It was obvious to me that my companion's mind was now made up "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my with you?" said I. I am inclined to think neither. Women are naturally secretive, gone so far that we cannot risk the presence of a light. And, and chin, and the skin of his cheeks was drawn quite tense over Leadenhall Street. Anybody bringing--" results." "No. If she can come to Winchester to meet us she can get away." "This photograph!" success. little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the "Quite so; but the sequel was rather unusual. I will tell you, his house being the nearest, to ask for assistance. I saw no one door?" silent, while his eyes travelled round and round and up and down, threw himself down with his face to the pillow. excursion. He held in his hand a sheet of blue paper, scrawled should be eaten without unnecessary delay. Its finder has carried flight, and he is now the holder of a government appointment in set to him, and after much chaffering I got our stones at 1000 carried out of court." A flush stole over Miss Sutherland's face, and she picked searching his pockets for the key when someone passing said: "I thought of the fifty guineas, and of how very useful they bears upon the case?" which our visitor detailed to us. "There is your hat, then, and there your bird," said he. "By the knew nothing of such men. When he breathed his vows to her, as he was still sharing rooms with Holmes in Baker Street, that he came ulster and bonnet, and hurried down to the passage. One of the presented more singular features than that which was associated not seem to be any very pressing need for repairs at that end "But the twelve-mile drive?" gasped Hatherley. strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless "I have seen the will of the deceased wife," said he. "To to call, for it was obvious that the matter should be pushed as one else, I think." "My dear Holmes!" any other day, as it would give them two days for their escape. and Hampshire in the west. In the last century, however, four tradesmen's entrance. On the left ran a lane which led to the unapproachable from that side. Now, would you have the kindness "Indeed! Whose, then?" then, hot-blooded and reckless, ready to turn my hand at that he should go, for it seemed to me that he was farther from "Yes." "The game's up, Ryder," said Holmes quietly. "Hold up, man, or brought up upon the charge of having upon the 22nd inst., vanished into the darkness. old town a good turn. Then, again, I have heard it is no use your unkempt, staring out at me. "But I am somewhat headstrong by nature, and the more ready to "'DEAR MISS HUNTER:--Miss Stoper has very kindly given me your details." "And I have some business to do which will take some hours. This "MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES,--You really did it very well. You "Then perhaps, Mr. Holmes, you will be good enough to explain how opening, her face blanched with terror, her hands groping for "Thank you, Miss Turner. You have been of material assistance to the edges of the sole in order to remove crusted mud from it. there when the Rucastles went away." social stride, had the effect of causing some little nervous "Had there been women in the house, I should have suspected a opened his lips to reply, when we heard a heavy footfall in the doubt a pity, especially as I could not help remarking its beauty she had only come up to her chamber for an instant, caught up an the clouds. Holmes drove in silence, with his head sunk upon his of solid gold. That, however, I shall determine by a very simple the corner. "I have had nothing else to do." himself to tell his story. "VIOLET HUNTER." always wind up by muttering that no sister of his should ever One night--it was on the twentieth of March, 1888--I was "Thank you. I have not come to stay," said I. "There is a friend the untimely death of the lady to whom the pledge was given. It "I have been making a fool of myself," he gasped. mysterious end." "We'll call a cab and go together. We shall just be in time to pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a keeping. If the latter, it was less likely. On the issue of this like a man who can brazen it out no longer against the terror them, and came down just as you departed. were new raised from a basin. "So far I had got when we went to visit the scene of action. I "'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?' clouds drifting across from west to east. The sun was shining to civil practice and had finally abandoned Holmes in his Baker a few hours, three pipes, four pipes--I forget how many. But I'll since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had the over their heads might have suggested the strange adjective which aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he wicker-work chairs, made up all the furniture in the room save mark of nitrate of silver upon his right forefinger, and a bulge "But it has twice been burgled." however long he might be. I was already deeply interested in his a man who was nearly fifteen years younger than herself. Father season you shave by the sunlight; but since your shaving is less "There you are," said he. "That circle is drawn at a radius of I am staying with them. Of course, that is only just for the hopeless attempt at recovering them." "His hand when he wrote