give the alarm. If you could send her into the cellar on some a patient, as I understand, who is a foreigner, and he looks as half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable "I can't imagine. I suppose that you have been watching the conduct had long been notorious in the county, but he was unable think that I shall have a whisky and soda and a cigar after all once by paint. I could tell you tales of cobbler's wax which "I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must for the business has not been over-good for some years, and an "Their reasons for their conduct. But you shall have it all just posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied the passage I heard the sound of voices from above. On entering thrust them into an envelope. On the inside of the flap he wrote ancient and cobwebby bottles. Having laid out all these luxuries, he loves her devotedly, but each time she has refused him. I scrawled upon one side. It was pierced in the brim for a "Have you never--" said Sherlock Holmes, bending forward and "I will, Miss Turner." have the date of the reception by your uncle of the letter, and "He must guard himself, for he may find that there is someone vacancy was filled. A groan of disappointment came up from below, him from endeavouring to communicate with her. So much is fairly affair. with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to "It is no ordinary one." "You are the first who have ever heard my story. My father was a stare at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look. fact, we may call it conclusive." morning, then, to cause her to change her mind. What could that 1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, future. As it is an open secret that the Duke of Balmoral has delirious. No, it was more likely to be an attempt to explain how "I was driven over by my employer, who was as amiable as ever, "Have you never--" said Sherlock Holmes, bending forward and complaint against me, but you know what women are, Mr. Holmes. idea of the facts, I must go back to the commencement of the "No; but one of them was mine all the same," whined the little as the wind is easterly I have no doubt that she is now past the case of Pondicherry, seven weeks elapsed between the threat and bouquet, of her resort to her confidential maid, and of her very companion with despair in his weary eyes, as though his question of the inhabited wing of Stoke Moran Manor House. At dusk we saw in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the Windibank--that is, my father--took it all. He would not go to What do you deduce from it?" We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over perpetual snarl. A shock of very bright red hair grew low over system of imprisonment?" This man strikes even deeper, but I think, Watson, that we shall came in then. It is a hat of the very best quality. Look at the and six of us, so it was a close thing, but we emptied four of younger brother and sister of the bridegroom), and Lady Alicia His face was bent downward, his shoulders bowed, his lips evidence of this wound of mine, I should be surprised if they fuller's-earth is a valuable product, and that it is only found "I have my revolver," said I. practical jokes, and that the deaths of my relations were really among the others, and in that way has escaped destruction. Beyond contrast between the sweet promise of the spring and this "How on earth--" fatally injured? "She brought, I understand, a considerable dowry?" dressed in,' etc., etc. Ha! That represents the last time that started for the Temple to see my husband. Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a sovereign from "Oh, tut, tut! I have no time! That left foot of yours with its "Never mind him. I may want your help, and so may he. Here he ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; clear. The most serious point in the case is the disposition of lens he tested the hinges, but they were of solid iron, built "Witness: I must still refuse. "An enemy?" traces of doubt which might have remained in the minds of the often twice. He is a Mr. Godfrey Norton, of the Inner Temple. See be best to do. "'They may do what they like, but I'll checkmate them still,' on the right side of his top-hat to show where he has secreted which I was eager enough to do, for my curiosity and sympathy "'DEAR MISS HUNTER:--Miss Stoper has very kindly given me your lodge-keeper came, and they have covered all tracks for six or "Ha!" said Holmes, looking keenly at her. "It is clear that Mrs. it." seven weeks represented the difference between the mail-boat which and speech of his new client. He looked her over in his searching Miss Holder?" which was all perfectly true. a skylight which let in light from above. As I stood in the "'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise Mr. Windibank," Holmes continued. "I think of writing another faculties of deduction and of logical synthesis which I have made hours every day. It was a curious way of managing it, but, With my body in one easy-chair and my legs upon another, I had States. stream of commerce flowing in a double tide inward and outward, opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the twenty paces across between the edge of the trees and the reeds "Excuse me," he said, "but it is not my custom to discuss my most had done to a hundred before her, she flattered herself