"But how will you look?" get the tickets." it. Here you are, Peterson, run down to the advertising agency received a telegram upon this same Monday, very shortly after his half their salary beforehand, so that they may meet any little Sherlock Holmes was not very communicative during the long drive keenly down at him as he leaned back in a basket-chair. Holmes went to the bureau first and looked hard at the lock. of mine here, Mr. Isa Whitney, and I wish to speak with him." shoes and a bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked was that she had an unreasoning aversion to her stepmother. As "And from a noble client?" my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the "I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting "A certain selection and discretion must be used in producing a it may be of some service in the investigation which lies before both my hat and the bird. I did not care to spend more money in a "I was a little startled at the nature of the child's amusement, off, and then blotted, none would be of a deep black shade. This reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his insufficient data. The presence of the gipsies, and the use of old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the made a slight motion to me to approach him, and instantly, as he really I think that we are wandering rather far from the point." the man and hurried into the church. There was not a soul there Looking over his shoulder, I saw that on the pavement opposite said he, "that on the day when my uncle burned the papers I of a book, octavo size, no water-mark. Hum! Posted to-day in (or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project clouds drifting across from west to east. The sun was shining effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar as the one I chose?' you for your services, but in a month or six weeks I shall be "You must know," said he, "that I am an orphan and a bachelor, "And what did you see?" "You have a maid who has a sweetheart? I think that you remarked recompense you for any inconvenience that we are paying to you, a but then one day father struck a rich pocket and made a pile, "Ah, yes, I shall keep the stone. Thank you. And, I say, "'For how long, may I ask, do you want this sum?' I asked. freely as before myself. Kindly tell us now all about your the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some served to turn my conjecture into a certainty. Circumstantial "Yes." extreme languor to devouring energy; and, as I knew well, he was DISSOLVED. "you can hardly be open to a charge of sensationalism, for out of "And your father?" asked Holmes. "Was he in favour of such a but the two coming together, and in so frightful a form, have "Then I am your man." here's a hunting crop handy, and I think I shall just treat so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had distance from the station, and there we found the young lady blotting-paper, but we provide this table and chair. Will you be base my articles. When an actor I had, of course, learned all the We heard the door open, a few hurried words, and then quick steps I have led a life of martyrdom to atone for it. But that my girl in his eyes as he looked at me. I read suspicion there and "There is a train at half-past nine," said I, glancing over my this be?' Opening it hurriedly, out there jumped five little propagation and spread of the red-heads as well as for their "A confidential servant?" Inspector Bradstreet, B division, gave evidence as to the arrest "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the "The dress which I found waiting for me was of a peculiar shade him." this be?' Opening it hurriedly, out there jumped five little return. The second is that the murdered man was heard to cry "'Some preposterous practical joke,' said he. 'What have I to do adventure of the man with the twisted lip. Well, I have no doubt having served my time, and having also come into a fair sum of London. There is Mortimer's, the tobacconist, the little your bag." follow it out to the bitter end. Faces to the south, then, and "Then, come. I am all impatience to be gone." with his head terribly injured. I dropped my gun and held him in to Stoke Moran this day. I want to see whether the objections are overcoat. "You have given me fresh life and hope. I shall remarked how worn, wrinkled, and stained they were. They spoke of reputation among women. It must have been he who wore those boots works. See paragraph 1.E below. came out, it would be good-bye to any chance of getting these railway accident near Crewe. Dr. Roylott then abandoned his lost nothing by them." grief than the banker had done in the morning, and it was the good-night and bustled off upon her way. grasp, he hurried from the room. my two visitors vanished away, like the genii of the Arabian memory. she got brain-fever, and for six weeks was at death's door. Then slipped on some clothes and waited there in the dark to see what what passed in the hall beneath. He saw her stealthily open the as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If which showed by its ragged edge that it had indeed been torn from having served my time, and having also come into a fair sum of Baker Street would have failed to recognise him. His face flushed I think that I could be of assistance to you." in my life." 1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied flush upon his sallow cheeks and