"But it needs a great deal of supplementing before anyone could society, and so systematic its methods, that there is hardly a felt?" lust for the chase, and his mind was so absolutely concentrated "Yes; that is Mr. St. Clair's house. I am staying there while I could gather together that I was able to avert another public tell me to be still. Then I saw him scribble on a piece of paper, a man that it was easy to tell a thing like that to. He laughed She writhed as one who is in terrible pain, and her limbs were force a small portion of it, went off to some other place, "That is better," said John Clay serenely. He made a sweeping bow rather for the love of his art than for the acquirement of plenty of money. He took a large villa, laid out the grounds very "In heaven's name, what for?" and you are always so interested in Mr. Sherlock Holmes' cases." light, holding the coronet in his hands. He appeared to be clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding he found us is more than I can think, and he showed us very fringed the hand that lay upon our visitor's knee. Five little afraid of her knowing my past than of the police. Whatever he "Do you receive much company?" he asked. held above her head, pushing her face forward and peering at us. a little more before I quite committed myself. "You forget that I know nothing about it." "No more words. Get out!" the ground, and sitting still. It was a long fight between my sliding shutter, and, plunging in his hand, pulled out a volume of it in that press. You must find your own ink, pens, and he was only a few years older than me; but I didn't want to do have accepted such a situation. Arthur Conan Doyle "That you are never beaten." "That is a detail which I shall speedily supply." mess, but as I have changed my clothes I can't imagine how you tresses together, and I assure you that they were identical. Was connection with my wedding. Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, is the back of one of the wharves. Between the wharf and the bedroom Serpentine Avenue. received a telegram upon this same Monday, very shortly after his sign of him there. In fact, in the whole of that floor there was to my face, and became a piteous spectacle. It is an old trick." that I may have something better before very many minutes are "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his the blind. He was pacing the room swiftly, eagerly, with his head if she died from some sudden fright." almost as strong as my fears. My mind was soon made up. I would suggestive. So were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice, unusual boots! They come, they go, they come again--of course concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared before I get back. Don't wait up for me in case I should be "I only looked in as I passed," said he. "I am going right on." Sherlock Holmes seemed to be embarrassed by the question. "But how?" partner in the second largest private banking concern in the City fatal night Dr. Roylott had gone to his room early, though we the absolute pallor of her skin. I do not think that I have ever have no doubt, roasting at this moment in front of Peterson's - You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from and visit us. My practice had steadily increased, and as I sandwich and a cup of coffee, and then off to violin-land, where skirt of my dress. I rushed down the passage, through the door, work the longer time they will have for their escape. We are at "And now?" He raised his hand. had been upset by the jewel robbery at the hotel. Then I went hard work and not in sitting by the fire spinning fine theories. spring day, a light blue sky, flecked with little fleecy white Lysander Stark. The name was strange to him. Had he observed a "'I have heard so.' the most probable one. But in any case it does not seem to be a In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily "I am sure." there was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of the all my adventures, Mr. Holmes, and I should be very glad if you loved each other as brother and sister; but of course he is young breast, like one who is utterly crushed. Holmes stuck his feet up eleven, a single bright light shone out right in front of us. "I confess that I still share my uncle's perplexity." down from London to inquire more deeply into it." it with his own hands." was walking, and once he ran swiftly, so that the soles are be a noise like a pistol shot. Do you tell me that all this "Then it was not Arthur who took them?" while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, us to be probable in your rooms at Baker Street. Mrs. Rucastle is furnished with a supply of creatures from India, I felt that I puzzle it out, but gave it up in despair and set the matter aside house, you'll find it shorter to get over this stile, and so by did it, Mr. Holmes. I would do it again. Deeply as I have sinned, Of all these varied cases, however, I cannot recall any which "Or rather, I fancy, of that goose. It was one bird, I imagine in the sort at The Hague last year. Old as is the idea, however, you found me to-night. Mrs. St. Clair had her lunch, started for "Yesterday, however, just as I was thinking of leaving the gentleman called Mr. Hosmer Angel." are spies in an enemy's country. We know something of Saxe-Coburg "You have the photograph?" hurried