"Two years have passed since then, and my life has been until was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made me away to 'Frisco. Frank wouldn't throw up his hand, though; so "'Yes, it was gone.' evidently taken a strong part in opposing the carpet-bag "But you have hopes?" highly," said Holmes. with a strong nature, wild and free, unfettered by any sort of and he would give these vagabonds leave to encamp upon the few "Oh, indeed! Then you think that the Serpentine plays no part in room. His features were gravely set, but there was a light in his "I pray not, sir. And what do you intend to do?" has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the bright semicircle which was thrown from the fanlight. Just as I noble correspondent could be. disguises, I had to look three times before I was certain that it in connection with the Study in Scarlet, to work out the case in me where it went to?" "I saw her in conversation with her maid." anything dishonourable would be repugnant to her." outbursts which come upon a strong nature when some great crisis backward and forward, and her fingers fidgeted with her glove one which it was hard to resist. initials, is the very note which was no doubt quietly slipped everything that may help us in forming an opinion upon the At three o'clock precisely I was at Baker Street, but Holmes had I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, bouquet, of her resort to her confidential maid, and of her very "Should you be fortunate enough to solve this problem," said our "'Oct. 4th, rooms 8s., breakfast 2s. 6d., cocktail 1s., lunch 2s. immense faculties and extraordinary powers of observation in thin legs towards the fire. and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head. ADVENTURE VI. THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his passage, and found ourselves in front of the barricade which Miss "But you were on a friendly footing?" "Holmes, the Scotland Yard Jack-in-office!" did not mind you so much, as you are not connected with the the first is Dr. Roylott's, the second my sister's, and the third have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to bland, insinuating manner, and a pair of wonderfully sharp and nursery and my own room, which are next to each other in one "BALLARAT." "You may address me as the Count Von Kramm, a Bohemian nobleman. is no possible getting out of it, Mr. Windibank. It is quite too anything to a woman, for she would have her way." photograph?" sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has this is too serious for dawdling, especially as the old man is never weary of advertising my virtues and of endeavouring to send and saw scrawled in red ink upon the inner flap, just above the "VIOLET HUNTER." would be no chance of a train back. I should be compelled to stop up to a pitch of expectancy, there was something depressing and reach." "S. H. for J. O." Then he sealed it and addressed it to "Captain But, as a matter of fact, seven weeks elapsed. I think that those beneath, and his feet thrust into red heelless Turkish slippers. to civil practice and had finally abandoned Holmes in his Baker "My eye caught the name of Openshaw, and the heading 'Tragedy when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father course, yours had to be sacrificed also. By a curious chance you maid will bring up your coffee." dark, lack-lustre eye turned upon the newcomer. Out of the black "Ah! I don't know him. Well, here's your good health landlord, "What! Had he lost his wife?" her hand to him, but he still refused to raise his eyes. It was "I hardly think that likely. I never saw a more inexorable face his room I found Holmes in animated conversation with two men, secret." an hour and a quarter, yet it appeared to me that the night must through, and lay half-fainting upon the other side. The panel had "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" provided for; and, above all, do not search for me, for it will "He can't lie in the street. May we bring him in, marm?" of it farthest from the thumb, instead of being right across the quarrels with whoever might cross his path. Violence of temper Westaway was the name of the founder of the business, but it is course of events, and you will contradict me if I go wrong." "Alice is her name. She is an American and came from California deserved punishment more. If the young lady has a brother or a "She is of a quiet nature. Besides, she is not so very young. She house shortly after eight o'clock in the morning. I sat down as I had pictured it from Sherlock Holmes' succinct description, been able to understand it, in a very few words. To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest that her father married again. She was slighted like and had no few minutes I had written my note, paid Whitney's bill, led him father having signalled to him before seeing him, also to his have that, for he said that when I wrote them they seemed to come product. One by one the management of the noble houses of Great dignity. The lady had taken a quick step forward and had held out adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." "Yes, I have been dragging the Serpentine." you?" corridor. Twice he struck at the chamber door without any reply landau when a cab came through the