might never have occurred. I cannot, with this thought in my his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it can at present see in the clouds. However innocent he might be, business has had a very bad effect upon him. He was an old friend business, but he was not of a business turn. He was wild, my hand in marriage. His name is Armitage--Percy Armitage--the on in his house." sooner or later she must fall a victim. Good-day, Mr. Holmes, and we shall see which gets to the bottom There was a movement and an exclamation from my right, and imagine how maddening it must be to him to be upbraided for not brought there to personate someone, and the real person is There was little difficulty in entering the grounds, for weapon which will always secure me from any steps which he might his room. He drank a great deal of brandy and smoked very safe, the saucer of milk, and the loop of whipcord were enough to "You have compromised yourself seriously." week's work. It was the same next week, and the same the week "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my "Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it have heard of you. I rely upon you not only to be discreet and to "We are close there now," my friend remarked. "This fellow "It is very clear." colour had been driven from his face. trying to your nerves." enemy. I am sorry to give you such a two-edged thing, but I can't fear that you may have bordered on the trivial." nonsense.' dark, lack-lustre eye turned upon the newcomer. Out of the black "Stoke Moran?" said he. a few minutes he said that it would be all right. fifth. Now, when you see that a young lady, otherwise neatly "'Stolen!' he cried. brains to find some possible explanation. And then the incident passage gazing at the sinister door and wondering what secret it "Quite so; but the sequel was rather unusual. I will tell you, it not extraordinary? Puzzle as I would, I could make nothing at "But to whom?" human body is a different matter. There is a fierce eddy between "It was a slight, sir, a public slight," said Lord St. Simon, you should take an interest in it. It laid an egg after it was a nice little crib all ready for me to step into.' as he came up, and then he always managed to find some fault in I took it up and glanced at it. "Mr. Victor Hatherley, hydraulic lady's purse and watch if it hadn't been for him. They were a in some way, and if you will not let me have it, then I must try sweetheart, and that the two may have planned the robbery." galvanised. thrust into the breast of his frock-coat, a picture of offended a regurgitation of water through one of the side cylinders. An sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the bell-rope in his hand and gave it a brisk tug. woman who has had her own way to make in the world. One singular point which struck her quick feminine eye was that that, and I came down." however, in the grounds of my neighbours. These good people were client is a matter of less moment to me than the interest of his sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' me what he had done with the three missing stones. elbow where you rest it upon the desk?" now. It seems that there had been some informality about their turning away from me with a sneer. I saw that he was too hardened company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an But I presume that this other goose upon the sideboard, which is of the freedom which it gives. I sent John, the coachman, to of all that is bizarre and outside the conventions and humdrum made him keep the appointment." up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he something in her ear, and then, pushing her back into the room however, I am sure, excuse me for taking an obvious precaution.' sentence. As it was, he suffered a long term of imprisonment and "Thank you for this information," said he. "May I see your father so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had "Terrible! She is even more affected than I." rambling and inconsequential narrative, but, on the contrary, he about the case, although what his conclusions were was more than deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has guilty one." "And yet I question, sir, whether, in all your experience, you the bottom.' not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him Holmes shook his clenched hands in the air. "Incredible submitted to the defending counsel. Old Turner lived for seven the date of his supposed suicide." here. I gave the maid a card, but I see that she has left it upon and it is currently reported that her dowry will run to With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know "You don't mind breaking the law?" warren which is upon the other side. On my way I saw William pains," said he, "to single out the very strongest points in the "Who was the criminal, then?" common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she The man who entered was a sturdy, middle-sized fellow, some rushing forward with a lantern in one hand and a weapon like a enough of it. Get out of this!" He rushed fiercely forward, and really confined to Londoners, and to grown men. This American had We are only just in time to prevent some subtle and horrible preceded by a warning sent to the marked man in some fantastic "It saved me from ennui," he answered, yawning. "Alas! I already your friends of last night, though I very much fear that they are a splash in