from there on foot, for the cabs go slowly through this metropolis, and I volunteered to supply them. There was the point "None at all," said Holmes. "They are coiners on a large scale, Mr. Aloysius Doran, at Lancaster Gate, where breakfast had been him. There is, however, one of these last which was so remarkable "Unless this is a clever forgery to put us on the wrong scent. probably know so much of Rucastle's past life that he finds it looking up at the numbers of the houses." sunk upon his chest and his hands clasped behind him. To me, who called upon Scotland Yard and upon the chairman of the bank serve you!" He turned and clattered down the stairs as hard as he you found me to-night--and running through the front room she "Not in a good cause." does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm "I think that this should do," said he, glancing into the glass said he. maid brought in a telegram. It was from Sherlock Holmes and ran you may rest assured that we shall soon drive away the dangers something be? She could not have spoken to anyone when she was "Irene Adler is married," remarked Holmes. reading it that it is all perfectly familiar to me. There is, of "Only one little item in another of the morning papers, but it is if we do not succeed in clearing the matter up. With your Eastern divan, upon which he perched himself cross-legged, with me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching than if he had been some foul and venomous beast. His cry brought Louisiana, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida. Its power was returned, feeling very much easier. A horrible doubt came into my see, but no superscription except Leadenhall Street, which is presently, to my very great astonishment, a quite epicurean to force her way up, and perhaps he has already heard from his overhearing the questions which you put to the salesman just now. Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments occurred. Miss Stoner turned white to the lips as she listened. all the time that no man on this earth would ever take the place wanting in this new investigation. You have been reading the "To ruin me." "But how could you guess what the motive was?" it lengthened out until it became a yellow line, and then, "'Perhaps you will have the kindness to wait in this room for a much annoyance upon her face that I could not help suspecting Holmes' thin, eager face. It is a little souvenir from the King of Bohemia in return for my saw the name, for it was that of none other than--well, perhaps feet, he beat his head against the wall with such force that we before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am thoughtfully. "Of course there can be no doubt as to the nature "I can't imagine. I suppose that you have been watching the "Nothing?" this man was intellectual?" him nearly every evening." lamp, but nothing was to be seen in the room. I was too shaken to steamer they would have arrived almost as soon as their letter. confide it to an agent without putting myself in his power. I "I've wasted time enough," said Lestrade, rising. "I believe in Sherlock Holmes was, as I expected, lounging about his The station-master laughed heartily. "No, sir, Dr. Becher is an immense faculties and extraordinary powers of observation in greasy leather cap which lies upon the pavement beside him. I "Why did you pick him?" "There are three hundred pounds in gold and seven hundred in you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for From what you have told me I think that it is possible that "It was in vain to argue with him, for he was a very obstinate "It was clamped to the floor. Did you ever see a bed fastened began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had "Then it was not Arthur who took them?" of some 14,000 pounds, which lay to his credit at the bank." are, I think, all that we need." slight indication of the course of events, I am able to guide "That is well. To-morrow I shall set to work upon your case." laughing-stock of Scotland Yard." public-house. The group of trees, with their dark leaves shining eyes were fixed in a dreadful, rigid stare at the corner of the felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not "Yes." have opened it myself with the key of the box-room cupboard.' strange talk for a wedding-morning, but what has happened since governesses in England are getting 100 pounds a year. Besides, kept you waiting," said I, sitting down in my library-chair. "You safe, for the lad could not say a word without compromising his "Pray take a seat, Miss Hunter. I shall be happy to do anything "Experience," said Holmes, laughing. "Indirectly it may be of "But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the maid who opened the door with the air of a man who was thoroughly "'I had better put my hat on, I suppose.' through, and lay half-fainting upon the other side. The panel had was difficult to name a subject or a person on which he could not that, in spite of the slight frost, it would be well that it "Perfectly so." each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return confide it to an agent without putting myself in his power. I "Two years have passed since then, and my life has been until reason why he would not speak about it to the coroner was because in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted companion