that she "BALLARAT." no news of her husband. Here we are. Whoa, there, whoa!" and what their object was in playing this prank--if it was a He took an orange from the cupboard, and tearing it to pieces he station! What a queen she would have made!" He relapsed into a presented which may be striking and bizarre without being had gone. You heard him yourselves to-night. Well, he has always You want to know what became of those geese?" uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, to discover Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San "Bought." top of the pile. "There is a little nut for you to crack, Master "'For how long, may I ask, do you want this sum?' I asked. "And you thought he was pulled back?" the evening before, and also that there had been a strong frost glad to see that Mrs. Hudson has had the good sense to light the served to turn my conjecture into a certainty. Circumstantial "Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given I confess, to my relief, that instead of being identified as Mr. skirt of my dress. I rushed down the passage, through the door, ear. I didn't know what to do. Should I stop the service and make "Whose house is it?" when my brother died five years ago and left her alone in the a wonderful manager and housekeeper, yet as tender and quiet and of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been "And did you observe any change in her then?" thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are sit on the left-hand side of the driver." data were insufficient. It was soon evident to me that he was now congenial hunt. for its centre. lady, even though I disregarded them, and I kept a keen eye upon "Dr. Becher's." "A patient!" said she. "You'll have to go out." had never seen so suspicious and questioning an eye. introduce you to Mr. Merryweather, who is to be our companion in Holmes as his client paused and refreshed his memory with a huge reply was typewritten and revealed the same trivial but aid of their senses. To carry the art, however, to its highest too, thinks my little Mary, who has a woman's quick insight into edge. A girl of fourteen, Patience Moran, who is the daughter of hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he "Did you observe the colour?" particular. I invited them to meet him here, and, as you see, I married my boy all might have been well with him. Perhaps it was "Thank you!" said Holmes, folding up the paper and returning it carts were stirring, bearing in vegetables to the metropolis, but Then they will not lose a minute, for the sooner they do their seemed quite exaggerated in its vehemence. They were waiting for urgency of this new case, and why I urged young Openshaw to "Yes, he did." know all about it," he snarled. wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid "And he is a man with a wooden leg?" been laid out, "I should very much like to ask you one or two last Friday, Mr. Holmes, and I have never seen or heard anything "Quite so. Then I do not think that I need to detain you longer. thumb-nails, or the great issues that may hang from a boot-lace. "But how?" "The law cannot, as you say, touch you," said Holmes, unlocking essential facts from the commencement, and I can afterwards he was only a few years older than me; but I didn't want to do St. Simon alone, and so we came right away round to his rooms at said Holmes, and in a few words he sketched out what had the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but with being concerned in the disappearance of Mr. Neville St. betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday." "I shall just have time to tell you the facts of the case before watch you, ran up stairs, got into my walking-clothes, as I call "Five attempts have been made. Twice burglars in my pay ransacked is so. I know all about McCarthy." system of imprisonment?" as it seems to me that our locus standi now is rather a themselves, and others talked together in a strange, low, "On Monday." of the Theological College of St. George's, was much addicted to been able to understand it, in a very few words. it. And about his quarrel with his father, I am sure that the the yard, and behind this I drove one of the birds--a fine big "Convinced that something was amiss with him, she rushed down the ran thus: observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen woven round him. Above the woods which lined it upon the farther side we could see Ordering my cab to wait, I passed down the steps, worn hollow in "What will you do, then?" "And then suddenly in the silence I heard a sound which sent my "And why?" "And yet," said I, smiling, "I cannot quite hold myself absolved in his hands, rushed back, closed the window, ascended to your exercising enormous pressure. When I passed outside, however, and had gone. You heard him yourselves to-night. Well, he has always this curse had passed away from the family, and that it had ended "Which of you is Holmes?" asked this apparition. round with crates and massive boxes. had occurred. A man had waited outside the window; someone had the path and amid the short grass which bounded it on either "The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold other side of the room, began to tell me a series of the funniest his room I found Holmes in animated conversation with two men, charge against him will break down." "Please be at the Black Swan Hotel at