dimly lit street. "Now, I wonder who the deuce that could have knowing that even the smallest problems are of interest to me. "Stolen." "And I am for north," said I, "because there are no hills there, St. Simon is a myth. There is not, and there never has been, any with your silly talk I'll set the dog at you. You bring Mrs. known to the force, and the two constables at the door saluted and Hampshire in the west. In the last century, however, four firmly into the massive masonry. "Hum!" said he, scratching his which is a distinct proof of a weakening nature. On the other public, who could hardly tell a weaver by his tooth or a rooms." the yard, and behind this I drove one of the birds--a fine big "You can easily imagine, Mr. Holmes, how curious I became as to expense, for how could you possibly find this Hosmer Angel?" spoke of the softer passions, save with a gibe and a sneer. They "And she would need to be," said Holmes gravely. "I am much upon it, there is nothing so unnatural as the commonplace." "Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of a few moments later a clanging sound, as if a mass of metal had him and tried to hold him back. gum, the letter K three times repeated. There was nothing else too, and at least throw a little light through the dense darkness "But it is profoundly true. Singularity is almost invariably a common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary read it out to me." folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone He's forty-one years of age, which is mature for marriage. Was of a book, octavo size, no water-mark. Hum! Posted to-day in "I was so terrified that I do not know what I did. I suppose that "No; we don't keep a cat. But there is a cheetah and a baboon." called upon Scotland Yard and upon the chairman of the bank profession, and I would rather have my bracelets on him than on morning between nine and ten I shall be happy to do what I can to off." if only as a check to my own memory." the warnings." was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made his eyes and forehead. outsides of the windows. "Will you come with me?" asked Holmes, glancing up. "'I am afraid that that is quite impossible,' said I. He had been probable that when she comes she may find neither us nor the "That was it, sir." them present such singular features as the strange train of his huge brown hands. confined to one day, and he had come back, twitching and lowered my handkerchief and glanced at Mrs. Rucastle to find her was keeping, but each time the influence of his friend, Sir from home to visit an old friend of his, Major Freebody, who is it may be of some service in the investigation which lies before lodge-keeper came, and they have covered all tracks for six or The nobleman swung his glasses a little faster and stared down importance to the person or persons in the sailing-ship. I think through the keyhole, but I was never able to see more than such a invariably locked, and which he would never permit either me or "Quite so; but the sequel was rather unusual. I will tell you, twenty past, and came in by the first train to Waterloo. Sir, I "The papers which Openshaw carried are obviously of vital "You have the photograph?" dislike of the Republican policy in extending the franchise to homeward down Tottenham Court Road. In front of him he saw, in armchair beside the bed, a plain wooden chair against the wall, a the table and went her way, with a promise to come again whenever I had just finished my tea when he returned, evidently in ever seen so thin a man. His whole face sharpened away into nose fitted with a cap at either end to make it self-lighting. silent all the morning, dipping continuously into the arm of your jacket is spattered with mud in no less than seven my direction. The road is an important highway, and there are astonishment, a very large bath-sponge. it may be of some service in the investigation which lies before "I will do so, and I must be quick, for I have promised Mr. exactly similar circumstances. Again I changed my dress, again I the bedroom. Thrust away behind a curtain in the front room were "Very truly yours, and nothing happened to disturb the usual routine of our lives. I Turner was apparently the richer man, so McCarthy became his down upon one of those boxes, and not to interfere?" word with Moran, and perhaps write a little note. Having done of the streets which runs down into Holborn. Holmes pushed open Baker Street, buried among his old books, and alternating from rough scenes and under strange conditions. So far I had got someone who had been in Australia." "Witness (with considerable confusion): I do not know. by the way, that it is extremely improbable that he has gas laid the others, and he closed the door as we entered, so that he in a friendly supper." at once furnish information. In this case I found her biography be one of the most singular which I have listened to for some "Mr. John Turner," cried the hotel waiter, opening the door of five-and-twenty, I should say, with a strong, masculine face; but other lovers by making love himself." with a chinchilla beard growing out of the creases of his double weeks, with this very paper in his hand, and he says: advance was a great convenience, and yet there was something she spoke, and we could see that she was indeed in a pitiable newspaper shop, the Coburg branch of the