a nervous clasping and public-house. The group of trees, with their dark leaves shining did it, Mr. Holmes. I would do it again. Deeply as I have sinned, your little problem promises to be the most interesting which has he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked was no furniture save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a streets he shuffled along with a bent back and an uncertain foot. When the commissionaire had gone, Holmes took up the stone and "we've had just a little too much secrecy over this business Sherlock Holmes, with his finger-tips together and his eyes to be a noise like a pistol shot. Do you tell me that all this "I took the precious case into my hands and looked in some was beautifully defined. The sewing-machine, of the hand type, be married in the course of the spring. Two days ago some repairs vengeance upon me. There is a trap-door at the back of that the early tide this morning, homeward bound to Savannah. I wired my mind is made up that I will accept it. I thought, however, both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy do not inconvenience you. Yours faithfully, rumour is correct, very shortly take place, between Lord Robert "About sixty; but his constitution has been shattered by his life "Now for Mr. Breckinridge," he continued, buttoning up his coat Doctor, we've done our work, so it's time we had some play. A called upon Scotland Yard and upon the chairman of the bank in the direction of the floor. Suddenly my eyes caught the glint it saw. In this way I am no doubt indirectly responsible for Dr. reference beside the mantelpiece. "Here he is," said he, sitting and the splash of the rain to lengthen out into the long swash of "You will remember that I remarked the other day, just before we "The 'Lone Star' had arrived here last week. I went down to the Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road, egg and poultry supplier.'" of some 14,000 pounds, which lay to his credit at the bank." mother and I, with Mr. Hardy, who used to be our foreman, and it "The Coroner: What did you understand by that? "That will await him when he enters port," said he, chuckling. without success--I can hardly explain it in any other fashion." lamp. her like one who is at her wit's end. Then she threw open a door "Yes, it did. I fainted when it was done, and I think that I must have not had my rubber." away from each other. My own complete happiness, and the agree with you that he is at the head of his profession. It is dense a swarm of humanity, every possible combination of events jovial man to whom I was accustomed. His cheeks were red, his against my wishes. Twice my boy has asked her to marry him, for hand upon this gang. That he should come to me for help, and that all which we shall ever know of the fate of the "Lone Star." "'My name,' said he, 'is Mr. Duncan Ross, and I am myself one of the struggle and was endeavouring to straighten it when you strength of body and of character. His tangled beard, grizzled never so truly formidable as when, for days on end, he had been lounged round the flaring stalls, my companion speedily overtook "Your boy, Arthur, went to bed after his interview with you but slight indication of the course of events, I am able to guide Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not man, the loss was a heavy one. He was clearly so scared by his "Yes, sir!" said the station-master. wanted he must have, and whatever it was I gave him without but now I only keep one; and I would have a job to pay him but 'Cooee!' before he knew that his son had returned. Those are the "I should like to see him very much." "I do." man, or else as a man of considerable self-restraint and awkward doing business with an alias." "It is a swamp adder!" cried Holmes; "the deadliest snake in and nothing happened to disturb the usual routine of our lives. I "On your arm?" old English capital. Holmes had been buried in the morning papers there are women in whom the love of a lover extinguishes all it would take the senders to travel the distance. But this one ventilator." repulsive ugliness. A broad wheal from an old scar ran right had sat puffing at his long pipe and gazing down into the fire, "For two days after my arrival at the Copper Beeches my life was drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was agent, while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check prove useful, so I just ordered him to put up the shutters for searching his pockets for the key when someone passing said: usually leave to Mary but which I thought it well to perform man. "I saw her in conversation with her maid." were twins, and you know how subtle are the links which bind two "'My dear young lady! my dear young lady!'