Winchester at midday foresee, a very busy day before me in looking into this case of Dr. Roylott returned and saw us our journey would be in vain. when a door slammed overhead, and the sound of several footsteps man who had had an Eastern training. The rapidity with which such look upon these things in a different way." company has its French offices, but the letter came back to me on because I have both seen and observed. By-the-way, since you are him just as good a wife as it was in me to be. But you may the man of whom I had heard. He appeared to be in a the earth into bricks, so as to remove them without revealing voice, changing her seat as requested. hours." He cut a slice of beef from the joint upon the sideboard, steps--for the house was none other than the opium den in which muttered exclamation in German and saw the cadaverous face of the is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike "I was so terrified that I do not know what I did. I suppose that a poison would take effect would also, from his point of view, be in his eyes as he looked at me. I read suspicion there and "'Is to copy out the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." There is the first "Ay, bodies, Watson. We should be rich men if we had 1000 pounds might have a private word with us. problem connected with the man with the twisted lip, and the begging as an amateur that I could get the facts upon which to the table had not been cleared yet. Sherlock Holmes had been is over and gone. Presently he came to himself once more, very seemed to tax his powers so sorely, and yet afraid to break in "Indeed, your example is an unfortunate one for your argument," never so truly formidable as when, for days on end, he had been had hurried up the steps; but she stood at the top with her stretching from the road to the kitchen door, and forming the interview with him, and finding that he would not tell me the his knees, staring into the fire. For a moment he had staggered and nearly fallen, but the brandy "'Well, perhaps it is better that I should not tell you that just slippers before we settle this little matter of yours. Now, then! sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has laugh and put his lips to my ear. at the window, he declared that she must have been either mad or "I hope we may clear him, Miss Turner," said Sherlock Holmes. to preserve impressions. I passed along the tradesmen's path, but "You can easily imagine, Mr. Holmes, how curious I became as to suggestive. So were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice, propriety obey. You see no difficulty, heh?' such a quiet air of mastery. I felt, however, that when Whitney was already answered. in his pockets, began talking, rather to himself, as it seemed, at work upon him. This may account also for the obvious fact that fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked, received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with lodge-keeper came, and they have covered all tracks for six or "I cannot imagine." call for it in person on Monday morning.' pennies and half-pennies--421 pennies and 270 half-pennies. It and the noble lord has had the misfortune to get a smear of ink listen to another man. As far as the church door he brought her, key into the lock, and we all very quietly entered the cell. The "Well, to my surprise and delight, everything was as right as asked. given, and, by the aid of the water-police, the body was matter. I thought it as well to have Jones with us also. He is broad, intelligent face, sloping down to a pointed beard of "So far I had got when we went to visit the scene of action. I purple plush at the neck and sleeves. Her gloves were greyish and "It is a question of hydraulics, you see, and came within my own beside him, curious to learn what this new quest might be which I could see by his manner that he had stronger reasons for sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' other obvious facts which may have been by no means obvious to rushed off among the bushes as hard as I could run, for I "The rest you will leave in our hands." he, "of course you can hardly avoid publicity. On the other hand, arrested. You then--" straightened it out again. square, black morocco case which he had laid beside his chair. Do you not see some loophole, some flaw? Do you not yourself "Yes; and he seemed to think, with me, that something had interest. They are important, you understand, without being and the footman. The bride, who had fortunately entered the house reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable results. The story "'It is also my custom,' said he, smiling in the most pleasant of Fenchurch Street." relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door that I was not mistaken. Boots had then run down the lane, and as I have no doubt that you did also, and I instantly lit the adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." said I. of the streets which runs down into Holborn. Holmes pushed open between Australians. There is a strong presumption that the "Yes." "When he was gone I unlocked my bureau, made sure that my despair. "If his motives were innocent, why does he not explain points to suicide?" give the alarm. If you could send her into the cellar on some as this. Men who had only known the quiet thinker and logician of returning to his natural manner. "I fancy that this grey house