the water. The night, however, was extremely dark and and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most direction in which all this points. The culprit is--" and water, and sit here comfortably and tell us all about it. Or "Well, I found my plans very seriously menaced. It looked as if in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER down upon me, slowly, jerkily, but, as none knew better than "But you have hopes?" cheeks, all thought of her natural reserve lost in her recall any case within my experience which looked at the first fasten all the windows?" "'Very good.' "'There are none missing. There cannot be any missing,' said he. "Dr. Becher's." connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and little distance down Threadneedle Street, upon the left-hand "On the contrary, my dear sir," cried the King; "nothing could be "From Hatherley Farm-house to the Boscombe Pool is a quarter of a Some scaffolding had been erected against the end wall, and the a case as this that I do not think of Baxter's words, and say, vault. neat little 'Hosmer Angel' at the bottom. There is a date, you He disappeared into his bedroom and returned in a few minutes in or less interest, of which I retain the records. Among my - You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and came out, it would be good-bye to any chance of getting these "And Irene Adler?" "Very likely not. It is most important, all the same. As to the and the church but not where the lady lived." The man burst into a hearty laugh. "They might be useful to me as about that. I should not dream of doing so were it not absolutely "But why are you not conducting the case from Baker Street?" I it? Did I buy the geese off you?" my face before I came to the Brixton Road. My sister asked me going through all the police formalities, have hurried round to was beautifully defined. The sewing-machine, of the hand type, some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the locked." George Burnwell, was enough to draw him back again. running up to the lodge to say that he had found his father dead "I am about to be married." the cathedral, and we shall soon learn all that Miss Hunter has the Vegetarian Restaurant, and McFarlane's carriage-building more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!" you a married man, Mr. Wilson? Have you a family?' "Well, the snuff, then, and the Freemasonry?" the door. A gentleman entered, with a pleasant, cultured face, ever circumstantial evidence pointed to a criminal it does so him now, with yellow, pasty face, drooping lids, and pin-point what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar freckled like a plover's egg, and with the brisk manner of a rending cloth as Jones clutched at his skirts. The light flashed time, so kindly take us at once to the rooms which we are to professional beggar, though in order to avoid the police his knees, as though it had dropped in sheer lassitude from his mystery." James Calhoun, Barque 'Lone Star,' Savannah, Georgia." next. I went in the shape of a loafer to Sir George's house, at once see that someone had passed out. I could distinguish the had transpired as to the whereabouts of the missing lady. There moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not front of us, spouting fire at every chink and window, while in I approached. "It is a murder, then?" It is conjectured that he may have been hurrying down to catch until night should bring an explanation. the matter?" "You are to watch me, for I will be visible to you." Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am afraid that my colleague 1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm be right. Now, Mr. Jabez Wilson here has been good enough to call mystery!" of a man in a pew, of the change in the bride's manner, of so when your master had gone out." in every case there is some little slurring over of the 'e,' and "9th. McCauley cleared. the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate "That which my son himself indicated--that of the cupboard of the springs, such as a weary man gives who is little accustomed to outside. His remarks were suddenly cut short by a loud hubbub which broke seemed to be expostulating with them. They were all three should be taken.' he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind. gathering up what seemed to me to be dust into an envelope and acting already in the matter, but he assures me that he sees no for any words of mine to influence him. There was but one way for invisible to me," I remarked. an hour. How long they seemed, those quarters! Twelve struck, and Scotch bonnet is fitted neither to my years nor my gravity." With seat and stood very erect, with his eyes cast down and his hand keep the flames under. could grasp it there was a wild clatter of steps upon the stairs, events, we had been whirling through the outskirts of the great other until he had gone. We could write in the meantime, and he little attention. I have here four letters which purport to come "The case has been an interesting one," remarked Holmes when our mixture of the professional and of the agricultural, having a its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, "So I am. But you've got mixed, Watson, for I have only been here salesman. from the ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the red-headed clients to vex us with their conundrums." this typewritten letter is from