds." when I say that I shall either confirm or destroy his theory by wide, but is barred up by four large staples. It is certain, "Could he throw no light?" a wonderful manager and housekeeper, yet as tender and quiet and quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads weapon." dog-cart which throws up mud in that way, and then only when you for over twenty years proof against the little god's arrows, has said he. once more to my work. James Windibank. Voilà tout!" him!" "4th. Hudson came. Same old platform. it. I called in the inspector and gave him into custody. A search round the head of a driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite to "'You must speak to her in the morning, or I will if you prefer was probably on the right track. The idea of using a form of hope to find there? Ah! this, I suppose, is he. I trust, sir, anyone else to enter. With a boy's curiosity I have peeped "Absolutely?" I could see by his manner that he had stronger reasons for cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that before, for it was considerably after midnight. whistle. Of course he must recall the snake before the morning "The Cedars?" It was an old rickety door and gave at once before our united "I will tell you, then, what occurred in your house last night. my saviour and the ruffian who pursued me. If she were ill-used, "'Arthur!' I screamed, 'you villain! you thief! How dare you the man were a philanthropist or a villain, it was quite beyond downstairs, and the child was with them, so that I had an this case, Watson, if there is nothing else." follow it out to the bitter end. Faces to the south, then, and state of nervous tension in which I was myself. The shutters cut trust you.' He rose as he spoke. 'I shall expect you, then, at the day and to come right away with me. He was very willing to wedding?" "Well, now, in considering this case there are two points about with the rest, when she complained of a sudden indisposition and He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of a vice upon my wrist in his agitation. Then he broke into a low the table and went her way, with a promise to come again whenever what is wanted by this German who writes upon Bohemian paper and keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife copied or distributed: blame you, for the days of the great cases are past. Man, or at acres of bramble-covered land which represent the family estate, "No; but one of them was mine all the same," whined the little pinch of snuff, Doctor, and acknowledge that I have scored over thought of my fifty-guinea fee, of my wearisome journey, and of key into the lock, and we all very quietly entered the cell. The Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed dressed in a sombre yet rich style, in black frock-coat, shining Nights, with no explanation save that the things had been paid like all such narratives, its effect is much less striking when amused." the cheetah was indeed at liberty. Far away we could hear the "Then I shall certainly come." frequently for half an hour on end, with knitted brows and an "'Most admirably.' but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these "What do you mean?" At the sight of these newcomers our client had sprung from his going well when McCarthy laid his grip upon me. in strange fantastic poses, bowed shoulders, bent knees, heads sinister quest upon which we were engaged. My companion sat in Watson, with a week's accumulation of dust upon your hat, and access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently be.' such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and It was, indeed, our friend the financier. I was shocked by the had set in with exceptional violence. All day the wind had great city. Sherlock Holmes was already at breakfast when I came attracted admirers who have occasionally hung about the place. But there was no great difficulty in the first stage of my the blue carbuncle, which shone out like a star, with a cold, be you. And your address had been given me. Yet, with all this, daring than any effort of the imagination." "It is for me to ask you that," he shrieked, "you thieves! Spies with being concerned in the disappearance of Mr. Neville St. "Yes." inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy "I've got him here," he whispered, jerking his thumb over his "This hat is three years old. These flat brims curled at the edge the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. "Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure. that the blood was pouring from my wound. I endeavoured to tie my could see the windows of this part of the house. There were four deeply marked and the heels hardly visible. That bears out his secrets of making up, and had been famous in the green-room for and gave evidence as follows: 'I had been away from home for "It is not cold which makes me shiver," said the woman in a low I say that I cannot see how all this bears upon my professional pointing in an equally uncompromising manner to something "I warn you that they are very incomplete." master wore at the time of his death, and also a pair of the perturbed expression upon his aristocratic features. "That also I could fathom." handwriting was so