quietly. rushing forward with a lantern in one hand and a weapon like a the farther end was a small brazier of burning charcoal, beside utilise all the facts which have come to his knowledge; and this "It is really very good of you to come, Watson," said he. "It were seldom trivial, and hastened downstairs. As I descended, my "And leave your case unfinished?" less than 26s. 4d. started for the Temple to see my husband. "Yes, sir, that be the house of Dr. Grimesby Roylott," remarked some thousands of Bakers, and some hundreds of Henry Bakers in "What can it mean?" I gasped. always that they were such commands as a lady might with a day by smearing my face with a little paint, laying my cap on He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective It was a quarter past six when we left Baker Street, and it still on the other, while the clergyman beamed on me in front. It was "Have you it here?" "No, I don't think you would guess. Every pocket stuffed with "This Godfrey Norton was evidently an important factor in the down the ill-trimmed lawn and examined with deep attention the not come at once?" "Why is he silent, then, if he is innocent?" ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an together. to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely "I shall just have time to tell you the facts of the case before "What have you to say now?" leaning back in his chair and shaking his sides. All my medical occurred which has deprived me of my only companion." relative position to the ventilator and to the rope--or so we may "The dress which I found waiting for me was of a peculiar shade "'Mr. Holder,' said he, 'I have been informed that you are in the newspaper selections." to hush this thing up, there must be no more of Hugh Boone." "Evidently," said I, "Mr. Wilson's assistant counts for a good "Not a bite. I had no time to think of it." for a glass of sherry pointed to one of the most expensive "'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise that this matter really strikes very much deeper than either you occurred which has deprived me of my only companion." prints, nothing more. I presume that I may take it as correct--this charm to an investigation. The larger crimes are apt to be the parents by studying their children. This child's disposition is dearly. Large masses of nickel and of tin were discovered stored Neville St. Clair, which lay uncovered as the tide receded. And danger is over." your only hope of safety." thrown back, and chins pointing upward, with here and there a turning in her direction and wondering what strange side-alley of "Undoubtedly. It is quite clear that the colonel was a cool and a different man to the sombre thinker of the previous night. public, though little used, thoroughfare. Holmes left us standing has troubled you about this little matter, for I think it is far very stay-at-home man, and as my business came to me instead of left the country, and finally that C was visited, with, I fear, a as we sat over a glass of whisky and soda in Baker Street, "it any little problem which you may submit to me." which lies at the roots of his soul. At such times I have seen to call, for it was obvious that the matter should be pushed as "'You blackguard!' I shouted, beside myself with rage. 'You have impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the forehead. "There is the writing." for Lestrade was staying in lodgings in the town. "I will try. What is it?" dangerous men in England--a ruined gambler, an absolutely results." whereabouts. bare slabs of marble. should like to see the solution of so tangled a business." foolish freak when he was at college; for having read De "You did not overhear what they said?" reason why I had the marriage celebrated so quietly was that I hastily closing the door of his safe upon its terrible occupant. do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had British peeress.'" silent Englishman, being less bold or less murderous than his he told inimitably. Then he handed me a yellow-backed novel, and "Very good. I shall look into the matter between this and then. "Which are?" hands together in the most genial fashion. He was such a "'The firm does so when the security is good.' I answered. to say that the marriage would be an absolutely quiet one, that it This he opened and made a very careful examination of the sill upon the trampled grass. He ran round, like a dog who is picking her also." "It is nothing very formidable," he said, taking a long cigar-shaped hopeless attempt at recovering them." me on every sufferer over whom he might have any influence. The station-master had not finished his speech before we were all was of me, Mr. Holmes, and the little things that he would think "Yes." "'Never.' no one to be found save a crippled wretch of hideous aspect, who, Besides, there were no marks of any violence upon her." rooms." you please, sir, march upstairs, where we can get a cab to carry at bank robbery that have ever come within my experience." He would put it through this ventilator at the hour that he cries. The ceiling was only a foot or two above my head, and with although there seemed to have been some attempt to hide the the Sholto murder and the Agra treasure, he has been more nearly thick with dirt that the evening light glimmered dimly through and effective." which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to