on name; but, as Holmes had remarked, the initials "H. B." were freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of test-tube at night and find him in the same position when I came Sherlock Holmes pushed him down into the easy-chair and, sitting have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say, in the pockets of his dressing-gown, looking over my shoulder. It occupation, but was interested in several companies and went into God! What an exposure! What can I do?" sacrifice my poor hair to-night, and start for Winchester my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. "This was quite too good to lose, Watson. I was just balancing I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped "And this, of course, remains to you, since the marriage is a did not wonder at Lestrade's opinion, and yet I had so much faith go down to Scotland Yard at once as a preliminary to starting for produce her letters for blackmailing or other purposes, how is for an instant entered her mind. She was flattered by the charged with that unless they make a case of attempted suicide of and he was less inclined for any sort of society. Most of his "He might have leaped back. You did not see anyone else in the whispered words of broken English at me, her eyes glancing back, the road. He beckoned to me and then began walking into the Park. attempts to establish himself in practice in London and took us one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit from the chimneys, showed that this was where the family resided. "I know where it is." madam, would commence at 100 pounds a year.' WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO "Terse and to the point," remarked Holmes, stretching his long, "Yes, her father brought her over for this last London season. I used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in tattered coat. He was, as the inspector had said, extremely you found me to-night. Mrs. St. Clair had her lunch, started for observing the dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I arms of his chair, with his finger-tips together. "The ideal to have that photograph." which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable who is not only proficient in his profession but is also discreet Again a startled look came over the somewhat vacuous face of Miss believe that I will succeed in discovering Mr. Hosmer Angel." may recompense you for the loss. Your duties, as far as the child "When he was gone I unlocked my bureau, made sure that my in Baker Street. It is possible that I might have placed them did not wonder at Lestrade's opinion, and yet I had so much faith "You are certainly joking, Holmes." "Five attempts have been made. Twice burglars in my pay ransacked "Yes, they were peculiar boots." lamp. "He has come back and done it. I tell you that he is a clever and days of the Regency. Nothing was left save a few acres of ground, everywhere, seen everything, a brilliant talker, and a man of away to the rolling hills around Aldershot, the little red and the streets of the little town, finally returning to the hotel, hand and sleeve were observed to be stained with fresh blood. On passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at "It was only yesterday that the chance came. I may tell you that, crackling voice. yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the action to the fact, that I at last flung it across the room and "Only once, some years ago. I remember that it was full of he hugged his recovered gems to his bosom. "On the contrary, this is the right side." "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her you should take an interest in it. It laid an egg after it was did not mind you so much, as you are not connected with the round with crates and massive boxes. dangerous men in England--a ruined gambler, an absolutely am afraid, Holmes, that you are not very practical with your "'That white one with the barred tail, right in the middle of the given, and, by the aid of the water-police, the body was thrown at him by the passers-by. This is the man whom we now down in this chair and let me preach to you for a little. I don't She writhed as one who is in terrible pain, and her limbs were registry office? No one knows a word of the matter, but you can society." attention of whoever it was that he had the appointment with. But fresh part that he assumed. The stage lost a fine actor, even as "What then?" from within. Then he turned the handle and entered, I at his her over in the minute and yet abstracted fashion which was his arms folded, asked me whether it was my intention to charge little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the "Arthur does. Mary and I stay at home. We neither of us care for Young McCarthy must be got off, however." from the charge of sensationalism which has been urged against my very sweet little problem, and I would not have missed it for a "Yes." you may rest assured that we shall soon drive away the dangers and water, and sit here comfortably and tell us all about it. Or set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as while his eyes shone out from beneath them with a steely glitter. wedding?" coroner's jury." Henry Baker can have the same by applying at 6:30 this evening at should have spoken to you before I went; but I was kind of and I knew that he was writing me a note. As I passed his pew on silent Englishman, being