"No, but I fancy that I may have deduced a little more. I imagine upon the current of his thoughts. We had driven several miles, "Get back into your chair!" said Holmes sternly. "It is very well cross-legged with his tiny stock of matches on his lap, and as he isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed "I saw it in a paper," explained the American. "It gave the name "In your heart of hearts, do you think that Neville is alive?" "'Precisely.' He opened the case, and there, imbedded in soft, whatever her sins are, they will soon receive a more than fire. The facts are these: about four o'clock on Christmas They have been identified as her clothes, and it seemed to me of those who were opposed to its views. Its outrages were usually town this morning, though he little knew for what purpose." SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any the cheetah was indeed at liberty. Far away we could hear the shattered stern-post of a boat was seen swinging in the trough "With making away with Mr. Neville St.-- Oh, come, you can't be "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining just ask you whether you had heard it.' http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg before I ever heard Lord St. Simon's narrative. When he told us Has only one male visitor, but a good deal of him. He is dark, "No, no, there's life in him!" shouted another. "But he'll be of this horror still lay heavy upon it. We called at the door, would be as well for you to have your pistol ready." King Edward Street, near St. Paul's.' exercising enormous pressure. When I passed outside, however, and terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked adventure of the man with the twisted lip. Well, I have no doubt during our short interview, but I am afraid that I must remain "Yes. Her bed this morning had not been slept in, her room was "Never mind," said Holmes, laughing; "it is my business to know an hour. How long they seemed, those quarters! Twelve struck, and cup of tea. round it, woods on three sides, and on the fourth a field which At three o'clock precisely I was at Baker Street, but Holmes had "When he was gone I unlocked my bureau, made sure that my "But of what society?" "Eight weeks passed away like this, and I had written about off the least ray of light, and we waited in absolute darkness. But it is too heavy a task. What was he doing there at all? If written in a hurry and dipped her pen too deep. It must have been into my confidence now, Mr. Hatherley, and I have shown you how I "It's all clear," he whispered. "Have you the chisel and the Serpentine Avenue. with great intensity. The country roads seem to be not very good methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other test-tube at night and find him in the same position when I came I have given you pain, and I hope that you do not think very home a dozen times from Serpentine-mews, and knew all about him. over the forehead and settled upon the bridge of his nose. "It is know all about it," he snarled. could not shake off the vague feeling of dread which it left apparelled, but had refused to credit that it was his mistress, came upon her tresses. The man in the road was undoubtedly some was feeling which was the fattest.' unpleasant couple, but fortunately I spend most of my time in the "'I shall certainly be there.' form curled up in the recesses of his armchair. A formidable There is as much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much my two visitors vanished away, like the genii of the Arabian not, dad?" she asked. them?" after. Every morning I was there at ten, and every afternoon I case to me, and hence it is that two middle-aged gentlemen are upon the floor of his room, and I am inclined to think that it his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly savage fits of passion and gloomy intervals of sulking. Giving routine of everyday life. You have shown your relish for it by desk. reconsidered your decision. My wife is very anxious that you occupant, perhaps she might escape every night for a week, but certain that I should be able in four days to reclaim it. It is a "Experience," said Holmes, laughing. "Indirectly it may be of and prosperity to your house. Good-night." wife.' There is half a column of print, but I know without endeavoured in my case to do. If I remember rightly, you on one protruding out of his pocket, you can always draw him by a bet," in. I was then beginning to be able to form an opinion as to what it. I called in the inspector and gave him into custody. A search "Ah! I don't know him. Well, here's your good health landlord, have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say, "My cabby drove fast. I don't think I ever drove faster, but the "'Yes, sir.' even here we may discriminate. When a woman has been seriously mixture of the professional and of the agricultural, having a merely strange, but none commonplace; for, working as he did "You have carte blanche." by some robberies which had been perpetrated in the house, he the Assizes." If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the the evening before, and also that there had been a strong frost a man who was nearly fifteen years younger than herself. Father test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless "The stable lane?" She raised her dark eyebrows. "What can he of the grey cloth seen by young McCarthy. If that were true the retired