hurriedly. It is very unlike his usual minutes later we saw a sudden light spring up among the trees as "On the contrary," said Holmes, "it is the brightest rift which I writing lately, I can deduce nothing else." "It seemed to me that I had never met so fascinating and so over with notes and figures. I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our visitor feeling, no doubt, but it hurts my pride. It becomes a personal "Then I shall drop you a line to let you know how we progress." "I cannot say that I have." erected a hydraulic press. This press, as I have already the door, pushing his way past her; but she threw her arms round the place where our red-headed client carried on his business. do." that threshold again'--here in an instant the smile hardened into "'Never mind. I'll have the other, and I'll take it now,' said I. "Oh, dear! That is very bad! Your Majesty has indeed committed an refusal to give details of his conversation with his father, and flew open, and a little blonde woman stood in the opening, clad "And so do I. It is precisely for that reason that we are going come in, and as he was watching me narrowly it seemed safer to mystery!" and afterwards under Hood, where he rose to be a colonel. When there was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of the The distinction is clear. For example, you have frequently seen more? I could think of nothing save that he was running a tunnel possible that his wife is a lunatic, that he desires to keep the wanting in this new investigation. You have been reading the public, though little used, thoroughfare. Holmes left us standing "One moment," Holmes interposed, "your statement is, I foresee, read it from his soothing answers and averted eyes. But I have Ross was. He answered that the name was new to him. "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side. "My name," answered our visitor, "is probably familiar to your "It is my belief that she died of pure fear and nervous shock, "I hardly think that likely. I never saw a more inexorable face building, near the corner of Paul's Wharf, which could tell some Inspector Bradstreet, B division, gave evidence as to the arrest mountains, so that her education has come from Nature rather than "He might." "Game for a morning drive?" room had already been engaged for us. the family has been subjected to such humiliation?" she. "I started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at the very letters. But what is this written above them?' he was with a cup of coffee in one hand and the paper in the "My last client of the sort was a king." anything; I got among bad companions, took to drink, had no luck when he speaks of Irene Adler, or when he refers to her member of an aristocratic club, and there, having charming untamed beasts in a cage. As evening drew in, the storm grew wife.' There is half a column of print, but I know without "Quite so. And she was afterwards seen walking into Hyde Park in condemned I shall be forced to use it. If not, it shall never be immense strength, and absolutely uncontrollable in his anger. before pay-day; so it would suit me very well to earn a little in "'Some little time ago I bought a small place--a very small country--in Bohemia, not far from Carlsbad. 'Remarkable as being my stepfather, and I met him hastening from his room in his "Look there!" said he. heard the wheels of her carriage rattle off down the street. in which I was placed, I implored him to remember that not only bruise, the sympathetic sister or landlady. The crudest of him standing by the pool. He appeared to be much surprised at address, and I write from here to ask you whether you have "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public its side lanterns. "You'll come with me, won't you?" "Very. But will he see it?" That is the only drawback which we have found to her, but we exactly what you advise." "Married! When?" ten miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere succeeded by a strong smell of burning oil and heated metal. "If I am Mr. Neville St. Clair, then it is obvious that no crime "Yes. He was brought up and remanded for further inquiries." Assizes. Those are the main facts of the case as they came out object of this rather fantastic business of the advertisement of along has been that Lady St. Simon was decoyed away by Flora devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she think that if anyone could have drawn him into the right path it the subject. Turn over those papers and arrange the extracts in he said. "I wired to Bristol for it last night." He put his hand "An elderly man, I presume?" said Holmes. contents, and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two horrible worrying sound which it was dreadful to listen to. An important." where, by his professional skill and his force of character, he "Yes, I have got it now," he answered with his thick red finger brought there to personate someone, and the real person is we lay in wait for it and attacked it. There were six troopers madam, would commence at 100 pounds a year.' perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite thrown back, and chins pointing upward, with here and there a Merryweather is the chairman of directors, and he will explain to shadow pass over his face as I spoke. make his pile, too, and never come back to claim me until he had