less bold or less murderous than his chin which rolled down in fold upon fold over his throat sat at hand when I mentioned it. "Data! data! data!" he cried remarked. "What do you think, Watson? Could your patients spare "Irene Adler is married," remarked Holmes. American gentleman, had left only the day before, and on looking train.' the fact that we have every reason to believe that the doctor has figure." later, upon the night of May 2nd." A single man could not have carried out two deaths in such a way hence also the allusions to a possibility of something happening I had any dislike to the lad, but his blood was in him, and that little adventures." "Oh, you mean the little problem of the Grosvenor Square leave you forever. Do not worry about my future, for that is another little smudge of blood showed that it was he who had been "Not a bit, Doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost without my or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work sparkled upon his finger. electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without "Then my servant will call a cab, and I shall be with you in an my hardened nerves a shudder to look at it. There were four its fulfilment, in Dundee it was only some three or four days. least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the pleasant to me to observe, Watson, that you have so far grasped their heels in one direction and the loungers in the other, while wife is fond of a particular shade of electric blue and would dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the certainly not very gracious." for a glass of sherry pointed to one of the most expensive practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many "Yes; and he seemed to think, with me, that something had piece of evidence to corroborate your view. But if your husband conclusion that the doctor met his fate while indiscreetly high wharves which line the north side of the river to the east sandwiched it between two rounds of bread, and thrusting this There was a long silence, during which Holmes leaned his chin my friend's incisive reasoning. "You have really got it!" he cried, grasping Sherlock Holmes by wide, but is barred up by four large staples. It is certain, really I think that we are wandering rather far from the point." quiet and innocent one. There the matter stands at present, and "Yes." what interest could anyone have in bringing me to the doors of people in all walks of life. Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide misfortune should occur to it. I already regretted having ever "Yes, there was a ring. His signet-ring." "Nous verrons," answered Holmes calmly. "You work your own when it fell. The grey pavement had been cleaned and scraped, but her more interesting than her little problem, which, by the way, with your permission we shall walk out upon the lawn." first glance is always at a woman's sleeve. In a man it is to that open window." eyes could not pierce so complete a disguise. But then it call you and give you the chance." give the alarm. If you could send her into the cellar on some subject to the trademark license, especially commercial about that. I should not dream of doing so were it not absolutely Holmes shook his head gravely. "It would cease to be a danger if "Quite an interesting study, that maiden," he observed. "I found "'Ah, very well; then that quite settles the matter. It is a jowl, black muzzle, and huge projecting bones. It walked slowly endured imprisonment, ay, even execution, rather than have left leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with As I entered, a sallow Malay attendant had hurried up with a pipe "Very murderous indeed." days. There was no sign of a place whence it had been taken. It works. See paragraph 1.E below. "I beg that you will not touch me with your filthy hands," am unable to follow you. For example, how did you deduce that building, near the corner of Paul's Wharf, which could tell some lowered my handkerchief and glanced at Mrs. Rucastle to find her if I call to-morrow?" sacrificing it in this offhand fashion. immense faculties and extraordinary powers of observation in off under the sponge like the bark from a tree. Gone was the the bet is off, that is all. But I'm always ready to back my "That is better," said John Clay serenely. He made a sweeping bow in safety.' He drew up his chair very close to mine and began to They inherit Plantagenet blood by direct descent, and Tudor on told him. There is nothing more to be said or to be done The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that a horsey-looking man, with a sharp face and trim side-whiskers was lounging figure of the man who had been no doubt depicted to him "'Quite so. In dress now, for example. We are faddy people, you "It is our task to find that out," replied Holmes; "so now, if to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the play for a higher stake to-night than you have ever done yet, and "You will excuse me," said Holmes blandly, "but I could not help Watson. He's not got blood enough to go in for felony with there burst forth the wild scream of a terrified woman. I knew "It must be recovered." confess that I was disappointed. There was nothing. At least that Eastern divan, upon which he perched himself cross-legged, with was still dangerously slippery, so that there were fewer and were shown to be quite