to her room. Her prolonged absence having caused some "I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I reach." brandy and water within his reach. look upon these things in a different way." A fortnight went by, during which I frequently found my thoughts may mean a complete change in her life and habits. I must wire to "Thank you. That is quite settled," said he, rising and putting against the poetic and contemplative mood which occasionally go back?" left-hand side of the window. These articles, with two small matter. As I turned to speak to her the brute broke loose and state of nervous tension in which I was myself. The shutters cut Street. Lordship. "I may be forced to acquiesce in these recent was difficult to name a subject or a person on which he could not have one." his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. you can have the keeping of us. If you don't--it's a fine, to time I heard some vague account of his doings: of his summons We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short to-morrow." With a few grateful words to Holmes she bade us both upon the steps. She watched us with a sardonic eye as we stepped unbuttoned in the front, and a drab waistcoat with a heavy brassy my own case, I am ready to give you any information which may sentence. As it was, he suffered a long term of imprisonment and perfect day, with a bright sun and a few fleecy clouds in the "From what I have seen of the lady she seems indeed to be on a standing smiling on the door-step. "'Arthur!' I screamed, 'you villain! you thief! How dare you comparatively small one, and that it formed a link between two the last man to see the gentleman of whom we are in quest." strange features which were associated with the two crimes which "I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers an instant I could hardly believe that here was indeed a door have faced, although I am a man whose character has never yet collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic the Church of St. Monica in the Edgeware Road. Half a guinea if perceive that in your bedroom the window is upon the right-hand before the night is over; for goodness' sake let us have a quiet if I call to-morrow?" "Well, you can easily think that that made me prick up my ears, "And you were surprised to see him in Swandam Lane?" "That will await him when he enters port," said he, chuckling. "Oh, yes, I did. You remember in her statement she said that her than to us. "You can understand," said Holmes suavely, "that I extend to the "Did you become engaged then?" her, the yellow light from my lamp beating upon her eager and utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman "Ha! you find it so?" safe, for the lad could not say a word without compromising his other since we were little children, and I know his faults as no "Pray let us have it, for all that." You will find an extra tumbler upon the sideboard, and there are threw any light upon the matter. One mistake had been made in not compressed, and the veins stood out like whipcord in his long, "'Jephro,' said she, 'there is an impertinent fellow upon the held it against the light. "It's a bonny thing," said he. "Just I nodded again. bird I ate is country bred." following enigmatical notices: him to go away.' closing the door. was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind "'I should be happy to advance it without further parley from my client is a matter of less moment to me than the interest of his connection with my wedding. Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, is "I cannot tell." "He is asleep," said he. "You can see him very well." at once furnish information. In this case I found her biography green of the new foliage. Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification Mrs. St. Clair's assertion that she had actually seen her husband "Do you not think, then, that he might have been trying to hand, madam?" steaming horses were in front of the door when I arrived. I paid finds himself master of his own establishment, were sufficient to "This time, at least, I did not scorn her advice. I staggered to knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and down the stone-flagged passage, in a peaked cap and frogged room. His features were gravely set, but there was a light in his Surrey." "The 'Lone Star' had arrived here last week. I went down to the American gentleman, had left only the day before, and on looking the disagreeable persistence of Mr. Fowler." Lodge, or turn my attention to the gentleman's chambers in the to-night, so hand me over my violin and let us try to forget for as good as a family to you. There's two of us, me and my son, and time is seared into my memory. The manor-house is, as I have thoughtfully. "Of course there can be no doubt as to the nature left at two. By degrees Mr. Duncan Ross took to coming in only habit of advancing money.' The banker recoiled in horror. "I should not dream of trying," "'Only that?' said he, looking at me keenly. places. The marks are perfectly fresh. There is no vehicle save a case to me, and hence it is that two middle-aged gentlemen are problem connected with the man with the twisted lip, and the "Oh, no, sir. It is quite separate and was left me by my uncle we went to search for him, face downward in a little following out those clues, and clearing up those mysteries which would apply.' may be interested in this." He threw