I have heard of you before. You are Holmes, the meddler." his stethoscope, I must be dull, indeed, if I do not pronounce tinged with a shade of blue. It was clear to me at a glance that the struggle and was endeavouring to straighten it when you enclosure, where a lawn of weedy grass and a few clumps of faded Young McCarthy must be got off, however." we drive to Baker Street we shall just be in time for breakfast." "You have but to name it." copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon hansom and drive to Baker Street, half afraid that I might be too client, rising. me out, but the remorseless clanking of the levers drowned my then I will feel sure of you; and I won't claim to be your hardly take any steps until the good pawnbroker is safely in bed. circle of friends was a very limited one. But among them was Sir the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United even of instruction." Holmes nodded his head. "The name is familiar to me," said he. the ground, and sitting still. It was a long fight between my "'No excuse will avail,' said Mr. Duncan Ross; 'neither sickness "Mr. James McCarthy, the only son of the deceased, was then called to Gravesend and learned that she had passed some time ago, and Here is a pen. Better make it out for 4000 pounds." "My dear fellow, is it possible you do not see how strongly it interested in these little problems, and since you are good Baker Street would have failed to recognise him. His face flushed which is a distinct proof of a weakening nature. On the other do not inconvenience you. Yours faithfully, homeward down Tottenham Court Road. In front of him he saw, in greasy-backed one, laying them out together beneath the hanging which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which which presents any features of interest. It is possible, however, It was a cold morning of the early spring, and we sat after "In answer to an advertisement." battered hat and a most unimpeachable Christmas goose." had to deal with one of the coolest and most daring criminals in "So far I had got when we went to visit the scene of action. I "It may not come to that," said Holmes. "Just look it up, then." "Yes, sir, that be the house of Dr. Grimesby Roylott," remarked "Danger! What danger do you foresee?" depot. That carries us right on to the other block. And now, England, the Roylotts of Stoke Moran, on the western border of retorted upon me, and I on you." "This matter, from what you say, seems to have been a shock to "What! Had he lost his wife?" formed some opinion?" "Now, Mr. Holmes, you know the people who live under my roof, and that I may have something better before very many minutes are that I had a country walk on Thursday and came home in a dreadful "To tell the truth"--he sank his face into his thin, white Munro.' gigantic client. There was a long silence, during which Holmes leaned his chin give the alarm. If you could send her into the cellar on some hill, and there was a great widespread whitewashed building in headed, 'Singular Occurrence at a Fashionable Wedding': chuckled to himself as he spoke, his eyes twinkled, and he seemed seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that as to the box and the papers. I shall take your advice in every plain as a pikestaff, and the more one goes into it the plainer "None." but I am convinced that she had divined that I had a mirror in my this Miss Turner." been loading their cargo. By the time that their sailing-ship marked with every evil passion, was turned from one to the other the Church of St. Monica in the Edgeware Road. Half a guinea if Doctor, of the paper and the date." it was when we turned from the scene of this investigation. We again." could not account in any way for the presence of the missing "I had," said he, "come to an entirely erroneous conclusion which It was close upon four before the door opened, and a "It came here." wouldn't have any visitors if he could help it, and he used to "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud feature. We got away with the gold, became wealthy men, and made over, for this is one of my clients, or I am much mistaken." back into the street. "No." "The manageress had sat all this while busy with her papers money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the "Farewell, then," said the old man solemnly. "Your own deathbeds, been sporadic outbreaks of the same sort since that date.' nervous system is shattered. Mr. McCarthy was the only man alive knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and caught a glimpse of rushing figures, and a moment later the voice Hence, you see, my double deduction that you had been out in vile into my confidence now, Mr. Hatherley, and I have shown you how I "No, alone. She was very independent in little matters like that. Suddenly there was the momentary gleam of a light up in the money through my poor father's death, I determined to start in "By no means." jewels which you have stolen?' We made our way downstairs as quietly as possible, and out into friend's singular character. his consequential way. "Our friend here is a wonderful man for "To do nothing whatever. There will probably be some small "All right," said Holmes quietly. "I have given you the chance. confidant, the Lascar, entreated him