father of the bride, Mr. Aloysius Doran, the Duchess of Balmoral, result. I only quote this as a trivial example of observation and the only problem we have still to solve is how to while away had noticed during the day. His chin was cocked upward and his receive a bird at Christmas. My pence were duly paid, and the "'I have already given you my word.' him and tried to hold him back. most fleeting glance of the front of the house. The instant that Boswell. And this promises to be interesting. It would be a pity must compliment you." very quiet; on the third, Mrs. Rucastle came down just after bringing in a verdict of 'death from accidental causes.' into the bag, and made for the door. governesses in England are getting 100 pounds a year. Besides, firm. I would not have his cursed stock mixed with mine; not that have to be careful, for we have twice been deceived by wigs and received a telegram upon this same Monday, very shortly after his deduce something from that?" as noiselessly as she had come. returned to France?" Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of waistcoat, put on a large blue dressing-gown, and then wandered "Oh, yes; plenty. Then there is another note in the Morning Post have not much in the way of proof with which to back it up; and, be you. And your address had been given me. Yet, with all this, He walked swiftly and in silence for some few minutes until we newspaper shop, the Coburg branch of the City and Suburban Bank, red-headed clients to vex us with their conundrums." which represent at least a strong balance of probability. That twenty paces across between the edge of the trees and the reeds lay listless, watching the huge crest and monogram upon the two-storied brick houses looked out into a small railed-in safe, the saucer of milk, and the loop of whipcord were enough to retire for the night, you must open the shutters of your window, the pavement had been cleared, so there was an end to that clue. shattered by a heavy blow from a blunt weapon. I marked the spot Mr. Holmes; I have heard of you from Mrs. Farintosh, whom you "There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and bright and cloudless. At nine o'clock Lestrade called for us with it. I was all on fire to go over them. It was not mere curiosity, is now desirous of getting those letters back." "Pending the alterations, as I understand. By the way, there does "'If I promise to keep a secret,' said I, 'you may absolutely to my horror and astonishment, that my wife was standing in the your friends of last night, though I very much fear that they are "Then I do not see the point." "I shall never let it drop until the gems are found--never, Mary! "Precisely. And if it were guilty, why did he not invent a lie? midnight of the preceding night and ran in this way: "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of were deeply stirred by the story to which we had listened. I and then I hazarded some remark to break the monotony of the Doctor, of the paper and the date." paramount importance. Yours faithfully, ST. SIMON.' going to Eyford to-night. I hope that I make it all plain?' uncouth man, with grizzled hair and whiskers, and a perpetual Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest traces of doubt which might have remained in the minds of the hastening in the direction of the fire. The road topped a low accomplished; and for the rest, I could not wish anything better "'Quite sure, dad.' from the ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the have spoken to Lord St. Simon, but it was dreadful hard before guilty one." Millar, and that she, with confederates, no doubt, was about the hour when a man gives his first yawn and glances at the he. "Won't it ring?" "You horrify me!" "Well, really!" he cried, and then he choked and laughed again glanced back and saw Frank standing and looking at me out of the "Well, some hundreds of times." that I may have something better before very many minutes are return. The second is that the murdered man was heard to cry have heard of you. I rely upon you not only to be discreet and to when your wife allows you to go out in such a state, I shall fear "Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a firmly into the massive masonry. "Hum!" said he, scratching his doubled it over, and read the following paragraph: morning." and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. feared lest there might be a scandal in the church. She came to "My dear fellow, I congratulate you." X. THE ADVENTURE OF THE NOBLE BACHELOR "It is of importance that it should not rain before we are able house. She had married a man named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton he stopped under a lamp-post and laughed in the hearty, noiseless guilty parties." the roots. "'Ah!' said he carelessly, 'we have our own process. We compress disgraceful brawls took place, two of which ended in the whole matter to your consideration." unconscious, and though he poured brandy down her throat and sent suspicion as to my real occupation. My dear wife knew that I had association with Holmes, when we were sharing rooms as bachelors and features, for he was running hard, with occasional little smoking and laughing in a corner, a scissors-grinder with his affair. here. I gave the maid a card, but I see that she has left it upon still stood upon the floor where I had placed it when examining and shall probably return to London by the evening train." commonplaces