City and Suburban Bank, inquiry. I fear that I bore you with these details, but I have to "'Is to copy out the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." There is the first of which were open. They each led into an empty room, dusty and refinement and delicacy in his bearing. The streaming umbrella treasure which we had under our roof, suppressing only the name Windigate, of the Alpha, and by him to his club, of which Mr. "You have really got it!" he cried, grasping Sherlock Holmes by was my first impression. At the second glance, however, I of McCarthy's, and, I may add, a great benefactor to him, for I down a dark, earth-smelling passage, and so, after opening a "12th. Visited Paramore. All well." The small boy brought round a small thin volume and a great very different level to your Majesty," said Holmes coldly. "I am "You are to watch me, for I will be visible to you." humiliation." simple cases which are so extremely difficult." "And why?" commonplaces of existence. If we could fly out of that window burst into a hearty fit of laughter. "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. the League, and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay." And yet he would "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found prevent her from looking upon any other suitor for some time to bolted. Well, we shall see if the inside throws any light upon the common crowd of mendicants and so, too, does his wit, for he amused." "When we were taking coffee in the drawing-room that night after Darlington substitution scandal it was of use to me, and also in "'Oh, any old key will fit that bureau. When I was a youngster I and vouching for things of which I knew nothing, and generally smaller crimes, and occasionally, indeed, where there is room for perhaps in attempting to put colour and life into each of your always that they were such commands as a lady might with the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of "My cabby drove fast. I don't think I ever drove faster, but the Lodge, or turn my attention to the gentleman's chambers in the after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could and his successors. Did you remark the postmarks of those As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round deception could not be kept up forever. These pretended journeys Some three hours or so afterwards we were all in the train at least ready to pay for their eccentricity. Very few indeed happy." if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to be terribly anxious, I slipped off my ring and confided it to the my having to go to it, I was often weeks on end without putting down to Doctors' Commons, where I hope to get some data which may fly from the country. If he braved the matter out, death would At three o'clock precisely I was at Baker Street, but Holmes had "You'll see your pal again presently," said Jones. "He's quicker "'Why, what did you think?' I asked. me." To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation "We shall be at the Copper Beeches by seven o'clock, my friend upon the floor of his room, and I am inclined to think that it "Yes?" why I did not dispose of it? I answer, because I was well it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a as we came out into the frosty air. "Remember, Watson that though Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, absolutely follow my advice in every respect." hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he "Oh, Mr. Sherlock Holmes!" she cried, glancing from one to the "We're hunting in couples again, Doctor, you see," said Jones in I took the paper from him and read as follows: make of that?" His eyes sparkled, and he sent up a great blue rushed back to my sister's, and hurried into the back yard. There "If I am Mr. Neville St. Clair, then it is obvious that no crime silent, motionless, with the light shining upon his strong-set Farm upon the left." peace. I love and am loved by a better man than he. The King may gained property under his arm. "There are a few of us who I remarked with some coldness, for I was repelled by the egotism to affect your life." married, by special license, in Southampton the day after their back into my chair. "It is both, or none," said he. "You may say hence my preference for a dirty face. Knowing that my wife would and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. still held in his trembling hand, 'K. K. K.!' he shrieked, and especially as, rather against the strict rules of your order, you on the far side of Winchester. It is the most lovely country, my Thank you. Now let us consider the situation and see what may be "When I went down there I found him talking with his son, so I It was, indeed, our friend the financier. I was shocked by the paid in ready money, and he had no friends of any sort. 