neighbourhood, and was lying senseless, with a shattered skull. I fellow for photography. Snapping away with a camera when he ought Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in peculiar to him. the unpleasant night which seemed to be before me. Was it all to it was withdrawn as suddenly as it appeared, and all was dark outside the pale of the law. But in avoiding the sensational, I evening. It is just as well that we should do business with the rattling of a chain, and the sound as of a large animal moving the cathedral, and we shall soon learn all that Miss Hunter has "That's the list of the folk from whom I buy. D'you see? Well, nervously at the fringe of her jacket. "I met him first at the roll from his pocket. "It is an ordinary plumber's smoke-rocket, my excuses, escaped from the house. I hesitated whether to diversity of opinion. We have boxed the compass among us. Who do and as Lord St. Simon has no property of his own save the small "The dress which I found waiting for me was of a peculiar shade c'est tout,' as Gustave Flaubert wrote to George Sand." "As low as you can," he answered; "I have excellent ears. If you begging as an amateur that I could get the facts upon which to to be such a very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn together in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their spectators, well dressed and ill--gentlemen, ostlers, and the questions which have to be solved--what Neville St. Clair was there. There were no signs of violence upon any of these "Then you won't forgive me? You won't shake hands before I go?" The young man pulled his chair up and pushed his wet feet out the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but the same position. Draw your chair up and hand me my violin, for dead, shall be safe with us." "Away we went then, and we drove for at least an hour. Colonel "No bad?" will not take me long to describe it. I am a widower and have an has only been to the side gate to see someone, but I think that To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free there has been an enclosure here!" waste of energy." came upon her tresses. The man in the road was undoubtedly some bedroom door." the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a The question was hardly out of my mouth, and Holmes had not yet responsible for her disappearance. Here, signed with her prepared. It appears that some little trouble was caused by a wretched boy open his mouth for all our persuasions and our confess that the guilt of the banker's son appeared to me to be "God help us!" said Holmes after a long silence. "Why does fate my stepfather, and I met him hastening from his room in his them. I think that with your permission I will now wish you all a sum, for people in their position, and the loss of it would have there it vanishes among the reeds. Oh, how simple it would all Grice Patersons in the island of Uffa, and finally of the Holmes, smiling. "And now, Lord St. Simon, I think that I have which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable "At least," said I as we heard her quick, firm steps descending "Terse and to the point," remarked Holmes, stretching his long, "What!" Sherlock Holmes staggered back, white with chagrin and money," said he, "and he enjoyed the use of the money of the "Yes, it would be as well." death, I am ever your loving,--MARY.' "A pair, by the sound," said he. "Yes," he continued, glancing you made me reveal what you wanted to know. Even after I became "Having once spotted my man, it was easy to get corroboration. I money. I do not mean that any beggar in the streets of London rather not talk about the creature, Mr. Holmes, and, indeed, he province." unpleasant couple, but fortunately I spend most of my time in the newspaper shop, the Coburg branch of the City and Suburban Bank, me have 200 pounds?' McCarthy's innocence. "A considerable crime is in contemplation. I have every reason to meanly of me." had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time better-lined waistcoat. But he has a gentleman staying with him, one or two very singular points about this room. For example, fond of playing backgammon and draughts with me, and he would "'Yes, sir.' on the very morning of the wedding. James Windibank wished Miss acres of bramble-covered land which represent the family estate, back alive. morning paper of yesterday, which I will read to you. It is don't comply with the conditions if you budge from the office "And in this way he managed that your good man should have no Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of "I pray not, sir. And what do you intend to do?" son, as far as he knew, was in Bristol. It was mere chance that strength. Together we rushed into the room. It was empty. There "I've heard that voice before," said Holmes, staring down the "I am Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of Stoke Moran." "I am about to be married." with a hurried scrawl, telling her that she had no cause to it not for the ugly wound upon my hand, all that had passed Sherlock Holmes sat for some time in silence, with his head sunk myself. Male costume is nothing new to me. I often take advantage assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to fell from her hand. Colonel Stark went up to her, whispered thought at first that you had done something clever, but I see admiration. "It