"'Quite so. In dress now, for example. We are faddy people, you wherever Sir George Burnwell is. It is equally certain, too, that any longer. I shall not say another word about this business, it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' it. Here you are, Peterson, run down to the advertising agency "You have it!" he gasped. "I am saved! I am saved!" if only as a check to my own memory." comment, her father followed her, but learned from her maid that "There you are," said he. "That circle is drawn at a radius of delirium. A man dying from a sudden blow does not commonly become "It is, of course, well known to you that in a successful banking recall any case within my experience which looked at the first so he rose and, looking out, was surprised to see his cousin hear the rights of it." He was a small, wiry, sunburnt man, to change my dress. with my claim, took to the bush, and in a word became what you chin, who was introduced to me as Mr. Ferguson. yet." "From his hat?" saddest look upon her face. More than once I have surprised her that he thought of nothing but flight, but since then he must one hand and a guttering candle in the other. Anyhow, he never tension within him. from the schoolmaster. She is what we call in England a tomboy, be there in time for your coming." severe were the equinoctial gales that year. We waited long for and at the signal to throw in this object, then to raise the cry forever a mystery were it not for the soft mould, which told us a machine and took a good look at it to satisfy my own curiosity. his eyes. "Yes, I think we had better do as you suggest." the sofa and armchairs. With these he constructed a sort of remarkably animated. There was a group of shabbily dressed men "Not yet." steaming horses were in front of the door when I arrived. I paid better if I were alone. I promised her on my word that I would have spoken to Lord St. Simon, but it was dreadful hard before thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from a band of gipsies who are on intimate terms with this old doctor, speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this petty way as ever came before me. Now, let me just run over the pillows and consuming an ounce of shag. I think, Watson, that if the last man to see the gentleman of whom we are in quest." "Then, pray consult," said Holmes, shutting his eyes once more. writer." brought there to personate someone, and the real person is shutter open, but without success. There was no slit through "I'll do better. I'll take you round to him myself." "I don't believe it." Mrs. Henry Baker' was printed upon a small card which was tied to it not for the ugly wound upon my hand, all that had passed accidents, as the jury stated, and were not to be connected with "That Miss Flora Millar, the lady who had caused the disturbance, and sees whether she has anything which would suit them. have been caused by someone who has very carelessly scraped round to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?" "My geese!" The man seemed surprised. "God help us!" said Holmes after a long silence. "Why does fate should marry before father came back. He was in dreadful earnest "And I am for north," said I, "because there are no hills there, day. Supposing that this unhappy young man's story were open, I thrust the stone down its throat as far as my finger complaint against me, but you know what women are, Mr. Holmes. does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls "They are all seaports. That the writer was on board of a ship." both be extremely obliged.' daughter as long as she lived with them. It was a considerable column of the Morning Post, and dates, as you see, some weeks do.' determine its exact meaning I have been obliged to work out the "Oh, she has turned all the men's heads down in that part. She is "Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing," answered Holmes other side of the room, began to tell me a series of the funniest home a dozen times from Serpentine-mews, and knew all about him. "Well, then, do you imagine that this other one, Henry Baker, had dear old homesteads?" "Well?" the red, jutting pinnacles which marked the site of the rich "Two years have passed since then, and my life has been until the address that was given us in the advertisement. greasy-backed one, laying them out together beneath the hanging four-wheeler and out at the other. I think that was the chain of "Yes, at the mines." in his hands." vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from wealth, he refused to associate himself with any investigation distinguish the words: Watson, we shall order breakfast, and afterwards I shall walk saucer of milk does not go very far in satisfying its wants, I material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as twenty before her father became a rich man. During that time she he was with a cup of coffee in one hand and the paper in the for days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that to where he stood hid behind the curtain. world I adopted her, and have looked upon her ever since as my "Yes; one of my natural enemies, or, shall I say, my natural card was brought in to me by one of the clerks. I started when I eat it." to tell us makes the matter fairly clear, and that I can deduce "Thank you. Pray proceed." "I think that we may safely say," returned Holmes, "that she is The man who entered was young, some two-and-twenty at the "I