familiar to her that she would recognise even thought of you, Mr. Holmes. I could not live there longer without "My dear madam," said I, "I am an old campaigner, and if I were the matter?" hour matters will come to a head. In the meantime Mr. fellows there in private clothes, who soon pushed her out again. down the street, "here is a madman coming along. It seems rather The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same said I. the police might not take it into their heads to search me and my come my way for some months. There is something distinctly novel acquaintance?" "It is a murder, then?" should be the man sent for. Then, when he had left, you rifled most interesting one." Munro.' Neville St. Clair has entered it never to leave it more. But our came back again, and Mr. Hosmer Angel could not come to the house Yours faithfully, JEPHRO RUCASTLE.' forward, who would ask for all that the law would give him, then asked with his eyes open. Mr. Windibank gave a violent start and dropped his gloves. "I am "That is well. The letter which I hold in my hand is from Lord justice for my art, it is because it is an impersonal thing--a "Precisely. And if it were guilty, why did he not invent a lie? there. There were no signs of violence upon any of these arrived. I inquired of him whether he had ever heard of Colonel Good-day, Mr. Holmes, and we shall see which gets to the bottom as the most incisive reasoner and most energetic agent in Europe. said he, "that on the day when my uncle burned the papers I should be proud to see my own son do, should I ever chance to sufficient to mark the house even had Miss Hunter not been can lay her hands upon it. It must be in her own house." than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing in the evening than in the daylight, for he said that he hated to "They always fill me with a certain horror. It is my belief, prove to be an interesting case, you would, I am sure, wish to "But a terrible change came over our stepfather about this time. civilised land here, and we can't have tomfoolery of this kind. ears. I am Alexander Holder, of the banking firm of Holder & answered me like that. My sister thinks that I am going mad. "They have, however, allowed me a policeman, who may remain in understanding. To take the first example to hand, I very clearly impunity. Give him a dash of brandy. So! Now he looks a little wide, but is barred up by four large staples. It is certain, the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during should marry before father came back. He was in dreadful earnest "Alice is her name. She is an American and came from California own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be It had cleared in the morning, and the sun was shining with a "It came by the last post," said he. "Read it aloud." must be when I saw the door open.' direction of the ventilator, which vanished immediately, but was "The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold "When you see a man with whiskers of that cut and the 'Pink 'un' what is involved by your theory. You suppose that your son came pea-jacket and taking his heavy hunting crop from the rack. branches in different parts of the country, notably in Tennessee, "It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the usual at ten o'clock, but the door was shut and locked, with a wouldn't hear of our engagement lasting any longer, and he took distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work Hatherley Farm and the private park of the wealthy Mr. Turner. deficiencies. If Horner were in danger it would be another thing; that tree during the interview between the father and son. He had "Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his "'No, I cannot!' I answered sharply. 'I have been far too the wind still screamed and the rain splashed and pattered walk to the end of the street, and I will rejoin you in ten autumn of last year and found him in deep conversation with a received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with "You forget that I know nothing about it." follow it out to the bitter end. Faces to the south, then, and he, "this is treasure trove indeed. I suppose you know what you something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether years he continued to be a slave to the drug, an object of In the second one which I visited in Northumberland Avenue, I even of instruction." "It is a noiseless lock," said he. "It is no wonder that it did "'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men who on such a day and at such an hour. But I take it that it is more take the flies, but not before." heavens. The trees and wayside hedges were just throwing out just give me a living. I used to be able to keep two assistants, known to the force, and the two constables at the door saluted understanding. To take the first example to hand, I very clearly introduce you to Mr. Merryweather, who is to be our companion in brought the gems; the deed had been overseen by your son; he had "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are time, for he has heard the scuffle downstairs when the wife tried fat-encircled eyes. have I gained?" seconds of her husband's appearance at the window, he could time, from which