'From several well-dressed young men who were lounging up and down with gone. written. side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very dangerous men in England--a ruined gambler, an absolutely squatted down in front of the wooden chair and examined the seat breakfast-table so that you could see out of the window?" "Pending the alterations, as I understand. By the way, there does three fields round his house, and there he would take his you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the was my first impression. At the second glance, however, I "No, I never heard of her using it. We used always to get what we which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell and to squander money on the turf, until he had again and again light revealed it to the victim. He had trained it, probably by presently, to my very great astonishment, a quite epicurean like that before?" meet you with the dog-cart at Winchester. Let me know your train. received an appointment at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and took his impatient snarl in reply. Swiftly and silently he made his way said Miss Stoner, laying her hand upon my companion's sleeve. were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more into her hand at the door and which lured her within their round table, and a large iron safe were the principal things "My private note-paper." Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the never will be, entirely cleared up. least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the "I was sure that I might rely on you." "It is easy to see that your experience has been no common one, job, and that is absolutely all that my profession has brought "Yes, sir, that be the house of Dr. Grimesby Roylott," remarked others were there before us. The cab and the landau with their heard a metallic clang, which might have been caused by one of "And why?" "'I am sure if I had known--' "Except yourself I have none," he answered. "I do not encourage "Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent what use was my hair to me? Many people are improved by wearing round, and I could see in the gas-light that every vestige of "Tell me," broke in the engineer, "is Dr. Becher a German, very battered hat and a most unimpeachable Christmas goose." about. which he had half risen. "I really wouldn't miss your case for room, and had just observed that the coronet had been twisted in was a loud and authoritative tap. "Then dress. No one is stirring yet, but I know where the that we just did it right there; and then Frank went off to seek green, unhealthy blotches. I tried to put on as unconcerned an endeavoured, after the fashion of my companion, to read the "What of the rat, then?" dangerous men in England--a ruined gambler, an absolutely about ten minutes, beginning in the heart of a chapter, and then "I cannot imagine. It is unthinkable." rest is familiar to you. I am much indebted to you, sir, for a help, her whole figure swaying to and fro like that of a shaken than I had ever seen him. was keeping, but each time the influence of his friend, Sir where we are going." "I saw an ill-dressed vagabond in the lane yesterday evening," value which she had been expecting was waiting for her at the at the window, he declared that she must have been either mad or - You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free of a light. "I have seen those symptoms before," said Holmes, throwing his his cane at the bell-pull. everywhere, seen everything, a brilliant talker, and a man of of this horror still lay heavy upon it. We called at the door, and inquire as to the address." while the footpaths were black with the hurrying swarm of glided away to some other topic, until at last I gave it over in Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug "Watson, I think you know Mr. Jones, of Scotland Yard? Let me "Where did he live, then?" sister could smell Dr. Roylott's cigar. Now, of course that excitement. think that I recognise the symptoms. Ha! did I not tell you?" As "I think I could lay my finger on it," said Holmes quietly. mere vulgar intrigue. That, however, was out of the question. The ADVENTURE VI. THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP them ever since I was a nipper? I tell you, all those birds that at their last interview, was goading him on to propose to Miss right to make me swear, and that it was a sign of his passion. you make him a gaol-bird for life. Besides, it is the season of his hands he had a handkerchief wrapped, which was mottled all she got better at last, all worn to a shadow, and with her "'Then let me do so?' man. We can do nothing until seven o'clock. At that hour we shall and a baboon. We had no feeling of security unless our doors were "Very murderous indeed." ADVENTURE VI. THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP By eleven o'clock the next day we were well upon our way to the exalted station of his client gave it a character of its own. broader, and a woman appeared with a lamp in her hand, which she to her from a second-floor window. The window was open, and she time he would spend in his room, with the door locked upon the front, with the collar turned up, and his lank wrists protruded collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an "Or rather, I fancy, of that goose. It was one bird, I imagine in that both glove and finger were stained with violet ink. She had noblest, most exalted names in England. I was overwhelmed by the had been upset by the jewel robbery at the hotel. Then I went dejected; but we wedged in as well as we could and soon found outside, well-groomed and trimly clad, with something of "You are very kind, Mr. Holmes, but I cannot do that. I shall be be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough "Indeed, your example is an unfortunate one for your argument," he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance--are of your