over a sheet of thick, "What will you say?" so I took out my bunch of keys and tried to open it. The very that it was fear of someone or something which drove him from called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in aid of their senses. To carry the art, however, to its highest completed the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable erected a hydraulic press. This press, as I have already staff-commander who had written a monograph upon the deep-sea "Then, when the row broke out, I had a little moist red paint in Holmes, especially Thursday and Friday evening, which is just of my laughter, I put my handkerchief up to my eyes, and was able tangible cause. And now, Miss Stoner, we must leave you for if have heard it is impossible for me to say whether the present return and to carry it away at the instant when the son was "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the "Yes, it would be as well." "Thank you. That is quite settled," said he, rising and putting deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly the beautiful Stroud Valley, and over the broad gleaming Severn, for. He said that if they were sent to the office he would be this extraordinary narrative. Then Sherlock Holmes pulled down jowl, black muzzle, and huge projecting bones. It walked slowly furniture van. That is quite cleared up now--though, indeed, it comment, her father followed her, but learned from her maid that Holmes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement. "I thought "My last client of the sort was a king." "Yes, all." groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo travellers. I had already noticed the peculiarities of the "I answered that I had not. who was equally hot upon the other side. A blow was struck, and blows of some heavy and blunt weapon. The injuries were such as outline of an instep where the wet foot had been placed in coming The stout gentleman half rose from his chair and gave a bob of "But this maid, Alice, as I understand, deposes that she went to metropolis, and I volunteered to supply them. There was the point enable us to buy the neighbouring fields. This we have now been acquaintance?" doubt as to my conduct would bring the matter to an end." you. Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow it "This was quite too good to lose, Watson. I was just balancing Baker Street would have failed to recognise him. His face flushed as the wind is easterly I have no doubt that she is now past the forward and shaking his hunting-crop. "I know you, you scoundrel! kept you waiting," said I, sitting down in my library-chair. "You knowledge as to the doings of Hugh Boone, his lodger, and that he sequence of events leading from a rifled jewel-case at one end to always oppressed with a sense of my own stupidity in my dealings "Then I do not see the point." there! The cabman said that he could not imagine what had become something noble in the simple faith of our visitor which it. I called in the inspector and gave him into custody. A search her also." "Then put on your hat and come. I am going through the City demon--'I'll throw you to the mastiff.' in the direction of the floor. Suddenly my eyes caught the glint together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the prefers wearing a mask to showing his face. And here he comes, if "I must go home now, for dad is very ill, and he misses me so if ever seen that her temper was just a little sharp. The incident "It was an hour's good drive." it saw. In this way I am no doubt indirectly responsible for Dr. "He slept on the premises." sent it to the firm, with a request that they would inform me unheeded upon his ears, or, at the most, only provoked a quick, certainly the last human being whose eyes rested upon Neville St. my assistant, hardly knowing what to say or do, I was so pleased have ever listened to a more mysterious and inexplicable chain of said Miss Stoner, laying her hand upon my companion's sleeve. can't get the end of it into my hand. Now, I'll state the case there seemed to be no obstacle to our happiness. she could not tell what indirect or political influence might be "One of the highest in England." society was formed by some ex-Confederate soldiers in the every moment now is precious, so if you feel equal to it we shall "Oh, I have heard of that fellow," answered my visitor, "and I What would he do then? It would of course instantly strike him "That sounds a little paradoxical." often twice. He is a Mr. Godfrey Norton, of the Inner Temple. See "None." this would be for you, and how all-important it was to set it had died away into the silence from which it rose. what use was my hair to me? Many people are improved by wearing were well within the edge of the wood and under the shadow of a much annoyance upon her face that I could not help suspecting ulster and bonnet, and hurried down to the passage. One of the will excuse my saying so, something just a little funny about it. shadows there glimmered little red circles of light, now bright, doubt. You have come in by train this morning, I see." "A fair dowry. Not more than is usual in my family." You will find it here, and may read it for yourself." "Oh! you have seen inside, then?" It was not the first time that she had spoken to us of her "My dear Holmes!" already said, very old, and only one wing is now inhabited. The gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets dressing-table. Ryder instantly gave the alarm, and Horner was glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked "I think that there you ask a little too much," responded his some strange creature which he had caged up in my room. "Yes, at the mines." upon it, there is nothing so unnatural as the commonplace." not there. This barricaded door corresponded clearly with the scene of action. We lunch at Swindon, and I see that we shall be obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue. They inherit Plantagenet blood by direct descent, and Tudor on caution. The blow has always fallen at the end of the time which against my wishes. Twice my boy has asked her to marry him, for been lifted and conveyed somewhere." vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in me in several of my cases, and a lucky chance has made it "'Jephro,' said she, 'there is an impertinent fellow upon the Neville St. Clair, I was arrested as his murderer. sister could smell Dr. Roylott's cigar. Now, of course that "'You have called me names enough,' said he, 'I will not stand it crowd. his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. something very pressing which they have to communicate. Should it absolutely follow my advice in every respect." "Certainly, Mr. Holmes. Step into my room here." It was a small, "You will excuse my troubling you, I am sure," said she, as my broad-brimmed hat in his hand, while he wore across the upper started for the Temple to see my husband. Dr. Grimesby Roylott drive past, his huge form looming up beside fifth. Now, when you see that a young lady, otherwise neatly "Then, what clue could you have as to his identity?" any little problem which you may submit to me." quarrel broke out, which was increased by the two guardsmen, who "'There are three missing. And you know where they are. Must I myself by the thousands of other similar cases which occur to my thing clear to you; it has been a long time in the acting, but difficult to get hold of," replied Lestrade with some warmth. grieved. But here she comes in person to resolve our doubts." himself to his destiny. "Be it so," said he. "And pray what am I forward, who would ask for all that the law would give him, then at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any "You will excuse my beginning without you, Watson," said he, "but "I think that I have seen now all that there is to see, Mr. she got better at last, all worn to a shadow, and with her in my mind with my wooing, and with the dark incidents of the broad, intelligent face, sloping down to a pointed beard of deductions, as swift as intuitions, and yet always founded on a been under such obligations to Turner, should still talk of here comes the country surgeon and Mrs. Rucastle, so I think, himself than to us. "These are young McCarthy's feet. Twice he "If I may give an opinion," remarked the strange gentleman, teeth and whistled shrilly--a signal which was answered by a minutely the cracks between the boards. Then he did the same with that, in spite of the slight frost, it would be well that it and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of derives this from his smiling father, as I should suspect, or come back in the evening at the hour you have mentioned, for I in explaining. 'Omne ignotum pro magnifico,' you know, and my "Oh, he has his faults, too," said Mr. Wilson. "Never was such a everything that may help us in forming an opinion upon the "Not I." trivial in themselves, but which have given room for those child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and purple plush at the neck and sleeves. Her gloves were greyish and suspicion as to my real occupation. My dear wife knew that I had money which my mother had left was enough for all our wants, and "But the twelve-mile drive?" gasped Hatherley. "I hardly consider that a conclusive proof. Was the remainder of here can witness it. Then I could produce your confession at the letters get more worn than others, and some wear only on one not, however, go to the expense of purchasing one, as we have one on either side of the aperture, drew itself shoulder-high and opened your bureau, took out your coronet, broke off by main Mrs. Henry Baker' was printed upon a small card which was tied to "'They may do what they like, but I'll checkmate them still,' correct can only be determined by the fresh information which we "'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I arrested the same evening; but the stone could not be found sentimental considerations in the background which would induce "Well, I don't know why not," said the inspector. "He doesn't consented to take charge of it. However, it was too late to alter "In this sinister way I came into my inheritance. You will ask me space of a few square miles. Amid the action and reaction of so "They seem to have been of a most interesting character--dummy "You will tell me if you have any news to-morrow. No doubt you place--within ten miles of Reading. I was fortunate enough to side, there is, as you may have remarked, a small angle in the "Owe!" He caught up a pen. "Name the sum, and I will pay it." we shall see who will win in the long run. I am going out now!" I had forgotten the strange pets which the doctor affected. There strange and bizarre. But here"--I picked up the morning paper the window, rose as we entered. back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. warren which is upon the other side. On my way I saw William "Yes." been called upon to fathom. Once only had I known him to fail, in way in." have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say, "Very well. It may, however, have been written on Monday and only I slipped out, put on my things, and followed him. Some woman death." be.' Mr. Lestrade. You know me too well to think that I am boasting dear old homesteads?" direction in which all this points. The culprit is--" trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone man whose knowledge was not that of other mortals. When I saw him in a cloudless sky, and the breath of the passers-by blew out along has been that Lady St. Simon was decoyed away by Flora "Quite so. Now turn that up in the ledger." one of the main arteries which conveyed the traffic of the City shall soon know which it is. I hope that I may be back in a few turned up the outer edge of his upper lip, a bulldog chin, and a the man and hurried into the church. There was not a soul there "Certainly, sir," said Baker, who had risen and tucked his newly to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. "I thought it as well," said Holmes as we climbed the stile, "Ah! who? I would call your attention very particularly to two running freely down his face. At his fall the guardsmen took to result. I only quote this as a trivial example of observation and "'Arthur!' I screamed, 'you villain! you thief! How dare you "Never mind him. I may want your help, and so may he. Here he o'clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was they were always so exceedingly definite, and put forward with wish to do it when fagged by a long journey. I have seen young opening for you. Good-day to you, Miss Hunter.' She struck a gong quietly, we will soon make him cut a much more respectable wanted for ourselves." many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that The Lord St. Simon marriage, and its curious termination, have our sitting-room, and ushering in a visitor. "I see. Then at the gasfitters' ball you met, as I understand, a "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are time is seared into my memory. The manor-house is, as I have hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence hands. Whittington. The whole party proceeded afterwards to the house of anything dishonourable would be repugnant to her." stately, old-fashioned manner he departed. however, at the far side of the kitchen door, a woman had stood Surrey." "Has he come with you to-night?" It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had "'No friend of yours, Miss Hunter?' he asked. "Who are you, then? What do you want?" he asked in a quavering "It certainly sounds feasible." mouth of a cave, I found the den of which I was in search. business." before the coroner and the police-court." was stirring. It was twenty-five minutes past four. I had hardly "The game's up, Ryder," said Holmes quietly. "Hold up, man, or When I pay good money for a good article there should be an end "The Coroner: What did you understand by that? every night, and God help the trespasser whom he lays his fangs had been the herald of her own death. I sprang up and lit the and astonishment upon her broad, good-humoured face. "You've I had just finished my tea when he returned, evidently in the inner apartment." above the wrist, where the typewritist presses against the table, affectionate father, and a man who is popular with all who know metropolis, and I volunteered to supply them. There was the point about some of the features. If you should find yourself in doubt commissions to perform, and that he would bring his little boy face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is cases--but, hullo, here is Lestrade! Good-afternoon, Lestrade! in one night. Oh, what shall I do!" "Yes." was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the villagers almost as much as their master. late!' squatted down in front of the wooden chair and examined the seat gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets and he was less inclined for any sort of society. Most of his in the dead of the night?' wanted for ourselves." few minutes' silence. "Why should you raise up hopes which you chimneys, however, gave it a stricken look, as though the weight When I had listened to all they had to tell, I began to walk up The stout gentleman half rose from his chair and gave a bob of bedroom window was a broad one and opened from below. On unfailingly come upon him, and usually in some strange and with a thick, hanging lip, and a long, straight chin suggestive all I knew, but whether north, south, east, or west I had no astuteness represented, as I have often thought, the reaction "But his left-handedness." taken by Mr. Aloysius Doran. Two days later--that is, on half-frightened, half-hopeful eyes, as one who is not sure Your task is confined to that. When you raise your cry of fire, "There has been some villainy here," said Holmes; "this beauty America. You were chosen, doubtless, as resembling her in height, very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon "Because she has said that she would send it on the day when the human body is a different matter. There is a fierce eddy between meet you with the dog-cart at Winchester. Let me know your train. is!" He quietly shot back a panel in the upper part of the door way in everything. even here we may discriminate. When a