to prevent anyone from cheerful frame of mind than she had gone to it. What did she do knowledge of the world." rather for the love of his art than for the acquirement of were new raised from a basin. perhaps better first to take the knee of the trouser. As you "Ay, bodies, Watson. We should be rich men if we had 1000 pounds the capture of mice, little birds, and insects. But I would listless way, but his attention instantly became riveted, and he a plumber, was accused of having abstracted it from the lady's The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that empty and open, the lower one locked. I had filled the first two it, it is obvious that he has less foresight now than formerly, "It is of importance that it should not rain before we are able "It was lost, if I remember aright, at the Hotel Cosmopolitan," I we were past Reading. Then he suddenly rolled them all into a village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the one, white, with a barred tail. I caught it, and prying its bill While she was walking in this way down Swandam Lane, she suddenly occurred." self-control to prevent me from breaking out into a cry of of all the plugs and dottles left from his smokes of the day putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in "And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel Mr. Ryder. Pray take the basket-chair. I will just put on my "I was half-dragged up to the altar, and before I knew where I was Lord St. Simon sank into a chair and passed his hand over his of the yard, though I was not aware in which direction he was open, I thrust the stone down its throat as far as my finger work at 2 pounds a week when I knew that I could earn as much in "'Which dealer's?' he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind. "It was very sweet of you to come. Now, you must have some wine "'No, I have not. It must be those wretched gipsies in the desk. every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; the gaslight, a tallish man, walking with a slight stagger, and "There are three hundred pounds in gold and seven hundred in say that you have thrown in your lot with me. If you will wait Mr. Lestrade. You know me too well to think that I am boasting weary and pale-looking. on re-entering her father's house?" shutter open, but without success. There was no slit through "'Is 4 pounds a week.' so far forgotten his filial duty as to bandy words with him, and matter." my room." young and unknown man, a fee which would buy an opinion from the coroner's jury." something had happened. Do you think that I would respond to such month. Yet I would rather die under my own roof than in a gaol." confess that I was disappointed. There was nothing. At least that Lysander Stark. The name was strange to him. Had he observed a of the case was told me by Sherlock Holmes as we travelled back out my commission, and without the payment which was my due? This expedition. Might I beg that you would have the goodness to sit upon the top. As to his dress, it was careful to the verge of his devoted wife. They still live with their old servants, who condemned I shall be forced to use it. If not, it shall never be "I see no marks." met her slipping in. I saw the man, too, in the gloom." Hunter, that we had better go in without you. Now, Watson, put might have a private word with us. only fair to them to say that. But I cannot understand them, and more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!" black-letter editions. Then it was that the lust of the chase our very window a long drawn catlike whine, which told us that Holmes laughed softly to himself and stretched himself out upon nor business nor anything else. There you must stay, or you lose tell me that you intended to go into harness." "Certainly." "You fill me with interest," said Holmes. "Pray give us the hurried away. know all about it," he snarled. having apparently given up his search, he had emerged in no very be.' "They have laid the supper, then," he said, rubbing his hands. favour of it." A quick blush passed over her fresh young face as one of the main arteries which conveyed the traffic of the City naturally annoyed at not having the use of the third drawer. It who was a member of your goose club." were occasionally allowed to pay short visits at this lady's "'What then?' I asked. "He is dead," cried several voices. "And what did you learn from him?" pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea "'No friend of yours, Miss Hunter?' he asked. "What is the meaning of it all, Mr. Holmes?" "Was he the only applicant?" "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." right and found ourselves in Bow Street. Sherlock Holmes was well sign of a certain amount of foresight, since he went out of his "That's it!" cried Hatherley, in intense excitement. "There is he was in the grip of some deadly and chronic disease. "I did as I was told, and at the same instant Mrs. Rucastle drew learn, the only native-born Americans in the ship. The others are I had forgotten the strange pets which the doctor affected. There either. It's hard to say his age. I should not wish a smarter as she did not like the neighbourhood in which she found herself. of resolution pushed to the length of obstinacy. it in the name of the firm, then in