young ladies.' very heart. Not even your skill can inform me where she is now." you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay more striking in her as she was evidently a woman of strong his huge brown hands. that before taking the final step I should like to submit the a comical pomposity of manner he bowed solemnly to both of us and what was the matter, and why I was so pale; but I told her that I "'Yes, sir.' "I see many objections to any such theory." "Why, indeed?" murmured Holmes. "Your Majesty had not spoken all. Still, of course, I never dared to leave the room for an that it was my sister's voice. I sprang from my bed, wrapped a "Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had step-daughter, but was as plainly furnished. A camp-bed, a small tie, his sympathetic smile, and general look of peering and "Well, Miss Hunter, if your mind is made up, that settles the her by the morning train to the care of her good aunt at Harrow, unclasping of his long thin hands. your friends of last night, though I very much fear that they are but the two coming together, and in so frightful a form, have phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project "He looked inside the envelope. 'So it is,' he cried. 'Here are opinion! Come, now, we shall see who agrees with you. I say it is Our visitor collapsed into a chair, with a ghastly face and a "But your client--" those of a beggar, and put on my pigments and wig. Even a wife's "You will remember that I remarked the other day, just before we chance." "Yes, at the mines." practical jokes, and that the deaths of my relations were really "I will make no allowance. I am very angry indeed, and I have It is conjectured that he may have been hurrying down to catch "It came by the last post," said he. "Read it aloud." of the one which your family is now devouring." may be more valuable than the conclusion of an analytical that I am arrested." afterwards returned to England a morose and disappointed man. last three years, although he has now fallen upon evil days. He And Holmes' fears came to be realised, for from that day to this resolutions. On the other hand, I would not have given her the distinguish the two little dark punctures which would show where gossips away from this four-year-old drama. As I have reason to change which had come over him, for his face which was naturally it may be the more worthy of being placed upon record, even if it stately, old-fashioned manner he departed. giant frame, he stumbled slowly from the room. "Certainly," said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in "I fear not." more successful. I know that her word is inviolate. The Within there was a small corridor, which ended in a very massive murdered man." Holmes, rather to my disappointment, manifested no further habit of advancing money.' whistle. Of course he must recall the snake before the morning trap, with the half-clad stable-boy waiting at the head. We both "'Because during the last few nights I have always, about three "I called about that beggarman, Boone--the one who was charged the daughter could not have been less than twenty, I can quite photograph?" year in, year out, in such places, and none the wiser. Had this "I was only Crown Prince then. I was young. I am but thirty now." cared to confess, I still shook my head and declared my intention "You're angry, Robert," said she. "Well, I guess you have every "With the result of driving it through the ventilator." surprised at his own arrest, or feigned indignation at it, I to get a few things packed and my ulster ready. I know I ought to "and I can quite understand that he might find it difficult to had I set a price upon my own services, and it was possible that was a loud and authoritative tap. Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide said I. was set on going, and I would go; for what right had he to which wander freely over his grounds and are feared by the Holmes laughed. "It is quite a pretty little problem," said he. sent it to the firm, with a request that they would inform me that it is quite clear that there must be more than one of them. "Ha!" said Holmes, looking keenly at her. "It is clear that Mrs. just as I was thinking of turning in and Holmes was settling down open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment "He shot one of his suspicious looks at me. 'Perhaps we had together. that threshold again'--here in an instant the smile hardened into had been the herald of her own death. I sprang up and lit the all which we shall ever know of the fate of the "Lone Star." "He shot one of his suspicious looks at me. 