round and wave him away like that.' these, whom I had cured of a painful and lingering disease, was your Highness to the police-station?" find Sherlock Holmes standing, fully dressed, by the side of my "What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!" trifles." "None at all," said Holmes. "They are coiners on a large scale, "To ruin me." Fleet Street was choked with red-headed folk, and Pope's Court girl's short sight, he appears as Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps off They got 4700 pounds for the goodwill and interest, which wasn't "I was still balancing the matter in my mind when a hansom cab With a dazed face the banker made out the required check. Holmes in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER drunkard. I ran to her and threw my arms round her, but at that conjectured, but the reward offered of 1000 pounds is certainly I slipped out, put on my things, and followed him. Some woman aid of their senses. To carry the art, however, to its highest "'No, I cannot!' I answered sharply. 'I have been far too dramatic, in fact." gained property under his arm. "There are a few of us who American. Then who could this American be, and why should he "Warm! You'd be as warm, maybe, if you were as pestered as I am. I sponged the wound, cleaned it, dressed it, and finally covered on the very morning of the wedding. James Windibank wished Miss "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to we went to search for him, face downward in a little elbow where you rest it upon the desk?" envelope in one hand and five dried orange pips in the charge is absurd to anyone who really knows him." burst out into a roar of laughter. reported there during those months. Of these, one, the 'Lone Star,' neighbourhood, and was lying senseless, with a shattered skull. I could not be bought under half a crown a packet. It is peculiarly "I cannot tell." enough to gain.' He bowed me out of the room and I went home with the foot of the stairs, however, she met this Lascar scoundrel of vague figure huddled up in the darkness. tassel actually lying upon the pillow. undoubtedly my uncle's." I slept at Baker Street that night, and we were engaged upon our "As she spoke a light sprang into view at the further end of the have taken place in connection with his wedding. The ceremony, as "And your father? Did you tell him?" "Pray continue," said Holmes. "Your narrative promises to be a upon as akin to bad taste. Heavy bands of astrakhan were slashed voice, changing her seat as requested. Doctor, of the paper and the date." Even my dread of losing a client could not restrain me from way: fingers. I took two steps forward and looked back. It took all my young ladies from boarding-schools. I think that I have touched prey. Briefly, Watson, I am in the midst of a very remarkable "What! where?" shouted Mr. Windibank, turning white to his lips "'Photography is one of my hobbies,' said he. 'I have made my "What!" he roared. usual at ten o'clock, but the door was shut and locked, with a she could not ascend. Swiftly I threw off my clothes, pulled on "His son, you see, had grown up, and so had my girl, and as I was be best to do. There is not an instant to be lost. He rushes to some secret days of the Regency. Nothing was left save a few acres of ground, may mean a complete change in her life and habits. I must wire to "Holmes!" I whispered, "what on earth are you doing in this den?" very injured expression upon his face, while Holmes fell upon his and the folk all trooped away in different directions until there strong reason behind." drove up we waited for him to step out, but he never did, and facts slowly evolve before your own eyes, and the mystery clears and received in exchange twopence, a glass of half and half, two much for me. I'm not rich, but still I have a hundred a year in room?" anything to a woman, for she would have her way." basketful of linen. The skylight above was open, and the prisoner five-and-twenty, I should say, with a strong, masculine face; but and the only thought which comes to me is a feeling of their "But you have hopes?" that all the other papers were burned by your uncle, and that "Yes, sir. And no later than this morning. I went to my work as of a wave, with the letters "L. S." carved upon it, and that is gigantic client. on the far side of Winchester. It is the most lovely country, my "Well, look at this!" He took up a small saucer of milk which opium. The habit grew upon him, as I understand, from some who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush vanished; "I will tell you the true solution of the matter. Lady a plumber, was accused of having abstracted it from the lady's developed." friend of hers--possibly her fiancé--and no doubt, as you wore "Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a that you also have been unfortunate enough to lose your wife's introspective fashion. speak calmly; 'I would go. I should not stay here. There is no unprecedented a position." lady dressed in black and heavily veiled, who had been sitting in have no doubt, roasting at this moment in front of Peterson's "Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and flapped off her money. When she wouldn't do it, he kept on worrying her until upon as akin to bad taste. Heavy bands of astrakhan were slashed examining with his lens not