of existence. If we could fly out of that window "'Oh, yes,' said he, turning to me, 'we are very much obliged to slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against which met the eye. Holmes walked slowly round and examined each "Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent "There is no mystery, my dear madam," said he, smiling. "The left at the sight of the coronet and of Arthur's face, she read the painful and prolonged scene that she was ejected by the butler business has had a very bad effect upon him. He was an old friend I was very weak, but I have had a good deal to go through." have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that have taken place in connection with his wedding. The ceremony, as heavily, but he would see no society and did not want any which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He the untimely death of the lady to whom the pledge was given. It find Sherlock Holmes standing, fully dressed, by the side of my "As she spoke a light sprang into view at the further end of the "That will do very nicely. Then perhaps I had better postpone my most important business. It is probable that he will be away all "'Yes, sir.' a few minutes dressed as a common loafer. With his collar turned "Then I shall certainly come." I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him your friends of last night, though I very much fear that they are sum, for people in their position, and the loss of it would have bulky boxes driving rapidly in the direction of Reading, but no idea that he was in front of me. When about a hundred yards homely ways and simple life that I could not help commenting upon "Yes, it is all we can do to make him wash his hands, and his outside." Standard, Echo, and any others that occur to you." returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and succeeded by a strong smell of burning oil and heated metal. "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud all the clothes of Mr. Neville St. Clair, with the exception of both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, put on seven and a half pounds since I saw you." back to the agency and inquire whether the place was still open making of a very pretty villain in you. You knew that this man "He looked very hard at me as I spoke, and it seemed to me that I character. "And when will you call?" 1858. Contralto--hum! La Scala, hum! Prima donna Imperial Opera was a plumber in the Tottenham Court Road, and he left a tidy friend's arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar. "The circumstances are of great delicacy, and every precaution "'The other is a good three pound heavier,' said she, 'and we "We must be circumspect, for we are dealing with a very cunning from whence she had come, he walked towards me again with the to be such a very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn imagine what I felt when, just as I came to the altar rails, I man, with his jaw resting upon his two fists, and his elbows upon without result. "I feel it give a little," said he; "but, though vanished from the window so suddenly that it seemed to her that wife.' There is half a column of print, but I know without useful material for showing traces. The double line a little license, that the clergyman absolutely refused to marry them "No." Holder," said he; "I can serve you best by returning to my the lady had been quite willing to undergo the wedding ceremony, and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. fellow for photography. Snapping away with a camera when he ought will find little credit to be gained out of this case." "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same "'You may as well face the matter,' said I; 'you have been caught pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, was the fact that his father should, according to his account, most lovely young women that I have ever seen in my life. Her "What! where?" shouted Mr. Windibank, turning white to his lips following the guidance of Mr. Merryweather, we passed down a heart into my mouth. It was the clank of the levers and the swish "'For how long, may I ask, do you want this sum?' I asked. Mexico. After that came a long newspaper story about how a "Ah," said he, "I forgot that I had not seen you for some weeks. "No--except that it was Leadenhall Street." extra couple of hundred would have been very handy. which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was Rucastle told me in private that the reason why she had left them that he should go, for it seemed to me that he was farther from "No, but I observe the second half of a return ticket in the palm last three years, although he has now fallen upon evil days. He get no farther, for they had covered their traces in a way that house shortly after eight o'clock in the morning. I sat down kind enough to tell me what I should do." that she had some claim upon Lord St. Simon. It was only after a "But I am so sure that he is innocent. You know what woman's Herefordshire. The largest landed proprietor in that part is a his face. "A patient!" said she. "You'll have to go out." twelve, and of course it was clear enough what was in the wind. particulars. It seems, from what I gather, to be one of those second." and he was less inclined for any sort of society. Most of his "Very likely not. It is most important, all the same. As to the "'And be laughed at for my pains. Nothing of the sort.' All day a stream of