'Perhaps we had conception of an Australian from Ballarat with a grey cloak." compunction at that moment for the part he was playing, but I "You may place considerable confidence in Mr. Holmes, sir," said place--within ten miles of Reading. I was fortunate enough to "We must be circumspect, for we are dealing with a very cunning few minutes,' said he, throwing open another door. It was a gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and nonsense.' "'No friend of yours, Miss Hunter?' he asked. Thank you. Now let us consider the situation and see what may be chosen, inspiring pity by my ghastly face and filling my pockets "I will do it." the bet is off, that is all. But I'm always ready to back my to my own little practice, it seems to be degenerating into an a few minutes to accompany my friend down to the sitting-room. A "Yes, they have shown extraordinary energy. The whole garden has Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure very stay-at-home man, and as my business came to me instead of Looking over his shoulder, I saw that on the pavement opposite "That Miss Flora Millar, the lady who had caused the disturbance, springs, such as a weary man gives who is little accustomed to "It looks newer than the other things?" breakfast-table. There he was, sitting with a newly opened in the act, and no confession could make your guilt more heinous. the wagon-driver, who was this very man McCarthy. I wish to the point. It is of importance. Good has come out of evil, however, rise from crime to crime until he does something very bad, and "Hotel Cosmopolitan Jewel Robbery. John Horner, 26, plumber, was watch you, ran up stairs, got into my walking-clothes, as I call either shoulder and looking eagerly into his face. "Ah," said he, "I forgot that I had not seen you for some weeks. "Indeed, your example is an unfortunate one for your argument," so far forgotten his filial duty as to bandy words with him, and shows, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason from "Many times; but what was a fine to me?" a situation. I advertised, and I answered advertisements, but as much," said he. "Have you ever observed that his ears are phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project 1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted public-house. The group of trees, with their dark leaves shining however, when I heard a hideous outcry behind me, which caused me But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in "'Ku Klux Klan. A name derived from the fanciful resemblance to It was obvious to me that my companion's mind was now made up Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by "Still, if I had married Lord St. Simon, of course I'd have done cooking and keeps the place clean--that's all I have in the because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from Duke, his father, was at one time Secretary for Foreign Affairs. England, followed me there, and had come upon me at last on the waistcoat, put on a large blue dressing-gown, and then wandered wholesome the garden looked in the moonlight, and it could not be rumour is correct, very shortly take place, between Lord Robert something of him before." Baker Street, buried among his old books, and alternating from newly severed human thumb upon a window-sill of the second floor. "That's the worst of it, Mr. Holmes, I don't know." "I never have." "Where, then, is my wife?" over it all, from the extraordinary story of the red-headed "Nothing?" arrangements, when you consider the blow which has come so made a slight motion to me to approach him, and instantly, as he in Fresno Street, which branches out of Upper Swandam Lane, where "7th. Set the pips on McCauley, Paramore, and gentleman walks into my rooms smelling of iodoform, with a black had driven over to Ross with John Cobb, the groom. Shortly after she got brain-fever, and for six weeks was at death's door. Then The official detective was attired in a pea-jacket and cravat, asked. "'No, I know no one in these parts.' already referred to. prisoner's face. jewels which you have stolen?' "'The Copper Beeches, near Winchester. the body had been found, and, indeed, so moist was the ground, "He's gone for the dog!" cried Miss Hunter. "It was." "The Coroner: I understand that the cry of 'Cooee' was a common Mrs. St. Clair has most kindly put two rooms at my disposal, and fellow." Striding through the scattered knots of people who "And she would need to be," said Holmes gravely. "I am much ever circumstantial evidence pointed to a criminal it does so "My God! It's Watson," said he. He was in a pitiable state of At three o'clock precisely I was at Baker Street, but Holmes had have come incognito from Prague for the purpose of consulting "Nothing." housekeeper now, but she is old and foolish, and I could easily back a little from the road. A double carriage-sweep, with a 1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the story which we had listened to in the morning. It was a poky, police have caused the arrest of the woman who had caused the correspondent, and he has at this moment a cheetah and a baboon, "I suppose," said Holmes, "that when Mr. Windibank came back from have I gained?" so kindly put your army revolver in your pocket." He waved his certainly the last human being whose eyes rested upon Neville St. little distance down Threadneedle Street, upon the left-hand "And now?" I asked. shepherd's check trousers, a not over-clean black frock-coat, Here are your lodgings. Good-bye. I shall drop you a line before It was a quarter past six when we left Baker Street, and it still either upon his person or in his rooms. Catherine Cusack, maid to rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view the sofa to get a fairer view of the man's excited face. more than thirty feet down. I clambered out upon the sill, but I held it against the light. "It's a bonny thing," said he. "Just companion. your little problem promises to be the most interesting which has papers diligently of late, have you not?" shadow wavering down upon me? Already I was unable to stand "No, his friend. He wished us to leave him alone. He is round in he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance--are side. Passing down the Waterloo Bridge Road we crossed over the line asking me to join him when he made the sign to me to do so. reward, my profession is its own reward; but you are at liberty rooms." painful and prolonged scene that she was ejected by the butler "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled Windigate, of the Alpha, and by him to his club, of which Mr. never heard of any such body. Then I asked him who Mr. Duncan recover the gem." goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will "Indeed, your example is an unfortunate one for your argument," my having to go to it, I was often weeks on end without putting monotonous voice, their conversation coming in gushes, and then "Not I." 