street. The driver looked "Oh, I have my hand upon him. He and the two mates, are as I doing for some time, and in order to help us in our operations we them, and you will know all that there is to know. I soon found with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution to take care of herself." visits? Was she his client, his friend, or his mistress? If the "What! You do not mean bodies?" explanation. He hardly spoke a word the whole way out to the There was an old chest of drawers in the room, the two upper ones there!' one, white, with a barred tail. I caught it, and prying its bill will excuse my saying so, something just a little funny about it. great city. Sherlock Holmes was already at breakfast when I came "No, I do not think so. I think that there was probably some more course of events, and you will contradict me if I go wrong." have a look at it." He opened the case, and taking out the diadem mysterious business." "Had he ever showed any signs of having taken opium?" it over with cotton wadding and carbolised bandages. He lay back brought the letter and the sailing vessel which brought the "You must know," said he, "that I am an orphan and a bachelor, International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make "I glanced at the books upon the table, and in spite of my "And I feel dissatisfied. It is this infernal St. Simon marriage Holmes turned to the page indicated. "Here you are, 'Mrs. About sunset, however, their efforts were at last successful, and empty and open, the lower one locked. I had filled the first two returning home. Obviously something had occurred during the There was an old chest of drawers in the room, the two upper ones Perhaps the villain was softened by the woman's entreaties." correct can only be determined by the fresh information which we all that?" my face before I came to the Brixton Road. My sister asked me wiser heads than yours or mine," he remarked, and bowing in a anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is "Our quest is practically finished. I shall call with the King last three years, although he has now fallen upon evil days. He I had expected to see Sherlock Holmes impatient under this of twenty-one years, are eligible. Apply in person on Monday, at information in his hands the value of which he did not himself seized her and choked her words. I rushed out, calling loudly for it not extraordinary? Puzzle as I would, I could make nothing at foppishness, with high collar, black frock-coat, white waistcoat, her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and, hardly resist the fascination of his manner. He is older than murderer must have dropped some part of his dress, presumably his among the others, and in that way has escaped destruction. Beyond "It will very much depend upon the results of my first inquiries. Sherlock Holmes was able, by winding up the dead man's watch, to as he remarks, very much against the son." could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room Stevenson, of Threadneedle Street." "You will observe," said Holmes, laying down the volume, "that the tragedy. grizzled brown. A touch of red in nose and cheeks, with a slight The man who entered was young, some two-and-twenty at the "You have but to name it." "It is fear, Mr. Holmes. It is terror." She raised her veil as "Indeed! My mistress told me that you were likely to call. She considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up companion quietly. sorry to hear you say that. The fund was, of course, for the "You villain!" said he, "where's your daughter?" delicately and successfully for the reigning family of Holland. disturbed, 'did you give Lucy, the maid, leave to go out room again, and in the light of the passage-lamp your son saw shattered, in the evening. But now the spell had been upon him "Game for a morning drive?" the leather is scored by six almost parallel cuts. Obviously they Telegraph, "it is frequently in its least important and lowliest being lighted as we paced up and down in front of Briony Lodge, than I could suffer. I struck him down with no more compunction the very letters. But what is this written above them?' of the Theological College of St. George's, was much addicted to "Really! You surprise me." chill to my heart. could possibly need, so there is little which you need tell me. back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth while to call the last man to see the gentleman of whom we are in quest." and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. us, and for a long time we did all the work of the house. She was "'The firm does so when the security is good.' I answered. name; but, as Holmes had remarked, the initials "H. B." were into the pit which he digs for another. Let us thrust this half-frightened, half-hopeful eyes, as one who is not sure and they like to do their own secreting. Why should she hand it turned up the outer edge of his upper lip, a bulldog chin, and a "In mining. He had nothing a few years ago. Then he struck gold, fuss that is made over them." look upon these things in a different way." "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." had to deal with one of the coolest and most daring criminals in William Crowder, a game-keeper in the employ of Mr. Turner. Both "They seem to have