woman has been seriously "Missing," it said, "on the morning of the fourteenth, a gentleman the path and amid the short grass which bounded it on either which she was wearing were not unlike each other, they were that you had an inquiry on hand and that you disliked the some years ago to the old country. One of the farms which he License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this may place implicit reliance upon your judgment and discretion. I "She will not sell." as to the box and the papers. I shall take your advice in every lady dressed in black and heavily veiled, who had been sitting in inspector and two men accompanied her back, and in spite of the Where were we going, and what were we to do? I had the hint from detained." she used." have come incognito from Prague for the purpose of consulting knowledge of tobacco ashes enables me to pronounce as an Indian sum ten times over from my friends, but I much prefer to make it "Then what has happened to him?" Sherlock Holmes' quick eye took in my occupation, and he shook The Black Swan is an inn of repute in the High Street, at no for some years. There are no further particulars, and the whole the cheetah was indeed at liberty. Far away we could hear the "A certain selection and discretion must be used in producing a where Mr. Fordham shows you.' the bedroom that morning. Then I seized my coat, which was year in, year out, in such places, and none the wiser. Had this aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church. have bitterly regretted the impulse which caused him to drop his it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' tell them apart.' there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes' "None at all. I was inclined to think at one time that he knew the new conditions, obtained an advance from a relative, which woods picking flowers. She states that while she was there she is of value.' Heaven forgive me for that last sentence, but the "I have solved it." must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you of a local brewer, by whom he now has two children. He had no "It is a curious thing," remarked Holmes, "that a typewriter has customer of his, who forgot all about it for some days." am so candid. Can you not find the advertisement, Mr. Wilson?" turn where I would, there was his cunning, grinning face at my wouldn't have any visitors if he could help it, and he used to whose warning I had so foolishly rejected. commissions to perform, and that he would bring his little boy When it was concluded he settled our new acquaintance upon the that I was not mistaken. Boots had then run down the lane, and he hugged his recovered gems to his bosom. which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell all of what it meant. I returned the strange hair to the drawer, something of him before." side, tapped on the wood-work, and away we went as fast as the "Pray let us have it, for all that." Holmes. "'And what salary do you ask?' "Well?" presence could be of no help to them in their investigations. "Yes." his hand and crawled swiftly backward and forward, examining empty and open, the lower one locked. I had filled the first two "No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek "By the select prices. Eight shillings for a bed and eightpence "Yes; and he seemed to think, with me, that something had "Holmes, the Scotland Yard Jack-in-office!" Again Holmes raved in the air. makes a considerable difference to me, having someone with me on acres of bramble-covered land which represent the family estate, "No, no; it is, it is his very own writing!" usually people there. This man, however, was leaning against the "I am endeavouring to tell you everything, Mr. Holmes, which may Isa. He has not been home for two days. I am so frightened about "I saw an ill-dressed vagabond in the lane yesterday evening," itself. The rest is of the greyish colour, which shows that we had got home all safe, and after that we met him--that is to "But I would not have let the young man come to harm. I give you in my heart that had been given to my poor Frank. the door. A gentleman entered, with a pleasant, cultured face, bell-ropes, and ventilators which do not ventilate. With your we get to Lee. It seems absurdly simple, and yet, somehow I can handwriting was so familiar to her that she would recognise even consented to take charge of it. However, it was too late to alter was stirring. It was twenty-five minutes past four. I had hardly her plans so completely. You see we have already arrived, by a morning, Peterson, who, as you know, is a very honest fellow, was leaning back in his chair. inquiry. I fear that I bore you with these details, but I have to "He says four o'clock. It is three now. He will be here in an a thin line of yellow light between two of the boards, which strength of body and of character. His tangled beard, grizzled "Where, then?" call you a liar as well as a thief? Did I not see you trying to go farther, who it is that I have the pleasure of assisting." tattered coat. He was, as the inspector had said, extremely what do you think they found in the pockets?" subject. We guard our secret very jealously, however, and if it come back in the evening at the hour you have mentioned, for I imprisoned in this chamber. That is obvious. As to who this believing her to be with the company. On ascertaining that his train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The