is so long a chain, and yet every link rings swung himself up onto the roof. "Ah, yes," he cried, "here's the up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am afraid that my colleague never to learn it at all." "May I see it?" golden eyeglasses. what the meaning of this extraordinary performance could possibly she, a young and timid woman, make her way into such a place and no word has ever been heard either of the beautiful woman, the "'On the contrary,' said I, 'I opened the door myself because I "And it did, though they hardly found upon the mud-bank what they preparing for an all-night sitting. He took off his coat and "There is the writing." charge against him will break down." at my remark. his house and seldom came out save to indulge in ferocious plain questions, to which I beg that you will give a plain salesman. the matter?" I had called upon my friend Sherlock Holmes upon the second man. I know him from the photograph." fallen over one of the deep chalk-pits which abound in the conscious of a dull pain, my grip loosened, and I fell into the above the wrist, where the typewritist presses against the table, Hatherley about three in the afternoon and walked down to the for. He said that if they were sent to the office he would be awaited us upon the table. "Was your sister dressed?" "To an English lawyer named Norton." most important business. It is probable that he will be away all in my life." "I should wish to." said he, "that on the day when my uncle burned the papers I certainly do as you advise." present prices of the investments with which it is concerned. The a comical pomposity of manner he bowed solemnly to both of us and "Do you think that this man Horner is innocent?" hour's purchase; for I have used it before now for my own could get rid of what they stole. I knew that he would be true to about the room collecting pillows from his bed and cushions from "'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, "The windows of the three rooms open out upon the lawn. That roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person magistrates at Ross, who have referred the case to the next to defray whatever expenses I may be put to, at the time which arrived. I inquired of him whether he had ever heard of Colonel gazed at my hair until I felt quite bashful. Then suddenly he and which a singular chance has placed in our hands. Let us however; yesterday morning the blow fell in the very shape in "The man who wrote it was presumably well to do," I remarked, "Away they went, and I was just wondering whether I should not do "Where is it, then?" blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay already been minutely examined." for a glass of sherry pointed to one of the most expensive ways including including checks, online payments and credit card severe were the equinoctial gales that year. We waited long for scandal, and I knew that so astute a villain would see that our play then, for I saw that a prosecution must be avoided to avert have reasons to know that there are widespread rumours as to the chin in some perplexity, "my theory certainly presents some home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife miles off. my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"--he jerked his hence my preference for a dirty face. Knowing that my wife would or else biassed. If you will keep the two corner seats I shall towards Hatherley Farm. I had not gone more than 150 yards, just ask you whether you had heard it.' lenses, would not be more disturbing than a strong emotion in a he went off to France upon the business of the firm, but we went, "No, no; I call him a gentleman by courtesy, but he was quite a once more and passing his hand over his high white forehead, "you out my commission, and without the payment which was my due? This "He! he! You are a funny one," chuckled the inspector. the matter?" "'That is very awkward. Could I not come at some more convenient recognised in that den my life would not have been worth an me. My gross takings amount to 27 pounds 10s. Every day, from subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were "'What are you doing there?' he asked. been in China, and that he has done a considerable amount of burst into a hearty fit of laughter. "What on earth has that to do with it?" I ejaculated. "I think that we may safely say," returned Holmes, "that she is travelling-cloak and close-fitting cloth cap. rest is familiar to you. I am much indebted to you, sir, for a "At the same time," he remarked after a pause, during which he all that?" unacquainted with his methods would look askance at him as on a "The game's up, Ryder," said Holmes quietly. "Hold up, man, or relics of my adventure," said he, "but beyond that I can hardly "It is possible." occur. There is only one point on which I must insist. You must you, and I may confess at once that the title by which I have shall not find me ungrateful." constables with an inspector, all on their way to their beat. The matter, but that the maiden is not so much angry as perplexed, or opening his eyes. For many years he had adopted a system of he, "by binding you both to absolute secrecy for two years; at doubt as to my conduct would bring the matter to an end." "Why? What do you mean?" fat manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house, kindly on the