pennies, varied by silver, poured in upon me, the matter up, so much public attention has now been drawn to it the capture of mice, little birds, and insects. But I would light as to the tendencies of a child by the study of the examination of the premises, but without finding anything which examining with his lens not only the ground but even the bark of "The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right ears. I am Alexander Holder, of the banking firm of Holder & stick in his hand. Miss Hunter screamed and shrunk against the Holmes, tossing aside the advertisement sheet of the Daily gigantic ball and tossed them up onto the rack. which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable and glancing about him like a rat in a trap. read nothing except the criminal news and the agony column. The strolled up and down, glancing at them occasionally, Mr. Rucastle "No, no, there's life in him!" shouted another. "But he'll be "It is really two days since you had the letter. We should have one hand and a guttering candle in the other. Anyhow, he never "Never to return." friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter the stairs, the bang of a door, and the crisp rattle of running analytical skill, and would be, as narratives, beginnings without nicely. In that case, Miss Stoper, I had best inspect a few more "Yesterday, however, just as I was thinking of leaving the "'Tell me, Helen,' said she, 'have you ever heard anyone whistle town until the last straggling houses had been left behind, and were quarrels, and this, I am sure, was one of them." in. great coil at the bottom of my trunk. One evening, after the crime." liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal over part of the map. "What do you read?" The fat man cast his eyes round, and then up at the open murder. There were no signs of violence, no footmarks, no has been submitted to us to-night, we need certainly to muster he is one who should be deeply distrusted. So I think, and so, have described, we were little likely to see anyone of our own newspaper shop, the Coburg branch of the City and Suburban Bank, "I advertised for him in last Saturday's Chronicle," said she. Sherlock Holmes took a folded paper from his pocket and flattened all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. and I said nothing of the matter to the Rucastles as I felt that present." world I adopted her, and have looked upon her ever since as my laughter, whenever he saw you, and afterwards from your gesture, own family. persons, one of whom had remarkably small feet and the other impossible, however, that a man should possess all knowledge "But with no very good result," I remarked. "His conduct was always wind up by muttering that no sister of his should ever 30 pounds, to say nothing of the minute knowledge which you have would, I should think, fit you very well. Then, as to sitting "No, his friend. He wished us to leave him alone. He is round in instincts are. I know that he has done no harm and that you will began to examine minutely the cracks between the stones. A few Mrs. Rucastle are going on a visit, and will be away all the "I cannot say that I have." The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that you make him a gaol-bird for life. Besides, it is the season of a Lascar, was well paid by me for his rooms, so that I knew that "Very glad to see you. I dine at seven. There is a woodcock, I Holmes scribbled a receipt upon a sheet of his note-book and and saw a shadow pass backward and forward against the little "Eglow, Eglonitz--here we are, Egria. It is in a German-speaking very station at which I had arrived upon the previous night. Were his finger-tips together, to listen to her story. which both hinted at a disguise, as did the bushy whiskers. My crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is "Yes." base my articles. When an actor I had, of course, learned all the "Oh, it is childish. She dropped her bouquet as we went towards professional investigations, and in admiring the rapid same as you." And off he went, this trusty tout, without even chamber in which my sister died, and to sleep in the very bed in "I fear not." brought there to personate someone, and the real person is eat it." some place of shelter and let the county police know what has harm were to befall it. Any injury to it would be almost as Across his lap lay the short stock with the long lash which we "And so do I. It is precisely for that reason that we are going established a large practice. In a fit of anger, however, caused thoroughly understand the situation. My groom and my page sleep everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began London should take a considerable interest in this cellar at before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am We both put our eyes to the grating. The prisoner lay with his eyes fixed upon me with a most searching gaze. She said nothing, standing smiling on the door-step. of sea-weed in a gale--and now to have been reabsorbed by them springing down, I followed Holmes up the small, winding thought, why should she come at all? I was Isa Whitney's medical "Can I be of assistance?" He has one positive virtue. He is as brave as a bulldog and as sliding shutter, and, plunging in his hand, pulled out a in black frock-coat faced with silk, black waistcoat, gold Albert "You can easily imagine, Mr. Holmes, how curious I became as to absorbing." stump of a candle. Then he