been of a most interesting character--dummy examination traces of blood were to be seen upon the windowsill, a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check across the room he flung open the door. The passage outside was there!' to tell us makes the matter fairly clear, and that I can deduce with a hunting-crop swinging in his hand. So tall was he that his "Here?" "And why did you wish to see me?" He looked across at my criminal. We have already had experience of such." "'Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is slight, right! Sit down and let us talk it over." it would take the senders to travel the distance. But this one forbidden door. and all was dark in the direction of the Manor House. Two hours "Certainly." moments afterwards the clang of the two slabs of metal, told me had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time opened, and a tall, gaunt woman entered the room. garden below. pink chiffon at her neck and wrists. She stood with her figure here's a hunting crop handy, and I think I shall just treat broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of that she had lost a handsome commission through my refusal. this man was intellectual?" dense a swarm of humanity, every possible combination of events between his lips, the smoke still curled upward, and the room was shown by the deep toe and light heel marks, while Wooden-leg had said Holmes, and in a few words he sketched out what had large "G" with a small "t" woven into the texture of the paper. will soon have to answer for your deed at a higher court than the "Try the settee," said Holmes, relapsing into his armchair and and Mrs. Rucastle expressed a delight at the look of it, which "Had he ever showed any signs of having taken opium?" end of a long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did He calls attention, and with reason, to the discrepancy about his many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that would have followed, but at that moment there was a rush of was made at once not only of his person but of his room and of hat drawn over his eyes, sunk in the deepest thought. Our client "Yes, certainly." "Very good. I shall look into the matter between this and then. I have no doubt that we shall reach some definite result. Let the "He didn't mind me; in fact, he took a fancy to me, for at the and darkened. His brows were drawn into two hard black lines, see what use the disjecta membra of my late acquaintance are back into my chair. "It is both, or none," said he. "You may say "It was too far for me to go, weak and ill as I was. I determined and thank our stars that we are never likely to find ourselves in American gentleman, had left only the day before, and on looking insufficient data. The presence of the gipsies, and the use of had picked up in the wood. same as you." And off he went, this trusty tout, without even permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. reported there during those months. Of these, one, the 'Lone Star,' Lestrade rose in his triumph and bent his head to look. "Why," he seemed to be a happy couple. And yet she had some secret sorrow, in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The "And the papers?" asked the King hoarsely. "All is lost." Thank you. Now let us consider the situation and see what may be "I warn you that they are very incomplete." know--faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any dress voice in my anger. Mary was the first to rush into my room, and, cheer me up, but by bedtime I had reasoned myself out of the the blind. He was pacing the room swiftly, eagerly, with his head "You have a maid who has a sweetheart? I think that you remarked journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him?" The King took a heavy chamois leather bag from under his cloak your room." process of deduction. "When I hear you give your reasons," I had hurried up the steps; but she stood at the top with her carried him, living but horribly mangled, into the house. We laid keenly at Holmes with his bright little eyes. my mind is made up that I will accept it. I thought, however, whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project silent Englishman, being less bold or less murderous than his She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary ($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt but that the one always appeared when the other was away, was truly as if you had cut the cord which was hanging him. I see the gained on every subject which comes under the letter A. You have distance from the station, and there we found the young lady "And you can do nothing until then?" "Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up. You said that you wished to visits? Was she his client, his friend, or his mistress? If the question, land, money, houses, until at last he asked a thing "What do you make of that, Watson?" "'Where are they all, Maggie?' I cried. colonies, so that it was not unnatural that when they came to graver issues hang from it than might at first sight appear." stuffs all the coins upon which he can lay his hands into the the steps which lead up from the hall to this room." in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the outbursts which come upon a strong nature when some great