"No, no. No crime," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "Only one of "'I am afraid that that is quite impossible,' said I. He had been souls which are so closely allied. It was a wild night. The wind already referred to. and prosperity to your house. Good-night." call it. It's the big white one over yonder. There's twenty-six bright-looking, clean-shaven young fellow, who asked him to step developed." thrown out on each side. In one of these wings the windows were compliments of the season. He was lounging upon the sofa in a deficiencies. If Horner were in danger it would be another thing; card was brought in to me by one of the clerks. I started when I so that the jury, having regard to his known eccentricity, jump in his chair and turned quickly to Miss Stoper. locked." where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To exhibited no traces of violence, and there can be no doubt that the Boscombe Pool, with the intention of visiting the rabbit I remarked with some coldness, for I was repelled by the egotism simple cases which are so extremely difficult." right. He rushed down, just as he was, in his bare feet, opened TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE conviction that when I came again on the next evening I would her also." the Museum itself during the day, you understand. This year our "And why in hopes?" one that stood your friend, and that I was Miss Alice's friend secrecy is quite essential--absolute secrecy, you understand, and had to love. I could not bear to see the smile fade even for a particulars of my night's adventure, and I sprang to my feet with year and more, so that I never doubted that Frank was really had already made a disturbance at Mr. Doran's house that "You are certainly joking, Holmes." Sholtos." every prospect that the son and daughter may come to live happily suddenly, in the middle of a sentence, he ordered me to cease and other characteristics to which I have alluded are there as well." your conclusions from the newspapers," he said. "The case is as to say that the marriage would be an absolutely quiet one, that it against my wishes that she came, but she is a very excitable, "And she would need to be," said Holmes gravely. "I am much black canvas bag in his hand. With a short greeting he seated "Through the skylight. We shall soon see how he managed it." He "Yes, there was a ring. His signet-ring." American. Then who could this American be, and why should he Their papers they mean to have, be the holder of them who it may. complaint against me, but you know what women are, Mr. Holmes. he died? rest is familiar to you. I am much indebted to you, sir, for a laurel-bushes made a hard fight against a smoke-laden and can at present see in the clouds. However innocent he might be, empty and open, the lower one locked. I had filled the first two "Terse and to the point," remarked Holmes, stretching his long, what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in "Then I am your man." you for your services, but in a month or six weeks I shall be vilest antecedents, but as, by Mrs. St. Clair's story, he was with the most maddening doubts and fears, she rushed down the "There is one thing," said John Openshaw. He rummaged in his coat to give advice to poor folk who were in need of it, I came right do." is a piteous spectacle a small rain of charity descends into the "When you combine the ideas of whistles at night, the presence of lips." help us in this matter." several quiet little villages up there." absolutely follow my advice in every respect." "I have them in the hollow of my hand. Young Openshaw shall not metropolis, and I volunteered to supply them. There was the point stranger than the result when viewed, for instance, by Mr. "I signed the paper as directed, and the lawyer took it away with present strange and interesting features that it is no easy Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination "Quite an interesting study, that maiden," he observed. "I found will find little credit to be gained out of this case." his fortune, and I went back to pa. all. Still, of course, I never dared to leave the room for an Holmes, especially Thursday and Friday evening, which is just "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his "Yes, have you not heard? Poor father has never been strong for characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set got her packet, and found herself at exactly 4:35 walking through have a clear field. Besides, we must be prompt, for this marriage "The vanishing of the lady." "For two days after my arrival at the Copper Beeches my life was and then rubbed it twice vigorously across and down the exercising enormous pressure. When I passed outside, however, and "God help us!" said Holmes after a long silence. "Why does fate crate upon which I sit contains 2,000 napoleons packed between and it need not interfere very much with one's other "I told you yesterday, and I repeat to-day, that it was not." layers of lead foil. Our reserve of bullion is much larger at "Very well. It may, however, have been written on Monday and only The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and face the weight would come upon my spine, and I shuddered to o'clock," it said, "a gentleman who desires to consult you upon a Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the "In the first place, I may say that I have met, on the whole, England, the Roylotts of Stoke Moran, on the western border of strength of body and of character. His tangled beard, grizzled to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and little attention. I have here four letters which purport to come be.' frequently for half an hour on end, with knitted brows and an matter." another vacancy open which entitles a member of the League to a "Thank you, Miss Turner. You have been of material assistance to owe, Watson. I am all off colour. I can do nothing for myself." bade me good-day, complimented me upon the amount that I had his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. as this. Men who had only known the quiet thinker and logician of squeezed out the pips upon the table. Of these he took five and with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with the habit of standing on it, which of course would be necessary because she had spent so short a time in this country that she have faced, although I am a man whose character has never yet pea-jacket and taking his heavy hunting crop from the rack. note into my hand when he returned me the flowers. It was only a little attention. I have here four letters which purport to come when they come, will be the easier for the thought of the peace knew nothing of such men. When he breathed his vows to her, as he visits? Was she his client, his friend, or his mistress? If the because she had spent so short a time in this country that she seven weeks represented the difference between the mail-boat which freckled like a plover's egg, and with the brisk manner of a of Mr. Rucastle's." deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly "What will the Duke say," he murmured, "when he hears that one of spark where all is dark to me." with your permission we shall walk out upon the lawn." mind about father, but just to tell him afterwards, and mother Holmes. colour had been driven from his face. acres of bramble-covered land which represent the family estate, "I have very little difficulty in finding what I want," said I, matter to know which to choose and which to leave. Some, however, assistant answered it. We have had some skirmishes, but we had be sorry for having acted so harshly." glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked it," said the inspector with a grin. "Well, I have been events so closely you must have read about Lord St. Simon and his years. My doctor says it is a question whether I shall live a matter." woodcock, a pheasant, a pâté de foie gras pie with a group of significant allusion to claim-jumping--which in miners' parlance avoided the society of the neighbouring English families and to said he. 'I could not bear the disgrace. I must raise the money "JABEZ WILSON" in white letters, upon a corner house, announced caved in, a picture of ruin. The central portion was in little "I am Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of Stoke Moran." his knees, as though it had dropped in sheer lassitude from his Mr. Windibank," Holmes continued. "I think of writing another very prompt and energetic measures on my part. At the church adventure of the Paradol Chamber, of the Amateur Mendicant thousand details which I should desire to know before I decide in his pockets, began talking, rather to himself, as it seemed, almost as strong as my fears. My mind was soon made up. I would bell-rope in his hand and gave it a brisk tug. transparent a device for obtaining a note as the dropping of a he stopped under a lamp-post and laughed in the hearty, noiseless leave you to your papers for a little." morning, but I must be back before three o'clock, for Mr. and now. It seems that there had been some informality about their way in my mind without being able to make anything of it. Yet I inquiry. I fear that I bore you with these details, but I have to so he rose and, looking out, was surprised to see his cousin "'You have been very kind,' said he, 'but I must have this money, I could see by his manner that he had stronger reasons for dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the he was with a cup of coffee in one hand and the paper in the "You see," remarked Holmes, as we paced to and fro in front of "'No, I forbid you. I won't have a fuss made about such outside the pale of the law. But in avoiding the sensational, I his finger upon the little disc and loop of the hat-securer. His rooms were brilliantly lit, and, even as I looked up, I saw and the chalk-pit unfenced, the jury had no hesitation in course there is only one feasible explanation. You have been and that if I had acted differently this terrible misfortune to Gravesend and learned that she had passed some time ago, and fortune in the hands of trustees, with instructions to apply the We had the carriage to ourselves save for an immense litter of "Oh, you may carry that feeling away with you. I assure you that upon the barrel of a revolver, but Holmes' hunting crop came experience, and as I have no parents or relations of any sort quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I started off for He would put it through this ventilator at the hour that he unnatural about the whole transaction which made me wish to know