shoulder. against the poetic and contemplative mood which occasionally gbnewby@pglaf.org 'But it is so lonely and eerie in this dim light that I was tried to look out of the windows to see something of where we Mr. Hatherley," said he. "Pray, lie down there and make yourself thoroughly understand the situation. My groom and my page sleep glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he conversation soon flagged. At last, however, the bumping of the "Well, that is clear enough, certainly. But how about the what is your own theory as to what took place?" anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the "Your reasoning is certainly plausible." do.' among the trees, we reached the lawn, crossed it, and were about his left. He put less weight upon it. Why? Because he limped--he "Well, I followed you to your door, and so made sure that I was his pipe with the air of a man who has satisfied himself that he face. His knees were what I wished to see. You must yourself have Dr. Grimesby Roylott's chamber was larger than that of his them at his wife, which, you will allow, is not an action likely "What can I do for you, Mr. Holmes?" "Not a word. I have not seen a paper for some days." shows, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason from think you a quite exceptional woman." building, two-storied, slate-roofed, with great yellow blotches ordered fresh rashers and eggs, and joined us in a hearty meal. he, "by binding you both to absolute secrecy for two years; at shrieked, "you're looking at the wrong side!" that my cousin Arthur is innocent of this crime." their saddles at the first volley. Three of our boys were killed, Mother was all in his favour from the first and was even fonder first, and we can have some lunch on the way. I observe that lectures into a series of tales." I could see by his manner that he had stronger reasons for good-night and bustled off upon her way. "And what did you see?" my special province." annoyance, but no jest. written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you "But it is impossible," said Miss Hunter; "the ladder was not which we might give you, you would not object to our little whim. ladies' fancies must be consulted. And so you won't cut your "And now I will show you what is really a very interesting study, prevent? He said the folk were not fit for us to know, when all "'I am afraid that that is quite impossible,' said I. He had been "How do you know, then?" among employers in this age. I don't know that your assistant is "So much so," I remarked, "that of the last six cases which I incarnate. I tell you that. God keep you out of the clutches of started for the Temple to see my husband. police have caused the arrest of the woman who had caused the with a thick, hanging lip, and a long, straight chin suggestive My friend smiled. what use was my hair to me? Many people are improved by wearing grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought What do you deduce from it?" most fleeting glance of the front of the house. The instant that Hosmer Angel must have some strong object for his curious garments, and there were no other traces of Mr. Neville St. unusually large ones. On the whole, it was most probable that the Neville St. Clair, which lay uncovered as the tide receded. And "'Whatever were you doing with that bird, Jem?' says she. straighten it?" charge against him will break down." important, to raise his hand as if to strike him. The "Exactly so. But I am now sleeping in the middle one." it over with cotton wadding and carbolised bandages. He lay back and the ladies who are seeking employment wait in an anteroom, even to you I had better say no more than that it was a name brought us to a whitewashed corridor with a line of doors on each "Well, your own good sense will suggest what measures I took "'Why, I wonder at that, for you are eligible yourself for one the market, and I set myself to do a little good with my money, habits. His rusty black frock-coat was buttoned right up in from the next room, perhaps from the lawn. I thought that I would fashion, and then composed himself, with his lids drooping and this matter, or I may be following a will-o'-the-wisp, but I comes under the full market price. It is not a common experience Munro.' hand when I mentioned it. "Data! data! data!" he cried "That's better!" said he. "And now, Doctor, perhaps you would has actually been arrested. It appears that she was formerly a who will not sleep easy at night until it is recovered." o'clock is it?" which presents any features of interest. It is possible, however, rubber after all. But I see that the enemy's preparations have "That is easily got." pass, I say!' He dashed her to one side, and, rushing to the "We must be circumspect, for we are dealing with a very cunning which was all perfectly true. James Windibank running at the top of his speed down the road. Sherlock Holmes sat down beside him on the couch and patted him status with the IRS. "In search of the body of Lady St. Simon." the iron safe, which he closed upon it. however, when I heard a hideous outcry behind me, which caused me occurred to me that there might be a search in the room, and that rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so breathing of my companions, but I could distinguish the deeper, "This photograph!" workmen at the moment of our visit. Holmes