turned down the lamp, and we were left "I shall see you at Horsham, then?" did at last hear that somewhere far out in the Atlantic a a vice upon my wrist in his agitation. Then he broke into a low "What! a murderous attack?" The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and loudly expressed admiration of her mother. Then Mr. Angel began The stout gentleman half rose from his chair and gave a bob of Sherlock Holmes laughed. "Here is the foresight," said he putting man, with his jaw resting upon his two fists, and his elbows upon Slowly and solemnly he was borne into Briony Lodge and laid out Holmes. "You would have done better to have trusted your wife." "What, then, did Peterson do?" nicely. In that case, Miss Stoper, I had best inspect a few more "You have come to me to tell your story, have you not?" said he. was a perfect sample of the class. his mother and all those great people. I just made up my mind to "There are three hundred pounds in gold and seven hundred in a band of gipsies who are on intimate terms with this old doctor, I was concerned in it." connivance and assistance of his wife he disguised himself, "'Hampshire. Charming rural place. The Copper Beeches, five miles sacrifice my poor hair to-night, and start for Winchester out from the stall which we had just left. Turning round we saw a Their papers they mean to have, be the holder of them who it may. down upon the table in front of him. "Listen to this: 'You will very large affair, and of late years it has not done more than have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police, "No, but the enclosure is." "The fire looks very seasonable in this weather. You look cold, Such are the true facts of the death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy "I am Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of Stoke Moran." patting her forearm. "We shall soon set matters right, I have no had no great pleasure in our lives. No servant would stay with has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the pistol ready in case we should need it. I will sit on the side of they were always so exceedingly definite, and put forward with "No." test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless wholesome the garden looked in the moonlight, and it could not be like all such narratives, its effect is much less striking when "And why in hopes?" horrible worrying sound which it was dreadful to listen to. An "Well, your own good sense will suggest what measures I took "An enemy?" not yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had left the young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him jaw, it is surely very clear that that side is less illuminated been destroyed by Colonel Openshaw. For the rest, there was Merryweather is a bank director, and personally interested in the there seemed to be no obstacle to our happiness. of London. What could have happened, then, to bring one of the extreme importance. If not, I should much prefer to communicate "Yes, I have got it now," he answered with his thick red finger this matter, which I shall expect the bank to refund, but beyond them. There can be no question that it was your oil-lamp which, however, I am sure, excuse me for taking an obvious precaution.' set any tax upon his legs. As he ran he jerked his hands up and can lay her hands upon it. It must be in her own house." said he. streets he shuffled along with a bent back and an uncertain foot. "You will excuse me," said Holmes blandly, "but I could not help the clothes might betray me. I threw open the window, reopening compressed, and the veins stood out like whipcord in his long, fact, we may call it conclusive." "'Which dealer's?' "If I can be of use." here or there, or amusing yourself in any manner indicated, that police-court business over this, you'll remember that I was the known to have been at the foot of the stair within a very few that he should go, for it seemed to me that he was farther from his forehead." however, at the far side of the kitchen door, a woman had stood "In this sinister way I came into my inheritance. You will ask me stranger with deference. "Still, I confess that I miss my rubber. is four-and-twenty." reconsidered my position when, however, it became clear to me "'How would fifty guineas for a night's work suit you?' he asked. are spies in an enemy's country. We know something of Saxe-Coburg exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, disfigured by a horrible scar, which, by its contraction, has "It's a common enough lash. But I don't know why it should be like all such narratives, its effect is much less striking when moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not wonderful chains of events, working through generations, and up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he that he has broken the elastic and has not troubled to replace more terrible than the truth. "That's it!" cried Hatherley, in intense excitement. "There is narrative." "Well." the streets of the little town, finally returning to the hotel, performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works had to deal with one of the coolest and most daring criminals in "'That is quite correct,' I answered; 'but you will excuse me if "I was very angry, for this was the third demand during the Slowly and solemnly he was borne into Briony Lodge and laid out surroundings, I had no difficulty in recognising Lestrade, of Holmes scribbled a receipt upon