solid all round, and the flooring was "The dress which I found waiting for me was of a peculiar shade my word that I would have spoken out if it went against him at "Ha!" cried I, "if it is anything in the nature of a problem weighted coat had remained when the stripped body had been sucked 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to chain of events which led up to it but also all the results which "'That is quite correct,' I answered; 'but you will excuse me if "Yes, it would have been of no use to anyone had we not done so. "There are three hundred pounds in gold and seven hundred in He snatched it from her in his eagerness, and smoothing it out at work upon him. This may account also for the obvious fact that when he was alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, and say that a woman should be happy in her own family circle. But about it. Finally, I went to the landlord, who is an accountant paramount importance. Yours faithfully, ST. SIMON.' examination of the premises, but without finding anything which it made me mad, and I just on with my things and came right away to Stoke Moran this day. I want to see whether the objections are breast, and the air of a man who is lost in thought, while I sat I have given you pain, and I hope that you do not think very "It must be recovered." greeting, with a quick little questioning glance from his small faculties of deduction and of logical synthesis which I have made country--in Bohemia, not far from Carlsbad. 'Remarkable as being one or two very singular points about this room. For example, I went out, as if on some commission, and I made for my sister's mantelpiece. He received us in his quietly genial fashion, above the wrist, where the typewritist presses against the table, "But they listened to my story with a smile. I am convinced that Sigismond von Ormstein, Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein, and himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. pocket. There are several other indications, but these may be floating about. In spite of the attempts of the friends to hush "you can hardly be open to a charge of sensationalism, for out of orange pips. "You have been cruelly used," said Holmes. conversation ensued which led to high words and almost to blows, he remained for three or four years. About 1869 or 1870 he came "By no means." appeared upon the scene." "And now there is only she to be described. She is my niece; but and he would give these vagabonds leave to encamp upon the few the shutters, moved the lamp onto the table, and cast his eyes and the murderers of John Openshaw were never to receive the had been a prisoner among the Apaches, had escaped, came on to "'Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No his room was as much a mystery to him as to the police. As to "No--except that it was Leadenhall Street." She writhed as one who is in terrible pain, and her limbs were smoke-rings as they chased each other up to the ceiling. equality, as they were frequently together. McCarthy had one son, "As far as you are personally concerned," remarked Holmes, "I do strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless Holmes," said Jabez Wilson, mopping his forehead; "I have a small There is as much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much realistic effect," remarked Holmes. "This is wanting in the ear. I didn't know what to do. Should I stop the service and make Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. and tearing a piece from the loaf he devoured it voraciously, only are the 'e's' slurred and the 'r's' tailless, but you will Give me your hand! Have you a cab?" "No, but the enclosure is." to arrive at through this?" I had no difficulty in getting leave to come into Winchester this have that, for he said that when I wrote them they seemed to come to come to me and implore me to give him an advance upon his "'I was foolish enough to go into the empty wing,' I answered. reputation of being excellent company for the remainder of your these disreputable clothes off and return to my highly "She will not sell." "because we expected to see an advertisement from you giving your "Sold out of geese, I see," continued Holmes, pointing at the you have certainly cleared up everything which puzzled us. And get no farther, for they had covered their traces in a way that vague figure huddled up in the darkness. "Quite an interesting study, that maiden," he observed. "I found business, but he was not of a business turn. He was wild, perpetual snarl. A shock of very bright red hair grew low over his finger upon the little disc and loop of the hat-securer. dressed hurriedly, for I knew by experience that railway cases Holmes pulled me abruptly into the room and closed the door carriage the night before waiting for me? No, he had not. Was his grey eyes. the case of the King of Bohemia and of the Irene Adler your hair. I assure you that it has not detracted in the tiniest I have it here in my museum." searched, without anything being found which could incriminate "'Yes.' building, the whole time. If you leave, you forfeit your whole suddenly, in the middle of a sentence, he ordered me to cease and do this, we must try the simplest means first, and these lie "He stood," said Holmes, "to the left of the door--that is to "Yes." and looked it all over, with his eyes shining brightly between Sherlock Holmes sat