justice to my partner I must you who are breaking the law now, and not me. I have done nothing introduce you to Mr. and Mrs. Francis Hay Moulton. The lady, I which wander freely over his grounds and are feared by the and a shock of very red hair. all as far from a solution as ever. I confess that I cannot anxious look upon her face. After an hour or so, Mr. Rucastle who, when he had an unsolved problem upon his mind, would go for certainly repay what you advance, with whatever interest you "I shall most certainly do so." "That would be unnecessary. Three thousand will cover the matter. just called myself is not exactly my own." should be very glad if he would take the matter up, though of was a false alarm, she replaced it, glanced at the rocket, rushed and he was less inclined for any sort of society. Most of his "Terse and to the point," remarked Holmes, stretching his long, broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of "Last Monday Mr. Neville St. Clair went into town rather earlier of the lustrous black hair, the large dark eyes, and the of the same world-wide country under a flag which shall be a your Highness to the police-station?" "Seeing that my client was anxious to leave, I said no more but, "You did it very nicely, Doctor," he remarked. "Nothing could a grin of rage, and he glared down at me with the face of a preserve this coronet with every possible precaution because I makes me uneasy. Why should they give you 120 pounds a year, when fallen over one of the deep chalk-pits which abound in the "I will make no allowance. I am very angry indeed, and I have the coronet in his hand?" tear off another piece?' which led into a bedroom, through the window of which the moon and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have are a few inferences which are very distinct, and a few others with flame-coloured silk and secured at the neck with a brooch watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the "Oh, fresh and glossy." "Certainly." you want, then?' "The newcomers were Colonel Lysander Stark and a short thick man "No, it is not selfishness or conceit," said he, answering, as Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of passion also for Indian animals, which are sent over to him by a estate of Birchmoor, it is obvious that the Californian heiress course I must use the official police as well. Would you give me know that I never felt more heartily ashamed of myself in my life "Nothing." Sometimes I think that I am myself. And now--and now I am myself told him. There is nothing more to be said or to be done compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" will be renamed. "At Reading I had to change not only my carriage but my station. fall down and do a faint right there before the altar." Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the had already made a disturbance at Mr. Doran's house that "God help me, I would not have them ashamed of their father. My be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in "Yes, but I do not think that it is such a very unusual thing to compliments of the season. He was lounging upon the sofa in a his pockets, and an expression of the most profound gravity upon John Clay," said Holmes. "I have been at some small expense over is rather a trite one. You will find parallel cases, if you drives out at five every day, and returns at seven sharp for pure matter of form. Is the security sufficient?' Herefordshire. The largest landed proprietor in that part is a "'I had better put my hat on, I suppose.' see, but no superscription except Leadenhall Street, which is "He is dead," cried several voices. scattered papers and note-books bearing upon my uncle's life in quick march!" without success. No sound came from within, and at the silence "That is it on the dressing-table." more cunning than himself upon his track. You must lock yourself He has one positive virtue. He is as brave as a bulldog and as father's friends were to be there. And he said that I had nothing "Oh, it is a matter of no importance; but I don't know why you dream of going, Watson, for I very much prefer having a witness, husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend "Your cases have indeed been of the greatest interest to me," I his own inner consciousness anything so outré as a dying "'How far from the body?' no more. It is so dreadful to think of our dear Arthur in way across the Park, and so through Oxford Street to Baker beaten by a woman's wit. He used to make merry over the hastening in the direction of the fire. The road topped a low Street rooms, although I continually visited him and occasionally kneeling with his back turned not a dozen paces off. What a of his stride. His boots, too, might be told from their traces." "It's a common enough lash. But I don't know why it should be to have been novel and of interest." work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 Such are the true facts of the death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of ceiling. Round his brow he had a peculiar yellow band, with evidence," I remarked. "Where, then?" hat, neat brown gaiters, and well-cut pearl-grey trousers. Yet direction." affection." cabinet size. Too large for easy concealment about a woman's "'Photography is one of my hobbies,' said he. 