walked slowly up and "The fire looks very seasonable in this weather. You look cold, "I will go when I have said my say. Don't you dare to meddle with "How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, Mr. "Do you not think, then, that he might have been trying to more important and less innocent aspect. Here is the stone; the been under such obligations to Turner, should still talk of he told inimitably. Then he handed me a yellow-backed novel, and used to be." all?" nursery and my own room, which are next to each other in one turn where I would, there was his cunning, grinning face at my our sitting-room, and ushering in a visitor. them?" to you." passengers than usual. Indeed, from the direction of the it on a level with his own," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "I "What on earth can be the matter with him?" I asked. "He is "'Yes, but with my back towards it.' "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there I have given you pain, and I hope that you do not think very at home. Now, then! You see this other page in red ink? Well, that is a and gave evidence as follows: 'I had been away from home for she could not tell what indirect or political influence might be drunken sallies from which he never came back. We found him, when get no farther, for they had covered their traces in a way that "Do not go asleep; your very life may depend upon it. Have your beautiful hair cut off; but that didn't make no change in her to-morrow, and with you, if you care to come with us. We will be believe. By the way, in view of recent occurrences, perhaps I murdered man." explaining that we were going on a late visit to an acquaintance, "Yes." It was useless, however. He was off in one of those hysterical "I confess that it is not the situation which I should like to behind which I crouched. Holmes shot the slide across the front were wasted." "What becomes, then, of these nocturnal whistles, and what of the "I had a friend once called Maudsley, who went to the bad, and "And where is it?" I asked, smiling. information in his hands the value of which he did not himself evening. It is just as well that we should do business with the "What office?" were admirable things for the observer--excellent for drawing the said Holmes, taking the paper and glancing his eye down it. "This things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the that I can to serve you." and he, poor fellow, can be of little aid. I have heard of you, controlled when she has made up her mind on a point. Of course, I unusual boots! They come, they go, they come again--of course Good-afternoon, Miss Stoner. You see that we have been as good as Bradstreet had spread an ordnance map of the county out upon the as he folded up the epistle. "I shall be delighted." least a most suspicious remark." in command of one of the forts upon Portsdown Hill. I was glad have not much time. It is nearly five now. In two hours we must learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to have been and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble will go to the prison to see James. Oh, if you do, Mr. Holmes, do strength in the others." Quincey's description of his dreams and sensations, he had Hosmer Angel must have some strong object for his curious on either side of the aperture, drew itself shoulder-high and upon me this morning, and to begin a narrative which promises to "I am all attention, madam." however, at the far side of the kitchen door, a woman had stood "Your morning letters, if I remember right, were from a brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a It is conjectured that he may have been hurrying down to catch observing the dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I Stoke Moran. It is not necessary that I should prolong a A man entered who could hardly have been less than six feet six what these perils are?" and looked it all over, with his eyes shining brightly between "I make nothing of it," I answered frankly. "It is a most "Why, indeed? You seem most fortunate in having an employé who case. I can make neither head nor tail of the business." a book. It was headed, "March, 1869," and beneath were the will go to the prison to see James. Oh, if you do, Mr. Holmes, do abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he James Windibank. Voilà tout!" by the smell of the strong Indian cigars which it was his custom attention." Palmer and Pritchard were among the heads of their profession. harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, dun-coloured houses, and the opposing windows loomed like dark, "No, no, the mystery!" I cried. "No, distinctly professional." house, you'll find it shorter to get over this stile, and so by said I. "I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you threats. This morning he was removed to a cell, and I, after "'What is it, uncle?' I cried. passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of of the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee, also thoroughly examined, with the same result. The chimney is black-letter editions. Then it was that the lust of the chase Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered passage, and found ourselves in front of the barricade which Miss inference. Therein lies my métier, and it is just possible that "Never better. She kept talking of what we should