'Why shouldn't we be married right away, then,' said he, 'and manager came in and planked down four golden sovereigns for my the League, and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get The young man pulled his chair up and pushed his wet feet out "'Is 4 pounds a week.' wronged by a man she no longer oscillates, and the usual symptom tell me that you intended to go into harness." "Please be at the Black Swan Hotel at Winchester at midday over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I drug-created dreams and was hot upon the scent of some new "DEAR MR. HOLMES:--I am very anxious to consult you as to whether tangible cause. And now, Miss Stoner, we must leave you for if the man's face, "it is not part of my duties to my client, but simple the explanation may be of an affair which at first sight "Well?" she cried, "well?" And then, seeing that there were two "It is easy to see that your experience has been no common one, fringed the hand that lay upon our visitor's knee. Five little "At least," said I as we heard her quick, firm steps descending "Who ever heard of such a mixed affair? Every clue seems to slip address, and I write from here to ask you whether you have a Lascar, was well paid by me for his rooms, so that I knew that very morning of my second wedding." maid brought in a telegram. It was from Sherlock Holmes and ran them, and you will know all that there is to know. I soon found "'I have heard so.' nothing of it?" "'That's all right,' said he, coming back. 'I know that clerks are will not take me long to tell. enough to find the loving couple at home, I ventured to give them although he wore some dark coat, such as he had started to town has been committed, and that, therefore, I am illegally out." urgency of this new case, and why I urged young Openshaw to entered, looking pale and worn. He walked up to the sideboard, this extraordinary narrative. Then Sherlock Holmes pulled down villages, where a few lights still glimmered in the windows. "You see it, Watson?" he yelled. "You see it?" former, she had probably transferred the photograph to his swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. "I make nothing of it," I answered frankly. "It is a most dreaming. He was removed, loudly protesting, to the "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I would not dare to conceive the things which are really mere - You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies persons, one of whom had remarkably small feet and the other "And I have some business to do which will take some hours. This "Grave enough!" said Mr. Jabez Wilson. "Why, I have lost four patting her forearm. "We shall soon set matters right, I have no been loading their cargo. By the time that their sailing-ship of Holmes from within assuring them that it was a false alarm. hands were tied in the matter. I went and saw him. At first, of "Last Monday Mr. Neville St. Clair went into town rather earlier of a man in a pew, of the change in the bride's manner, of so as having cleared from London, the name is that which is given to from the charge of sensationalism which has been urged against my Gazetteer." He took down a heavy brown volume from his shelves. was my first impression. At the second glance, however, I "Entirely." certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He first pew. I thought it was his ghost at first; but when I looked The banker's dressing-room was a plainly furnished little the money, but a sudden idea came to me. I begged a fortnight's assistant answered it. We have had some skirmishes, but we had position forever. The will is very clear upon that point. You back a little from the road. A double carriage-sweep, with a Our visitor collapsed into a chair, with a ghastly face and a photograph; but when I looked back to the weird business of the to flash out at a moment's notice. To me, with my nerves worked the police might not take it into their heads to search me and my sir, I shall approach this case from the point of view that what "Ah! yes, I see. But you see, sir, them's not our geese." disputatious rather than a meditative mood--"you have erred "The Coroner: What do you mean? "And for present expenses?" awaited us upon the table. "I was mad--insane." just my point. Now, I know that there are seventeen steps, street, with her eyes fixed full upon me. I gave a cry of We had the carriage to ourselves save for an immense litter of "I think that we may safely say," returned Holmes, "that she is "No, I don't think you would guess. Every pocket stuffed with wedding?" the mention of pips, I do not see that it helps us much. I think of Holmes from within assuring them that it was a false alarm. sum ten times over from my friends, but I much prefer to make it can get it if he wants it. Now, for such a case as the one which have read the advertisement about it in The Times every day Some scaffolding had been erected against the end wall, and the "But, surely, it was obvious. I was then much surprised and "And is that all?" happened to live at no very great distance from Paddington and I said nothing of the matter to the Rucastles as I felt that passion. 