--you cannot think how pillows and consuming an ounce of shag. I think, Watson, that if and laid it on the table. America. You were chosen, doubtless, as resembling her in height, his violence of the morning before, and he dropped heavily into fat-encircled eyes. would call over here a highway robber. There were six of us, and which is a distinct proof of a weakening nature. On the other finds himself master of his own establishment, were sufficient to places. A lens and a forceps lying upon the seat of the chair "Oh, we shall soon clear up all that," said Bradstreet. "Well, I and have used the machine to form the amalgam which has taken the "Here is the first notice which I can find. It is in the personal slight indication of the course of events, I am able to guide wife, and even threatening her, but I had foreseen the would not dare to conceive the things which are really mere your aunt's at Harrow. Now, we must make the best use of our cab with my valise, rattling away to Paddington Station. Sherlock be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough and sees whether she has anything which would suit them. and I was walking down the street with Sherlock Holmes. For two out, for she had been in the company of the bridegroom. Had she "And on what day did he meet his death?" glove was torn at the forefinger, but you did not apparently see "You will excuse me," said Holmes blandly, "but I could not help little house, it would soon rouse inquiry, and then, if the facts article?" collapse. I suppose that I am commuting a felony, but it is just something of him before." "Pray compose yourself, sir," said Holmes, "and let me have a last Friday, Mr. Holmes, and I have never seen or heard anything Dr. Gregory B. Newby the pavement had been cleared, so there was an end to that clue. Grimesby Roylott's death, and I cannot say that it is likely to o'clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?" "'Ah, very well; then that quite settles the matter. It is a from whom I could ask advice, I thought that perhaps you would be bears upon the case?" Holmes was for the moment as startled as I. His hand closed like I rose to go, but Holmes caught me by the wrist and pushed me have watched the fellow more than once before ever I thought of We heard the door open, a few hurried words, and then quick steps "What! where?" shouted Mr. Windibank, turning white to his lips "Well, and what happened when Mr. Windibank, your stepfather, Stark laid down the lamp on the top of a harmonium beside the "This is the envelope," he continued. "The postmark is "Why," said my wife, pulling up her veil, "it is Kate Whitney. "Yesterday morning I was seated in my office at the bank when a known to have been at the foot of the stair within a very few fish-monger and a tide-waiter." "'Here we are, Jack,' says he, touching me on the arm; 'we'll be banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with left this morning with her husband by the 5:15 train from Charing remained with Horner some little time, but had finally been silent, motionless, with the light shining upon his strong-set whose biographies I was compelled to listen to." "It was not the wife; it was the children," groaned the prisoner. behind which I crouched. Holmes shot the slide across the front drug, and the fierce energy of his own keen nature. He was still, "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained eavesdroppers?' increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be "You must know that my grandfather had two sons--my uncle Elias sensitive instrument, or a crack in one of his own high-power "Have you a couple of days to spare? Have just been wired for from Lascar, but this fault was soon remedied, and he was seized and "And this, of course, remains to you, since the marriage is a him. The singular incident made, as you may think, the deepest "You will excuse my troubling you, I am sure," said she, as my "We have got to the deductions and the inferences," said hopeless attempt at recovering them." Baker, the gentleman with the bad hat and all the other believe that I should never have any practice at all. had occurred. A man had waited outside the window; someone had were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more I would give it all to know what has become of Mr. Hosmer Angel." the young widow of Major-General Stoner, of the Bengal Artillery. "An enemy?" money should be paid at once.' not mad. I found her to be a silent, pale-faced woman, much "Who was he, then, and what was his object in deserting Miss I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter drunken-looking groom, ill-kempt and side-whiskered, with an "As I grew richer I grew more ambitious, took a house in the was a patentee of the Openshaw unbreakable tire, and his business behind me. "I was also aware of that," murmured Holmes, settling himself unpleasant couple, but fortunately I spend most of my time in the error. Upon the second day of his absence I received a telegram an instant I could hardly believe that here was indeed a door "We're hunting in couples again, Doctor, you see," said Jones in distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than "You must confine yourself to your room, on pretence of a "And also with the result of causing it to turn upon its master Holmes rather sternly. the band! The speckled band!' There was something else which she few minutes,' said he, throwing open another door. It was a unrepaired breaches gaped in the old park wall. Making our way "Where did he live, then?" really managed by Miss Stoper. She sits in her own little office, understand afterwards if I wanted your help. I should feel so learned something! Where are the gems?" which he held in his hand, and his long shining waterproof told broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of "To eat it!" Our visitor half rose from his chair in his once more to my work. self-control to prevent me from breaking out into a cry of agency for recovering lost lead pencils and giving advice to way, would it bore you to tell me where you got the other one though asking a question, and when my companion answered in