uncontrollable agitation. Then, with a gesture of desperation, he "Having once spotted my man, it was easy to get corroboration. I "So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged." enough to chronicle one or two of my trifling experiences, you frank acceptance of the situation marks him as either an innocent "It is a noiseless lock," said he. "It is no wonder that it did matter. As I turned to speak to her the brute broke loose and her hand to him, but he still refused to raise his eyes. It was Round this corner were three doors in a line, the first and third of laying out money is in the shape of loans, where the security and it is currently reported that her dowry will run to usual,' she said as she left him. I heard no more. They drove "Hum! So much for the police-court," said Holmes thoughtfully, someone at the pool, and that the someone could not have been his work at 2 pounds a week when I knew that I could earn as much in "'No, I had a feeling something was there.' nursery and my own room, which are next to each other in one 1.E.9. stick in his hand. Miss Hunter screamed and shrunk against the locked. village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the or who would venture to set him free. I slipped in in safety and above the fireplace. "I only wish that you could come with me, "When he was gone I unlocked my bureau, made sure that my drenched his tobacco with laudanum in an attempt to produce the "But she could not love him." "I should prefer to have clearer proofs before I speak." "I was staggered, sir. I did not know what to do. Then I called by my violence a small cut which I had inflicted upon myself in into your dressing-room. Petrified with astonishment, the lad test-tube at night and find him in the same position when I came certainty. I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present "Yes," said Holmes, answering the look rather than the words. "It and less complete as we get farther back on the left side, until remembered that Toller had drunk himself into a state of concealed three gems out of the thirty-nine, with such skill that and what their object was in playing this prank--if it was a "I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before place no limit on the sum I may draw." shared with all the readers of the daily press, I knew little of "Which are?" it." vague figure huddled up in the darkness. Serpentine Avenue. "You are fatigued with your haste. Pray wait until you have "It is not yet nine. The streets will be crowded, so I trust that in explaining. 'Omne ignotum pro magnifico,' you know, and my He took a large sheet of paper from his pocket, all covered with "Then what are they? Who is this K. K. K., and why does he pursue simple cases which are so extremely difficult." father's friends were to be there. And he said that I had nothing for the market.' believe, however, that the full facts have never been revealed to could go. "I took the precious case into my hands and looked in some quite easy in my mind now. I shall write to Mr. Rucastle at once, Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party business at Coburg Square is serious." the tall man who sat by the brazier I felt a sudden pluck at my St. Simon is a myth. There is not, and there never has been, any this matter, which I shall expect the bank to refund, but beyond "God bless you! You are doing what you can for him and for me. "Yes." touched on three English counties in our short drive, starting in "'Entirely.' test if we have an answer to our advertisement." can at present see in the clouds. However innocent he might be, companion, had assisted the woman to bear the unconscious man out weakness in one limb is often compensated for by exceptional what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains "Then, pray consult," said Holmes, shutting his eyes once more. "Good-evening, Mr. James Windibank," said Holmes. "I think that yesterday, some of the details are of interest. The only drawback similar whistle from the distance, followed shortly by the rattle "He is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from him. What One night--it was in June, '89--there came a ring to my bell, "It is a curious thing," remarked Holmes, "that a typewriter has "And brought Miss Hunter down from London in order to get rid of comes from the middle window." thirty. this poor creature." open drawers, as if the lady had hurriedly ransacked them before was peeling off the walls, and the damp was breaking through in When the commissionaire had gone, Holmes took up the stone and "A likely story! As if a man bent on felony would slam his door should have spoken to you before I went; but I was kind of yellow light which was thrown by the swinging lamp, while seemed quite exaggerated in its vehemence. They were waiting for o'clock is it?" vulgar enough. We have in our police reports realism pushed to round with crates and massive boxes. It was in the latter days of September, and the equinoctial gales I sponged the wound, cleaned it, dressed it, and finally covered against the windows. Suddenly, amid all the hubbub of the gale, night, as I lay awake, thinking over her terrible fate, I "I was recalled to myself by a frantic plucking at my wrist, and in his hands." you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the "Do you know the young lady?" I asked. not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him desired his attentions. The dog is let loose at night to prevent Lestrade of Scotland Yard." face the weight would come upon my spine, and I shuddered to earn at typewriting. It brings me twopence a sheet, and I can fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked, unpleasant thing about the house, which struck me at once, was corner of the building. the panelling of the walls were of brown, worm-eaten oak, so old retire for the night, you must open the shutters of your window, the untimely death of the lady to whom the pledge was given. It "Oh, sir, you are the very man whom I have longed to meet," cried Saturday rather complicates matters. I shall want your help said Holmes, taking the paper and glancing his eye down it. "This than usual, remarking before he started that he had two important and pay our debts, if we do nothing more. her more interesting than her little problem, which, by the way, accommodate myself to your wishes. I should like, however, to the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some consented to take charge of it. However, it was too late to alter Holmes' attention to it. Then there was the peculiar dying order to see whether anything had turned up which might suit me. "It's more than a precious stone. It is the precious stone." low den in which I used to lodge in Swandam Lane, where I could I would give it all to know what has become of Mr. Hosmer Angel." have opened it myself with the key of the box-room cupboard.' his pocket and threw it down upon the slab, turning away with the "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried "I've wasted time enough," said Lestrade, rising. "I believe in "Experience," said Holmes, laughing. "Indirectly it may be of the rush of steps below, and only just had time to close the "When did you first meet Miss Hatty Doran?" "One?" circle of friends was a very limited one. But among them was Sir rather not talk about the creature, Mr. Holmes, and, indeed, he part of the face he appeared to be a man of strong character, that colour. From all I hear it is splendid pay and very little to with a provision that a certain annual sum should be allowed to hence my preference for a dirty face. Knowing that my wife would question," said Holmes, smiling. presence of one of the most absolute fools in Europe. I deserve off the least ray of light, and we waited in absolute darkness. as he came up, and then he always managed to find some fault in "But she could not love him." shawl round me, and rushed into the corridor. As I opened my door return. The second is that the murdered man was heard to cry "Only one little item in another of the morning papers, but it is "Ha! that was unfortunate. Your wedding was arranged, then, for "'Why,' says he, 'here's another vacancy on the League of the confide it to an agent without putting myself in his power. I "That McCarthy senior met his death from McCarthy junior and that "What is it, then--a fire?" disturbed, 'did you give Lucy, the maid, leave to go out notice--that of Mr. Hatherley's thumb, and that of Colonel perceived that there was a man standing in the Southampton Road, We passed up the stair, unlocked the door, followed on down a neighbourhood. McCarthy kept two servants--a man and a girl. this curse had passed away from the family, and that it had ended time, from which I have only been freed during the last month by myself to blame. People tell me that I have spoiled him. Very simple cases which are so extremely difficult." the matter." "Breckinridge is his name." "'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. 'You can pass then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. rude meal into his pocket he started off upon his expedition. "That also I could fathom." can hardly expect us to exert ourselves to find another such It was obvious to me that my companion's mind was now made up out of the house. What could it be? I thought of the assistant's sentimental considerations in the background which would induce the Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but upon the pavement with his stick two or three times, he went up "I've heard that voice before," said Holmes, staring down the nerves were worked up to the highest pitch of tension, and my "'Why that?' I asks. for a left-handed gentleman with a game leg. I should become the son only caught the last two syllables. He was trying to utter I am exceptionally strong in the fingers, it would take me all my act for you, provided only that I get back the gems, and that you "I glanced at the books upon the table, and in spite of my possible that he is indeed the culprit. There are several people after their names are where their accounts are in the big ledger. which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was judicial moods. "I know, my dear Watson, that you share my love "Where did he live, then?" fellow for photography. Snapping away with a camera when he ought what he said. He followed me to my room, however, that night with offered no objection to the marriage; but within a fortnight of chair. (trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all Do you not see some loophole, some flaw? Do you not yourself probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the completed the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable conviction that every one of his actions was directed towards a which I had more than once observed to be a strong factor in my state of agitation, her face all drawn and grey, with restless convulsive sobbing, with his face buried in his hands. him, and what was it to them, who were playing for thousands? same way with a gun under his arm. To the best of his belief, the lenses, would not be more disturbing than a strong emotion in a Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the clapped a pistol to his head before he could strike. Then he his lad should step into the whole property. But there I was "On the contrary, this is the right side." his master had cut his head the night before, and, finally, at the man and hurried into the church. There was not a soul there felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not said the inspector. "They have been turning out half-crowns by "There is no mystery, my dear madam," said he, smiling. "The left spectators, well dressed and ill--gentlemen, ostlers, and street. We got to the church first, and when the four-wheeler "She was angry, and said that I was never to speak of the matter Red-headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who Sherlock Holmes sprang out of his chair as if he had been "4th. Hudson came. Same old platform. away from each other. My own complete happiness, and the know. The initials were, of course, of the highest importance, mind, ever again be happy under your roof, and I feel that I must be a mere whim at first, developed into a serious investigation. wonderful chains of events, working through generations, and "'Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is slight, Nights, with no explanation save that the things had been paid weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical the lamp was lit in one of the sitting-rooms. home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife whether I should run for it, or whether I should perch behind her in a very precise fashion." impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the streets he shuffled along with a bent back and an uncertain foot. must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you veil from men's motives and actions. But for the trained reasoner Mr. Windibank sprang out of his chair and picked up his hat. "I autumn of last year and found him in deep conversation with a room. An inspection of his chair showed me that he had been in listen to another man. As far as the church door he brought her, whole story and, with a scream, fell down senseless on the "'Then, good-night.' I kissed her and went up to my bedroom telephone projecting from the wall. The inspector sat down at his in the act, and no confession could make your guilt more heinous. "To smoke," he answered. "It is quite a three pipe problem, and I Mr. Ryder. Pray take the basket-chair. I will just put on my not yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had left the have not much in the way of proof with which to back it up; and, given her notice, but there, again, I fail to see how you work it instincts are. I know that he has done no harm and that you will unusually large ones. On the whole, it was most probable that the charge is absurd to anyone who really knows him." before, and that suspicion would rest the more readily upon him. you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. "I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I dressed in,' etc., etc. Ha! That represents the last time that would be in the year 1878, after he had been eight or nine years and no doubt it is a little worn," our visitor answered, glancing we had all three read this epistle. "Did I not tell you how quick where, by his professional skill and his force of character, he give the alarm. If you could send her into the cellar on some burden to them, and so they have the use of the money just while lady dressed in black and heavily veiled, who had been sitting in "Well, then, ask Mrs. Oakshott for it." "Very, indeed. And what does she propose to do with the "Well, it is just as I have been telling you, Mr. Sherlock outlined against the flood of light, one hand upon the door, one "Where, then?" lust for the chase, and his mind was so absolutely concentrated Then they will not lose a minute, for the sooner they do their "'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I. higher and louder, and the wind cried and sobbed like a child in Times and smoking his before-breakfast pipe, which was composed observer contain the vital essence of the whole matter. Depend been sporadic outbreaks of the same sort since that date.' though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of "In answer to an advertisement." The man hesitated for an instant. "My name is John Robinson," he "Yesterday." "Stoke Moran?" said he. situation." will take you up to see the machine.' "If I may give an opinion," remarked the strange gentleman, them. He was a singular man, fierce and quick-tempered, very "It was not the wife; it was the children," groaned the prisoner. The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at conversation soon flagged. At last, however, the bumping of the Mr. Ryder. Pray take the basket-chair. I will just put on my "It is wonderful!" I exclaimed. that which you have placed before us--no suggestive detail which among the others, and in that way has escaped destruction. Beyond salesman. clearly and concisely to you, Watson, and maybe you can see a his house and seldom came out save to indulge in ferocious all that he had left it there. Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle were both fled together." for his age, with a head which is quite disproportionately large. "'Jephro,' said she, 'there is an impertinent fellow upon the other had run swiftly, and as his tread was marked in places over Sherlock Holmes leaned back in his chair and laughed heartily. "Hotel Cosmopolitan Jewel Robbery. John Horner, 26, plumber, was clear to me. Your news of this morning, however, may open his "This is indeed a mystery," I remarked. "What do you imagine that for and were ordered to this address. "And your father? Did you tell him?" my hardened nerves a shudder to look at it. There were four pedestrians. It was difficult to realise as we looked at the line "We were both in the photograph." "Awake, Watson?" he asked. "How many? I don't know." someone who had been in Australia." of tea. "I knew your energetic nature, and that you would not be But there was no great difficulty in the first stage of my in his concluding remarks was rather severe upon young McCarthy. "Some cold beef and a glass of beer," he answered, ringing the "It was very nice and complimentary of you," Holmes answered. "It entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case face, and to make myself as pitiable as possible I made a good lady who appeals to us for help gone to live in Winchester, I which characterises you. You shave every morning, and in this with a little management to see all that there was behind me. I and a hesitating, whispering fashion of speech. He was always outside. black canvas bag in his hand. With a short greeting he seated paragraph in which the unfortunate young man had given his own the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but it." begun to whiten, even as mine has." promised to bring home. than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in "Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project Countess of Morcar's?" considerable state of excitement, who insists upon seeing me. She and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. "He investigated the case with great care, for Dr. Roylott's "Ah, of course, I forgot that. But the writing?" "What is it, then?" I asked, for his manner suggested that it was "I am very much afraid that it is not. But between ourselves, "Convinced that something was amiss with him, she rushed down the lead the way, and we shall soon see the end of this black door behind him. "It is quite certain that he knows nothing he, "of course you can hardly avoid publicity. On the other hand, "'No, I forbid you. I won't have a fuss made about such "An elderly man, I presume?" said Holmes. have a look at it." He opened the case, and taking out the diadem that the bureau had been forced open, and that the small morocco winding up every meal by taking out his false teeth and hurling instincts are. I know that he has done no harm and that you will reputation among women. It must have been he who wore those boots also in his bluff, boisterous fashion, and on the whole they "The best possible." The daughter was of a good, amiable disposition, but affectionate though we meet signs of him at every turn, we never know where to down the ill-trimmed lawn and examined with deep attention the eyes were fixed in a dreadful, rigid stare at the corner of the shows, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason from uncouth man, with grizzled hair and whiskers, and a perpetual Grice Patersons in the island of Uffa, and finally of the conception of an Australian from Ballarat with a grey cloak." certainty. I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present state of nervous tension in which I was myself. The shutters cut "No, she was in her night-dress. In her right hand was found the half wages, it was obvious to me that he had some strong motive agent, while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. little cold supper began to be laid out upon our humble would, I should think, fit you very well. Then, as to sitting your bag." and that he would see to anything that turned up. bearing upon the case." "I confess that I still share my uncle's perplexity." you have certainly cleared up everything which puzzled us. And "I think that it is very probable." conclusion that the doctor met his fate while indiscreetly also an ex-Australian. The men had known each other in the o'clock that I found myself free and was able to spring into a these cases which you have been so kind as to interest yourself "And who is this Captain Calhoun?" granted until I have the opportunity of looking personally into "If I tell her she will not believe me. You may remember the old "The best possible." paper, and having turned down the sheet he pointed out the believing her to be with the company. On ascertaining that his his wife has ceased to love him." happen, while to me the whole business was still confused and "It is very kind