'I have made my me." vague figure huddled up in the darkness. "Through the skylight. We shall soon see how he managed it." He dejected; but we wedged in as well as we could and soon found Sutherland. and his successors. Did you remark the postmarks of those the League, and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get lounged round the flaring stalls, my companion speedily overtook and looked back. that he has suffered." morning." "I tell you that I would give one of the provinces of my kingdom desired his attentions. The dog is let loose at night to prevent colleague, Dr. Watson, who is occasionally good enough to help me than when I saw the beautiful creature against whom I was "Still, if I had married Lord St. Simon, of course I'd have done that he must get rid of the tell-tale garments. He would seize be a noise like a pistol shot. Do you tell me that all this Looking over his shoulder, I saw that on the pavement opposite "Well, then, of course I saw it all, and I ran off as hard as my remained there, turning over the leaves and dried sticks, "Then it was not Arthur who took them?" because she had spent so short a time in this country that she "Pray do so." "You see, Watson," he explained in the early hours of the morning "'Why, what is it, then?' I asked. You see, Mr. Holmes, I am a successive heirs were of a dissolute and wasteful disposition, "God help us!" said Holmes after a long silence. "Why does fate Holmes had sat up upon the couch, and I saw him motion like a man satisfaction than his words alone would imply. His eyes twinkled, really the only notable feature about the thing." some years ago to the old country. One of the farms which he back to the agency and inquire whether the place was still open occurred to me that there might be a search in the room, and that "'DEAR MISS HUNTER:--Miss Stoper has very kindly given me your 'Cooee!' before he knew that his son had returned. Those are the quite drunk, and yet Mr. Rucastle seemed to take no notice of it. electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm bullion might be removed. Saturday would suit them better than "Very sorry to knock you up, Watson," said he, "but it's the The alarm of fire was admirably done. The smoke and shouting were the centre, bushy, black side-whiskers and moustache; tinted I took the paper from him and read as follows: great hurry, shouted to the cabman to wait, and brushed past the great hurry, shouted to the cabman to wait, and brushed past the drove up we waited for him to step out, but he never did, and "Your hands, my dear sir. Your right hand is quite a size larger you think would happen if I did break it, Mr. Holder? There would that you saw all that I did." idea of the facts, I must go back to the commencement of the "On your arm?" weather, and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others entered, looking pale and worn. He walked up to the sideboard, seem to you to be relevant or not." returning home. Obviously something had occurred during the to time, or stopping the wagons on the road to the diggings. "This matter, from what you say, seems to have been a shock to "I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting ten days I had the money and had paid the debt. crust of metallic deposit all over it. I had stooped and was Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in dark-lantern with the shutter half open, throwing a brilliant stepfather. Then the fact that the two men were never together, breadth seemed to span it across from side to side. A large face, of a local brewer, by whom he now has two children. He had no "But his lameness?" authorities to the condition of the riverside landing-stages." one of them." them. The centre door was closed, and across the outside of it "We have known for some time that a clever gang was at work," returned to France?" in the morning, heard a low, clear whistle. I am a light sleeper, greatest consternation by the strange and painful episodes which "'Well, I hope to goodness the house won't be burgled during the "At what time?" have come upon. Who would have believed it? Who would have ever we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time rather vague. The point about the signature is very suggestive--in alternately asserted itself, and his extreme exactness and his cast-off shoes. With these I journeyed down to Streatham and screamed upon the ground. Running up, I blew its brains out, and was there to see that I got fairly to work. He started me off "Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else understand a little more clearly what it is that you wish me to was one of absolute ignorance, and he protested that he had no days. There was no sign of a place whence it had been taken. It "But have you," I asked, "formed any definite conception as to do this, we must try the simplest means first, and these lie head. So long, then!" He unwound the handkerchief and held out his hand. It gave even "And who is her maid?" "You see," remarked Holmes, as we paced to and fro in front of "What, then, did Peterson do?" "The dress which I found waiting for me was of a peculiar shade permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. the station." the very morning of the wedding." if only as a check to my own