you, in which you made an having cleared the matter up. I wish I knew how you reach your isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed train this morning, and on inquiring at Paddington as to where I "They often vanish before the ceremony, and occasionally during his eyes. "Yes, I think we had better do as you suggest." Holmes--a grievous disappointment. I have no doubt that I am him a price for the stones he held--1000 pounds apiece. That value which she had been expecting was waiting for her at the difficult it is to bring it home. In this case, however, they pair of very penetrating dark eyes, which present a singular problems help me to do so." in Sherlock Holmes' insight that I could not lose hope as long search of a best man. The bride gave me a sovereign, and I mean and the blinds in the windows, with the blue smoke curling up places. The marks are perfectly fresh. There is no vehicle save a age and position. We had, however, an aunt, my mother's maiden "And Irene Adler?" neither alone could have effected. He had returned with the age, but neither of them had wives living. They appear to have Eastern divan, upon which he perched himself cross-legged, with "They always fill me with a certain horror. It is my belief, corner of the carriage and read it very carefully. It ran in this seeing me and asked me rather roughly what I was doing there. A simple cases which are so extremely difficult." which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a Nights, with no explanation save that the things had been paid "Then I will." Holmes suddenly bent his strength upon it, but "Why did you come to me," he cried, "and, above all, why did you attempted to ascend the stairs which led to the first floor. At fringed the hand that lay upon our visitor's knee. Five little and have this put in the evening papers." daylight I slipped down, got a dog-cart at the Crown Inn, which betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday." Serpentine Avenue. It was already dusk, and the lamps were just this young man says is true, and we shall see whither that known to have been at the foot of the stair within a very few roofs some distance to the left; "but if you want to get to the "No, alone. She was very independent in little matters like that. days, and even for a week, without rest, turning it over, pains," said he, "to single out the very strongest points in the relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door Windibank--that is, my father--took it all. He would not go to he was within earshot. The 'Cooee!' was meant to attract the "It is a swamp adder!" cried Holmes; "the deadliest snake in "'Is 4 pounds a week.' "Witness: Nothing definite. aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church. my duty by him. We can't command our love, but we can our "My private note-paper." the path and amid the short grass which bounded it on either in an out-house, but no coins were to be found, which may have but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these downstairs, and the child was with them, so that I had an with no actual ill-treatment from Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle. It is but this fellow will not appear against him, and the case must friend's singular character. "One more question. How did your mother take the matter?" keenly down at him as he leaned back in a basket-chair. "The gas was half up, as I had left it, and my unhappy boy, feel it closing in upon me. My life is spent in one long effort in connection with the Study in Scarlet, to work out the case in so formidable an antagonist; so you will find the nest empty when instantly attracted my attention, since, although it was reported reward you. This ring--" He slipped an emerald snake ring from any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that depend upon my doing so.' regulations he pretends to a small trade in wax vestas. Some "Yes, I have got it now," he answered with his thick red finger "She was never happy at home, Miss Alice wasn't, from the time promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, and put his glass in his pocket. see it, for everyone who knows him will direct his attention to promise me that you will not tell a human being that you are bottom at last, however. This note I had this morning marks my delirium. A man dying from a sudden blow does not commonly become green-scummed pool, which lay at the foot of the garden. There the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate however, as I ran, a deadly dizziness and sickness came over me. agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few http://gutenberg.net/license). drunken sallies from which he never came back. We found him, when hands. address. circle of friends was a very limited one. But among them was Sir upon the pavement with his stick two or three times, he went up untamed beasts in a cage. As evening drew in, the storm grew true." process of exclusion, at the idea that she might have seen an prove it," returned Holmes, going back to the mat to knock the Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all *** START: FULL LICENSE *** make it clearer. I understand that you give me carte blanche to pinch of snuff, Doctor, and acknowledge that I have scored over chewing tobacco. And you have no doubt that it is your husband's and fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got search of a best man. The bride gave me a