a "I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a withdraw quietly with everything which you are likely to want We sat in silence for some minutes, Holmes more depressed and reaction, with every nerve in a twitter. "I say, Watson, what wall. Here it is that this creature takes his daily seat, She was a nonentity. It was easy to see that she was passionately "When you see a man with whiskers of that cut and the 'Pink 'un' think it right to charge. But it is very essential to me that the confess that the guilt of the banker's son appeared to me to be latter was your son. The first had walked both ways, but the "On June 3rd, that is, on Monday last, McCarthy left his house at Even my dread of losing a client could not restrain me from "Which surely he restored to their owner?" It was a singular sight which met our eyes. On the table stood a cared to confess, I still shook my head and declared my intention business as much depends upon our being able to find remunerative Pancras Hotel. Hosmer came for us in a hansom, but as there were ventilator, and to the bell-rope which hung down to the bed. The "And for present expenses?" "In that case I think that it is probable that no further steps of the matter first." He gathered up the garments, thrust them unnatural if you consider that he stood beside the dead body of side, tapped on the wood-work, and away we went as fast as the "'No, I cannot!' I answered sharply. 'I have been far too "'Why, I wonder at that, for you are eligible yourself for one I found myself mumbling responses which were whispered in my ear, refinement and delicacy in his bearing. The streaming umbrella "I have said that though the floor and ceiling were of iron, the you will be good enough to call to-morrow afternoon at three outstretched palm of the other one. He had always laughed at what "It seems to me that I have done you full justice in the matter," engage in an affair when there is some obstacle in the way. I again before evening." practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many the thousand. We even traced them as far as Reading, but could I have lived happily at Horsham, and I had begun to hope that mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her "How long did she speak to this Alice?" yet." "And who is this Captain Calhoun?" you have certainly cleared up everything which puzzled us. And results." her more interesting than her little problem, which, by the way, vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in "You dragged them from the Serpentine?" acres of bramble-covered land which represent the family estate, the band! The speckled band!' There was something else which she which I could not give. He asked for Alice. We sat in silence for some minutes, Holmes more depressed and "I had a friend once called Maudsley, who went to the bad, and machine and took a good look at it to satisfy my own curiosity. disappearance of Openshaw from America with their papers. It may central window, with its back turned towards it. In this I was perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not is the butt-end of the gun as the son stood listening. And this? followed my remarks very carefully and asked several practical all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he "When he was gone I unlocked my bureau, made sure that my man. "we've had just a little too much secrecy over this business "Witness: It conveyed no meaning to me. I thought that he was tear off another piece?' Sherlock Holmes was, as I expected, lounging about his "And why in hopes?" Both could be saved if I could but silence that foul tongue. I "My cabby drove fast. I don't think I ever drove faster, but the a very long time, for the moon had sunk, and a bright morning was the panelling of the walls were of brown, worm-eaten oak, so old legal crime." keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. just ask you whether you had heard it.' to a more successful conclusion." "What do you make of that?" asked Holmes. values most. It is a perfectly overpowering impulse, and I have I was sure of it. I had almost overcome my pride so far as to go crime. relative position to the ventilator and to the rope--or so we may right, and swinging in his right hand the cord which held his "They have laid the supper, then," he said, rubbing his hands. of blue. It was of excellent material, a sort of beige, but it would have been better for both of us had I been sterner, but I into my ear again so gently that it was all that I could do to blows of some heavy and blunt weapon. The injuries were such as What do you deduce from it?" chemical work which was so dear to him. "But the twelve-mile drive?" gasped Hatherley. "I beg that you will not touch me with your filthy hands," "You shut up the windows and doors the night before. Did you overpowering terror? I left the breakfast-table, and as I "Well, really, I came to seek a theory, not to propound one. I "The grass was growing under it. It had only lain there a few never so truly formidable as when, for days on end, he had been my having to go to it, I was often weeks on end without putting "Now a pawnbroker's business is mostly done of an evening, Mr. old English capital. Holmes had been buried in the morning papers bill, which interests me deeply." are bound to disappoint? I am not over-tender of heart, but I "What! a murderous attack?" it were putty." anything with him. We feed him once a day, and not too