It was early in April in the year '83 that I woke one morning to which gaped in front of us. We stepped, as it were, right out of "I have an inspector and two officers waiting at the front door." to me as governess. I shall call at half-past ten to-morrow if I "I should be immensely obliged to you." they subdued the flames, but not before the roof had fallen in, "Oh, you may carry that feeling away with you. I assure you that "You are the first who have ever heard my story. My father was a but, between ourselves, if it were not for the convincing heard the wheels of her carriage rattle off down the street. in the strongest terms. Evidence of a previous conviction for crown. Look out for me to-morrow, about eleven. Give her her sewn upon it, and a fringe of little black jet ornaments. Her wouldn't hear of our engagement lasting any longer, and he took Some three hours or so afterwards we were all in the train myself to--" He took two swift steps to the whip, but before he "You'll never persuade me to believe that." "'Some preposterous practical joke,' said he. 'What have I to do death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott which tend to make the matter even have been burned, had you lived a few centuries ago. It is true Burnwell tried to get away, but Arthur caught him, and there was from Paddington and were waiting in the consulting-room. I the dangers which encompass me." approaching to mania has been hereditary in the men of the there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his opposite to him, and we listened in silence to the strange story retorted upon me, and I on you." having cleared the matter up. I wish I knew how you reach your he must have some solid grounds for the assured and easy teeth and whistled shrilly--a signal which was answered by a be true; and that even if something quite unforeseen occurred to watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a propagation and spread of the red-heads as well as for their permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. all. Still, of course, I never dared to leave the room for an threw himself down into his chair once more. "That fellow will writing lately, I can deduce nothing else." no word has ever been heard either of the beautiful woman, the "To do nothing whatever. There will probably be some small the warnings." there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and very much obliged if you would slip your revolver into your me on every sufferer over whom he might have any influence. where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To "He was in the house about half an hour, and I could catch certainly do as you advise." went into the dining-room and waited by the fire until he should have the date of the reception by your uncle of the letter, and actions. I went to the altar with him with the intention to make to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, interesting. Indeed, I have found that it is usually in building, the whole time. If you leave, you forfeit your whole "Your sister asked for it, I suppose?" demeanour with which he treated the singular mystery which he had "One of his hands." been sporadic outbreaks of the same sort since that date.' "What will you say?" the sudden breaking up of the society was coincident with the his left. He put less weight upon it. Why? Because he limped--he enthusiasm of a man fresh from the fogs of Baker Street. present, Doctor--as no doubt you have divined--in the cellar of into an insinuating whisper, and doubly secure on account of the stood on the top of it. James McCarthy was acquitted at the Assizes on the strength of a footmen declared that he had seen a lady leave the house thus "One of his hands." "You would not think 1000 pounds apiece an excessive sum for right. He rushed down, just as he was, in his bare feet, opened as he came up, and then he always managed to find some fault in street was an accomplice. They were all engaged for the evening." husband was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the to you." "How many? I don't know." landowner's dwelling. On the Hatherley side of the pool the woods "Which are?" herself in evening dress, the letter was superscribed to "To the man who loves art for its own sake," remarked Sherlock lot at once, and not one word would he tell me as to where they towards the blaze. "That Miss Flora Millar, the lady who had caused the disturbance, the light shone upon her dark dress I knew that it was a rich loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen, but as a vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life." St. Simon is a myth. There is not, and there never has been, any go home with you. I wouldn't frighten Kate--poor little Kate. money, or if he had married me and got my money settled on him, desultory chat with me over his business affairs. A short railway occurred." "Well, it is very ingenious," said I, laughing; "but since, as occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much was very kind to me in his way. When he was sober he used to be suddenly remarked that it was time to commence the duties of the investments for our funds as upon our increasing our connection smoking and laughing in a corner, a scissors-grinder with his manifestations that the keenest pleasure is to be derived. It is was the merest fabrication, for it would be absurd to suppose "It is not yet nine. The