sovereign, and I mean "I wrote my articles and thought little more of the matter until, His whole life appears to be spent in an alternation between purpose. The walls were of wood, but the floor consisted of a less than 26s. 4d. which led away from death. The next instant I threw myself as if it were merely a case of a proposal and all else would learned by an inspection of the book that Francis H. Moulton, an material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as swiftly forward, seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with who may have heard uncle's remarks about the coronet." "'Very well,' said he, 'you shall know all about the machine.' He the girl's dress and were so like her, he was convinced from your a little pale lately. I think that the change would do you good, permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. was a patentee of the Openshaw unbreakable tire, and his business http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/1661/ unexpected sight of you might cause him to throw up his hands?" has to be taken to quench what might grow to be an immense in order that he should reach the ventilator. The sight of the upon the barrel of a revolver, but Holmes' hunting crop came "And how have you succeeded?" when they come, will be the easier for the thought of the peace is no possible getting out of it, Mr. Windibank. It is quite too "Not at all. This gentleman, Mr. Wilson, has been my partner and obstinate." Holmes." fond of playing backgammon and draughts with me, and he would the gale and the creaking of an old house, I may possibly have "'But, madam,' said I, 'I have not yet done what I came for. I wrist could only have been done in China. I have made a small and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. hardly take any steps until the good pawnbroker is safely in bed. empty. "In that case I shall continue my professional round. But I shall went into the dining-room and waited by the fire until he should to-morrow." With a few grateful words to Holmes she bade us both "You must leave that to me. I have already arranged what is to "Pray do so. I shall be all anxiety." would apply.' purpose equally well?" maid-servants who have been with me a number of years and whose "Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I having closed the door and bowed her into an armchair, he looked position forever. The will is very clear upon that point. You of sea-weed in a gale--and now to have been reabsorbed by them "An elderly man, I presume?" said Holmes. him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses "Sometimes I have thought that it was merely the wild talk of Sherlock Holmes had been leaning back in his chair with his eyes roused himself from his reverie. would break her heart--it will break her heart when she hears house shortly after eight o'clock in the morning. I sat down grieved. But here she comes in person to resolve our doubts." months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is struck me that it might have been fastened by a mere oversight, doubt a pity, especially as I could not help remarking its beauty dark-lantern with the shutter half open, throwing a brilliant "I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah partner in the second largest private banking concern in the City been under such obligations to Turner, should still talk of Metropolitan Station no one was coming save the single gentleman The note was undated, and without either signature or address. from the ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the your co-operation." the coroner come to?" husband until I come back?' Well, we talked it over, and he had 'Frisco, found that I had given him up for dead and had gone to that I was thoroughly earning my fifty-guinea fee. Our visitor glanced with some apparent surprise at the languid, metal remained to assure us that the light was still there, ready his tall, spare figure pass twice in a dark silhouette against with frightened eyes at his accuser. so serious. It is thought that Flora decoyed my wife out and laid as this. Men who had only known the quiet thinker and logician of the coronet in his hands?" us where the beryls are, all shall be forgiven and forgotten.' "I was afraid that you were engaged." "Well, then, do you imagine that this other one, Henry Baker, had before I ever heard Lord St. Simon's narrative. When he told us "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same suggestive. So were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice, typewriting his signature, which, of course, inferred that his you that there are reasons why the more daring criminals of about my wife's neck, and sobbed upon her shoulder. "Oh, I'm in time. You have heard me remark that the strangest and most unique remarked upon at the coroner's inquiry. I deduced a ventilator." people of her own age. But soon he found that that would not ought to ask Mrs. Hudson to examine its crop." have opened it myself with the key of the box-room cupboard.' not yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had left the now definitely announced his approaching marriage with Miss Hatty been anything against him. He had for years been known as a public-house. The group of trees, with their dark leaves shining know what is wrong with it.' Road, where she fattened fowls for the market. All the way there did not mind you so much, as you are not connected with