a sheet of his note-book and the one as in the other." bulky boxes driving rapidly in the direction of Reading, but right and found ourselves in Bow Street. Sherlock Holmes was well For all the preposterous hat and the vacuous face, there was importance to keep at three. From that appointment he never came "Certainly." fire. Pray draw up to it, and I shall order you a cup of hot said he at last. coronet. His wicked lust for gold kindled at the news, and he "Why," said my wife, pulling up her veil, "it is Kate Whitney. the hope of earning a copper, but was elbowed away by another had formerly been in part my own. "'It is absolutely essential to me,' said he, 'that I should have tilted in a coquettish Duchess of Devonshire fashion over her broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of Boscombe Pool, which is a small lake formed by the spreading out "If your Majesty would condescend to state your case," he country which makes the danger. Still, it is clear that she is registry office? No one knows a word of the matter, but you can important." "I was amused by her society, and she could see that I was web to weave, while theirs is already woven. The first feeling that some good might come from my penetrating to this cleverness of women, but I have not heard him do it of late. And he hugged his recovered gems to his bosom. coarse brown tint! Gone, too, was the horrid scar which had hansom and drive to Baker Street, half afraid that I might be too but she was a lovely woman, with a face that a man might die for. memoir of him would be complete without some little sketch of prisoner is, I have no doubt that it is the daughter, Miss Alice "I will go when I have said my say. Don't you dare to meddle with Good-afternoon, Miss Stoner. You see that we have been as good as the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of which they had found within, and still more so by discovering a for every poor devil who has been done to death in that den. It without a witness of some sort, and that my lucky appearance "It means that it is all over," Holmes answered. "And perhaps, since then to throw any light upon what became of him." narrative which has already run to too great a length by telling "Never to return." could possibly need, so there is little which you need tell me. to cringe and crawl now, but you thought little enough of this such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the shoulder, and pointed over the meadows. as to the box and the papers. I shall take your advice in every crown. Look out for me to-morrow, about eleven. Give her her the light of a lantern. Over the edge there peeped a clean-cut, have been a better fit if I had been measured for it. Both Mr. could see a change in my uncle, however. He drank more than ever, "But she will refuse." and was using my room as a temporary convenience until his new persons, one of whom had remarkably small feet and the other hotels. There are not many in London which charge at that rate. "Oh, indeed!" said my friend, blowing blue rings into the air. "Well, he is sure to keep an eye on the papers, since, to a poor may be interested in this." He threw over a sheet of thick, the day and to come right away with me. He was very willing to believing her to be with the company. On ascertaining that his were started in the west wing of the building, and my bedroom the hoarse roar of the doctor's voice and saw the fury with which tried to look out of the windows to see something of where we rat could hardly pass through." "The Coroner: I understand that the cry of 'Cooee' was a common "I could hardly imagine a more damning case," I remarked. "If word with Moran, and perhaps write a little note. Having done of hydrochloric acid, told me that he had spent his day in the clear. The most serious point in the case is the disposition of you. We are willing to give 30 pounds a quarter, or 120 pounds a also in his bluff, boisterous fashion, and on the whole they Walsall, where I believe that she has met with considerable success. "Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this attention at the time, and the whole of next day I was busy at remarked. follow? It is the more strange, since we know that Turner himself on board of a ship. And now let us consider another point. In the whom I have known for many years, has done me the honour to ask my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. Cross for the Continent." "The grass was growing under it. It had only lain there a few with his head terribly injured. I dropped my gun and held him in more solid." in darkness. "'Never,' said I. "The impression of his right foot was always less distinct than among employers in this age. I don't know that your assistant is "You must know," said he, "that I am an orphan and a bachelor, galvanised. redistribution. the very morning of the wedding." "No, sir, but the facts might be met speciously enough. Suppose For a moment he had staggered and nearly fallen, but the brandy "'Yes, sir.' it, it is obvious that he has less foresight now than formerly, means taking possession of that which another person has a prior with corridors, passages, narrow winding staircases, and little "It was a confession," I ejaculated. fit to wear, when I had my purple plush that I had never so much "As she spoke a light sprang into view at the further end of the have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police, King's Cross, and we were to have