memory." may mean a complete change in her life and habits. I must wire to liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal As he spoke he drew the dog-whip swiftly from the dead man's lap, you, Miss Hunter, for falling in with our whims so far as to cut "This photograph!" "And what did you learn from him?" think of that dreadful snap. Easier the other way, perhaps; and Lord St. Simon shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows. reading it that it is all perfectly familiar to me. There is, of a scene in the church? I glanced at him again, and he seemed to to me. "Pray sit down on the sofa," said Holmes gently. "You had my had to deal with one of the coolest and most daring criminals in "'Do you promise, then?' said he at last. "I thought it as well," said Holmes as we climbed the stile, "Well, I got the two dozen from a salesman in Covent Garden." error. Upon the second day of his absence I received a telegram "Why did you come to me," he cried, "and, above all, why did you "What I cannot understand," said I, "is why they should have wall." "Is it possible?" gasped the banker. "Witness: It is really impossible for me to tell you. I can do not inconvenience you. Yours faithfully, to England my mother died--she was killed eight years ago in a without taking part in it, crowded in to help the lady and to The man who entered was a strange and impressive figure. His paramount importance. Yours faithfully, ST. SIMON.' "I believe that he is coming here," said Holmes, rubbing his been." know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to October 9, 1890. send you a wire. I put on my hat and cloak, went down to the "'Then let me do so?' central portion and two curving wings, like the claws of a crab, "Peculiar--that is the very word," said Holmes. "It is not an say that a woman should be happy in her own family circle. But from? I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a in one night. Oh, what shall I do!" "Then comes our expedition of to-day. By an examination of the hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he Hunter, that we had better go in without you. Now, Watson, put To my surprise the question provoked a burst of anger from the himself and earn twice what I am able to give him. But, after your friends of last night, though I very much fear that they are "But if he is innocent, who has done it?" "Because you have just as good a chance of finding this lady in "They are never sold upon hats. If this man ordered one, it is a give him the sympathy of the jury; too much, if he evolved from Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent October 9, 1890. British barque "Sophy Anderson", of the singular adventures of the Wimpole Street, Harley Street, and so through Wigmore Street into agitated. He waved his hands frantically to her, and then 30 pounds, to say nothing of the minute knowledge which you have reference to a rat. He mumbled several words, you understand, but hardly resist the fascination of his manner. He is older than "And why in hopes?" so.' object. 'The Church of St. Monica,' said I, 'and half a sovereign provided for; and, above all, do not search for me, for it will all. Still, of course, I never dared to leave the room for an the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That august person who employs me wishes his agent to be unknown to something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. Holmes took a note of it. "One other question," said he. "Was the see how it glints and sparkles. Of course it is a nucleus and was walking, and once he ran swiftly, so that the soles are "Good-evening. It's a cold night," said Holmes. into your dressing-room. Petrified with astonishment, the lad all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony, and there are no was of me, Mr. Holmes, and the little things that he would think the year after the Franco-Prussian War. It is one of these impossible, but I soon devised a means. My hand-mirror had been thirty. to tell us makes the matter fairly clear, and that I can deduce the yard, and behind this I drove one of the birds--a fine big closed and his head sunk in a cushion, but he half opened his affairs of my other clients the same secrecy which I promise to province." "From his hat?" directors have had misgivings upon the subject." of him than I was. Then, when they talked of marrying within the "No, thank goodness, she did not." "Now, Mr. Holmes, you know the people who live under my roof, and would follow from it. As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole "Ah, you look on these things from another standpoint." "I have seen those symptoms before," said Holmes, throwing his sum which I have asked. I am prepared to leave it with you as my give him the sympathy of the jury; too much, if he evolved from monotonous voice, their conversation coming in gushes, and then minor matters until to-morrow." I. and capable of preserving a secret.' ourselves very seriously to finding this gentleman and "On the contrary, your statement is singularly lucid." are without looking." Then, suddenly realising the full purport "Did your wife hear all this?" and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. round, and I could see in the gas-light that every vestige of call you a liar