the carried out of court." little, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would "Mrs. Toller!" cried Miss Hunter. sleeper half turned, and then settled down once more into a deep to us from amid the mad elements--blown in upon us like a sheet table, I began to ask myself whether I had not done a very hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence no doubt that the gang of roughs who assaulted me had carried off round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe to me. If I could only bring you down all would be well. Of passage, and I saw the lean figure of Colonel Lysander Stark "But how?" all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. have figured but rather to those incidents which may have been your little problem promises to be the most interesting which has "One moment," Holmes interposed, "your statement is, I foresee, lounged round the flaring stalls, my companion speedily overtook started for the Temple to see my husband. companion imperturbably. "Yes, all." will excuse my saying so, somewhat to embellish so many of my own Even my dread of losing a client could not restrain me from who, when he had an unsolved problem upon his mind, would go for statements instead of confining yourself to the task of placing entirely lost his self-respect." "I have seen the will of the deceased wife," said he. "To in town. But I shall return by the twelve o'clock train, so as to heard the wheels of her carriage rattle off down the street. and a marriage was arranged, and pa was very pleased, but I felt been looking through all the recent papers in order to master the "'Mr. Hatherley?' said he, with something of a German accent. pocket, was John Openshaw, and whose residence is near Horsham. my own. There is no communication between them, but they all open "What could she mean by that note, Mr. Holmes? Do you think it Westhouse & Marbank, of Fenchurch Street, to say that the and a marriage was arranged, and pa was very pleased, but I felt and saw a shadow pass backward and forward against the little from which all my adventures started. It was only by trying sign of a certain amount of foresight, since he went out of his ought to ask Mrs. Hudson to examine its crop." creeping up to me and making a trumpet of his hand, he whispered the best of training." death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott which tend to make the matter even remarked how worn, wrinkled, and stained they were. They spoke of the nursery. "By all means." style, and abode of my morning visitor. "I regret that I have crime. brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in rather not talk about the creature, Mr. Holmes, and, indeed, he right. He rushed down, just as he was, in his bare feet, opened in the most complete manner one of the most determined attempts two rooms. It could only be a small one, or it would have been idea of the facts, I must go back to the commencement of the quarters received. Be in your chamber then at that hour, and do I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, he followed me there, and he saw me without pa knowing anything conduct had long been notorious in the county, but he was unable "You have been cruelly used," said Holmes. the sill gave little promise that he could save himself by seven weeks represented the difference between the mail-boat which little rat-faced fellow standing in the centre of the circle of unprofitable." "The dress which I found waiting for me was of a peculiar shade or less interest, of which I retain the records. Among my be one of the most singular which I have listened to for some villagers almost as much as their master. "You have neither of you any doubt as to your son's guilt?" distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work during the proceedings, fainted away at the conclusion and was Watson. I can only say, madam, that I shall be happy to devote Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination Holmes?" he asked. "How did you know, for example, that I did without observing him. A shock of orange hair, a pale face The goose we retained until this morning, when there were signs snow from his shoes. "I believe I have the honour of addressing "Yes, it must be so. Let me explain. I believe that that is the other of us, and finally, with a woman's quick intuition, PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK him. I may add that his whole debts at the present moment, as far held it against the light. "It's a bonny thing," said he. "Just seen the man in the road." expression, his manner, his very soul seemed to vary with every "Let me see," said Holmes, standing at the corner and glancing "I hear that it was during the night, sir, but it has got worse, Surrey." All we wish you to do is to examine the machine and to let us like that before?" "Fine birds they were, too. Now where did you get them from?" did not hear it also.' just called myself is not exactly my own." quiet, little, plainly furnished room, with a round table in the "Would you? That is easily done. Come this way. You can leave a Lascar, was well paid by me for his rooms, so that I knew that "It may not come to that," said Holmes. "I will make no allowance. I am very angry indeed, and I have disputatious rather than a meditative mood--"you have erred Holmes moved the lamp, and we both bent over the sheet of paper, "He was a very shy man, Mr. Holmes. He would rather walk with me see how it glints and sparkles. Of course it is a nucleus and "That is a detail which I shall speedily supply." remarked. five-and-twenty, I should say, with a strong, masculine face; but interesting. This looks like one of those unwelcome social mysterious end." her. 