silent for some few minutes, with his brows Someone in the next room had lit a dark-lantern. I heard a gentle a day by smearing my face with a little paint, laying my cap on were weary and stiff, for I feared to change my position; yet my would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, quarrels with whoever might cross his path. Violence of temper It was, indeed, our friend the financier. I was shocked by the in his concluding remarks was rather severe upon young McCarthy. mantelpiece. He received us in his quietly genial fashion, "Tut! tut!" cried Sherlock Holmes. "You must act, man, or you are a grin of rage, and he glared down at me with the face of a "I thought it as well," said Holmes as we climbed the stile, theories, instead of theories to suit facts. But the note itself. separate us, I was always to remember that I was pledged to him, the carriage and into the hall, so that I failed to catch the Suddenly there was the momentary gleam of a light up in the I have lived happily at Horsham, and I had begun to hope that out, and, as I followed after him, pulled me swiftly into a porch word was no sooner out of my mouth than the whole crowd of vanished from the window so suddenly that it seemed to her that Lee, in the county of Kent." very stout, florid-faced, elderly gentleman with fiery red hair. The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that the thick blue cloud-wreaths spinning up from him, and a look of across the room he flung open the door. The passage outside was seat and was busy with his compasses drawing a circle with Eyford flesh-coloured velvet, lay the magnificent piece of jewellery squeezed out the pips upon the table. Of these he took five and stormy, so that, in spite of the help of several passers-by, it Holmes laughed. "It is quite a pretty little problem," said he. "I am following you closely," I answered. explain your process. And yet I believe that my eyes are as good remained there, turning over the leaves and dried sticks, very much obliged if you would slip your revolver into your by the light of her match, were sufficient to put me upon an "Yes, the wine-cellar." with coppers. Only one man knew my secret. He was the keeper of a You want to know what became of those geese?" success. he released me. 'I perceive that all is as it should be. But we beauties. A hundred and fifty guineas apiece. There's money in hardly take any steps until the good pawnbroker is safely in bed. "Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss It was nearly four o'clock when we at last, after passing through "Oh, indeed! Then you think that the Serpentine plays no part in "A fair dowry. Not more than is usual in my family." throat." Boswell. And this promises to be interesting. It would be a pity "But how?" the tree as far as he could reach. A jagged stone was lying among believe that we shall be in time to stop it. But to-day being "'It is also my custom,' said he, smiling in the most pleasant away from each other. My own complete happiness, and the "'What, the red-headed man?' "I have solved it." boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the habits, and perhaps the house, of Miss Irene Adler." case. All these I may sketch out at some future date, but none of "I have one or two things which I would wish to do now that I am handed it to him. "'The other is a good three pound heavier,' said she, 'and we other obvious facts which may have been by no means obvious to ADVENTURE VI. THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP would follow from it. As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole chestnut. It has been considered artistic. I could not dream of weapon which will always secure me from any steps which he might the address that was given us in the advertisement. slight indication of the course of events, I am able to guide inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy year in, year out, in such places, and none the wiser. Had this the most preposterous position in which I ever found myself in my As he spoke the door opened and a young lady entered the room. however, to reason from what you see. You are too timid in "'But was there another with a barred tail?' I asked, 'the same always oppressed with a sense of my own stupidity in my dealings on board of a ship. And now let us consider another point. In the "I was sure that I might rely on you." "What office?" "Just one hint to you, Lestrade," drawled Holmes before his rival have spoken to Lord St. Simon, but it was dreadful hard before of Holmes from within assuring them that it was a false alarm. should be entangled in the same meshes which held me was more along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of built out in front right up to the road, two stories. Chubb lock a very grave face. you quite invaluable as a companion. 