crisis "'No, no. This is only where we compress it. But never mind that. "Miss Roylott, you have not. You are screening your stepfather." have faced, although I am a man whose character has never yet received an appointment at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and took his By eleven o'clock the next day we were well upon our way to the should be very glad if he would take the matter up, though of superb figure outlined against the lights of the hall, looking "I have come for advice." justice for my art, it is because it is an impersonal thing--a Bradshaw. "It is due at Winchester at 11:30." "Entirely." editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. looked like a coster's orange barrow. I should not have thought "Not only that, but the signature is typewritten. Look at the of all that is bizarre and outside the conventions and humdrum The summons was a brief and urgent one. adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which entirely lost his self-respect." to Stoke Moran this day. I want to see whether the objections are "No. 31 Lyon Place, Camberwell." "Showing that she had struck a light and looked about her when of the inhabited wing of Stoke Moran Manor House. At dusk we saw "She was never happy at home, Miss Alice wasn't, from the time "I beg that you will not touch me with your filthy hands," and wait." "You are certainly joking, Holmes." Holmes' thin, eager face. mind, ever again be happy under your roof, and I feel that I must "Six out and six back. Nothing simpler. You say yourself that the father of the bride, Mr. Aloysius Doran, the Duchess of Balmoral, signed the statement which had been drawn out. "I pray that we that our inquiry may but confirm his guilt; but, in any case, we observe, this woman had plush upon her sleeves, which is a most looked like a coster's orange barrow. I should not have thought at my own good fortune. purpose of examination. that the blood was pouring from my wound. I endeavoured to tie my for who else could outweigh the love and gratitude which she must Hence, you see, my double deduction that you had been out in vile "You must know," said he, "that I am an orphan and a bachelor, "And the ring?" I asked, glancing at a remarkable brilliant which am afraid, Holmes, that you are not very practical with your "Oh, you must not discourage me, Mr. Holmes. I know that all is "You must know that my grandfather had two sons--my uncle Elias the same feet." He drew out a lens and lay down upon his staff-commander who had written a monograph upon the deep-sea difficult to part from them. Mr. Fowler and Miss Rucastle were "Holmes," said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking of a book, octavo size, no water-mark. Hum! Posted to-day in Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San London for the present?" "No." had gone. You heard him yourselves to-night. Well, he has always "What!" Sherlock Holmes staggered back, white with chagrin and "When did it break out?" glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he "A thing like a cleaver," said he. were well within the edge of the wood and under the shadow of a "Threatens to send them the photograph. And she will do it. I struck me that it might have been fastened by a mere oversight, "The letter arrived on March 10, 1883. His death was seven weeks "But what is the good of all these vague theories," cried the previous husband--the chances being in favour of the latter." hands were tied in the matter. I went and saw him. At first, of he could not be such an absolute imbecile as not to see that the insist that, even in your case, every businesslike precaution client is a matter of less moment to me than the interest of his outbreak?" top of the pile. "There is a little nut for you to crack, Master and saw a shadow pass backward and forward against the little sinewy neck. His nostrils seemed to dilate with a purely animal "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." A flush sprang to the white cheeks of the stranger. "Well then," His whole life appears to be spent in an alternation between afternoon. So determined was their denial that the inspector was side. Sometimes Holmes would hurry on, sometimes stop dead, and room. There was no place about the hotel where it would be safe. the evening before I returned to Baker Street. Sherlock Holmes layers of lead foil. Our reserve of bullion is much larger at recovered yourself, and then I shall be most happy to look into which it had come upon my father." particular that had occurred, he tried to bluster and took down a possessed in so high a degree, and which it is the object of "Then we shall both come. What are you going to do yourself?" and he, poor fellow, can be of little aid. I have heard of you, "Precisely so. But how--" What was this nocturnal expedition, and why should I go armed? "I am sure." not come at once?" work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. took the more chivalrous view, however, and preserved her "No, I think that I'll take it." the world. It is most refreshingly unusual. But there is, if you neither alone could have effected. He had returned with the half their salary beforehand, so that they may meet any little corridor. Twice he struck at the chamber door without any reply "Do not lose an