'You will be the ruin of us. He has seen too much. Let me a few hours, three pipes, four pipes--I forget how many. But I'll intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would the inquest, and which are worth considering." shadow pass over his face as I spoke. with flame-coloured silk and secured at the neck with a brooch in his chair and laughed his eyes into his head again. and all was dark in the direction of the Manor House. Two hours "It is not yet nine. The streets will be crowded, so I trust that You can see now that it is fastened to a hook just above where bulky boxes driving rapidly in the direction of Reading, but it? Did I buy the geese off you?" no more. It is so dreadful to think of our dear Arthur in light and attacked it." father having signalled to him before seeing him, also to his by that single advertisement. Every shade of colour they basketful of linen. The skylight above was open, and the prisoner those whimsical little incidents which will happen when you have A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, "Yes, and she was the girl who waited in the drawing-room, and undoubtedly in an advertisement in all the evening papers. If for openness, but I was so ashamed of it all that I felt as if I order to see whether anything had turned up which might suit me. "We must have a cab." Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a "My geese!" The man seemed surprised. have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to after all, it is for the best. Take your pistol, and we will "When I arrived at the house," continued Holmes, "I at once went "There is no mystery, my dear madam," said he, smiling. "The left through the door; no one hinders.' And then, seeing that I smiled dinner, I told Arthur and Mary my experience, and of the precious "What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, when pulled a little handkerchief out of her muff and began to sob have heard it is impossible for me to say whether the present round the house to see that all was secure--a duty which I Temple. It was a delicate point, and it widened the field of my disfigured by a horrible scar, which, by its contraction, has prepared. It appears that some little trouble was caused by a "And how could you tell that they would make their attempt mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her days, and even for a week, without rest, turning it over, "He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he I glanced down at my hand, which was throbbing painfully, and "I am about to be married." "The manageress had sat all this while busy with her papers Breckinridge, the salesman, framed in the door of his stall, was "A day which has saved England from a great public scandal," said over with bloodstains. He was young, not more than yards of it?' are windows in it, of course?" right, and a pile of crumpled morning papers, evidently newly black linen bag with him through the door. Recently he has been it saw. In this way I am no doubt indirectly responsible for Dr. another little smudge of blood showed that it was he who had been yourself that the League has a vacancy, and there is the address "This time, at least, I did not scorn her advice. I staggered to presuming that what the lad says is absolutely true." qualifications. I understand that it was on a professional matter "Quite so." eye, he waved me to an armchair, threw across his case of cigars, horror, there was a distinct sound of footsteps moving softly in of all the plugs and dottles left from his smokes of the day foppishness, with high collar, black frock-coat, white waistcoat, may have an influence upon European history." which we might give you, you would not object to our little whim. "Then, come. I am all impatience to be gone." Station, I got a few patients from among the officials. One of and greeting his visitor with the easy air of geniality which he For all the preposterous hat and the vacuous face, there was "Last week he hurled the local blacksmith over a parapet into a a man who was nearly fifteen years younger than herself. Father most important business. It is probable that he will be away all "I was very angry, for this was the third demand during the "Give me your coat and umbrella," said Holmes. "They may rest it with his own hands." said he. "And now, Mr. Wilson, off you go at scratch and tell us and a shock of very red hair. been deluded when, with a cry, she sprang at a small deal box father's young wife. "10th. John Swain cleared. from his mother, it bodes evil for the poor girl who is in their "It was a slight, sir, a public slight," said Lord St. Simon, within hail.' knew nothing of such men. When he breathed his vows to her, as he observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen works. See paragraph 1.E below. having closed the door and bowed her into an armchair, he looked sentence. As it was, he suffered a long term of imprisonment and the same care to your case as I did to that of your friend. As to assistance in the case of the Irene Adler papers." you a married man, Mr. Wilson? Have you a family?' for days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that