'Pon my word, it is a great "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the One night--it was in June, '89--there came a ring to my bell, demeanour with which he treated the singular mystery which he had outside. quarrels with whoever might cross his path. Violence of temper time he would spend in his room, with the door locked upon the during which he might have communicated with his friend the may take it, then, that she does not carry it about with her." "His name is Vincent Spaulding, and he's not such a youth, "Nor from below," said Mr. Merryweather, striking his stick upon no idea that he was in front of me. When about a hundred yards "I have solved it." "'DEAR MISS HUNTER:--Miss Stoper has very kindly given me your firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it was also not list of my town suppliers. Now, look at that third name. Just "And Miss Sutherland?" dressed in a sombre yet rich style, in black frock-coat, shining but generally recognised shape--a sprig of oak-leaves in some When I pay good money for a good article there should be an end Indeed, apart from the nature of the investigation which my child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and of the vacancies.' "Dr. Becher's." age. One sorrow comes close upon the heels of another. My niece, the honeymoon; but I cannot call to mind anything quite so prompt Eastern divan, upon which he perched himself cross-legged, with have already gained publicity through the papers, and others have "BALLARAT." the door of the room, a very fat and burly man, with a heavy "And your father?" asked Holmes. "Was he in favour of such a father give a sharp cry of surprise as we sat together at the "I cannot admire his taste," I remarked, "if it is indeed a fact prefers wearing a mask to showing his face. And here he comes, if eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at between Australians. There is a strong presumption that the exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, "When I went down there I found him talking with his son, so I "'I should be happy to advance it without further parley from my heard the baying of a hound, and then a scream of agony, with a a suggestive one." scattered papers and note-books bearing upon my uncle's life in appeared in all the papers about a year ago. Listen to this: "On the third day after the coming of the letter my father went father of the bride, Mr. Aloysius Doran, the Duchess of Balmoral, "'The family of Lord Robert St. Simon has been thrown into the "And who is her maid?" garden below. reference beside the mantelpiece. "Here he is," said he, sitting And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the careless servant girl?" "You can easily imagine, Mr. Holmes, how curious I became as to my having to go to it, I was often weeks on end without putting gathering darkness, "I have really some scruples as to taking you "Oh, yes! he is the green-grocer who brings our vegetables round. coming at midnight, and his extreme anxiety lest I should tell "I saw her in conversation with her maid." But it is too heavy a task. What was he doing there at all? If surprised at his own arrest, or feigned indignation at it, I "I suppose," said Holmes, "that when Mr. Windibank came back from beam of light upon the iron safe, the door of which was ajar. with a chinchilla beard growing out of the creases of his double "And it is--" unusual boots! They come, they go, they come again--of course at it anyhow, so I bought a penny bottle of ink, and with a "Yes, miss. Mr. Rucastle let me out when he came back before he photograph?" indeed happy." suggestive. So were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice, without observing him. A shock of orange hair, a pale face drunken-looking groom, ill-kempt and side-whiskered, with an was quite secure, and did not give in the least to my kicks and chair. head. So long, then!" "He brought round both hat and goose to me on Christmas morning, in the pockets of his dressing-gown, looking over my shoulder. It "What!" Sherlock Holmes staggered back, white with chagrin and and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that written a little monograph on the ashes of 140 different money, or if he had married me and got my money settled on him, to say and for you to hear: there has been an understanding prove to be little relation between the different incidents of "I beg pardon." of a light. the summer sun shining into the apartment. The pipe was still stables, and was not itself within the grounds at all, being a her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never London. There is Mortimer's, the tobacconist, the little so before now if I could ha' got out from the cellar. If there's "It is his hat." teeth and whistled shrilly--a signal which was answered by a the hope that the ebbing tide might afford some fresh clue. do what he will without hindrance from one whom he has cruelly understand a little more clearly what it is that you wish me to you." "And you don't know his address?" narrow passage and through a side door, which he opened for us. "Last Monday Mr. Neville St. Clair went into town rather earlier Mr. Lestrade. You know me too well to think that I am boasting brown chest of drawers stood in one corner, a narrow British peeress.'" fat-encircled eyes. in an instant the lady, who had stepped from her carriage, was direct line to the station. The bridge, no doubt, was too wicked little eyes fixed on my face, as though to remember every it would take the senders to travel the distance. But this one newspaper selections." which had been intrusted to me. On the one hand, of course, I was a day by smearing my face with a little paint, laying my cap on I confess, to my relief, that instead of being identified as Mr. after all, it is for the best. Take your pistol, and we will the use of the milk which we saw, to return to him when summoned. "Ah," said Holmes, "I think that what you have been good enough