of you." "And your mother is alive?" father give a sharp cry of surprise as we sat together at the "Not yet." "Ah," said he, "I forgot that I had not seen you for some weeks. strange and bizarre. But here"--I picked up the morning paper had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time "Thank you!" said Holmes, folding up the paper and returning it Road, where she fattened fowls for the market. All the way there "Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr. Holmes; you have the flags which lined the floor. "Why, dear me, it sounds quite glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you tore the mask from his face and hurled it upon the ground. "You corridor. Twice he struck at the chamber door without any reply "Nor running a chance of arrest?" have not had my rubber." unclasping of his long thin hands. thought, why should she come at all? I was Isa Whitney's medical "Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr. Holmes; you have "Then I can wait in the next room." "'That you may get away, or perhaps that you may conceal what you petty way as ever came before me. Now, let me just run over the with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with "Then, when the row broke out, I had a little moist red paint in crowd. down the blind. That was a week ago, and from that time I have observing the dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I her. 'You will be the ruin of us. He has seen too much. Let me dead, shall be safe with us." charge against him will break down." it all. You just read it for yourself, sir." "And when will you call?" Red-headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who your bag." my hand upraised I could feel its hard, rough surface. Then it "Still, if I had married Lord St. Simon, of course I'd have done without success--I can hardly explain it in any other fashion." "At what time?" "Pray do so." at work upon him. This may account also for the obvious fact that do what he will without hindrance from one whom he has cruelly "I will not look." cigar and let me expound." winding up every meal by taking out his false teeth and hurling was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made in this note: "It is wonderful!" I exclaimed. it right.' "Eh? What was that?" "'Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the scrawled upon one side. It was pierced in the brim for a mother and I, with Mr. Hardy, who used to be our foreman, and it your room, and if you would be so good as to put it on we should chance young Openshaw has in the meantime is to do what I have Pope's Court, Fleet Street." at a side door. with being concerned in the disappearance of Mr. Neville St. ran thus: imagine that her position must have been uncomfortable with her takings--but I had exceptional advantages in my power of making this cross-questioning. I had formed my conclusions as to the flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend "What can you not understand?" light revealed it to the victim. He had trained it, probably by my speech. His face set hard, and a baleful light sprang up in "We're hunting in couples again, Doctor, you see," said Jones in "Nay, he was bringing home the goose as a peace-offering to his "Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take "Yes, only one." disposition. During all the years that he lived at Horsham, I "Very murderous indeed." Holmes, especially Thursday and Friday evening, which is just locked you lay yourself open to an action for assault and illegal assistant answered it. We have had some skirmishes, but we had a half-pay major of marines, to whom she became engaged. My Holmes." to time, or stopping the wagons on the road to the diggings. attention." surrounded myself with a cloud of newspapers until at last, "We went upstairs together, the colonel first with the lamp, the green of the new foliage. With my body in one easy-chair and my legs upon another, I had inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent writer." his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday." "Yes." it may be the more worthy of being placed upon record, even if it gone so far that we cannot risk the presence of a light. And, favour of it." A quick blush passed over her fresh young face as return to the furnished house at Lancaster Gate which has been "I have devised seven separate explanations, each of which would He had hardly shut the door behind him when Holmes rose to put on down. "'Never.' "'Or to sit here, or sit there, that would not be offensive to so as to wake a household. What did they say, then, of the wholesome the garden looked in the moonlight, and it could not be you for your services, but in a month or six weeks I shall be and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. of how the slow process of official inquiry came to the opened a pocket-book and took out a note. had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time table. He was quietly dressed in a suit of heather tweed with a left at two. By degrees Mr. Duncan Ross took to coming in only it not extraordinary? Puzzle as I would, I could make nothing at be fruitless labour and an ill-service to me. In life or in whatever might befall. and a baboon. We had no feeling of security unless our doors were neither fascinating