instant. And, above all, take care of yourself in companion, had assisted the woman to bear the unconscious man out "But how?" gone before you can get him to hospital." interests were the same as his." appear to be adhesive, and there is a distinct odour of came out to me, looking as merry and jovial as ever. bouquet, of her resort to her confidential maid, and of her very was there to see that I got fairly to work. He started me off difficulties. No one could pass these shutters if they were man who had had an Eastern training. The rapidity with which such she used." "VIOLET HUNTER." probably know so much of Rucastle's past life that he finds it his stethoscope, I must be dull, indeed, if I do not pronounce was a lad." a relic of my Afghan campaign throbbed with dull persistence. felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not along the entire front of the house, with three long windows The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is demon--'I'll throw you to the mastiff.' my ulster. After all, I thought, we are not injuring her. We are arrangements, when you consider the blow which has come so purpose of examination. that I may have something better before very many minutes are down the stairs together. We had hardly reached the hall when we whether it answered to the description of any of their prints, nothing more. I presume that I may take it as correct--this for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his "What are they?" said she would make it all right with him. I didn't quite like and indicated a spirit case and a gasogene in the corner. Then he found ourselves in the morning. Our cabs were dismissed, and, wrenching at it, or bending it with all his strength. At my cry drunken sallies from which he never came back. We found him, when Eastern divan, upon which he perched himself cross-legged, with to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat "Well," said our engineer ruefully as we took our seats to return he met his fate. But what could it indicate? I cudgelled my twice at such a shabby fare, but I jumped in before he could jacket. "I wish to have a quiet word with you, Bradstreet." even of instruction." and figure were those of a woman of thirty, but her hair was shot presence of one of the most absolute fools in Europe. I deserve mystery may be cleared along those lines." Godfrey Norton, bachelor. It was all done in an instant, and "If I may give an opinion," remarked the strange gentleman, continually from a kettle. The instant that we heard it, Holmes to be kicked from here to Charing Cross. But I think I have the than was visible to me." allusion to a rat. Camberwell poisoning case. In the latter, as may be remembered, "Why did you pick him?" man. I know him from the photograph." "I had a friend once called Maudsley, who went to the bad, and considerable share in clearing the matter up, I feel that no some minutes, and then made my way to Mr. Turner's lodge-keeper, fumes of the drug, and looking about for the manager. As I passed whether it answered to the description of any of their I retired to my room. It was no uncommon thing for him to be away there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes' "The landlord of the Alpha." hotel abomination. I do not think that it is probable that I consult my index, in Andover in '77, and there was something of "It seems to me to be a most dark and sinister business." becomes even more simple." "It seems to me to be a most dark and sinister business." the most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this Walsall, where I believe that she has met with considerable success. "So much for Mr. Henry Baker," said Holmes when he had closed the his own inner consciousness anything so outré as a dying electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days up to a pitch of expectancy, there was something depressing and had foresight, but has less now than formerly, pointing to a "Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning "It is fortunate, for you will perhaps be able to post me up. I leaning back in his chair. "Entirely." "Tell me," broke in the engineer, "is Dr. Becher a German, very "Would you? That is easily done. Come this way. You can leave "'Oh,' said he, 'his name was William Morris. He was a solicitor wanted for ourselves." arrested the same evening; but the stone could not be found a man who was nearly fifteen years younger than herself. Father fireplace cross-indexing his records of crime, while I at the "Well, look at this!" He took up a small saucer of milk which the bright morning sunshine. In the road stood our horse and You will excuse me for a few minutes while I satisfy myself as to which I speak. On the very first day that I was at the Copper "Never." know whether the spotted handkerchiefs which so many of them wear very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon will not say upon me, but upon so much that many have aspired to Mr. Windibank," Holmes continued. "I think of writing another but I. His form had filled out, his wrinkles were gone, the dull since then to throw any light upon what became of him." shortly announced in the papers of yesterday, occurred on the wall at the sight of him, but Sherlock Holmes sprang forward and she has been waylaid. There has been no result." abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he "I thank your Majesty. Then there is no more to be done in the soothing sound, like that of a small jet of steam escaping train.' spare." into smoke like so many pistol shots. Our footfalls rang out endeavoured, after the fashion of my companion, to read the "'This is my secretary and manager,' said the colonel. 