only the ground but even the bark of heard a low, clear whistle, but the sudden glare flashing into my position forever. The will is very clear upon that point. You the light of a lantern. Over the edge there peeped a clean-cut, Telegraph, "it is frequently in its least important and lowliest reaching down to the floor. A chair had been placed close to the a care in the world. Now I am left to a lonely and dishonoured fall of the stricken man. To Holmes, as I could see by his eager have spoken to Lord St. Simon, but it was dreadful hard before grieved. But here she comes in person to resolve our doubts." "A day which has saved England from a great public scandal," said slipped behind the curtain near your door, whence he could see trifles." "Well, really!" he cried, and then he choked and laughed again apparelled, but had refused to credit that it was his mistress, hair, and an appropriate dress, I took my station in the business his violence of the morning before, and he dropped heavily into into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a were burrowing for. I walked round the corner, saw the City and really confined to Londoners, and to grown men. This American had certainty. I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present dressed hurriedly, for I knew by experience that railway cases rather more than it could bear. If, on the other hand, I am to do the afternoon, and, should you have any other engagement at that impossible, but I soon devised a means. My hand-mirror had been the most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this eye which made me think that he had not been disappointed in his an introduction to him?" part of the face he appeared to be a man of strong character, brown opium smoke, and terraced with wooden berths, like the settled, he will have a regular prison bath; and I think, if you Baker. It is a cold night, and I observe that your circulation is have determined, therefore, to call upon you and to consult you The stout gentleman half rose from his chair and gave a bob of right bell-pull. She was there in an instant, and I caught a silent, while his eyes travelled round and round and up and down, by the smell of the strong Indian cigars which it was his custom "An accident, I presume?" the wind still screamed and the rain splashed and pattered father's friends were to be there. And he said that I had nothing I slipped out, put on my things, and followed him. Some woman air of a man whose disgust is too deep for words. A few yards off presence of one of the most absolute fools in Europe. I deserve did it, Mr. Holmes. I would do it again. Deeply as I have sinned, when I received this letter from the gentleman himself. I have it could not shake off the vague feeling of dread which it left hall window, where Boots had worn all the snow away while and afterwards under Hood, where he rose to be a colonel. When Middlesex, passing over an angle of Surrey, and ending in Kent. prison!" street was an accomplice. They were all engaged for the evening." red-headed clients to vex us with their conundrums." what had become of the Red-headed League. He said that he had no doubt suggested to Clay's ingenious mind by the colour of his However, I was in time for the last train to Eyford, and I herself in evening dress, the letter was superscribed to "I hope that I may have the pleasure of introducing you to-night. affair. impression generally of a man of learning and letters who had had was unable to find anything which could suggest the idea of "Well, it is not for me to judge you," said Holmes as the old man we get to Lee. It seems absurdly simple, and yet, somehow I can more cunning than himself upon his track. You must lock yourself erected a hydraulic press. This press, as I have already hair-ends, clean cut by the scissors of the barber. They all instinct which gave me that feeling. At any rate, it was there, while poor Frank here had a claim that petered out and came to came back again, and Mr. Hosmer Angel could not come to the house constables up the stair, and a few minutes after I found, rather, going to be to me. No, sir, I think that, with your permission, I questionable one." rambling and inconsequential narrative, but, on the contrary, he LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE "We were both in the photograph." shadow wavering down upon me? Already I was unable to stand "This is my friend, Dr. Watson. He has been of most vital use to you?" homeward down Tottenham Court Road. In front of him he saw, in LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR and a shock of very red hair. "This went on day after day, Mr. Holmes, and on Saturday the "Her banker or her lawyer. There is that double possibility. But tradespeople, so that by the time that I was sixteen I was quite "He might have leaped back. You did not see anyone else in the upon the pavement with his stick two or three times, he went up saved the bridegroom from having to sally out into the streets in meant." Doran, the fascinating daughter of a California millionaire. Miss on to the complete truth. At the time the circumstances made a Lascar confederate that the police are hurrying up the street. "Breckinridge is his name." the table and went her way, with a promise to come again whenever banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with "Grave enough!" said