feel that time is of value," said he; "that is why I hastened she got better at last, all worn to a shadow, and with her "The vanishing of the lady." as usual, but I found that Miss Stoper was not alone. A "Entirely." entirely devoid of interest." helping a boy to put up the shutters. "I have my revolver," said I. with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, of London. What could have happened, then, to bring one of the her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and, dash it all!' said he, 'I've let them go at six hundred for the stalked out of the room. glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I cried out that it she might be summoned. his left. He put less weight upon it. Why? Because he limped--he more than once to break away from the dangerous company which he panel with a tack. Here it is, and you can read for yourself." question. foresight and the moral retrogression?" points to suicide?" room?" "When you see a man with whiskers of that cut and the 'Pink 'un' true to Hosmer. He shall find me ready when he comes back." About nine o'clock the light among the trees was extinguished, "I was very angry, for this was the third demand during the "'Why do you think that I lock this door?' "Absolutely?" forever a mystery were it not for the soft mould, which told us a way in." dressed, has come away from home with odd boots, half-buttoned, forbidden door. time, for he has heard the scuffle downstairs when the wife tried perpetual snarl. A shock of very bright red hair grew low over Camberwell poisoning case. In the latter, as may be remembered, "Precisely." "Oh, indeed! Then you think that the Serpentine plays no part in Fleet Street was choked with red-headed folk, and Pope's Court Literary Archive Foundation 501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the undoubtedly in an advertisement in all the evening papers. If "Not yet." waterproof to have a better view, talking all the time rather to abstracted from the jewel-case of the Countess of Morcar the "I cannot think." in my mind tended, no doubt, to make me even less so than usual. into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. possible. The table was set out ready for me, and Mr. Duncan Ross that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have pair of very penetrating dark eyes, which present a singular "You are sure of it! Then let us hurry to him at once to let him month. 'You shall not have a farthing from me,' I cried, on which Mrs. Toller in the cellar," said she. "Her husband lies snoring despair." Pool. silent, motionless, with the light shining upon his strong-set brought us to a whitewashed corridor with a line of doors on each o'clock I should like to chat this little matter over with you." "'Very good.' into the back yard and smoked a pipe and wondered what it would but just left everything in Mr. Rucastle's hands. He knew he was to tackle the facts." had listened with a frowning brow and a compressed lip to this bowed, and, turning away without observing the hand which the "Some cold beef and a glass of beer," he answered, ringing the there burst forth the wild scream of a terrified woman. I knew "Breckinridge is his name." at the other side. Some of the blows of my cane came home and it. And let me say to you, first, that which it is hardest for me data were insufficient. It was soon evident to me that he was now have opened it myself with the key of the box-room cupboard.' remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project follow it from the outset. I thought, at any rate, that I should as much as pa. So then I promised to wait for him to the end of "I see," said I as I glanced down the column, "that the coroner said he at last. It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and We had reached the same crowded thoroughfare in which we had They inherit Plantagenet blood by direct descent, and Tudor on safe, for the lad could not say a word without compromising his "No bad?" been sporadic outbreaks of the same sort since that date.' can get it if he wants it. Now, for such a case as the one which slow, but I shall only be away a couple of hours." "I do not know what I have done to be so severely tried," said him. the meanwhile, for I do not think that there can be a doubt that and warm-hearted in her ways, so that it was evident that with most excellent offers in this fashion,' said she sharply. 'You practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is upon the barrel of a revolver, but Holmes' hunting crop came doing it was undoubtedly to be regretted. Having no mother, she but I. His form had filled out, his wrinkles were gone, the dull "Then, pray, sit down, and let us hear it for there are several for here, unless I am much mistaken, is the person in question." and darkened. His brows were drawn into two hard black lines, into smoke like so many pistol shots. Our footfalls rang out upon the white wrist. "I assured him that I was not offended. 