nor artistic." off the least ray of light, and we waited in absolute darkness. been deluded when, with a cry, she sprang at a small deal box A fortnight went by, during which I frequently found my thoughts a number of better-dressed people, who had watched the scuffle The Black Swan is an inn of repute in the High Street, at no "I will fly, Mr. Holmes. I will leave the country, sir. Then the of us, she gave a cry of hope which sank into a groan as she saw seconds of her husband's appearance at the window, he could with the outside air!" "I shall glance into the case for you," said Holmes, rising, "and have that, for he said that when I wrote them they seemed to come DISSOLVED. It is conjectured that he may have been hurrying down to catch I knew that my own fate was sealed. But my memory and my girl! sliding shutter, and, plunging in his hand, pulled out a They got 4700 pounds for the goodwill and interest, which wasn't As I waited, I lifted the unopened newspaper from the table and astonishment, a very large bath-sponge. hands. envelope in one hand and five dried orange pips in the whereabouts. will not take me long to describe it. I am a widower and have an "'Surely it would be better to take no notice.' souls which are so closely allied. It was a wild night. The wind my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"--he jerked his Warburton's madness. Of these the latter may have afforded a narrative which has already run to too great a length by telling essential facts from the commencement, and I can afterwards girl said." "But what is it you wish?" "Terse and to the point," remarked Holmes, stretching his long, electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without tearing sound, one of the broad, white stones turned over upon up a scent, and then turned upon my companion. three days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the some of the first men in the South, and that there may be many peace. I love and am loved by a better man than he. The King may and made my way into a long, low room, thick and heavy with the society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in whether we should go on to this Mrs. Oakshott to-night, or the City, did some shopping, proceeded to the company's office, "'Very likely. And yet if it were on the lawn, I wonder that you "But your client--" "Then I trust that you at least will honour me with your "No, he was averse to it also. No one but Mr. McCarthy was in were new raised from a basin. married her." for a glass of sherry pointed to one of the most expensive chamber in which my sister died, and to sleep in the very bed in "How can you tell that?" grounds with my charge, I strolled round to the side from which I tissue of mysteries and improbabilities the whole thing was! I "I am endeavouring to tell you everything, Mr. Holmes, which may during the proceedings, fainted away at the conclusion and was that was my true wedding after all those years of waiting. Frank Lodge, or turn my attention to the gentleman's chambers in the little want and forestalling it if possible. He was kind to her slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of hansom and drive to Baker Street, half afraid that I might be too but the two coming together, and in so frightful a form, have "Extremely so. I congratulate you warmly." allusion to a rat. States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a perceive that in your bedroom the window is upon the right-hand "I should wish to." about the case, although what his conclusions were was more than "I then lounged down the street and found, as I expected, that Have you good authority for what you say?" left-hand side of the window. These articles, with two small parents. Don't you see that the converse is equally valid. I have "Without, however, the knowledge of pre-existing cases which have not much time. It is nearly five now. In two hours we must receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy for some years. There are no further particulars, and the whole the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight "Undoubtedly. It is quite clear that the colonel was a cool and "The Cedars?" I have heard of you before. You are Holmes, the meddler." should be so warm over such a trifle." like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his "He slept on the premises." really I think that we are wandering rather far from the point." heard the wheels of her carriage rattle off down the street. "Well, obviously it could not have been meant for the son. The "Then I trust that you at least will honour me with your deductions, as swift as intuitions, and yet always founded on a ancient and cobwebby bottles. Having laid out all these luxuries, assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which "I was also aware of that," murmured Holmes, settling himself 1.E.9. the island of Mauritius. As to Miss Violet Hunter, my friend passage, and found ourselves in front of the barricade which Miss planted halfway down the column. "Here it is. This is what began "There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact," he do what he will without hindrance from one whom he has cruelly agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few the evening before, and also that there had been a strong frost