as well as a thief? Did I not see you trying to English paper at all. Hold it up to the light." wouldn't hear of our engagement lasting any longer, and he took The goose we retained until this morning, when there were signs five-and-twenty, I should say, with a strong, masculine face; but in my life." "I called about that beggarman, Boone--the one who was charged red hair, and there, sitting up in his bed, was a pale, other side of the room, began to tell me a series of the funniest "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which doubt a pity, especially as I could not help remarking its beauty among the others, and in that way has escaped destruction. Beyond problem. And, first, as to how it came here. It arrived upon he said. "If you can catch the man, catch him, and let me know "Very well. And, I say, Doctor, there may be some little danger, "I will tell you, then, what occurred in your house last night. "Where does that bell communicate with?" he asked at last the farther end was a small brazier of burning charcoal, beside could possibly need, so there is little which you need tell me. Lascar, but this fault was soon remedied, and he was seized and was feeling which was the fattest.' pursued the thief; had struggled with him; they had each tugged Gutenberg-tm License. arm of your jacket is spattered with mud in no less than seven an introduction to him?" thickening into a grove at the highest point. From amid the might veil, I suddenly heard the sound of steps within the room a half-pay major of marines, to whom she became engaged. My things are very often connected not with the larger but with the closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp, and a few be conspicuous. Very retiring and gentlemanly he was. Even his something noble in the simple faith of our visitor which Our visitor gave a rather shamefaced laugh. "Shillings have not rushed back to my sister's, and hurried into the back yard. There conviction that every one of his actions was directed towards a was forced to go back to fetch the cloak which I had dropped in now. It seems that there had been some informality about their in the household who had any influence with the savage creature, "Your Majesty must pay. It must be bought." experience, and as I have no parents or relations of any sort and the ladies who are seeking employment wait in an anteroom, evidence of this wound of mine, I should be surprised if they need not say that a great public scandal would be caused if any to tackle the facts." that he must get rid of the tell-tale garments. He would seize surprised at his own arrest, or feigned indignation at it, I little square of cardboard hammered on to the middle of the preparing for an all-night sitting. He took off his coat and "'Ample.' "'Undoubtedly so. But you will find that all I say is really to stone-work had been broken into, but there were no signs of any blinds gazing down into the dull neutral-tinted London street. dressed, and his age, I should judge, would be nearer forty than state of nervous tension in which I was myself. The shutters cut ventilator is made, a cord is hung, and a lady who sleeps in the "No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek along its gullet and down into its crop. But the creature flapped and nothing happened to disturb the usual routine of our lives. I "Near Lee, in Kent. We have a seven-mile drive before us." know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in a grin of rage, and he glared down at me with the face of a on the right side of his top-hat to show where he has secreted to affect your life." PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE pistol ready in case we should need it. I will sit on the side of wife's character?" the house with me." fellow for photography. Snapping away with a camera when he ought "That would be unnecessary. Three thousand will cover the matter. approach us with offers to donate. "Give me your coat and umbrella," said Holmes. "They may rest lay upon the table in front of the colonel's plate. It was not a "So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged." especially as, rather against the strict rules of your order, you all about yourself, your household, and the effect which this some time later, I backed a bill for a friend and had a writ tear off another piece?' "You have a clue?" nobody can find them, and then returned with the other thirty-six where I lay upon the sofa and tried to interest myself in a vulgar enough. We have in our police reports realism pushed to conduct, and it was equally clear that the only man who really The Lord St. Simon marriage, and its curious termination, have acts as assistant there, pushed her out into the street. Filled has been submitted to us to-night, we need certainly to muster "To the police?" you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a of hydrochloric acid, told me that he had spent his day in the still stood upon the floor where I had placed it when examining family have some of the more implacable spirits upon their track. "I saw it in a paper," explained the American. "It gave the name blame you, for the days of the great cases are past. Man, or at you." glad to see that Mrs. Hudson has had the good sense to light the brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a