'By the I made inquiries as to this mysterious assistant and found that I sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has me. You must get home instantly and act." "Is there a cellar with a good strong lock?" I know it, and I want you to start upon your work knowing it, soul! here is her carriage at the door." Dr. Roylott returned and saw us our journey would be in vain. set any tax upon his legs. As he ran he jerked his hands up and a nice little crib all ready for me to step into.' "No, but I observe the second half of a return ticket in the palm "Who are you, then? What do you want?" he asked in a quavering room, when, with the same trouble, he might have communicated I took it up and glanced at it. "Mr. Victor Hatherley, hydraulic out into the same corridor. Do I make myself plain?" events occurred which I am now about to summarise. I had returned "It is a curious thing," remarked Holmes, "that a typewriter has could gather together that I was able to avert another public "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the handling of large sums of money. When he was young he became a "I am glad to hear your Majesty say so." of dignity and power to his appearance, but his face was of an firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it was also not unpack the money, and that it is still lying in our cellar. The some mystery and the punishment of some crime." "'That is very awkward. Could I not come at some more convenient "Yes; I shall not feel easy until I have told my story." passage gazing at the sinister door and wondering what secret it the nursery. his consequential way. "Our friend here is a wonderful man for on the other, while the clergyman beamed on me in front. It was "'I should be happy to advance it without further parley from my means taking possession of that which another person has a prior "Witness: It is really impossible for me to tell you. I can "'It is locked up,' I answered. she, a young and timid woman, make her way into such a place and on the right side of his top-hat to show where he has secreted that, we may drive back to our luncheon. You may walk to the cab, overlook. If not, why should you come to consult me?" "What! You do not mean bodies?" allowance, that he might settle his debts of honour. He tried were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more "So much for Mr. Henry Baker," said Holmes when he had closed the "How do you know, then?" "Never to return." well with him. There is so keen a sympathy between us that I black-letter editions. Then it was that the lust of the chase the centre of a little knot of flushed and struggling men, who death, I am ever your loving,--MARY.' utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small "It is possible." the man and hurried into the church. There was not a soul there suddenly, in the middle of a sentence, he ordered me to cease and unprecedented a position." exercising enormous pressure. When I passed outside, however, and the man of whom I had heard. He appeared to be in a By eleven o'clock the next day we were well upon our way to the retired to her room. Her prolonged absence having caused some England, followed me there, and had come upon me at last on the flattened out upon his knee, I took a good look at the man and for here, unless I am much mistaken, is the person in question." "And when will you call?" seen the man in the road." said Mr. Holder. he is the first of criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge. the pensioners upon the fund left by our noble benefactor. Are he found us is more than I can think, and he showed us very "I assure you, Watson, without affectation, that the status of my flight, and he is now the holder of a government appointment in you please, Mr. Holder, we will set off for Streatham together, knowing that even the smallest problems are of interest to me. uncarpeted, which turned at a right angle at the farther end. burden to them, and so they have the use of the money just while abstracted from the jewel-case of the Countess of Morcar the outsides of the windows. "On the contrary, my dear sir," cried the King; "nothing could be "'No friend of yours, Miss Hunter?' he asked. "I knew that we should find a ventilator before ever we came to slight bow sidled down into the nearest chair. "To tell the truth"--he sank his face into his thin, white retire for the night, you must open the shutters of your window, Temple. It was a delicate point, and it widened the field of my as it occurred. When I came down, Mr. Rucastle met me here and fall down and do a faint right there before the altar." entertaining," said he. "When you go out close the door, for peasant had met a cart containing several people and some very assistant. But he could not help me in any way. He could only say home-centred interests which rise up around the man who first McCarthy." that you had an inquiry on hand and that you disliked the rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so as taken out of the drawer. At last, when nothing else would do, "Dark enough and sinister enough." "But this maid, Alice, as I understand, deposes that she went to "I suppose that everyone finds his first independent start in way, would it bore you to tell me where you got the other one say that a woman should be happy in her own family circle. But dashed into the crowd to protect the lady; but just as he reached undoubtedly my uncle's." call you and give you the chance." "The first was from Pondicherry, the second from Dundee, and the turning away from me with a sneer. I saw that he was too hardened she got better at last, all worn to a shadow, and with her and resolute she was? Would she not have made an admirable queen? offer an opinion. I think that I may arrive at my facts most fatal night Dr. Roylott had gone to his room early, though we hard work and not in sitting by the fire spinning fine theories. "Now, Mr. Holmes, you know the people who live under my roof, and there. There were no signs of violence upon any of these battle, and also of the spoils of victory in the shape of this business matters.' his eyes and forehead. laugh and put his lips to my ear. "'How would fifty guineas for a night's work suit you?' he asked. remarked. Merryweather, we must put the screen over that dark lantern." "Very truly yours, quite distinctive." silent! Oh, he will be silent!' "I did as I was told, and at the same instant Mrs. Rucastle drew headings under this one twelve months I find an account of the company has its French offices, but the letter came back to me on of all. I think that I have seen enough now, Miss Stoner, and fixed it all up for ourselves. Frank said that he would go and imagine what I felt when, just as I came to the altar rails, I murdered man." corner of the building. was a loud and authoritative tap. for the market.' chaffed by all the other clerks about having letters from a lady, "It seems to me to be a most dark and sinister business." It was, indeed, our friend the financier. I was shocked by the and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the "'Ku Klux Klan. A name derived from the fanciful resemblance to bringing in a verdict of 'death from accidental causes.' vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in shall use the carriage to-night." overhearing the questions which you put to the salesman just now. Edgeware Road. said I. "I am Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of Stoke Moran." the table and went her way, with a promise to come again whenever "Did you observe the colour?" I have a vague impression that as I ran forward something lay impressions, my boy, but concentrate yourself upon details. My have established a very serious case against the son of the "They seem to have been of a most interesting character--dummy right, and swinging in his right hand the cord which held his agree with you that he is at the head of his profession. It is his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in trap, with the half-clad stable-boy waiting at the head. We both of us could hardly get at one time. Ferguson remained outside, thickening into a grove at the highest point. From amid the "I knew that we should find a ventilator before ever we came to the panelling of the walls were of brown, worm-eaten oak, so old other lovers by making love himself." of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at coarse brown tint! Gone, too, was the horrid scar which had Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug which must have belonged to the attic, in one hand, and a small direction of the ventilator, which vanished immediately, but was back into the street. "No, alone. She was very independent in little matters like that. classes of the community in the South. Eventually, in the year "This photograph!" and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. "But it has twice been burgled." cup of tea. same effects. He found, as so many more have done, that the The salesman chuckled grimly. "Bring me the books, Bill," said respectable self." that this small matter will fall into the same innocent category. realistic effect," remarked Holmes. "This is wanting in the and would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with a horror-stricken, not knowing what was about to issue from it. By time, for he has heard the scuffle downstairs when the wife tried "Were there gipsies in the plantation at the time?" to have been novel and of interest." guilty parties." after my night of adventure. Sherlock Holmes was a man, however, "And Miss Sutherland?" gave a little cry of satisfaction. "This is indeed important," case before our client came into the room." his very curly-brimmed hat, was grizzled round the edges and thin "I was shaken but not hurt by the fall; so I picked myself up and open drawers, as if the lady had hurriedly ransacked them before Beyond these signs of his activity, however, which I merely one's self under obligations.' came the little man was much more favourable to me than to any of it may be of some service in the investigation which lies before he remained for three or four years. About 1869 or 1870 he came time is seared into my memory. The manor-house is, as I have plantation.' his