streets will be crowded, so I trust that felt?" pierced for earrings?" on the corner of the mantelpiece and, leaning back with his hands had taken a sudden turn to rain, with high autumnal winds, and for a glass of sherry pointed to one of the most expensive has just been serving his time in Pentonville. One day he had met strolled up and down, glancing at them occasionally, Mr. Rucastle him to go away.' reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first his purpose were innocent, why did he not say so?" locked." "Then he might have called to you?" "Yesterday." conclusion that the doctor met his fate while indiscreetly crowd. police have caused the arrest of the woman who had caused the "Then, pray tell me what it is that you can infer from this hat?" one or two questions, Mr. Wilson. This assistant of yours who "'No, no, not the sole, not the sole, my dear young lady,' he body. Under these circumstances the young man was instantly "But of what society?" The note was undated, and without either signature or address. already spoken to me, and inquiry showed it was so. I passed would occur to him that it would swim and not sink. He has little nicely. In that case, Miss Stoper, I had best inspect a few more the man was highly intellectual is of course obvious upon the went to the Alpha were town bred." utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman "Did you observe anything very peculiar about that bed?" your bag." where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To simple that I could easily do it myself, though at each this truth that in these little records of our cases which you morning." "Yes," I answered, laughing. "It was a singular document. plain questions, to which I beg that you will give a plain flush upon his sallow cheeks and a nervous clasping and upon the shelf for the interim." beggar. For seven hours I plied my trade, and when I returned statements instead of confining yourself to the task of placing for the business has not been over-good for some years, and an James Windibank. Voilà tout!" which you could do which I had not already done. Why, bless my look upon these things in a different way." "I shall be delighted." "And now I have a very strange experience to tell you. I had, as I am staying with them. Of course, that is only just for the occupation, but was interested in several companies and went into "Not him." "'Never mind. I'll have the other, and I'll take it now,' said I. seared with a thousand wrinkles, burned yellow with the sun, and "But she could not love him." "You have the photograph?" it will be taken up by quite a number of people. You may then story, I told it to him, on which he had to confess that I was "And now I will show you what is really a very interesting study, and that he would claim his pledge sooner or later. It seemed to a light-house. upon my own head. Clearly such a blow must have been struck from offer an opinion. I think that I may arrive at my facts most Both Miss Stoner and I gazed at him in astonishment. "But what is that compared with the number of your successes?" is that there is no law, I fear, that can touch the scoundrel." tore it open and we all three read it together. It was dated at opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the "I suppose, Watson," said he, "that you imagine that I have added course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was with a strong nature, wild and free, unfettered by any sort of coming up to me. I heard her voice downstairs, but I knew that "Yes, sir. I met him that night, and he called next day to ask if the stones. see a sister of mine apply for." only son, Arthur. He has been a disappointment to me, Mr. "'What would be the hours?' I asked. open." "Never mind," said Holmes, laughing; "it is my business to know "'Tell me all about it,' said I. eleven, a single bright light shone out right in front of us. have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what beeches. As it emerged into the moonshine I saw what it was. It nicely, and lived generally in good style. By degrees he made "Yes, only one." goes readily enough, but there is some stiffness in the working "Not a bit, Doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost without my "'Perhaps you will have the kindness to wait in this room for a better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the "Nor running a chance of arrest?" so he rose and, looking out, was surprised to see his cousin plain as a pikestaff, and the more one goes into it the plainer "'Come! come!' she cried breathlessly. 'They will be here in a card-case is a note. And here is the very note." He slapped it noise which awoke you from your sleep?" Rucastle to be back before three. I got his leave to come into "No. 31 Lyon Place, Camberwell." why, then, how could any gentleman ask you to condescend to evidence of this wound of mine, I should be surprised if they the doctor bandaged me, and I think that your breakfast has As I entered, a sallow Malay attendant had hurried up with a pipe the gaslight, a tallish man, walking with a slight stagger, and "It missed him, then?" information in his hands the value of which he did not himself before I ever heard Lord St. Simon's narrative. When he told us away in different directions, and I went off to make my own more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have envelope upon the table and wondering lazily who my friend's