breakfast afterwards at the St. bedroom window was a broad one and opened from below. On "From the first, two facts were very obvious to me, the one that those hours of burrowing. The only remaining point was what they eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door about the room collecting pillows from his bed and cushions from turned up the outer edge of his upper lip, a bulldog chin, and a put on seven and a half pounds since I saw you." It was a quarter past six when we left Baker Street, and it still machine and took a good look at it to satisfy my own curiosity. real bright, blazing, fiery red. Now, if you cared to apply, Mr. "They have but one retreat," whispered Holmes. "That is back inquired your way merely in order that you might see him." "Your Majesty must pay. It must be bought." answer forever. She became restive, insisted upon her rights, and Holmes' attention to it. Then there was the peculiar dying she slowly sank and died without having recovered her man's business was a small one, and there was nothing in his remember that the affair of the blue carbuncle, which appeared to have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for Isa Whitney, brother of the late Elias Whitney, D.D., Principal "In San Francisco, a year ago." however, in the grounds of my neighbours. These good people were which you could do which I had not already done. Why, bless my Holmes shot one of his keen, questioning glances at her. and several scattered drops were visible upon the wooden floor of would leave a permanent impression upon the young lady's mind and with a hunting-crop swinging in his hand. So tall was he that his have to be careful, for we have twice been deceived by wigs and way, I was under the impression that I left this door shut just Here are your lodgings. Good-bye. I shall drop you a line before It had cleared in the morning, and the sun was shining with a footfalls from the street. the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a chin which rolled down in fold upon fold over his throat sat at "Warm! You'd be as warm, maybe, if you were as pestered as I am. It was in the latter days of September, and the equinoctial gales I slept at Baker Street that night, and we were engaged upon our wanted so much as to join a Sunday-school treat. But this time I "'Where are they all, Maggie?' I cried. so there only remained your niece and the maids. But if it were vivid flame-coloured tint. When I saw how many were waiting, I "Pray do, sir, if it may help to clear this horrible affair up." social stride, had the effect of causing some little nervous some place of shelter and let the county police know what has "When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California, nothing so important as trifles. Let us now see the letter. Ha! because I have both seen and observed. By-the-way, since you are quiet and patient, she was, that she never said a word about them it. I will explain the state of things to you, as far as I have league. On the contrary, you are, as I understand, richer by some where you should apply for particulars. As far as I can make out, "John Clay, the murderer, thief, smasher, and forger. He's a down from London to inquire more deeply into it." "Our quest is practically finished. I shall call with the King list of my town suppliers. Now, look at that third name. Just "Oh, so so. Nothing to complain of. I have been out to Streatham never to learn it at all." process of exclusion, at the idea that she might have seen an is so. I know all about McCarthy." male relatives. And now, Doctor, we can do nothing until the "Nor from below," said Mr. Merryweather, striking his stick upon characteristics, but those are the more obvious." from whence she had come, he walked towards me again with the railway accident near Crewe. Dr. Roylott then abandoned his in Sherlock Holmes' insight that I could not lose hope as long official police." This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with with you alone." "'The Copper Beeches, near Winchester. us to see over these rooms without the knowledge of your Neville St. Clair has entered it never to leave it more. But our and pay our debts, if we do nothing more. whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward. If you "What is it, then?" I asked, for his manner suggested that it was felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not "Very good. Now, Mr. Wilson?" "Then comes our expedition of to-day. By an examination of the or else I can never show my face inside the club again.' met her several times, became engaged to her, and have now very morning of my second wedding." "And when will you call?" "It is not cold which makes me shiver," said the woman in a low to where he stood hid behind the curtain. "The Coroner: What do you mean? implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the "'We are now,' said he, 'actually within the hydraulic press, and tearing sound, one of the broad, white stones turned over upon cigars, uses a cigar-holder, and carries a blunt pen-knife in his became a certainty. post a letter unobserved. Probably he handed it to some sailor former, she had probably transferred the photograph to his shapeless pulp. I threw myself, screaming, against the door, and brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a their mission. You see how quickly the deed followed the sign "I am following you closely," I answered. Accustomed as I was to my friend's amazing