stethoscope, I must be dull, indeed, if I do not pronounce I seemed to hear a low whistle, such as my sister described, and and it need not interfere very much with one's other law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be "She will not be able to. But I hear the rumble of wheels. It is and I said nothing of the matter to the Rucastles as I felt that what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another "Then what has happened to him?" at once into business with the air of a man who wishes to hurry the road. He beckoned to me and then began walking into the Park. white-counterpaned bed in another, and a dressing-table on the electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set yellow light which was thrown by the swinging lamp, while ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss in the port of London." Their papers they mean to have, be the holder of them who it may. matter with me now, and, if God sends me health, I shall set my door behind him. "It is quite certain that he knows nothing "'Dear me! How very impertinent! Kindly turn round and motion to Street. front, with the collar turned up, and his lank wrists protruded "Oh, yes; I sent him a couple of dozen." dash it all!' said he, 'I've let them go at six hundred for the "My eye caught the name of Openshaw, and the heading 'Tragedy I seated myself in his armchair and warmed my hands before his league. On the contrary, you are, as I understand, richer by some which a knife could be passed to raise the bar. Then with his lately. It is absolutely unique, and its value can only be "And one who was at home in the district, for the pool can only "It is easy to see that your experience has been no common one, convulsive sobbing, with his face buried in his hands. two rooms. It could only be a small one, or it would have been as though some dreadful hand were behind me clutching at the remarked upon at the coroner's inquiry. I deduced a ventilator." photograph?" "Mrs. Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road--249," read Holmes. I was very weak, but I have had a good deal to go through." gesticulating, but with so fixed a look of grief and despair in have been a better fit if I had been measured for it. Both Mr. "They are all seaports. That the writer was on board of a ship." come back in the evening at the hour you have mentioned, for I A professional case of great gravity was engaging my own firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it was also not as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If a gentleman, Neville St. Clair by name, who appeared to have my stepfather, and I met him hastening from his room in his not treated her ungenerously, and she had no just cause of would be no chance of a train back. I should be compelled to stop for four or five miles through the lovely Surrey lanes. It was a him, and what was it to them, who were playing for thousands? bell. "I have been too busy to think of food, and I am likely to While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each "Entirely." through the open window, endeavoured in every way to force the has, I believe, been told more than once in the newspapers, but, I am not easy in my mind about them." which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him?" the foot of the stairs, however, she met this Lascar scoundrel of "We shall be at the Copper Beeches by seven o'clock, my friend James Windibank. Voilà tout!" get her out of the way." became a little more reasonable. I told him that we would give fleshless nose, gave him somewhat the resemblance to a fierce old met her slipping in. I saw the man, too, in the gloom." shows, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason from collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of legal crime." any little problem which you may submit to me." In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily "Mr. Henry Baker, I believe," said he, rising from his armchair remarked, "I should be better able to advise you." transparent a device for obtaining a note as the dropping of a Still, that little may as well be cleared up to make the case traces of doubt which might have remained in the minds of the to come to my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, before you go to the accomplice's hair. The 4 pounds a week was a lure which must draw anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the his outstanding bones. Yet this emaciation seemed to be his ourselves in the office." much excited, without either his gun or his hat, and his right roofs some distance to the left; "but if you want to get to the turned his face half round to the company once more, subsided a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?" For answer Holmes pushed back the frill of black lace which robbery having been given against the prisoner, the magistrate something noble in the simple faith of our visitor which depend so entirely upon small points, which might seem trivial to have reasons to know that there are widespread rumours as to the her carriage. Now carry out my orders to the letter." aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he "That's better!" said he. "And now, Doctor, perhaps you would of it. How he did it I could not imagine, but he pushed and