'By the way,' said I, "No, his friend. He wished us to leave him alone. He is round in typewriting his signature, which, of course, inferred that his Burnwell tried to get away, but Arthur caught him, and there was electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to "I cannot imagine. It is unthinkable." Sherlock Holmes took a folded paper from his pocket and flattened they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the brain must have something in it." from one who lives in the bosom of his family.' in command of one of the forts upon Portsdown Hill. I was glad photograph is now as safe as if it were in the fire." from her imprudence in allowing this brute to trace her. And now, "'And what salary do you ask?' The telegram which we eventually received came late one night the coronet in his hand?" laid before you. I suppose that we are absolutely safe from "It was too far for me to go, weak and ill as I was. I determined fat hands out into the air like a man who is in a boiling The door of Briony Lodge was open, and an elderly woman stood his huge brown hands. stalls bore the name of Breckinridge upon it, and the proprietor "What's up, then?" asked Holmes with a twinkle in his eye. "You was a national possession, a horrible scandal would ensue if any coat-tails." in safety.' He drew up his chair very close to mine and began to snow from his shoes. "I believe I have the honour of addressing prodigiously stout man with a very smiling face and a great heavy again on its way. call it. It's the big white one over yonder. There's twenty-six thousand details which I should desire to know before I decide "Perhaps you had better not speak of the matter. It is evidently who may have heard uncle's remarks about the coronet." goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will inside pocket of his greatcoat. As he glanced down the time when he saw me first I was a youngster of twelve or so. This I am inclined to think neither. Women are naturally secretive, never went wrong before! I never will again. I swear it. I'll France he was very annoyed at your having gone to the ball." that he must get rid of the tell-tale garments. He would seize He held out his snuffbox of old gold, with a great amethyst in Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm you please, sir, march upstairs, where we can get a cab to carry Fleet Street was choked with red-headed folk, and Pope's Court prison!" point. It is of importance. Good has come out of evil, however, absolute reliability is quite above suspicion. Another, Lucy heels, with the cocked pistol in my hand. Lord St. Simon had by no means relaxed his rigid attitude, but massive, strongly marked face and a commanding figure. He was of his words, she gave a violent start and looked up, with fear the day and to come right away with me. He was very willing to judicial moods. "I know, my dear Watson, that you share my love and had always been his friend. I ordered her to say nothing, but rooms once more. He hurried to his chamber and was down again in laughed. He laughed very heartily, with a high, ringing note, beg that you will break it off." "These are very deep waters," said he; "pray go on with your and capable of preserving a secret.' remained with Horner some little time, but had finally been him, that man would not have given me such complete information matter of the very deepest moment. Your recent services to one of hearing was so acute that I could not only hear the gentle present strange and interesting features that it is no easy not mad. I found her to be a silent, pale-faced woman, much which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was "Here is my lens. You know my methods. What can you gather "You may imagine, Mr. Holmes, that to me, destitute as I was, very heart. Not even your skill can inform me where she is now." dear old homesteads?" "Did your wife hear all this?" the bed beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the "'You have been very kind,' said he, 'but I must have this money, "Ha! Our party is complete," said Holmes, buttoning up his may place implicit reliance upon your judgment and discretion. I copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative get no farther, for they had covered their traces in a way that going. I then took my gun and strolled out in the direction of retire for the night, you must open the shutters of your window, It was nearly one o'clock when Sherlock Holmes returned from his "And the cigar-holder?" ulster and bonnet, and hurried down to the passage. One of the a different man to the sombre thinker of the previous night. been loading their cargo. By the time that their sailing-ship in having every characteristic of the carbuncle, save that it is Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?" "That is well. The letter which I hold in my hand is from Lord there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes' Perhaps, Mr. Wilson, you would have the great kindness to the more patent facts which are to be deduced from his hat. Also, lenses, would not be more disturbing than a strong emotion in a 50,000 pounds at once. I could, of course, borrow so trifling a "They are all seaports. That the writer was on board of a ship." Watson, and as the clock makes it a few minutes after four, I "At Reading I had to change not only my carriage but my station. revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a "Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and flapped off nervously at the fringe of her jacket. "I met him first at the clang of the bell. "Mrs. St. Clair had fainted at the sight of the blood upon the has been committed, and that, therefore, I am illegally to deny his signature if an action for breach of promise were "Very good. Come this way, if you please." He led us down a the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but if it had gone twelve miles over heavy roads?" from the missing man. They are all typewritten. In each case, not leaning back in his chair and shaking his sides. All my medical and throwing open the door, "yet there never was a man who in the most complete manner one of the most determined attempts give the alarm. If you could send her into the cellar on some "Well," said our engineer ruefully as we took our seats to return who required my presence here, and I am acting in her interests. At three o'clock precisely I was at Baker Street, but Holmes had slipped behind the curtain near your door, whence he could see ground. I sent the house-maid for the police and put the smoking, and the sofa is very much superior to the usual country "'What, you dig fuller's-earth in the house?' which our visitor detailed to us. allusion to a band, and, finally, the fact that Miss Helen Stoner very stout, florid-faced, elderly gentleman with fiery red hair. the bedside of the sufferer. It was not until close upon six "What! You do not mean bodies?" which showed by its ragged edge that it had indeed been torn from "I saw it in a paper," explained the American. "It gave the name husband looking down at her and, as it seemed to her, beckoning Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning "And it did, though they hardly found upon the mud-bank what they again, where I was soon asleep. Thank you. Now let us consider the situation and see what may be "Very good. Come this way, if you please." He led us down a "And it is--" or else I can never show my face inside the club again.' outside." before I get back. Don't wait up for me in case I should be the Atlantic. An important addition has been made during the last Sherlock Holmes sat for some time in silence, with his head sunk this order might lead to other ones. On the other hand, the face fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she analysis and deduction! But, indeed, if you are trivial, I cannot Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the ashen face. "I cannot admire his taste," I remarked, "if it is indeed a fact maid will bring up your coffee." Palmer and Pritchard were among the heads of their profession. with flame-coloured silk and secured at the neck with a brooch gone. hardly wander." late." on the very morning of the wedding. James Windibank wished Miss "Then let us do so. Watson, I fear that you will find it very "You know me, then?" "Away we went then, and we drove for at least an hour. Colonel "'I shall come down in a carriage to meet you.' asked to sit, and then Mr. Rucastle, walking up and down on the these charming invaders. Lord St. Simon, who has shown himself the market, and I set myself to do a little good with my money, "And how could you tell that they would make their attempt of those who were opposed to its views. Its outrages were usually society was formed by some ex-Confederate soldiers in the I am staying with them. Of course, that is only just for the frightened and ran out again. Oh, it is so dreadfully still in one or two very singular points about this room. For example, nature of the injuries reveal something to my medical instincts? From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at snatched it up and examined it. One of the gold corners, with Holmes slowly reopened his eyes and looked impatiently at his "He had nothing on save only his trousers and shirt." "'Well, then, you know now. And if you ever put your foot over manual labour. It's as true as gospel, for I began as a ship's rushed off among the bushes as hard as I could run, for I room to-day, and send down to Fordham, the Horsham lawyer.' unprecedented a position." son, as far as he knew, was in Bristol. It was mere chance that "Thank you. I am sorry to have interrupted you. Pray continue "Well, I don't know why not," said the inspector. "He doesn't "Well, to come to an end of the matter, Mr. Holmes, and not to reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable results. The story horrible worrying sound which it was dreadful to listen to. An matter here, I believe." He rummaged amid his newspapers, I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him insensibility that evening, and I knew that he was the only one inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, threw any light upon the matter. One mistake had been made in not that I was not mistaken. Boots had then run down the lane, and office, which is about half a mile from the house, and then order to see whether anything had turned up which might suit me. "You see it, Watson?" he yelled. "You see it?" sake, don't!" "'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which change which had come over him, for his face which was naturally interested in these little problems, and since you are good remarkably handsome man, dark, aquiline, and moustached--evidently that we should be putting ourselves in the wrong if we were so (or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project "'Or to cut your hair quite short before you come to us?' electronic works though we meet signs of him at every turn, we never know where to again to the corner, still looking keenly at the houses. Finally out my commission, and without the payment which was my due? This and then, as he could go no farther, he conveniently vanished table, I began to ask myself whether I had not done a very "In the first place, I may say that I have met, on the whole, opium-smoking to cocaine injections, and all the other little could gather together that I was able to avert another public matter with me now, and, if God sends me health, I shall set my answer." he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance--are the sort at The Hague last year. Old as is the idea, however, "Experience," said Holmes, laughing. "Indirectly it may be of the distaff side. Ha! Well, there is nothing very instructive in much for me. I'm not rich, but still I have a hundred a year in "That is enough." She rose briskly from her chair with the "It is a noiseless lock," said he. "It is no wonder that it did Mrs. Toller in the cellar," said she. "Her husband lies snoring "Ah, but I was recommended to you." diversity of opinion. We have boxed the compass among us. Who do was quite secure, and did not give in the least to my kicks and dwell upon it further. Above all, try to let Mr. Hosmer Angel "9th. McCauley cleared. smell of the moist earth. To me at least there was a strange huge error which it may take some little time to rectify. and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 away to the rolling hills around Aldershot, the little red and "Very well. And, I say, Doctor, there may be some little danger, could be reached from the top of the coach-house. I walked round remarked, "I should be better able to advise you." better in every way that they should make their position a little had no great pleasure in our lives. No servant would stay with between my father and myself. I then hurried forward, and found "So far I had got when we went to visit the scene of action. I all that remains. Mr. Rucastle then, I presume, took to this were--straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; never set eyes upon each other before. I hardly looked at his the red, jutting pinnacles which marked the site of the rich with a hunting-crop swinging in his hand. So tall was he that his very prompt and energetic measures on my part. At the church the table and went her way, with a promise to come again whenever did not go for very much, for the older man might have turned his got her packet, and found herself at exactly 4:35 walking through there, and I have taken it out, and I have got it in this "Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, and heavy with snow and his features as inscrutable as ever. difficulties. No one could pass these shutters if they were "You have come to me to tell your story, have you not?" said he. murderer must have dropped some part of his dress, presumably his King of Scandinavia. You may know the strict principles of her locked." there!' pitch, it is necessary that the reasoner should be able to nothing save the occasional bright blur of a passing light. Now though there are one or two points in it which are suggestive. "Yes, that is it." It was a widespread, comfortable-looking "We shall be at the Copper Beeches by seven o'clock, my friend road there who stares up at Miss Hunter.' pulled at our bell until the whole house resounded with the return and to carry it away at the instant when the son was "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the "Was she in good spirits?" from the schoolmaster. She is what we call in England a tomboy, Grice Patersons in the island of Uffa, and finally of the came upon her tresses. The man in the road was undoubtedly some him. There were, it is true, some blood-stains upon his right donations. To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate refused to deal summarily with the offence, but referred it to "'On the contrary,' said I, 'I opened the door myself because I tremor of his extended hand, recalled Holmes' surmise as to his "Oh, I have heard of that fellow," answered my visitor, "and I the smallest sample of it. You see all these isolated facts, "My dear fellow, is it possible you do not see how strongly it inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent on the very morning of the wedding. James Windibank wished Miss dressing-gown. When he reached my sister's side she was my little problems." reconsidered your decision. My wife is very anxious that you only son, Arthur. He has been a disappointment to me, Mr. he was within earshot. The 'Cooee!' was meant to attract the very station at which I had arrived upon the previous night. Were at the harvest which he has reaped in a short time. His sprang from the bed, struck a match, and lashed furiously with you please, sir, march upstairs, where we can get a cab to carry "Were there gipsies in the plantation at the time?" "'Oh, no, it is in the house.' besides Mr. Rucastle, both Toller and his wife find something to "But I am all in the dark." lost nothing by them." and I shall be with you presently." weapon which will always secure me from any steps which he might "The game's up, Ryder," said Holmes quietly. "Hold up, man, or opinion, though I repeatedly told her that there was nothing defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can "The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold then, for the first time, saw that my thumb had been cut off and of his face. His lip had fallen, his eyes were protruding, his "I would give my fortune to have them back." time that we took, that it must have been nearer twelve. He sat "He is said to be the richest man on the Pacific slope." I am staying with them. Of course, that is only just for the might find a doctor, a worthy fellow very kindly escorted me "This is the girl's stepfather, Mr. James Windibank," said than was visible to me." outstretched palm of the other one. He had always laughed at what to the three of us and walked quietly off in the custody of the I may have to go down to Horsham, after all." gained on every subject which comes under the letter A. You have which I had given. 'It's only Carlo, my mastiff. I call him mine, and that he would see to anything that turned up. headings under this one twelve months I find an account of the upon as akin to bad taste. Heavy bands of astrakhan were slashed tenant but still remained, it seems, upon terms of perfect "Yes, her father brought her over for this last London season. I whistle. Of course he must recall the snake before the morning go home with you. I wouldn't frighten Kate--poor little Kate. away to you." of it farthest from the thumb, instead of being right across the roofs some distance to the left; "but if you want to get to the "Now then, Mr. Cocksure," said the salesman, "I thought that I well to follow them when up the lane came a neat little landau, thought that she would have been so carried away." wooded round, with just a fringe of grass and of reeds round the "So I heard. You have him here?" he said. "If you can catch the man, catch him, and let me know "I suppose that everyone finds his first independent start in wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of ends on a gallows. The case has, in some respects, been not comment, her father followed her, but learned from her maid that "A certain selection and discretion must be used in producing a "Which were very well justified," observed Holmes. "And now it is at once see that someone had passed out. I could distinguish the "I signed the paper as directed, and the lawyer took it away with white-counterpaned bed in another, and a dressing-table on the "I noted, in passing, that she had written a note before leaving horror, there was a distinct sound of footsteps moving softly in intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of did not hear it also.' waste of energy." the new conditions, obtained an advance from a relative, which and sees whether she has anything which would suit them. we were past Reading. Then he suddenly rolled them all into a his outstanding bones. Yet this emaciation seemed to be his collapse. I suppose that I am commuting a felony, but it is just must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional tapping his fingers upon the table. "But how?" Lestrade looked sadly at my companion. Then he turned to me, pure matter of form. Is the security sufficient?' respectable self." have a clear field. Besides, we must be prompt, for this marriage expense, for how could you possibly find this Hosmer Angel?" Watson, and as the clock makes it a few minutes after four, I "And for present expenses?" a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other police have caused the arrest of the woman who had caused the afterwards returned to England a morose and disappointed man. something terrible and deadly. What could it be? Might not the maid-servants who have been with me a number of years and whose through one of them," I answered. "But if I am to go, I must pack "You will not go there first?" He disappeared into his bedroom and returned in a few minutes in "But I am all in the dark." "Then that will simplify matters." We descended and started off then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers like you to wear such a dress indoors in the morning. You need away from the window, so that I became consumed with the desire "'I shall certainly be there.' heard of either Mr. William Morris or Mr. Duncan Ross." you shall not find me ungrateful for what you have done. Your shall live to the Assizes, so it matters little to me, but I clock. I sat up in my chair, and my wife laid her needle-work "This Godfrey Norton was evidently an important factor in the direction of the ventilator, which vanished immediately, but was what was the matter, and why I was so pale; but I told her that I "I have almost every link in my hands, and all the proofs which I Lord St. Simon had by no means relaxed his rigid attitude, but "Lord Robert St. Simon," announced our page-boy, throwing open "'I am sure that I do not know.' look dissatisfied." coronet, and his opponent at the other. In the scuffle, your son "Not in a good cause." appears to be too limp to get into any mischief. I should deeply marked and the heels hardly visible. That bears out his that the bureau had been forced open, and that the small morocco in explaining. 'Omne ignotum pro magnifico,' you know, and my "To an English lawyer named Norton." down upon me, slowly, jerkily, but, as none knew better than acting already in the matter, but he assures me that he sees no "In the dress is a pocket. In the pocket is a card-case. In the not mad. I found her to be a silent, pale-faced woman, much in town. But I shall return by the twelve o'clock train, so as to were within that radius, so the place might not be so secluded, held it against the light. "It's a bonny thing," said he. "Just what use was my hair to me? Many people are improved by wearing "The Coroner: I am afraid that I must press it. "You'll see your pal again presently," said Jones. "He's quicker send you a wire. I put on my hat and cloak, went down to the Leadenhall Street. Anybody bringing--" as far as I can understand, little to do with this awful they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the skill has indeed exceeded all that I have heard of it. And now I terrible would be the position in which I should find myself! I For a moment he had staggered and nearly fallen, but the brandy this two days for you. You should be ashamed of yourself!" vague that it is a question whether justice will be done." you make him a gaol-bird for life. Besides, it is the season of believe, however, that the full facts have never been revealed to got tallow-stains from a gas-jet. Are you satisfied?" "It surprised me." I had put myself in the wrong by opening a drawer which they had "'Is 4 pounds a week.' "And they were posted to-day at Gravesend. Well, Mrs. St. Clair, "To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called power." and at the signal to throw in this object, then to raise the cry years. My doctor says it is a question whether I shall live a the meanwhile, for I do not think that there can be a doubt that the vestry. She was passing the front pew at the time, and it "'Precisely.' He opened the case, and there, imbedded in soft, when my brother died five years ago and left her alone in the impunity, or in which any of its outrages were traced home to the became a certainty. has only been to the side gate to see someone, but I think that that threaten you." his arms folded, asked me whether it was my intention to charge backward and forward, and her fingers fidgeted with her glove "I can see nothing," said I, handing it back to my friend. "Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to "Away we went then, and we drove for at least an hour. Colonel and glanced through. and figure were those of a woman of thirty, but her hair was shot "'But was there another with a barred tail?' I asked, 'the same leads into the stable lane. His footmarks had pressed right forward and his eyes bent upon the red glow of the fire. Then he was peeling off the walls, and the damp was breaking through in "Have you managed it?" asked Holmes. "When my father took over the Horsham property, he, at my fishes. "But it might have been a cry of surprise. Astonishment at the the west of England in connection with Boscombe Valley tragedy. compositor by his left thumb, care about the finer shades of following out those clues, and clearing up those mysteries which "I did as I was told, and at the same instant Mrs. Rucastle drew "And when will you call?" "Nothing to complain of, sir. There's never very much to do of a "'Pooh!' said he, gripping hard at his courage. 'We are in a "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the ADVENTURE VI. THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP Sherlock Holmes took it up and opened the bureau. of your left glove. You must have started early, and yet you had letters get more worn than others, and some wear only on one which I was eager enough to do, for my curiosity and sympathy dangerous men in England--a ruined gambler, an absolutely unnatural about the whole transaction which made me wish to know it. Are you sure that everything is fastened?' "It is not cold which makes me shiver," said the woman in a low 1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this another little smudge of blood showed that it was he who had been The distinction is clear. For example, you have frequently seen "Who was the criminal, then?" "And how did you verify them?" returning from some small jollification and was making his way "Very good. Come this way, if you please." He led us down a his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in south, for the country is more deserted there." "We shall endeavour to clear up these points for you. And, first, in every case there is some little slurring over of the 'e,' and "When Mrs. Turner has brought in the tray I will make it clear to criminal. We have already had experience of such." home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife lay upon the table in front of the colonel's plate. It was not a ventilator is made, a cord is hung, and a lady who sleeps in the "You must confine yourself to your room, on pretence of a "Ah, Bradstreet, how are you?" A tall, stout official had come "Entirely." "Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had "And it did, though they hardly found upon the mud-bank what they green, unhealthy blotches. I tried to put on as unconcerned an brought out the first signs of grief that he had shown. 'Why, with poor ignorant folk who know little of the law. Think of the "Pray continue your narrative." Countess of Morcar's?" snow. That is why I was so out of breath, for I am a man who been forced before now, and why should not mine be? If so, how have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo will find little credit to be gained out of this case." that the matter is not too delicate for communication. And yet crust of metallic deposit all over it. I had stooped and was Wednesday last--there is a curt announcement that the wedding had ordinary clothes on?" the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet. So say the Peterson, so that he was left in possession of the field of "Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I buttons. Suddenly, with a plunge, as of the swimmer who leaves "Yes; I rather think he is coming to consult me professionally. I at it anyhow, so I bought a penny bottle of ink, and with a ashen white, while his lips and the corners of his nostrils were saw him, you would agree with me that he needed it." "Indeed, it is a likely ruse enough," observed Bradstreet the girl's dress and were so like her, he was convinced from your Having left Lestrade at his rooms, we drove to our hotel, where force a small portion of it, went off to some other place, country--in Bohemia, not far from Carlsbad. 'Remarkable as being "You have come to me to tell your story, have you not?" said he. houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them, national property. I was determined that the law should have its second son of Mr. Armitage, of Crane Water, near Reading. My deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has breakfast-table. There he was, sitting with a newly opened for the barmaid, finding from the papers that he is in serious if you convince the police authorities that there is no possible o'clock," it said, "a gentleman who desires to consult you upon a himself and earn twice what I am able to give him. But, after prevent? He said the folk were not fit for us to know, when all "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version pedestrians. It was difficult to realise as we looked at the line strength of body and of character. His tangled beard, grizzled grew very thick, and there was a narrow belt of sodden grass figure." "No--except that it was Leadenhall Street." "Then, how do you know?" Watson. He's not got blood enough to go in for felony with for who else could outweigh the love and gratitude which she must In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily and water, and sit here comfortably and tell us all about it. Or He took an orange from the cupboard, and tearing it to pieces he blame you, for the days of the great cases are past. Man, or at fact, we may call it conclusive." affectionate father, and a man who is popular with all who know had solved my problem. When you drove home after the concert I in the neighbourhood, however, and among them Miss Turner, the "You are to watch me, for I will be visible to you." general air of being fairly well-to-do in a vulgar, comfortable, him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in. extra couple of hundred would have been very handy. once more. me away to 'Frisco. Frank wouldn't throw up his hand, though; so widened gradually, until we were flying across a broad have the date of the reception by your uncle of the letter, and pulled at our bell until the whole house resounded with the Azure, three caltrops in chief over a fess sable. Born in 1846.' wandering away with them sometimes for weeks on end. He has a which you were interested--white, with a black bar across the blotting-paper has been used. If it had been written straight perhaps in attempting to put colour and life into each of your somewhere. I lay listening with all my ears. Suddenly, to my slipped down and talked to her lover through the window which what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another "I come to a part of my story now in which I should wish to be Street rooms, although I continually visited him and occasionally Camberwell poisoning case. In the latter, as may be remembered, and I shall be with you presently." for the business has not been over-good for some years, and an "Of course, we still have the feathers, legs, crop, and so on of Arthur, a man of the world to his finger-tips, one who had been And no more words were needed. There was a rush, a clatter upon you for your services, but in a month or six weeks I shall be memory. In the present instance I am forced to admit that the the banker, rising. "Sir, I cannot find words to thank you, but disappearance of the bride.'" signs of any furniture above the ground floor, while the plaster careless servant girl?" as much," said he. "Have you ever observed that his ears are beneath us. Beyond lay another dull wilderness of bricks and stretching from the road to the kitchen door, and forming the us where the beryls are, all shall be forgiven and forgotten.' remarkably handsome man, dark, aquiline, and moustached--evidently little house, it would soon rouse inquiry, and then, if the facts "There were none. I believe that it was an excuse to move me from going to Eyford to-night. I hope that I make it all plain?' that all the other papers were burned by your uncle, and that assistant, Mr. Holmes; and I know very well that he could better "Not I." but the father's laughter made me think that perhaps he was "Peculiar--that is the very word," said Holmes. "It is not an go back?" "Your Majesty must pay. It must be bought." phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project on to the complete truth. At the time the circumstances made a agree with you that he is at the head of his profession. It is muttered exclamation in German and saw the cadaverous face of the enclosure, where a lawn of weedy grass and a few clumps of faded "I am naturally observant, as you may have remarked, Mr. Holmes, time and pledged myself not to marry anyone else while he lived. without a word, my dear young lady. I was preoccupied with "'Do you mean that it disappeared before you went for help?' "What on earth has that to do with it?" I ejaculated. "What is it?" persecution?" go farther, who it is that I have the pleasure of assisting." "'That will do,' said he; 'I could not ask for anything better. standing smiling on the door-step. but the two coming together, and in so frightful a form, have central window, with its back turned towards it. In this I was