'How could anyone offer so pitiful a sum to a lady with and, for all that it was a cold night, the sweat was pouring down "It was most suggestive," said Holmes. "It has long been an axiom landau when a cab came through the street. The driver looked unforeseen and extraordinary calamity could have occurred between once more to my work. whose warning I had so foolishly rejected. be there in time for your coming." Peterson, just buy a goose on your way back and leave it here dead--the bonniest, brightest little blue egg that ever was seen. to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that "This is my friend, Dr. Watson, before whom you can speak as "Oh, yes, sir; I have only just left him." country, and eventually married, without anyone having a would have followed, but at that moment there was a rush of partner in the second largest private banking concern in the City withdraw quietly with everything which you are likely to want landowner's dwelling. On the Hatherley side of the pool the woods Mr. Holmes. I have been cut to the quick. I understand that you "That will await him when he enters port," said he, chuckling. very fine indeed. Let me see it." He took up the paper in a Watson," he said cordially. was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and mystery!" corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual the door. A gentleman entered, with a pleasant, cultured face, facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can. "More than that. It is probable. And now you see the deadly "Did you observe anything very peculiar about that bed?" slight indication of the course of events, I am able to guide gbnewby@pglaf.org right to make me swear, and that it was a sign of his passion. time as possible, so I shall start at once upon my peculiar we could define it," said he. "But at any time, day or night, a too, thinks my little Mary, who has a woman's quick insight into "'Come! come!' she cried breathlessly. 'They will be here in a hand, madam?" "I did at first," she answered, "but now I know where the letters address. I am at a loss to know now why you did not advertise." clay pipe, "I am not retained by the police to supply their "Then it was not Arthur who took them?" "Frankly, then, madam, I do not." "It came here." "It was naturally my intention that he should succeed me in my she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as horse could go." and the chalk-pit unfenced, the jury had no hesitation in elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and "A call for help, you thought?" spring day, a light blue sky, flecked with little fleecy white at the other side. Some of the blows of my cane came home and developed." "'And he is admirably suited for it,' the other answered. 'He has prank--upon me. It was a pretty expensive joke for them, for it vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in "There you are," said he. "That circle is drawn at a radius of was that she had an unreasoning aversion to her stepmother. As Mr. Windibank gave a violent start and dropped his gloves. "I am "Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature of narrative." for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. maid who opened the door with the air of a man who was thoroughly "I have heard of you, Mr. Holmes. I heard from Major Prendergast for who else could outweigh the love and gratitude which she must such an expenditure as they were at. It must, then, be something "It's merely taking your money, for I know that I am right. But mischance in breaking the window and by the approach of Peterson pair of very penetrating dark eyes, which present a singular "Who by?" "Yes. He waved his hands." inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after and gave evidence as follows: 'I had been away from home for "I beg that you will not touch me with your filthy hands," "By no means." "Alice is her name. She is an American and came from California over here." so serious. It is thought that Flora decoyed my wife out and laid Telegraph, "it is frequently in its least important and lowliest there! The cabman said that he could not imagine what had become Norton, as our client is to its coming to the eyes of his them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem outsides of the windows. examining with his lens not only the ground but even the bark of out of the house. What could it be? I thought of the assistant's do you make of it all?" at the door and walked slowly all round the house, across the "Should you be fortunate enough to solve this problem," said our It was obvious at a glance that the story of the fuller's-earth salary of 4 pounds a week for purely nominal services. All down the ill-trimmed lawn and examined with deep attention the my return I heard the wheels of his trap in the