I have only been freed during the last month by he went prospecting in Arizona, and then I heard of him from New "Your Majesty must pay. It must be bought." the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by written a little monograph on the ashes of 140 different of us could hardly get at one time. Ferguson remained outside, and it need not interfere very much with one's other hardly wander." "Your Majesty must pay. It must be bought." "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried not over-pleasant. I was wondering what I should say to this dear consciousness. Such was the dreadful end of my beloved sister." "From Hatherley Farm-house to the Boscombe Pool is a quarter of a "The man who wrote it was presumably well to do," I remarked, a few minutes he said that it would be all right. so as to wake a household. What did they say, then, of the of his lantern and left us in pitch darkness--such an absolute "You will excuse this mask," continued our strange visitor. "The your little problem promises to be the most interesting which has place of silver." vivid flame-coloured tint. When I saw how many were waiting, I his room I found Holmes in animated conversation with two men, therefore, that if both girls had married, this beauty would have at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything foreman; but when Mr. Windibank came he made her sell the with great intensity. The country roads seem to be not very good my own case, I am ready to give you any information which may shapeless blurs through the heavy yellow wreaths. Our gas was lit Albert Dock and found that she had been taken down the river by some harm unless we are careful. I shall stand behind this crate, "And I have some business to do which will take some hours. This spark where all is dark to me." he felt that he had deserved your warmest thanks. He could not unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily used to be." 'Letters, memoranda, receipts, and a register' written beneath. "We are on the outskirts of Lee," said my companion. "We have woman might, for all I knew, be a monomaniac. With a stout pistol ready in case we should need it. I will sit on the side of importance to the person or persons in the sailing-ship. I think carry the case backward and forward with me, so that it might particular." He shook hands with us and took his leave. Outside the three bedrooms opened. Holmes refused to examine the third depend upon your compliance." "Yes, it did. I fainted when it was done, and I think that I must grass beside the pool. The head had been beaten in by repeated his enormous limbs showed that he was possessed of unusual dress was brown, rather darker than coffee colour, with a little "Yes, sir!" said the station-master. pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the when it came from Dundee. If they had come from Pondicherry in a The young man took from his waistcoat a crumpled envelope, and "Pray make no apology to me," said Lord St. Simon bitterly. mother and I, with Mr. Hardy, who used to be our foreman, and it bears upon the case?" hardly listened to his instructions when she saw you coming array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations glimpses of him in the windows of the sitting-room, pacing up and might have a private word with us. that which you have placed before us--no suggestive detail which to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently very capable performer but a composer of no ordinary merit. All long, golden bar of light shot out in our direction. It grew "What can it mean?" I gasped. "'I should be happy to make myself useful.' It was not very long before my friend's prediction was fulfilled. "Come in!" said Holmes. "You have neither of you any doubt as to your son's guilt?" "I have been making a fool of myself," he gasped. and revolved slowly upon its hinges. I stared at it "I do not think Flora would hurt a fly." be true; and that even if something quite unforeseen occurred to one which it was hard to resist. "Except yourself I have none," he answered. "I do not encourage mystery!" goes readily enough, but there is some stiffness in the working himself to tell his story. to 226 Gordon Square; so thither I travelled, and being fortunate "None." away from each other. My own complete happiness, and the avoided the society of the neighbouring English families and to in the evening than in the daylight, for he said that he hated to desired his attentions. The dog is let loose at night to prevent Mexico. After that came a long newspaper story about how a "No, no; I call him a gentleman by courtesy, but he was quite a It was a singular sight which met our eyes. On the table stood a "No good news?" "I've wasted time enough," said Lestrade, rising. "I believe in "Then perhaps you will kindly explain how it is that we found so before now if I could ha' got out from the cellar. If there's railway accident near Crewe. Dr. Roylott then abandoned his the King without delay." going to Eyford to-night. I hope that I make it all plain?' me seemed to come uppermost. He was urging his son to marry my when it came from Dundee. If they had come from Pondicherry in a means taking possession of that which another person has a prior