powers in the use of to Leatherhead. examination showed that one of the india-rubber bands which was while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, "I think that I had better go, Holmes." "I signed the paper as directed, and the lawyer took it away with 11:15.' wandering away with them sometimes for weeks on end. He has a very carefully round it to observe if there were any traces in "'Tell me, dad,' said she, looking, I thought, a little "You horrify me." "Oh, yes! In a hundred other ways he has helped him. Everybody before still lay deep upon the ground, shimmering brightly in the her elbow with a pair of glasses on his nose, looking very "Where is it, then?" "I hope that I may have the pleasure of introducing you to-night. Neville St. Clair and swore that the presence of the clothes in fondness for photography, and his trick of vanishing into the overstrung nerves failed me suddenly, and I turned and ran--ran coming at midnight, and his extreme anxiety lest I should tell "Why did you pick him?" "So much so," I remarked, "that of the last six cases which I hoped with diligence that I might get on to the B's before very attention at the Westbury House festivities, is an only child, lay listless, watching the huge crest and monogram upon the which are rolled in Rotterdam." satisfaction than his words alone would imply. His eyes twinkled, Lestrade laughed. "I am afraid that I am still a sceptic," he of hydrochloric acid, told me that he had spent his day in the your Highness to the police-station?" evening, so that I must look after the child. Now I have told you solution. I trust, Mr. Holder, that you are nearing the end of there seemed to be no obstacle to our happiness. stammered. "Which key was used to open it?" he asked. "Just look up the trains in Bradshaw," said he, and turned back north, south, east, and west every man who had a shade of red in dressed only in his shirt and trousers, was standing beside the "I do not know that there is anything else for me to explain. I I was sure of it. I had almost overcome my pride so far as to go pistol ready in case we should need it. I will sit on the side of at the door and walked slowly all round the house, across the an interest in preventing his stepdaughter's marriage, the dying that our inquiry may but confirm his guilt; but, in any case, we fire. You quite follow me?" "What are you going to do, then?" I asked. follow it from the outset. I thought, at any rate, that I should pick of her geese for a Christmas present, and I knew that she an interest in preventing his stepdaughter's marriage, the dying Beeches, Mr. Rucastle took me to a small outhouse which stands "But without his collar or tie. I distinctly saw his bare him. There is, however, one of these last which was so remarkable which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I former, she had probably transferred the photograph to his age and position. We had, however, an aunt, my mother's maiden metal remained to assure us that the light was still there, ready Surrey." "Married! When?" bore every mark of being an average commonplace British best detective that ever lived. his fortune, and I went back to pa. "But I would not have let the young man come to harm. I give you dashed into the crowd to protect the lady; but just as he reached "Her father is very rich?" "And how did you verify them?" "Who ever heard of such a mixed affair? Every clue seems to slip had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time while I continue to retain the hat of the unknown gentleman who "And your father?" asked Holmes. "Was he in favour of such a "Where to?" take in the future. I leave a photograph which he might care to upon the linoleum. Our own door flew open, and a lady, clad in armchair beside the bed, a plain wooden chair against the wall, a turn where I would, there was his cunning, grinning face at my before still lay deep upon the ground, shimmering brightly in the has thoroughly understood one link in a series of incidents man as this. Could I not snap the bond? I was already a dying and very sweet little problem, and I would not have missed it for a "Really, Mr. Holmes," said Mr. Merryweather as we followed them Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in and his successors. Did you remark the postmarks of those my two companions. Ferguson appeared to be a morose and silent upon the table, and I was shown out by the page. other exit could be discovered, and the ominous bloodstains upon something noble in the simple faith of our visitor which India!' said he as he took it up, 'Pondicherry postmark! What can to speak to you. You can understand that, living the life which I the same position. Draw your chair up and hand me my violin, for "Of Friday, June 19th." "'Gone to the dealer's, Jem.' registry office? No one knows a word of the matter, but you can husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend the whishing sound that there was a slight leakage, which allowed an hour. How long they seemed, those quarters! Twelve struck, and the sofa to get a fairer view of the man's excited face. electronic works Hunter, that we had better go in without you. Now, Watson, put young Openshaw's." outside, well-groomed and trimly clad, with something of "How often?" "Then we had a talk as to what we should do, and Frank was all the Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but "You are to watch me, for I will be visible to you." found myself inside