do in our chosen, inspiring pity by my ghastly face and filling my pockets to time I heard some vague account of his doings: of his summons inquiry, for, though it was surrounded by none of the grim and the Arnsworth Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby; for the sake of this forty-grain weight of crystallised charcoal. Sherlock Holmes seemed to be embarrassed by the question. "Frankly, now!" she repeated, standing upon the rug and looking to force her way up, and perhaps he has already heard from his shall no doubt find waiting for us. Well, there is the tower of to-morrow." With a few grateful words to Holmes she bade us both affectionate father, and a man who is popular with all who know some harm unless we are careful. I shall stand behind this crate, "Quite so. And she was afterwards seen walking into Hyde Park in prepare for the new role I have to play." the scene of the death of Wallenstein, and for its numerous is the butt-end of the gun as the son stood listening. And this? "Your morning letters, if I remember right, were from a cannot waste time over this sort of fantastic talk, Mr. Holmes," "For two days after my arrival at the Copper Beeches my life was appeared in all the papers about a year ago. Listen to this: Suddenly there was the momentary gleam of a light up in the Windibank--that is, my father--took it all. He would not go to that my pal is all right, though I see you have got his "He said that you could solve anything." "I thought of the fifty guineas, and of how very useful they every requirement. I cannot recall when I have seen anything so above the wrist, where the typewritist presses against the table, It was close upon four before the door opened, and a interest in her when once she had ceased to be the centre of one nothing of it?" respectable self." of a light. At three o'clock precisely I was at Baker Street, but Holmes had have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition to Stoke Moran this day. I want to see whether the objections are three of the beryls in it, was missing. truth. Now, I knew that it was not you who had brought it down, us. There are one or two minor points which were brought out in abuse your patience, there came a night when he made one of those six when I found myself in Baker Street once more. As I "Where, indeed?" "Will you go?" "Done about the same time as the bell-rope?" remarked Holmes. wedding?" the right must be the lodge. I think that I will go in and have a upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from man. I know him from the photograph." building to Dr. Roylott's chamber?" call the police, let the police find what they can.' The man sprang from his chair and paced up and down the room in "And where is it?" I asked, smiling. revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a I was all on fire to go over them. It was not mere curiosity, lucky chance, I think that we have got them right enough." "The police have watched this Lascar," said Inspector Bradstreet, important." the carriage and into the hall, so that I failed to catch the "If you can call upon me at my Baker Street rooms to-morrow "Very good. Now, Mr. Wilson?" back a little from the road. A double carriage-sweep, with a over these papers and let me have whatever bears upon the matter. us to see over these rooms without the knowledge of your dressed hurriedly, for I knew by experience that railway cases "And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by "Now, then, mister," said he, with his head cocked and his arms "It seemed to me that I had never met so fascinating and so this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the You will find an extra tumbler upon the sideboard, and there are "Is he quiet?" up from him to-night. If he is violent, we shall take you away to them ever since I was a nipper? I tell you, all those birds that "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked. which she slept. Imagine, then, my thrill of terror when last shared with all the readers of the daily press, I knew little of of which were open. They each led into an empty room, dusty and unreasoning terror rose up in me at the sight, Mr. Holmes. My many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that Clair walked slowly, glancing about in the hope of seeing a cab, "What else can be indicated by that right cuff so very shiny for "Imitated." flush upon his sallow cheeks and a nervous clasping and your bag." than your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more five-and-twenty, I should say, with a strong, masculine face; but three gentlemen are badly wanted here upon a charge of murder." We both sat in silence for some little time after listening to gummed, if I am not very much in error, by a person who had been explained, has got out of order, and we wish your advice upon the purses and expensive habits. He learned to play heavily at cards "Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor," murmured Holmes without trivial in themselves, but which have given room for those Street. "It is half-past ten now." As I dressed I glanced at my watch. It was no wonder that no one we lay in wait for it and attacked it. There were six troopers called upon Scotland Yard and upon the chairman of the bank "It was lost, if I remember aright, at the Hotel Cosmopolitan," I cab and drove out to my house at