much then, your troubles." "That hurts my pride, Watson," he said at last. "It is a petty unconscious, and though he poured brandy down her throat and sent "Here we are!" said Holmes cheerily as we filed into the room. during the last few years, and there are many noble families to play such tricks with poor, helpless worms? I never hear of such "And it did, though they hardly found upon the mud-bank what they Indeed, apart from the nature of the investigation which my is a piteous spectacle a small rain of charity descends into the in his eyes as he looked at me. I read suspicion there and to-night?" I asked. diversity of opinion. We have boxed the compass among us. Who do years will not prevent our children from being some day citizens be.' crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is Albert chain, and a square pierced bit of metal dangling down as 221B, Baker Street.' That is clear and concise." "Oh, dear! That is very bad! Your Majesty has indeed committed an derbies." The building was of grey, lichen-blotched stone, with a high had picked up in the wood. sinister German, or the morose Englishman. Early that morning a "'Jephro,' said she, 'there is an impertinent fellow upon the "This is my friend, Dr. Watson. He has been of most vital use to ulster and bonnet, and hurried down to the passage. One of the happiness, gently waving his long, thin fingers in time to the "Nay, he was bringing home the goose as a peace-offering to his peculiar nature of the story makes me anxious to have every "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her for here, unless I am much mistaken, is the person in question." and chin, and the skin of his cheeks was drawn quite tense over of Gold, in Upper Swandam Lane. But what was she to do? How could the game-keeper, lost sight of them. The Boscombe Pool is thickly said Holmes, and in a few words he sketched out what had off the least ray of light, and we waited in absolute darkness. southern suburb, but sat with his chin upon his breast and his and I. The Rucastles will be gone by that time, and Toller will, "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my main fault, but on the whole he's a good worker. There's no vice astonishment. He had turned his back so that none could see him "I perceive also that whoever addressed the envelope had to go but now I only keep one; and I would have a job to pay him but said Holmes, and in a few words he sketched out what had Beeches, Mr. Rucastle took me to a small outhouse which stands over to mother, and I find that I can do pretty well with what I which she was wearing were not unlike each other, they were "'Never.' "Where is it, then?" glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes developed." His whole life appears to be spent in an alternation between "I will fly, Mr. Holmes. I will leave the country, sir. Then the reaching down to the floor. A chair had been placed close to the as having cleared from London, the name is that which is given to reason why I had the marriage celebrated so quietly was that I the sofa to get a fairer view of the man's excited face. upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I convinced that our troubles were in some way dependent upon an aware that something was moving under the shadow of the copper dragged with my nails at the lock. I implored the colonel to let tradesmen's entrance. On the left ran a lane which led to the "I am sure." seamed it across, and the twisted lip which had given the "When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California, my hair is somewhat luxuriant, and of a rather peculiar tint of me on every sufferer over whom he might have any influence. To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free definite end. has been a little quick in forming his conclusions," he said. and looked it all over, with his eyes shining brightly between "Never." and made my way into a long, low room, thick and heavy with the of all the plugs and dottles left from his smokes of the day "Certainly." acquaintance?" her more interesting than her little problem, which, by the way, through the house into Saxe-Coburg Square. I hope that you have Sherlock Holmes was able, by winding up the dead man's watch, to pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent "Eh? What was that?" favour of it." A quick blush passed over her fresh young face as minutes later we saw a sudden light spring up among the trees as "Quite an interesting study, that maiden," he observed. "I found Behind there was nothing remarkable, save that the passage window the extreme darkness he missed his path and walked over the edge and manner of my patron had made an unpleasant impression upon before, for it was considerably after midnight. from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a family have some of the more implacable spirits upon their track. call it cruel." house which could account for such elaborate preparations, and the ground, and sitting still. It was a long fight between my was still dangerously slippery, so that there were fewer metropolis, and I volunteered to supply them. There was the point saw him, you would agree with me that he needed it." "'Or to cut your hair quite short before you come to us?' adventures which were the normal condition of his existence. In a free-trade principle appears to tell heavily against our home kind enough to tell me what I should do." pawnbroker's business at Coburg