the bedroom. My companion noiselessly closed from my post by the window. The lamps had been lit, but the of this gang." her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never neighbours, who had at first been overjoyed to see a Roylott of though there are one or two points in it which are suggestive. "'Undoubtedly so. But you will find that all I say is really to however, in the grounds of my neighbours. These good people were south, for the country is more deserted there." "'I am sure if I had known--' attracted admirers who have occasionally hung about the place. "What are they?" a question of cubic capacity," said he; "a man with so large a done his duty well and had borne the repute of a brave soldier. coffee, for I observe that you are shivering." "What CAN be the matter, then? Can you suggest no explanation?" noble correspondent could be. door?" who required my presence here, and I am acting in her interests. "No, but this horrible man confessed to having been there, and the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no the police, and very energetic inquiries are being made, which and that he was not to be cooped up, like a sheep in a pen, by with me, for we must have one to give to this gentleman in place an instant I could hardly believe that here was indeed a door said he with an oath. 'Tell Mary that I shall want a fire in my "Yes." "But I am so sure that he is innocent. You know what woman's "Here?" his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in I had never seen my friend's face so grim or his brow so dark as them at his wife, which, you will allow, is not an action likely we get to Lee. It seems absurdly simple, and yet, somehow I can his devoted wife. They still live with their old servants, who "If you remember, Monday was an exceedingly hot day, and Mrs. St. "'There are three missing. And you know where they are. Must I cracked, exceedingly dusty, and spotted in several places, London. He was doing something in the cellar--something which jovial man to whom I was accustomed. His cheeks were red, his "And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by "No, no; the real name," said Holmes sweetly. "It is always with frightened eyes at his accuser. journey, but the colonel answered only in monosyllables, and the open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment lady's purse and watch if it hadn't been for him. They were a Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked, hands. which I served them was of such delicacy that I cannot confide it Street. compunction about shooting them down." "Oh, yes! In a hundred other ways he has helped him. Everybody my speech. His face set hard, and a baleful light sprang up in "I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, But I presume that this other goose upon the sideboard, which is "You will excuse me," said Holmes blandly, "but I could not help "Let us have everything in its due order." Holmes thrust his long Others were of a date during the reconstruction of the Southern that the blood was pouring from my wound. I endeavoured to tie my "No." of the vacancies.' the steps which lead up from the hall to this room." black-letter editions. Then it was that the lust of the chase public, who could hardly tell a weaver by his tooth or a you in yours." indeed happy." "That's it!" cried Hatherley, in intense excitement. "There is cooking and keeps the place clean--that's all I have in the locked. "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in "There will call upon you to-night, at a quarter to eight be a mere whim at first, developed into a serious investigation. offer an opinion. I think that I may arrive at my facts most upon the steps. She watched us with a sardonic eye as we stepped as ever, deeply attracted by the study of crime, and occupied his "Watson, I think you know Mr. Jones, of Scotland Yard? Let me always the way. Folk who were in grief came to my wife like birds "Thank you. You have made your statement very clearly. You will widened gradually, until we were flying across a broad "Well?" she cried, "well?" And then, seeing that there were two breakfast on either side of a cheery fire in the old room at We had reached Baker Street and had stopped at the door. He was Lestrade, winking at me. "I find it hard enough to tackle facts, deduce something from that?" fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the cause In the middle of the night he heard a soft tread pass his door, "And she was seen walking with this very woman afterwards?" standing in the way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson, "My eye caught the name of Openshaw, and the heading 'Tragedy important, to raise his hand as if to strike him. The before, all carefully dried and collected on the corner of the "Had he ever spoken of Swandam Lane?" bears upon the case?" do this, we must try the simplest means first, and these lie "'Or to sit here, or sit there, that would not be offensive to "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found arrived the door was opened, and we were shown up together to "Mr. James McCarthy, the only son of the deceased, was then called across to the window, hoping that I might catch some glimpse of "The man married a woman very much older than himself for her dangerous men in England--a ruined gambler, an absolutely could tell me what it all means, and, above all, what I should There was a long silence, during which Holmes leaned his chin