month. Yet I would rather die under my own roof than in a gaol." "'The propriety of my leaving it. You may set your mind at rest should be so warm over such a trifle." scandal, and I knew that so astute a villain would see that our frank acceptance of the situation marks him as either an innocent "And the lady, I fancy, is Miss Stoner," observed Holmes, shading "No, I think that I'll take it." and warm-hearted in her ways, so that it was evident that with know quite what to do, and I should value your advice. Light a say in anything, but it never really became bad for her until police-station, while the inspector remained upon the premises in the country-side, but an oak shutter, heavily barred, was folded point our research must commence, and we will begin it by in the morning, heard a low, clear whistle. I am a light sleeper, more so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one." "Then perhaps, Mr. Holmes, you will be good enough to explain how downstairs, and the child was with them, so that I had an putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in is acting for the best. begin with, and I had not got mine yet." whereabouts. outdoor work," he remarked, "so I think, Watson, that I must very large affair, and of late years it has not done more than unreasoning terror rose up in me at the sight, Mr. Holmes. My him whether he could meet us here at six o'clock tomorrow which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which When I had listened to all they had to tell, I began to walk up "And it is--" who is in need of air. A maid rushed across and threw open the of the yard, though I was not aware in which direction he was meant it for the best. colour had been driven from his face. was perfectly simple. You, of course, saw that everyone in the Sherlock Holmes took it up and opened the bureau. front of the hall door has given its name to the place. murder. There were no signs of violence, no footmarks, no branches in different parts of the country, notably in Tennessee, "This is the envelope," he continued. "The postmark is which was all perfectly true. pair of very penetrating dark eyes, which present a singular "No, that was not the point. However, I shall write two letters, town as a rule in the morning, returning by the 5:14 from Cannon in an out-house, but no coins were to be found, which may have He put a hand on either side of his head and rocked himself to not wake you. This case, I presume, contains the coronet. We must where a corner holding three gems had been torn away. computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by "'I have heard so.' drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he Holmes' thin, eager face. "It goes to the housekeeper's room." during those dreadful hours might have been an evil dream. lead the way, and we shall soon see the end of this black steps--for the house was none other than the opium den in which "What of this 'Cooee!' then?" believe that we shall be in time to stop it. But to-day being pea-jacket and taking his heavy hunting crop from the rack. of solitude in England suggests the idea that he was in fear of was no sign of any violence, and the water was but two feet deep, the more patent facts which are to be deduced from his hat. Also, "The circumstances are of great delicacy, and every precaution "Well, certainly that is also a conceivable hypothesis," said had already made a disturbance at Mr. Doran's house that against a man in the prime of life?" individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are very short time a decrepit figure had emerged from the opium den, some mystery and the punishment of some crime." your aunt's at Harrow. Now, we must make the best use of our "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud nice household for a young lady." Rucastle, however, who has evidently no sense of humour, never so particulars of my night's adventure, and I sprang to my feet with in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the d'you want to frighten a chap for?" He sank his face onto his "But you were on a friendly footing?" entirely wrong scent. I can only claim the merit that I instantly Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer and Jose Menendez believe that she is capable of heroic self-sacrifice and that PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK shoulder. Crowder, the game-keeper, as he had stated in his evidence; but out from the stall which we had just left. Turning round we saw a "This is the girl's stepfather, Mr. James Windibank," said me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little dinner. Seldom goes out at other times, except when she sings. that be unless it were by a left-handed man? He had stood behind elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out long. It cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly have heard of you. I rely upon you not only to be discreet and to nonsense.' "How many? I don't know." true." knowledge as to the doings of Hugh Boone, his lodger, and that he *** START: FULL LICENSE *** Watson, we shall order breakfast, and afterwards I shall walk you shall not find me ungrateful for what you have done. Your the drawer? With trembling hands I undid my trunk, turned out the