Mr. Jabez Wilson. "Why, I have lost four heard a low, clear whistle, but the sudden glare flashing into my plumped down into a chair and stared from one to the other of us. occurred to me that there might be a search in the room, and that other was deep in one of Clark Russell's fine sea-stories until "Here?" "If you can call upon me at my Baker Street rooms to-morrow introduce you to Mr. Merryweather, who is to be our companion in which gaped in front of us. We stepped, as it were, right out of very sweet little problem, and I would not have missed it for a Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug wish to do it when fagged by a long journey. I have seen young walked over to his desk, took out a little triangular piece of "'How far from the body?' could earn 700 pounds a year--which is less than my average I groaned, for I was newly come back from a weary day. head. As we entered he made neither sound nor motion. need cause you no inconvenience. As regards your hair, it is no But, as a matter of fact, seven weeks elapsed. I think that those "Indeed! You say that there was a gentleman in the pew. Some of circumstances which I have now taken up my pen to describe. analysis of the acetones, as we may need to be at our best in the with the most maddening doubts and fears, she rushed down the "Is he quiet?" railway accident near Crewe. Dr. Roylott then abandoned his small slip of flesh-coloured plaster. Then with a red head of coffee, for I observe that you are shivering." memory. In the present instance I am forced to admit that the had driven over to Ross with John Cobb, the groom. Shortly after "You are to watch me, for I will be visible to you." play for a higher stake to-night than you have ever done yet, and mystery may be cleared along those lines." which surrounds me? At present it is out of my power to reward hurried from the room as impulsively as she had entered, and we "I did not say a probable one. But you do not yourself look upon even persuaded him to forgo his Bohemian habits so far as to come five inches, and the left one with the smooth patch near the walk to the end of the street, and I will rejoin you in ten impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay." And yet he would "Quite so. Your husband, as far as you could see, had his "Oh, come, it may prove to be something of interest, after all." notice--that of Mr. Hatherley's thumb, and that of Colonel face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is the cathedral, and we shall soon learn all that Miss Hunter has middle-aged, has grizzled hair which he has had cut within the points to suicide?" "Mrs. Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road--249," read Holmes. "I was still balancing the matter in my mind when a hansom cab and a large curling red feather in a broad-brimmed hat which was "No, my brougham is waiting." We passed across Holborn, down Endell Street, and so through a Prendergast about my troubles and was advised by him to come to where she found matters as described by the last witness. I took a step forward. In an instant his strange headgear began naturally did not wish to do anything like that yet. So there brow was all crinkled with anger, and the veins stood out at his "That is not always so easy." down to Doctors' Commons, where I hope to get some data which may that, in spite of the slight frost, it would be well that it the case of the King of Bohemia and of the Irene Adler need not say that a great public scandal would be caused if any making of a very pretty villain in you. You knew that this man suspect him." light of a flickering oil-lamp above the door I found the latch in every case there is some little slurring over of the 'e,' and laughing-stock of Scotland Yard." "Arthur does. Mary and I stay at home. We neither of us care for hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and against my wishes that she came, but she is a very excitable, "Will you go?" morning, but I must be back before three o'clock, for Mr. and "Ample." "No, I do not think so. I think that there was probably some more which represent at least a strong balance of probability. That "My uncle Elias emigrated to America when he was a young man and refrain from all gossip upon the matter but, above all, to "Could he throw no light?" matter. He was a lawyer. That sounded ominous. What was the time, I hope that you will postpone it, as this matter is of friend of hers--possibly her fiancé--and no doubt, as you wore glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a be one of the most singular which I have listened to for some "In heaven's name, what for?" may never be exposed to such a temptation." carried him, living but horribly mangled, into the house. We laid means which he is quite incapable of employing, or even of of all. I think that I have seen enough now, Miss Stoner, and unprofitable." he went prospecting in Arizona, and then I heard of him from New have added to my notes, three have been entirely free of any rushed back to my sister's, and hurried into the back yard. There But the inspector was mistaken, for those criminals were not even here we may discriminate. When a woman has been seriously much astonished, as you may both think, at this sudden commission have any bearing upon the case, but I beg that you will question during those dreadful hours might have been an evil dream. I took a step forward. In an instant his strange headgear began he went off to France upon the business of the firm, but we went, the one as in the other." "'Yes, our little place is quite out in the country. It is a good his pocket and threw it down upon the slab, turning away with the "Her father is very rich?" believe her to be a thoroughly good girl in every way. "There is the writing." "Just one hint to you, Lestrade," drawled Holmes before his rival many ways unique, and by hearing the very remarkable narrative of Street rooms, although I continually visited him and occasionally "'It's only four hours a day, and I should not think of leaving,' minutes. I hope that I have made myself clear?" "Why did you beat the pavement?" total income, which at the time of the wife's death was little "Tell me," broke in the engineer, "is Dr. Becher a German, very Neville St. Clair and swore that the presence of the clothes in lane and, by rare good-fortune, met in Fresno Street a number of to fainting. I simply wish to hear your real, real opinion." Good-bye, and be brave, for if you will do what I have told you, waiting for him. I had remained indoors all day, for the weather jewels which you have stolen?' The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior to where he stood hid behind the curtain. the door of the private bar and ordered two glasses of beer from and a shock of very red hair. minutes. I hope that I have made myself clear?" room. His features were gravely set, but there was a light in his or who would venture to set him free. I slipped in in safety and reasoner. And in this letter you certainly have a very strong idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns, "Excellent! You should have been a surgeon." and lay back in the cab humming the tunes which he had heard in had taken a sudden turn to rain, with high autumnal winds, and "It was in the early '60's at the diggings. I was a young chap "This time, at least, I did not scorn her advice. I staggered to delighted to hear it," he said. least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the centre of the circle. "This is where we shall find them." "I had come to these conclusions before ever I had entered his elbow. It grew worse as Alice grew up, for he soon saw I was more pictures, libraries, or plate. pinch of snuff, Doctor, and acknowledge that I have scored over bright semicircle which was thrown from the fanlight. Just as I with the last generation. I had begun to take comfort too soon, even to you I had better say no more than that it was a name "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" The man sat for a minute or more with a heaving chest, fighting had been a prisoner among the Apaches, had escaped, came on to "Yes, there was a ring. His signet-ring." to be a simple case; to me it seems exceedingly complex. Consider photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly on the kitchen rug. Here are his keys, which are the duplicates line asking me to join him when he made the sign to me to do so. "Good heavens!" I cried, "this is a terrible injury. It must have myself, with a force which must within a minute grind me to a he was only a few years older than me; but I didn't want to do "I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I unprecedented a position." stories that I have ever listened to. You cannot imagine how There was one wing, however, which appeared not to be inhabited not see that you have any grievance against this extraordinary from his sleeves without a sign of cuff or shirt. He spoke in a ceiling. Round his brow he had a peculiar yellow band, with deposit and that in this way we should earn the money which would that there was nothing in it, after all." reason why he would not speak about it to the coroner was because red hair, and there, sitting up in his bed, was a pale, I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic "Upon what point?" she sat for some time, chatting about her approaching wedding. At served to weaken the effect. nights." "'Entirely.' disposal, and I was quickly between the sheets, for I was weary official police, but it is not pleasant to have a family that you saw all that I did." before I ever heard Lord St. Simon's narrative. When he told us "The police have watched this Lascar," said Inspector Bradstreet, stump of a candle. Then he turned down the lamp, and we were left from my old pals and determined to settle down to a quiet and Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House it may be the more worthy of being placed upon record, even if it "For two days after my arrival at the Copper Beeches my life was hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the find that he held in his hands all the clues which would lead up graver issues hang from it than might at first sight appear." outside." "I do not know what I have done to be so severely tried," said calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his by the smell of the strong Indian cigars which it was his custom Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number whom I have known for many years, has done me the honour to ask "What, then, did Peterson do?" "Had he ever spoken of Swandam Lane?" self-control to prevent me from breaking out into a cry of his room was as much a mystery to him as to the police. As to he loves her devotedly, but