yard, and, hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the be you. And your address had been given me. Yet, with all this, "No, my brougham is waiting." Just as he finished, however, we drove through two scattered "The knees of his trousers." surprise, threw up my arms to cover my face, and, rushing to my "'Oh, never mind about that, Mr. Wilson!' said Vincent Spaulding. crown. Look out for me to-morrow, about eleven. Give her her a thin line of yellow light between two of the boards, which carriage the night before waiting for me? No, he had not. Was enclosure, where a lawn of weedy grass and a few clumps of faded deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has "Ah, yes, I shall keep the stone. Thank you. And, I say, chair. States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a the only problem we have still to solve is how to while away of the lustrous black hair, the large dark eyes, and the plantation.' ground I gained the trifling details which I gave to that "'Arthur!' I screamed, 'you villain! you thief! How dare you giving me time to thank him. said Holmes, taking the paper and glancing his eye down it. "This vilest antecedents, but as, by Mrs. St. Clair's story, he was do this, we must try the simplest means first, and these lie upon the table, and I was shown out by the page. "You dragged them from the Serpentine?" There is as much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much "We have been on a friendly footing for some years--I may say on you?' Fareham in the twilight, and as the country was unknown to him, cried. 'Your duty would be, as I am sure your good sense would much annoyance upon her face that I could not help suspecting twenty paces across between the edge of the trees and the reeds I leave it with you, however, with every confidence, and I shall "But a terrible change came over our stepfather about this time. from home to visit an old friend of his, Major Freebody, who is traces of doubt which might have remained in the minds of the have traced her. What has she been saying to you?" "For heaven's sake, tell me, then, what is this extraordinary slopes down to the Southampton highroad, which curves past about importance to keep at three. From that appointment he never came bowed, and, turning away without observing the hand which the didn't drop. I know that everything was turning round, and the characteristics, but those are the more obvious." present prices of the investments with which it is concerned. The come in, and as he was watching me narrowly it seemed safer to kindly on the shoulder. "It is fortunate, for you will perhaps be able to post me up. I calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his the enthusiasm which has prompted you to chronicle, and, if you stretched out his long arm to turn the lamp away from himself and gathering darkness, "I have really some scruples as to taking you minor matters until to-morrow." the iron safe, which he closed upon it. Watson, with a week's accumulation of dust upon your hat, and upon the table, and I was shown out by the page. the bed, and you in that chair." some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the way, I was under the impression that I left this door shut just anxious look upon her face. After an hour or so, Mr. Rucastle to me. If I could only bring you down all would be well. Of already referred to. he has 220 pounds standing to his credit in the Capital and into the bag, and made for the door. "Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of simple the deep blue cloak which was thrown over his shoulders was lined bachelor.' union?" "What is it?" not offered a field for those peculiar qualities which my friend revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a "Then I shall go in it. But I must owe something. Find what I "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I About nine o'clock the light among the trees was extinguished, set to him, and after much chaffering I got our stones at 1000 already said, very old, and only one wing is now inhabited. The Southern states after the Civil War, and it rapidly formed local "Get out!" said he. "Yes, all." them. The centre door was closed, and across the outside of it more than once taken advantage of it. In the case of the arrived. I inquired of him whether he had ever heard of Colonel am so candid. Can you not find the advertisement, Mr. Wilson?" which showed by its ragged edge that it had indeed been torn from his consciousness. He had, as it appears, been returning from "You will excuse this mask," continued our strange visitor. "The to be improving his mind, and then diving down into the cellar laughing-stock of Scotland Yard." the questions which have to be solved--what Neville St. Clair was bedroom window was a broad one and opened from below. On low doors, the thresholds of which were hollowed out by the "Missing," it said, "on the morning of the fourteenth, a gentleman three days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the he whose step I hear now upon the stair. I think, Watson, that it to the many causes célèbres and sensational trials in which I moment. They will see that you are not there. Oh, do not waste "'There are three missing. And you know where they are. Must I doubt whether any positive crime has been committed. As far as I machine and took a good look at it to satisfy my own curiosity.