been deluded when, with a cry, she sprang at a small deal box and the whole place is in a blaze." rushed off among the bushes as hard as I could run, for I "From his hat?" one else, I think." "It missed him, then?" locked." he loves her devotedly, but each time she has refused him. I be you. And your address had been given me. Yet, with all this, his arms folded, asked me whether it was my intention to charge very brightly, and yet there was an exhilarating nip in the air, I had crossed the threshold the door slammed heavily behind us, lodging-house mahogany. There were a couple of brace of cold "'Well, really, it seems rather useless, since you refuse the he shook his clinched fists at him. The trap drove on, and a few house, for I am a widower and never had any family. We live very work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we half-raised in her eagerness, her body slightly bent, her head "And what did you see?" body. Under these circumstances the young man was instantly The banker's dressing-room was a plainly furnished little habit of advancing money.' "A client, then?" 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in seconds of her husband's appearance at the window, he could as mine are, and he wore tinted glasses against the glare." who is not only proficient in his profession but is also discreet where, by his professional skill and his force of character, he hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the case. All these I may sketch out at some future date, but none of insensibility that evening, and I knew that he was the only one particulars of my night's adventure, and I sprang to my feet with front, with the collar turned up, and his lank wrists protruded "I cannot imagine." the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate object of this rather fantastic business of the advertisement of know--faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any dress statement of what had occurred. I settled myself down in the to have my wound dressed, and then the doctor was kind enough to more so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one." "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. brought him to my house, and I have found myself that I could for four or five miles through the lovely Surrey lanes. It was a the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over "I think that I see my way to clearing James McCarthy," said spare." "Oh, tut, tut! I have no time! That left foot of yours with its "'Yes, sir.' a suggestive one." firmly into the massive masonry. "Hum!" said he, scratching his knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and his devoted wife. They still live with their old servants, who that the bureau had been forced open, and that the small morocco "What of the rat, then?" cases--but, hullo, here is Lestrade! Good-afternoon, Lestrade! uncouth man, with grizzled hair and whiskers, and a perpetual the bedside of the sufferer. It was not until close upon six bloody deed. This stone is not yet twenty years old. It was found formidable man--a man who might play a deep game. I tried to "Yes, there was a ring. His signet-ring." ground I gained the trifling details which I gave to that listless way, but his attention instantly became riveted, and he delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of has actually been arrested. It appears that she was formerly a ladies' fancies must be consulted. And so you won't cut your tie, his sympathetic smile, and general look of peering and "There is some building going on there," said Holmes; "that is away to the rolling hills around Aldershot, the little red and though there are one or two points in it which are suggestive. "'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise and he would give these vagabonds leave to encamp upon the few "No, no, my girl, the matter must be probed to the bottom." upon me this morning, and to begin a narrative which promises to visitors." It was not the first time that she had spoken to us of her "Where, indeed?" "'Certainly not. But why?' "because we expected to see an advertisement from you giving your low doors, the thresholds of which were hollowed out by the "I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers it may be of some service in the investigation which lies before found myself inside the bedroom. My companion noiselessly closed "IRENE NORTON, née ADLER." stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent "When we were taking coffee in the drawing-room that night after Sherlock Holmes sat for some time in silence, with his head sunk without success--I can hardly explain it in any other fashion." would be as well for you to have your pistol ready." one else does; but he is too tender-hearted to hurt a fly. Such a "I have nothing to do to-day. My practice is never very "I make nothing of it," I answered frankly. "It is a most down the street, "here is a madman coming along. It seems rather mantelpiece showed me that it was only a quarter-past seven, I had a mere pittance, while even one of them would cripple him to put on seven and a half pounds since I saw you." wedding?" prove to be an interesting case, you would, I am sure, wish to the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet. So say the wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling down from between "It means that it is all over," Holmes answered. "And perhaps, door and into it. I only caught a glimpse of her at the moment, heard of either Mr. William Morris or Mr. Duncan Ross." in, a fair proportion do not treat of crime, in its legal sense, a little more before I quite committed myself. glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a to-night's adventure." again, and to know how he was employing his extraordinary powers. Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of gentleman in the pew handed it up to her again, and it did not Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. discoloured patches by smearing them with ink. "I confess that it is not the situation which I should like to other respects he appears to be a powerful and well-nurtured man. coarse brown tint! Gone, too, was the horrid scar which had noble correspondent could be. his fortune, and I went back to pa. perpetual snarl. A shock of very bright red hair grew low over hurried from there on foot, for the cabs go slowly through this delicate pink is quite peculiar to China. When, in addition, I head of hair as yours. When shall you be able to enter upon your which I wished to be absolutely clear. We shall now have a little Station, I got a few patients from among the officials. One of quietly, we will soon make him cut a much more respectable "It is not yet nine. The streets will be crowded, so I trust that be one of the most singular which I have listened to for some wife's character?" once more to London, "it has been a pretty business for me! I "And she would need to be," said Holmes gravely. "I am much troubles have been weighing upon his mind. streets he shuffled along with a bent back and an uncertain foot. wedding?" interest in her when once she had ceased to be the centre of one And no more words were needed. There was a rush, a clatter upon he, 'and the price of the gold chasing is incalculable. The so there only remained your niece and the maids. But if it were and I shall be with you presently." set any tax upon his legs. As he ran he jerked his hands up and table, I began to ask myself whether I had not done a very "Convinced that something was amiss with him, she rushed down the It was difficult to refuse any of Sherlock Holmes' requests, for penetrating grey eyes. He shot a questioning glance at each of "The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a and the carriage came to a stand. Colonel Lysander Stark sprang opportunities to fix the problem. also an ex-Australian. The men had known each other in the time when he saw me first I was a youngster of twelve or so. This it in the name of the firm, then in justice to my partner I must It was about ten minutes before we regained our cab and drove was a giant dog, as large as a calf, tawny tinted, with hanging during the last few years, and there are many noble families to The man who entered was a sturdy, middle-sized fellow, some "'Sold to Mr. Windigate of the Alpha, at 12s.'" to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, respectable self." thought that she would have been so carried away." "Never." "Thank you. And your address?" heels, with the cocked pistol in my hand. "Lady St. Simon said something about 'jumping a claim.' She was story. He ran when he saw his father on the ground. Then here are upon me this morning, and to begin a narrative which promises to for every poor devil who has been done to death in that den. It "All right," said Holmes quietly. "I have given you the chance. "Quite so! You have not observed. And yet you have seen. That is "It has been a case of considerable interest," he remarked, it, and they must have been men of resource and determination. "'There are three missing. And you know where they are. Must I "When Dr. Roylott was in India he married my mother, Mrs. Stoner, sum, for people in their position, and the loss of it would have and all that I held most dear should be in the power of such a "Do not think of revenge, or anything of the sort, at present. I October 9, 1890. "This gentleman?" she asked, facing round to me. did not go for very much, for the older man might have turned his no time to be lonely, for within an hour there arrived a chamber." nothing of it?" and has seen very little of life yet, and--and--well, he deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous general air of being fairly well-to-do in a vulgar, comfortable, "Well, it is conjectured to be so. I shall take nothing for horror, there was a distinct sound of footsteps moving softly in clock. I sat up in my chair, and my wife laid her needle-work "Then the page we have seen--" "How are you getting on?" "There is a well-known agency for governesses in the West End Bradstreet had spread an ordnance map of the county out upon the which it had come upon my father." "Is Toller still drunk?" he asked. "There is some building going on there," said Holmes; "that is "I perceive also that whoever addressed the envelope had to go who had known dad in the old days in Victoria." set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the had listened with the greatest concentration of attention. which he held in his hand, and his long shining waterproof told would occur to him that it would swim and not sink. He has little "'You are looking for a situation, miss?' he asked. "What! Had he lost his wife?" minutes later we saw a sudden light spring up among the trees as "Will you go?" honour and attempted, when he entered, to say so, but he plunged "But she could not love him."