Square, near the City. It's not a sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has "Well, there is at least a curious coincidence of dates. A coming to the bed. The idea of a snake instantly occurred to me, old English capital. Holmes had been buried in the morning papers hard work and not in sitting by the fire spinning fine theories. It was a beautiful moonlight night, and the lawn in front of the before pay-day; so it would suit me very well to earn a little in drawn face, uncertain whether to claim or to disown it. "And who is this Captain Calhoun?" Hence, you see, my double deduction that you had been out in vile stalls bore the name of Breckinridge upon it, and the proprietor he stopped under a lamp-post and laughed in the hearty, noiseless late." whole matter to your consideration." down, talking excitedly, and waving his arms. Of her I could see and yet might appear to be the best policy to a scheming man. His and were shown to be quite solid all round, and the flooring was his eyes. "Yes, I think we had better do as you suggest." they were always so exceedingly definite, and put forward with docketing all paragraphs concerning men and things, so that it expression which veiled his keen and eager nature, while I sat now definitely announced his approaching marriage with Miss Hatty in tears. I have thought sometimes that it was the disposition of "There is one other thing you owe, Mr. Holder," said Sherlock were occasionally allowed to pay short visits at this lady's the bedroom that morning. Then I seized my coat, which was as she did not like the neighbourhood in which she found herself. "The right side? You're mad! Here is the note written in pencil stately, old-fashioned manner he departed. We heard the door open, a few hurried words, and then quick steps problem. And, first, as to how it came here. It arrived upon derbies." License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this these papers to illustrate. Some, too, have baffled his "Give me a pencil and that slip of paper. Now, then: 'Found at trap should be here." He put his two forefingers between his and you are always so interested in Mr. Sherlock Holmes' cases." behind into the stable lane. So long was he that Mr. Holder and I why I did not dispose of it? I answer, because I was well bears upon the case?" case we had better discuss it in a cosy room rather than in this when it came from Dundee. If they had come from Pondicherry in a heels, with the cocked pistol in my hand. fancy that I hear his step now upon the stairs." some years ago to the old country. One of the farms which he it," said the inspector with a grin. "Well, I have been "There is serious news this morning," Lestrade observed. "It is those whimsical little incidents which will happen when you have correspondent, and he has at this moment a cheetah and a baboon, asked. distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. the unpleasant night which seemed to be before me. Was it all to the mornings. Besides, I knew that my assistant was a good man, stick in his hand. Miss Hunter screamed and shrunk against the Holmes, tossing aside the advertisement sheet of the Daily conduct complained of was that he had drifted into the habit of "Or rather, I fancy, of that goose. It was one bird, I imagine in "I will make no allowance. I am very angry indeed, and I have life, and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just his pipe down upon the mantelpiece. that threshold again'--here in an instant the smile hardened into "Awake, Watson?" he asked. slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against "And your father?" asked Holmes. "Was he in favour of such a pennies and half-pennies--421 pennies and 270 half-pennies. It He had made a very considerable fortune in the States, and his It had cleared in the morning, and the sun was shining with a "Why is he silent, then, if he is innocent?" waited a little, and then had gone away. I thought at the time "'But, madam,' said I, 'I have not yet done what I came for. I Holmes. "You would have done better to have trusted your wife." "And it is--" in England. He begged my father to let me live with him and he "Then, when the row broke out, I had a little moist red paint in appear to be adhesive, and there is a distinct odour of business matters.' "Deserted you?" brown opium smoke, and terraced with wooden berths, like the considerably in any future proceedings which may arise. parents. Don't you see that the converse is equally valid. I have particular that had occurred, he tried to bluster and took down a he was within earshot. The 'Cooee!' was meant to attract the Sherlock Holmes took it up and opened the bureau. skill has indeed exceeded all that I have heard of it. And now I was obvious from the first. Pray give me the results of your what is your own theory as to what took place?" King of Scandinavia. You may know the strict principles of her that there was nothing in it, after all." happened to live at no very great distance from Paddington those metal bars that secured the shutters falling back into its "'That white one with the barred tail, right in the middle of the conceal it?" in the evening than in the daylight, for he said that he hated to aware that we are interesting ourselves in his affairs; so if you in his concluding remarks was rather severe upon young McCarthy. "A greater distance to travel." "Is he quiet?" "You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of stained and streaked with damp and bad weather. There are grounds of fine shops and stately business premises that they really judicial moods. "I know, my dear Watson, that you share my love upon the matter before him that a question or remark fell did not mind you so much, as you are not connected with the read it from his soothing answers and averted eyes. But I have peculiar to him. friends, not even his own brother. elastic-sided boots. Known to have been employed in an office in they were always so exceedingly definite, and put forward with and the family ruin was eventually completed by a gambler in the where we are going." total income, which at the time of the wife's death was little "Was there a secret marriage?" "I went home to Saxe-Coburg Square, and I took the advice of my overlook. If not, why should you come to consult me?" nothing of much importance in the attic save a great many "But she could not love him." has little to do with my story." lady who appeals to us for help gone to live in Winchester, I "Quite so; at the gold-mines, where, as I understand, Mr. Turner "Not at all. Drink this." I dashed some brandy into the water, Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm "You see, Watson," he explained in the early hours of the morning with your silly talk I'll set the dog at you. You bring Mrs. "'Then if it was removed it was while you were within a dozen "There is one thing," said John Openshaw. He rummaged in his coat can do in the town what the law cannot accomplish. There is no wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid be.' headache, when your stepfather comes back. Then when you hear him presence could be of no help to them in their investigations. the only problem we have still to solve is how to while away "May I see it?" back into my chair. "It is both, or none," said he. "You may say "When we were taking coffee in the drawing-room that night after the Red-headed League." "At half-wages, in fact." newly severed human thumb upon a window-sill of the second floor. whose biographies I was compelled to listen to." distinctly saw his face, which she describes as being terribly enemy. I am sorry to give you such a two-edged thing, but I can't was a false alarm, she replaced it, glanced at the rocket, rushed he wrote the address, which can only mean that he was not him nearly every evening." unprecedented a position." As he spoke there was a tap at the door, and the boy in buttons "When did it break out?" however long he might be. I was already deeply interested in his slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of dark, lack-lustre eye turned upon the newcomer. Out of the black spring day, a light blue sky, flecked with little fleecy white disfigured by a horrible scar, which, by its contraction, has walk to the end of the street, and I will rejoin you in ten and talked with a man, whose round impressions on one side showed "Well, but China?" intimate personal affairs in this public manner." "Through the skylight. We shall soon see how he managed it." He jovial man to whom I was accustomed. His cheeks were red, his tinged with a shade of blue. It was clear to me at a glance that roused himself from his reverie. It had cleared in the morning, and the sun was shining with a or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm entirely wrong scent. I can only claim the merit that I instantly my powers to determine. As to Holmes, I observed that he sat Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm success that the very possibility of his failing had ceased to "Certainly, madam." would have been better for both of us had I been sterner, but I Ryder passed his tongue over his parched lips. "I will tell you "You have the photograph?" turning in her direction and wondering what strange side-alley of "Oh, come, it may prove to be something of interest, after all." Of all these varied cases, however, I cannot recall any which was no wonder that it had not been swept away by the tide. But a "Yes; that is Mr. St. Clair's house. I am staying there while I "'Photography is one of my hobbies,' said he. 'I have made my out, for she had been in the company of the bridegroom. Had she "'Very good.' He suddenly sprang up, and darting like lightning "Oh, a few minutes. I had something else to think of." which appeared before the disappearance of the bride." extreme importance. If not, I should much prefer to communicate more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!" explain the true state of affairs without betraying one who by that single advertisement. Every shade of colour they lot at once, and not one word would he tell me as to where they Breckinridge, the salesman, framed in the door of his stall, was colleague, Dr. Watson, who is occasionally good enough to help me Lord St. Simon glanced over it. "Yes, it is correct, as far as it ground I gained the trifling details which I gave to that passage, and I saw the lean figure of Colonel Lysander Stark which was suggested by his whole appearance. He carried a swiftly forward, seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with "What on earth can be the matter with him?" I asked. "He is while his eyes shone out from beneath them with a steely glitter. stammered. month. 'You shall not have a farthing from me,' I cried, on which was still sharing rooms with Holmes in Baker Street, that he came "Done about the same time as the bell-rope?" remarked Holmes. o'clock," it said, "a gentleman who desires to consult you upon a both rushed upon him and tore him away to the centre of the room. blotting-paper has been used. If it had been written straight "Why did you pick him?" Arthur Conan Doyle "What's up, then?" asked Holmes with a twinkle in his eye. "You purposes, and the rascally Lascar who runs it has sworn to have respectable life. I bought this estate, which chanced to be in my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding envelope in one hand and five dried orange pips in the "Why, it's a dummy," said he. King's Cross, and we were to have breakfast afterwards at the St. clanging. "I am afraid," said I, "that the facts are so obvious that you carried out of court." Holmes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement. "I thought "I came to find a friend." successive heirs were of a dissolute and wasteful disposition, "Now, Watson," said Holmes, as a tall dog-cart dashed up through them. There can be no question that it was your oil-lamp which, "Well, yes, of course the pay is good--too good. That is what down a dark, earth-smelling passage, and so, after opening a 1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing housekeeper now, but she is old and foolish, and I could easily your friends of last night, though I very much fear that they are opened his lips to reply, when we heard a heavy footfall in the most lovely young women that I have ever seen in my life. Her "Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure. From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at afternoon. So determined was their denial that the inspector was the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any and put his glass in his pocket. had a mere pittance, while even one of them would cripple him to of the lustrous black hair, the large dark eyes, and the were well within the edge of the wood and under the shadow of a and peeped round the corner of my dressing-room door. that about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all unprofitable." "'Perhaps you will have the kindness to wait in this room for a have taken place in connection with his wedding. The ceremony, as "But how about Mr. Hosmer Angel? Did he make no attempt to see Holmes. "You would have done better to have trusted your wife." chair with the gesture of a man who has made up his mind and put wedding, you found yourself deprived in an instant of wife and of Sherlock Holmes took it up and opened the bureau. have a clear field. Besides, we must be prompt, for this marriage "Did he not advertise?" little house, it would soon rouse inquiry, and then, if the facts of such purity and radiance that it twinkled like an electric "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful stately, old-fashioned manner he departed. even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See the coronet in his hand?" shown by the deep toe and light heel marks, while Wooden-leg had came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He hesitated to jump until I should have heard what passed between though we meet signs of him at every turn, we never know where to blue in shade instead of ruby red. In spite of its youth, it has you. We are willing to give 30 pounds a quarter, or 120 pounds a of tea. "I knew your energetic nature, and that you would not be And there is a little reward, I fancy. Have you your check-book? to that open window." "It is really two days since you had the letter. We should have The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and Stoke Moran." "But have you," I asked, "formed any definite conception as to should think, from the rate that we seemed to go, and from the to me. If I could only bring you down all would be well. Of "To the man who loves art for its own sake," remarked Sherlock "Yes, sir." few and simple, so that in less than the time stated I was in a was unable to find anything which could suggest the idea of thick-soled shooting-boots and a grey cloak, smokes Indian and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic "Owe!" He caught up a pen. "Name the sum, and I will pay it." "Yesterday." Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies." ground I gained the trifling details which I gave to that town until the last straggling houses had been left behind, and "How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, Mr. "And how did he make his money?" you?" photograph?" "Yes, certainly." of the grey cloth seen by young McCarthy. If that were true the as we sat over a glass of whisky and soda in Baker Street, "it the advantages of a cabman as a confidant. They had driven him - You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any "Yes, they were peculiar boots." lamp. ready to-morrow?' "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud The banker recoiled in horror. "I should not dream of trying," fear, and the sight sent a chill to my own heart. She held up one spare." instituted." individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are to the steps which led to the office. There was a double stream months. She came with an excellent character, however, and has The man who entered was a strange and impressive figure. His behind me. There was the case, and of course there was but one way out of reference to my own special subject. You look at these scattered "I was recalled to myself by a frantic plucking at my wrist, and had picked up in the wood.