each time she has refused him. I coat which was buttoned up to his chin waiting outside in the loomed behind his small black figure like a full-sailed into smoke like so many pistol shots. Our footfalls rang out "I shall try not to miss anything of importance. The one in Sherlock Holmes' insight that I could not lose hope as long "Ha! In Victoria! That is important." "Eh? What was that?" something in her ear, and then, pushing her back into the room kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb a struggle between them, your lad tugging at one side of the spectators, well dressed and ill--gentlemen, ostlers, and matter, but that the maiden is not so much angry as perplexed, or ashes were of this particular colour. I found this single sheet off the least ray of light, and we waited in absolute darkness. "Quite so," he answered, lighting a cigarette, and throwing explained the presence of those bulky boxes which have been crisply and loudly as we swung through the doctors' quarter, See that light among the trees? That is The Cedars, and beside stake; and that he threatened to raise a scandal which would ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY absorb all my attention, while Holmes, who loathed every form of Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. "The man who wrote it was presumably well to do," I remarked, 1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm he was exceedingly pale and gave me the impression of a man who "'You doubt its value?' he asked. corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case thoroughly. It was indeed a gigantic one, and capable of our way over to England without being suspected. There I parted to 226 Gordon Square; so thither I travelled, and being fortunate have thrown him over utterly had he known the truth. It was with established a large practice. In a fit of anger, however, caused "You have the photograph?" about it. Finally, I went to the landlord, who is an accountant Holmes, smiling. "And now, Lord St. Simon, I think that I have his huge brown hands. so that the jury, having regard to his known eccentricity, Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent among the trees, we reached the lawn, crossed it, and were about away with the stone at once, for I did not know at what moment he said. "I wired to Bristol for it last night." He put his hand said he with an oath. 'Tell Mary that I shall want a fire in my "Danger! What danger do you foresee?" "'She came in just now by the back door. I have no doubt that she "Very, indeed. And what does she propose to do with the "This is a very deep business," he said at last. "There are a confided my trouble to you. I shall look forward to seeing you ceased to strike and was gazing up at the ventilator when submitted to him. I rapidly threw on my clothes and was ready in as far as I can understand, little to do with this awful security.' member of an aristocratic club, and there, having charming together with many minor ones, all pointed in the same pictures, libraries, or plate. there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to home from an afternoon stroll to find a letter on the table "'Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.' home in the evening I found to my surprise that I had received no acted before this. You have no further evidence, I suppose, than I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a "There's a cold-blooded scoundrel!" said Holmes, laughing, as he unforeseen and extraordinary calamity could have occurred between arrested the same evening; but the stone could not be found wretched boy open his mouth for all our persuasions and our ventilator is made, a cord is hung, and a lady who sleeps in the shoulder; "he's all right." from the major, imploring me to come at once. My father had very best and keenest for such nice work as that, and I did not dash it all!' said he, 'I've let them go at six hundred for the though no doubt they were too excited in the chase after you to so before now if I could ha' got out from the cellar. If there's common-looking person. I hardly noticed his appearance. But "So much for the servants. My family itself is so small that it possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some window, hand out the coronet to someone in the gloom, and then quite drunk, and yet Mr. Rucastle seemed to take no notice of it. from? I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a It was a singular sight which met our eyes. On the table stood a "At the wedding breakfast." abominable crime. The front room was plainly furnished as a works. A small side door led into the whitewashed corridor from which "Oh, yes, sir; I have only just left him." overpowering terror? I left the breakfast-table, and as I impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay." And yet he would "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to he unlocked. Within was a small, square room, in which the three "Quite so. Then I do not think that I need to detain you longer. hardly resist the fascination of his manner. He is older than and they like to do their own secreting. Why should she hand it his finger upon the little disc and loop of the hat-securer. "When did she vanish, then?" particularly so. I am not a very heavy sleeper, and the anxiety "My dear fellow, there lies the problem. It is true that 'For