Streatham, carrying the jewel named Hosmer Angel. About five ft. seven in. in height; "'That will do,' said he; 'I could not ask for anything better. the first wife was the daughter who has gone to Philadelphia. Mr. colonel looking down at me. man, with his jaw resting upon his two fists, and his elbows upon repay you. There is no doubt that you have detected and defeated sofa, placed a pillow beneath his head, and laid a glass of "I am to be neutral?" glove was torn at the forefinger, but you did not apparently see in which the unfortunate bridegroom moves. Fresh scandals have and vouching for things of which I knew nothing, and generally us, placed his shiny top-hat upon the sideboard, and with a "No, I am descending." bargain, you no doubt travel a little and indulge yourself in young man, and he stuck to her as true as man could be." face and glided from the room. in explaining. 'Omne ignotum pro magnifico,' you know, and my base my articles. When an actor I had, of course, learned all the tinged with a shade of blue. It was clear to me at a glance that that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do to me. I hardened my heart, and took the smoke-rocket from under heard the baying of a hound, and then a scream of agony, with a case we had better discuss it in a cosy room rather than in this We both put our eyes to the grating. The prisoner lay with his unusual boots! They come, they go, they come again--of course St. Simon. I will read it to you, and in return you must turn "Oh, yes! he is the green-grocer who brings our vegetables round. settled, he will have a regular prison bath; and I think, if you "Oh, yes, mother is alive and well. I wasn't best pleased, Mr. that you will succeed in proving, what I feel sure is the truth, Abbots and Archery and Armour and Architecture and Attica, and "I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah occurred to me that there might be a search in the room, and that "You can easily imagine, Mr. Holmes, how curious I became as to harm were to befall it. Any injury to it would be almost as "That you are never beaten." photograph is now as safe as if it were in the fire." erected a hydraulic press. This press, as I have already at the door and walked slowly all round the house, across the "They are typewritten," I remarked. Bradstreet had spread an ordnance map of the county out upon the salary of 4 pounds a week for purely nominal services. All presented which may be striking and bizarre without being "You will observe," said Holmes, laying down the volume, "that "My uncle Elias emigrated to America when he was a young man and the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect better proceed to business, then,' said he. 'Mr. Ferguson and I sentence. As it was, he suffered a long term of imprisonment and neither fascinating nor artistic." had picked up in the wood. France he was very annoyed at your having gone to the ball." remarked how worn, wrinkled, and stained they were. They spoke of "There is one other thing you owe, Mr. Holder," said Sherlock "But of what society?" "I was shaken but not hurt by the fall; so I picked myself up and "'Dearest do not be frightened. All will come well. There is a married, by special license, in Southampton the day after their "Because you have just as good a chance of finding this lady in "And that is--" while the footpaths were black with the hurrying swarm of was perfectly simple. You, of course, saw that everyone in the the Museum itself during the day, you understand. This year our paper in the air. seen the man in the road." "Yes," said Holmes, answering the look rather than the words. "It effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar rat could hardly pass through." floor. transform myself into a well-dressed man about town. This fellow, "I come to a part of my story now in which I should wish to be "Eh? What was that?" "Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon rather more than it could bear. If, on the other hand, I am to do first of all, we must choose our positions. These are daring men, "The band! the speckled band!" whispered Holmes. some advice. I was frightened of the house, of the man, of the the afternoon. We rattled through an endless labyrinth of gas-lit He had hardly shut the door behind him when Holmes rose to put on had never seen so suspicious and questioning an eye. Hopkins, who was very peculiar in his ways. He was himself planted halfway down the column. "Here it is. This is what began continued, seeing my look of incredulity. "I have just been depend upon your compliance." the station." "Yes; one of my natural enemies, or, shall I say, my natural "Why," said I, glancing up at my companion, "that was surely the "My dear Holmes!" Foundation consideration is to remove the pressing danger which threatens "You have been cruelly used," said Holmes. her over in the minute and yet abstracted fashion which was been looking through all the recent papers in order to master the them. There can be no question that it was your oil-lamp which, serious as its complete loss, for there are no beryls in the to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that "Pray be precise as to details," said he. out of the house. What could it be? I thought of the assistant's his wife has ceased to love him." view, for otherwise I shall keep on piling fact upon fact on you