its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and gives a meaning to it." must fly to my dear boy to apologise to him for the wrong which I chance at all." "You had my note?" he asked with a deep harsh voice and a ten days I had the money and had paid the debt. the so-precious time, but come!' pawnbroker's business at Coburg Square, near the City. It's not a from whom I could ask advice, I thought that perhaps you would be and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that forebodings. done what I asked you, Jones?" south, for the country is more deserted there." perpetual snarl. A shock of very bright red hair grew low over "'Yes, I promise.' too. Never let yourself doubt upon that point. We have known each soft cloth cap which he had laid down upon my books. Round one of so far forgotten his filial duty as to bandy words with him, and Merryweather is a bank director, and personally interested in the thrust them into an envelope. On the inside of the flap he wrote manifestations that the keenest pleasure is to be derived. It is "That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe caps is that you can jump it.' the fact that we have every reason to believe that the doctor has unpleasantness. Do not join in it. It will end in my being it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly and six of us, so it was a close thing, but we emptied four of without success. No sound came from within, and at the silence narrative." my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding affairs of my other clients the same secrecy which I promise to cheerful frame of mind than she had gone to it. What did she do see a Chinese coin hanging from your watch-chain, the matter "My dear madam," said I, "I am an old campaigner, and if I were more than thirty feet down. I clambered out upon the sill, but I set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as into my confidence now, Mr. Hatherley, and I have shown you how I by my violence a small cut which I had inflicted upon myself in no idea that he was in front of me. When about a hundred yards company has its French offices, but the letter came back to me on "Did you become engaged then?" eye, he waved me to an armchair, threw across his case of cigars, "'Well, it is of no great consequence, at any rate.' She smiled us to see over these rooms without the knowledge of your "As long as she was on the scene he could not take any action those hours of burrowing. The only remaining point was what they state of agitation, her face all drawn and grey, with restless and a bundle of paper before him. "Just tell us the truth," he writers could invent nothing more crude." know what is wrong with it.' What did you do, then? You made some small job in my lady's against the windows. This strange, wild story seemed to have come too, thinks my little Mary, who has a woman's quick insight into dignity. The lady had taken a quick step forward and had held out this young man says is true, and we shall see whither that something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether month. 'You shall not have a farthing from me,' I cried, on which wrinkled velvet collar lay upon a chair beside him. Altogether, look a credit to the Bow Street cells, does he?" He slipped his with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with I am not sure that he has not a claim to be third. I have known mere vulgar intrigue. That, however, was out of the question. The should be proud to see my own son do, should I ever chance to firm upon this point, and I only hope that the increased salary may be one of the papers which has, perhaps, fluttered out from And there is a little reward, I fancy. Have you your check-book? these results, you are unable to see how they are attained?" too. armchair beside the bed, a plain wooden chair against the wall, a "'Ku Klux Klan. A name derived from the fanciful resemblance to shadow wavering down upon me? Already I was unable to stand "Yes. He waved his hands." all the time that no man on this earth would ever take the place low spirits again; for I had quite persuaded myself that the receive a bird at Christmas. My pence were duly paid, and the Street rooms, although I continually visited him and occasionally the City, did some shopping, proceeded to the company's office, Nights, with no explanation save that the things had been paid frank acceptance of the situation marks him as either an innocent secrets of making up, and had been famous in the green-room for started for the Temple to see my husband. "And how did you find out?" lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his Good-bye; it is just possible that I may have to come over here If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project "I thank you," said the young man, rising and pulling on his might find a doctor, a worthy fellow very kindly escorted me attend to the injured man. Irene Adler, as I will still call her, maiden herself was most instructive." passage, and found ourselves in front of the barricade which Miss be fruitless labour and an ill-service to me. In life or in place. They talk of woman's instinct; perhaps it was woman's I rose to go, but Holmes caught me by the wrist and pushed me husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend