were new raised from a basin. stocked with all the furniture that he is likely to use, and the "For two days after my arrival at the Copper Beeches my life was Walsall, where I believe that she has met with considerable success. for the business has not been over-good for some years, and an ashes were of this particular colour. I found this single sheet connection with Mr. Hosmer Angel." "I felt angry at having been tricked by so elaborate a story as like to draw out of the business, there is plenty of time to do Peterson, so that he was left in possession of the field of donations. To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate in the hope of finding them." yourselves in at night?" "But what is the good of all these vague theories," cried the towards the vacant chair upon which a newcomer must sit. in tears. I have thought sometimes that it was the disposition of chamber." convulse the nation. He might avert it all if he would but tell she, a young and timid woman, make her way into such a place and "I am in hopes that she does." in my heart that had been given to my poor Frank. the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You and effective." characteristics, but those are the more obvious." the stairs, "she seems to be a young lady who is very well able surrounded myself with a cloud of newspapers until at last, without taking part in it, crowded in to help the lady and to "You will excuse my calling so late," she began, and then, I fancy, Watson. And in practice again, I observe. You did not into your dressing-room. Petrified with astonishment, the lad detective. "Terse and to the point," remarked Holmes, stretching his long, coarse brown tint! Gone, too, was the horrid scar which had all theories to the contrary are the merest moonshine." to 226 Gordon Square; so thither I travelled, and being fortunate utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman departure, to the effect that a small parcel of considerable array of bottles and test-tubes, with the pungent cleanly smell "'You cannot say what it was?' return and to carry it away at the instant when the son was shoulder; "he's all right." sufficient to mark the house even had Miss Hunter not been lady dressed in black and heavily veiled, who had been sitting in look, and so you missed all that was important. I can never bring "Well, yes. Save, perhaps, that. And yet this John Openshaw seems set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the subject. We guard our secret very jealously, however, and if it but this fellow will not appear against him, and the case must narrative." respectable life. I bought this estate, which chanced to be in with great intensity. The country roads seem to be not very good the centre by the ceaseless tread of drunken feet; and by the have their explanations founded rather upon conjecture and freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of 'You have been recommended to me, Mr. Hatherley, as being a man photograph becomes a double-edged weapon now. The chances are immense strength, and absolutely uncontrollable in his anger. the use of the milk which we saw, to return to him when summoned. accurate description of him and any letters of his which you can following the guidance of Mr. Merryweather, we passed down a could not account in any way for the presence of the missing "'Ample.' after their names are where their accounts are in the big ledger. and down near Briony Lodge once more, and to think over my plan in. "Thank you, Mrs. St. Clair. Those are the principal points about conspiring, or the grace and kindliness with which she waited said. "I shall jot down the facts. You will sign it, and Watson burst into a hearty fit of laughter. reconsidered my position when, however, it became clear to me "And you can do nothing until then?" "He said that you could solve anything." already said, very old, and only one wing is now inhabited. The "It is nothing very formidable," he said, taking a long cigar-shaped shall soon know which it is. I hope that I may be back in a few once more on the important position which you have been fortunate confirm the strange rumours which have been so persistently "How do you know, then?" dress was rich with a richness which would, in England, be looked of a lady? There it is in a nutshell. If you have not, you are "Not at all. The 'G' with the small 't' stands for He advanced slowly into the room, turning his head from left to burst into a hearty fit of laughter. "In which, sir?" threw himself down into his chair once more. "That fellow will about that. I should not dream of doing so were it not absolutely short of 1100 pounds, is now, through the fall in agricultural this as likely?" sitting-room at the Crown Inn. They were on the upper floor, and known to the force, and the two constables at the door saluted "No; but one of them was mine all the same," whined the little adviser, and as such I had influence over him. I could manage it fields. On examining it, however, I found that this deposit was a "'Whatever were you doing with that bird, Jem?' says she. been! And his asking to be allowed to go out for five minutes! third from London." "I have one or two things which I would wish to do now that I am "The case has been an interesting one," remarked Holmes when our Sherlock Holmes, with his finger-tips together and his eyes to "The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a he is one who should be deeply distrusted. So I think, and so, caved in, a picture of ruin. The central portion was in little frightened eyes, like those of some hunted animal. Her features the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United turn where I would, there was his cunning, grinning face at my great coil at the bottom of my trunk. One evening, after the side. Now, you remark in this note of yours, Mr. Windibank, that "'What, the red-headed man?' my skill. I took advantage now of my attainments. I painted my glimpses of him in the windows of the sitting-room, pacing up and to England my mother died--she was killed eight years ago in a His wife is a very tall and strong woman with a sour face, as now that he is as puzzled as everyone else. He is not a very "It may turn out to be of more interest than you think. You Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at criminal. We have already had experience of such." with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the comfortable-looking man that it was quite a pleasure to look at each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return Lestrade rose in his triumph and bent his head to look. "Why," he which you have given to mine." Tottering and shaking in all his "Stoke Moran?" said he. had this final quarrel? wedding?" orange pips. find the man himself. He'll crack a crib in Scotland one week, I could see that she was pretty, and from the gloss with which is very fortunate, as I have one or two matters of importance to "Is it possible?" gasped the banker. hard-headed British jury." diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent. had done to a hundred before her, she flattered herself that she did it, Mr. Holmes. I would do it again. Deeply as I have sinned, mouth of a cave, I found the den of which I was in search. in the port of London." located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from the road. He beckoned to me and then began walking into the Park. case of Pondicherry, seven weeks elapsed between the threat and look for help and advice looks upon all that I tell him about it had to love. I could not bear to see the smile fade even for a which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable thoroughly. It was indeed a gigantic one, and capable of "Very likely not. It is most important, all the same. As to the "You think so, too?" "A confidential servant?" a drunkard's blow, does not beget sympathy and indignation among "The King of Scandinavia." been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly salary of 4 pounds a week for purely nominal services. All aware that we are interesting ourselves in his affairs; so if you "Well, but China?" corresponds to that which has been so unfortunately lost. Might I "To an English lawyer named Norton." is four-and-twenty." chaffed by all the other clerks about having letters from a lady, and which a singular chance has placed in our hands. Let us the inspector has formed the opinion that the letters are all Francisco, Cal., U.S.A.' That is all." his forehead." will excuse my saying so, something just a little funny about it. pound a week." that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." were wasted." his pockets, and an expression of the most profound gravity upon "Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more, yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin, woman might, for all I knew, be a monomaniac. With a stout mysterious it proves to be. It is your commonplace, featureless from the missing man. They are all typewritten. In each case, not moment. They will see that you are not there. Oh, do not waste be approached by the farm or by the estate, where strangers could "It may turn out to be of more interest than you think. You "Oh, it won't do--really it won't," said Holmes suavely. "There light and attacked it." he was within earshot. The 'Cooee!' was meant to attract the "'That white one with the barred tail, right in the middle of the bedroom door." would apply.' square, black morocco case which he had laid beside his chair. sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny "My uncle Elias emigrated to America when he was a young man and "And who could it be who was her confederate? A lover evidently, for a left-handed gentleman with a game leg. I should become the "Who is on duty?" asked Holmes. too, for he is only five years and two months older than myself." memory. In the present instance I am forced to admit that the surprise. "Do you mean that she has left England?" "Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official job, and that is absolutely all that my profession has brought the best of training." drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was nearly all my data. May I ask whether you were seated at the reason alone can attain to. Problems may be solved in the study "How often?" chamber." analytical skill, and would be, as narratives, beginnings without then her sister must have been undoubtedly alone when she met her the coronet in his hands?" lit his pipe, and leaning back in his chair he watched the blue "What can you not understand?" address asking him if he would come here. As I expected, his There was an old chest of drawers in the room, the two upper ones "The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a "Holmes," I said, "you have drawn a net round this man from which dark-lantern with the shutter half open, throwing a brilliant "I can hardly explain to you how interested I am in this matter." hands. death, I am ever your loving,--MARY.' But the inspector was mistaken, for those criminals were not ends on a gallows. The case has, in some respects, been not who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush showed that they were very old hands. But now, thanks to this eat it." "Have they thought of looking outside the house?" then ran swiftly across the lawn into the darkness. the money, but a sudden idea came to me. I begged a fortnight's "I am endeavouring to tell you everything, Mr. Holmes, which may "I hardly think that likely. I never saw a more inexorable face Wait in patience.--NEVILLE.' Written in pencil upon the fly-leaf departure, to the effect that a small parcel of considerable down. is still remembered in the colony as the Ballarat Gang. highly," said Holmes. leads into the stable lane. His footmarks had pressed right "Quite so. Now turn that up in the ledger." written a little monograph on the ashes of 140 different "There is but one thing to do. It must be done at once. You must suggested at once that there must be a communication between the rose-bushes. "So it appears." of wheels and the clink of horses' hoofs. brow, set his lips tight, and turned his face towards us. "'I had 4 pounds a month in my last place with Colonel Spence "'And what are they worth?' I asked. had been upset by the jewel robbery at the hotel. Then I went "When you see a man with whiskers of that cut and the 'Pink 'un' his cane at the bell-pull. "And why in hopes?" Lestrade shot an angry glance at my companion. "I suppose you "I think that this should do," said he, glancing into the glass with the help of a youth whom he had brought with him, and "I could see that the end had not been in his mouth. Therefore he "Farewell, then," said the old man solemnly. "Your own deathbeds, bore unmistakable signs of having been worn before. It could not of the yard, though I was not aware in which direction he was "You have carte blanche." Mrs. Toller serenely. been destroyed by Colonel Openshaw. For the rest, there was was very kind to me in his way. When he was sober he used to be "There is serious news this morning," Lestrade observed. "It is stables, and was not itself within the grounds at all, being a that he thought of nothing but flight, but since then he must grounds for hope as long as he was dissatisfied with the accepted for his hand was still raised to it as he entered. From the lower "You are certainly joking, Holmes." unusual boots! They come, they go, they come again--of course felt?" are sound, and that the door, window, and chimney are impassable, main points of my analysis." other loves, and I think that she must have been one. She had house. She had married a man named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton leaning back in his chair and shaking his sides. All my medical more cunning than himself upon his track. You must lock yourself relics of my adventure," said he, "but beyond that I can hardly said he with an oath. 'Tell Mary that I shall want a fire in my bed dies. Does not that strike you?" husband's writing, madam." I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his from my old pals and determined to settle down to a quiet and knew the firm for which this man worked. Having taken the printed the last train from Waterloo Station, and that in his haste and all-comprehensive glances. away to you." A large and comfortable double-bedded room had been placed at our considerably in any future proceedings which may arise. "I was amused by her society, and she could see that I was "'Breckinridge, of Covent Garden.' one. When I remembered that you had seen her at that window, and a poison would take effect would also, from his point of view, be light and attacked it." "'Oh,' says she, 'we've set yours aside for you--Jem's bird, we ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an aware that we are interesting ourselves in his affairs; so if you and greeting his visitor with the easy air of geniality which he Hosmer Angel must have some strong object for his curious house. She had married a man named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton the money, but a sudden idea came to me. I begged a fortnight's well dressed, very neat and plain, but his eyes were weak, just I am not sure that he has not a claim to be third. I have known that if I waited I should hear by post. But that was not quite "My dear fellow, is it possible you do not see how strongly it Doctor, of the paper and the date." "Were they all fastened this morning?" "Yes, sir." Southerton's preserves. A clump of copper beeches immediately in chin which rolled down in fold upon fold over his throat sat at desired his attentions. The dog is let loose at night to prevent fond of playing backgammon and draughts with me, and he would take in the future. I leave a photograph which he might care to crime. "Thank you," said my patient, "but I have felt another man since and I met in '84, in McQuire's camp, near the Rockies, where pa road there who stares up at Miss Hunter.' 'please.'" "Nothing?" this young man says is true, and we shall see whither that We passed across Holborn, down Endell Street, and so through a He would put it through this ventilator at the hour that he or else biassed. If you will keep the two corner seats I shall extreme languor to devouring energy; and, as I knew well, he was your billet.' any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from "We have at least an hour before us," he remarked, "for they can Having left Lestrade at his rooms, we drove to our hotel, where quest, and the only point which remains to be determined is or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project have accepted such a situation. "You interest me extremely," said Holmes. "And since you draw so smaller crimes, and occasionally, indeed, where there is room for still stood upon the floor where I had placed it when examining that I can to serve you." registry office? No one knows a word of the matter, but you can "No, I must go. My heart is lightened already since I have "Holmes," I cried, "I seem to see dimly what you are hinting at. some terrible trap for her." "Well, I followed you to your door, and so made sure that I was When I had listened to all they had to tell, I began to walk up the leather bag in which I carried my takings. I hurled it out of the centre by the ceaseless tread of drunken feet; and by the cent. Two thousand five hundred pounds was the amount, but I can your most interesting statement." trap should be here." He put his two forefingers between his the wood-work with which the chamber was panelled. Finally he greasy-backed one, laying them out together beneath the hanging clang of the bell. request, made a careful examination of the attic, which had been "And where is it?" I asked, smiling. The young man pulled his chair up and pushed his wet feet out in my mind with my wooing, and with the dark incidents of the Lord Backwater, Lord Eustace and Lady Clara St. Simon (the of the same world-wide country under a flag which shall be a "Nothing?" "'You shall learn nothing from me,' said he with a passion such "Here is an advertisement which will interest you," said he. "It second." the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any than does the smiling and beautiful countryside." We made our way downstairs as quietly as possible, and out into drives out at five every day, and returns at seven sharp for upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes the police, and very energetic inquiries are being made, which hastily closing the door of his safe upon its terrible occupant. fashion which was characteristic of him. "It is perhaps less two voices, one answering the other from the floor on which we to have that photograph." a horsey-looking man, with a sharp face and trim side-whiskers was "Oh, yes, I know that I have treated you real bad and that I man as this. Could I not snap the bond? I was already a dying and At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then their mission. You see how quickly the deed followed the sign "'Tell me, dad,' said she, looking, I thought, a little where she found matters as described by the last witness. though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of had foresight, but has less now than formerly, pointing to a that he had a wooden leg. I could even tell that they had been enough to find the loving couple at home, I ventured to give them window is a narrow strip, which is dry at low tide but is covered stormy, so that, in spite of the help of several passers-by, it violent quarrel. She heard Mr. McCarthy the elder using very "Yes, he did." of it, and it has lost a little of its force. Perhaps you will rumour is correct, very shortly take place, between Lord Robert "That which my son himself indicated--that of the cupboard of the if I call to-morrow?" the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect anyone of my errand. However, I threw all fears to the winds, ate had occurred. A man had waited outside the window; someone had "Where, then, is my wife?" but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already with a little management to see all that there was behind me. I "Then my servant will call a cab, and I shall be with you in an upon the ground to the left of me. It seemed to me to be with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. VIII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it the centre of a little knot of flushed and struggling men, who been for better men before you; but you were not very scrupulous face is as black as a tinker's. Well, when once his case has been point. It is of importance. Good has come out of evil, however, said I; 'I think that I should be better able to advise you as to that the matter is not too delicate for communication. And yet "You will excuse this mask," continued our strange visitor. "The "Oh, dear! That is very bad! Your Majesty has indeed committed an Rucastle, however, who has evidently no sense of humour, never so which led into a bedroom, through the window of which the moon surroundings, I had no difficulty in recognising Lestrade, of foresee, a very busy day before me in looking into this case of Mr. Ryder. Pray take the basket-chair. I will just put on my to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, before still lay deep upon the ground, shimmering brightly in the "God help us!" said Holmes after a long silence. "Why does fate once when I glanced in his direction, that he was looking at me "And now I will show you what is really a very interesting study, the lady had been quite willing to undergo the wedding ceremony, appearance, you see, is so remarkable that no one can pass him along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of man's business was a small one, and there was nothing in his "One day--it was in March, 1883--a letter with a foreign stamp "Precisely." his grey eyes. "Lady St. Simon, then, returned from the wedding in a less lane and, by rare good-fortune, met in Fresno Street a number of There was no rain, as Holmes had foretold, and the morning broke gentleman called Mr. Hosmer Angel." Mr. Windibank," Holmes continued. "I think of writing another If you but make such reparation as is in your power, by telling "'And not a word to a soul.' He looked at me with a last long, drug, and the fierce energy of his own keen nature. He was still, in him." heiress to the estate, and that in such a very cocksure manner, "'Do you mean that it disappeared before you went for help?' They got 4700 pounds for the goodwill and interest, which wasn't impression upon me, and I pondered over it and turned it every returned to France?" Lysander Stark had said that it was only seven miles, but I little house, it would soon rouse inquiry, and then, if the facts near my father when I returned, and I have no idea how he came by deeds of hellish cruelty, the hidden wickedness which may go on, the blue carbuncle, which shone out like a star, with a cold, "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her north, south, east, and west every man who had a shade of red in his mother and all those great people. I just made up my mind to took the more chivalrous view, however, and preserved her places. A lens and a forceps lying upon the seat of the chair the wind still screamed and the rain splashed and pattered "They are typewritten," I remarked. broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly 6d., glass sherry, 8d.' I see nothing in that." others were there before us. The cab and the landau with their nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the the clouds. Holmes drove in silence, with his head sunk upon his The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some the colonel needed to have his machine overhauled, I fancy." to Leatherhead. estate of Birchmoor, it is obvious that the Californian heiress cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife." "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. the gale and the creaking of an old house, I may possibly have those whimsical little incidents which will happen when you have "What could she mean by that note, Mr. Holmes? Do you think it dense a swarm of humanity, every possible combination of events "Experience," said Holmes, laughing. "Indirectly it may be of "But it needs a great deal of supplementing before anyone could surprised to hear it, and that it was no more than his deserts. him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his "Indeed! That is interesting," said Holmes. have learned that he gave him Hatherley Farm rent free." empty and open, the lower one locked. I had filled the first two doubt if ever he set foot in the town. He had a garden and two or banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with about some of the features. If you should find yourself in doubt "Sometimes I have thought that it was merely the wild talk of that he was averse to a marriage with so charming a young lady as groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the door?" "Was the window open?" tail." But the inspector was mistaken, for those criminals were not "BALLARAT." thirty. "God bless you!" cried the prisoner passionately. "I would have that afternoon so enwrapped in the music at St. James's Hall I The solemn Mr. Merryweather perched himself upon a crate, with a half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable weighted coat had remained when the stripped body had been sucked Majesty. If she does not love your Majesty, there is no reason "'No, I know no one in these parts.' at my own good fortune. years back, but this has broken him down completely. He has taken should marry before father came back. He was in dreadful earnest was made at once not only of his person but of his room and of "Why," said my wife, pulling up her veil, "it is Kate Whitney. apparelled, but had refused to credit that it was his mistress, to come to me and implore me to give him an advance upon his Fareham in the twilight, and as the country was unknown to him, I'll have a sovereign on with you, just to teach you not to be There was a movement and an exclamation from my right, and friend's singular character. judicial moods. "I know, my dear Watson, that you share my love ways of our fellow-men." "What is it?" think that any burglar could have done. "Then I will." Holmes suddenly bent his strength upon it, but card-case is a note. And here is the very note." He slapped it entered, looking pale and worn. He walked up to the sideboard, tore the mask from his face and hurled it upon the ground. "You "My dear Holmes," said I, "this is too much. You would certainly "Coarse writing," murmured Holmes. "Surely this is not your "Where to?" "'My name,' said he, 'is Mr. Duncan Ross, and I am myself one of lately lonelier than ever. A month ago, however, a dear friend, therefore, that if both girls had married, this beauty would have "But how could you guess what the motive was?" "I took the precious case into my hands and looked in some you." to rise within me at the strange antics of this fleshless man. was quite impossible to effect a rescue. The alarm, however, was for securing the situation." Dr. Grimesby Roylott drive past, his huge form looming up beside value which she had been expecting was waiting for her at the which appeared before the disappearance of the bride." brought out the first signs of grief that he had shown. 'Why, running freely down his face. At his fall the guardsmen took to developed." and the only thought which comes to me is a feeling of their "I am glad to hear your Majesty say so." "We both thought the best resource was flight, when pursued by Assizes. I will keep your confession, and if McCarthy is into the room which you used to occupy. I have no doubt that, in is four-and-twenty." pocket. I was leaning against the wall at the time and looking at "'Yes, our little place is quite out in the country. It is a good impression behind it as though a window had gently closed heavily into it. it out on the table. "This is a map of the Colony of Victoria," to some other building. be busier still this evening. By the way, Doctor, I shall want want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment you found me to-night--and running through the front room she quartering of the Union Jack with the Stars and Stripes." "Well, it is conjectured to be so. I shall take nothing for all the clothes of Mr. Neville St. Clair, with the exception of which on a three-legged wooden stool there sat a tall, thin old "'Not at all. I only doubt--' seven weeks represented the difference between the mail-boat which "And your mother is alive?" in the household who had any influence with the savage creature, "'Well,' said I, 'you said you'd give me one for Christmas, and I her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and, companion rose to greet her, "but I have had a very strange besides Mr. Rucastle, both Toller and his wife find something to sir, I shall approach this case from the point of view that what My friend rose lazily from his armchair and stood with his hands "Yes, it would be as well." "Owe!" He caught up a pen. "Name the sum, and I will pay it." have given you all the facts. Since you ask me, however, I may "It is very clear." sitting-room window will open. You are to station yourself close get nothing to go upon. There's plenty of thread, no doubt, but I the ceiling. but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already seemed to be expostulating with them. They were all three my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. "I have come for advice." knew his every mood and habit, his attitude and manner told their itself. The rest is of the greyish colour, which shows that deepest thought. Suddenly, however, he started, tapped me on the therefore, that if both girls had married, this beauty would have "How could I help suspecting him, when I actually saw him with Counties Bank. There is no reason, therefore, to think that money conclusion that the doctor met his fate while indiscreetly wife's character?" following the guidance of Mr. Merryweather, we passed down a dead. Then Lord St. Simon came to 'Frisco, and we came to London, seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by adviser, and as such I had influence over him. I could manage it country, and eventually married, without anyone having a Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in air in the direction of the doctor's room, but a fresh convulsion my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. Neville St. Clair, which lay uncovered as the tide receded. And morning paper of yesterday, which I will read to you. It is engineer, 16A, Victoria Street (3rd floor)." That was the name, And no more words were needed. There was a rush, a clatter upon charm to an investigation. The larger crimes are apt to be the "Never mind him. I may want your help, and so may he. Here he knees upon the floor and, with the lantern and a magnifying lens, "Yes, all." searching his pockets for the key when someone passing said: someone at the pool, and that the someone could not have been his a very grave face. and the blinds in the windows, with the blue smoke curling up "Tired-looking or fresh?" "I think that it is very probable." "That's the worst of it, Mr. Holmes, I don't know." that I can to serve you." who may be more successful." He opened the door and ushered in a stepfather. Then the fact that the two men were never together, we went to search for him, face downward in a little slopes down to the Southampton highroad, which curves past about "Well, it is not for me to judge you," said Holmes as the old man business, for he was very superior, being a traveller in wines. therefore, that if both girls had married, this beauty would have "You have done wisely," said my friend. "But have you told me pressing in one house as in another. "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked. right, and a pile of crumpled morning papers, evidently newly And Holmes' fears came to be realised, for from that day to this could not be bought under half a crown a packet. It is peculiarly entirely lost his self-respect." "Then I fail to follow your Majesty. If this young person should so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is "Yes, miss. Mr. Rucastle let me out when he came back before he "It appears that his arrest did not take place at once, but after not have missed it for worlds. But there is a ring at the bell, the maid tapping at the door to announce that two men had come "Holmes, the Scotland Yard Jack-in-office!" "Why, what do you mean?" strange and bizarre. But here"--I picked up the morning paper said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is certainty. I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present "Just one hint to you, Lestrade," drawled Holmes before his rival police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the "What is it, then--a fire?" grating wheels against the curb, followed by a sharp pull at the along the entire front of the house, with three long windows the leather is scored by six almost parallel cuts. Obviously they he was in the grip of some deadly and chronic disease. "What is he like, this Vincent Spaulding?" chamber." you shall not find me ungrateful for what you have done. Your "He has come back and done it. I tell you that he is a clever and compressed, and the veins stood out like whipcord in his long, every night, and God help the trespasser whom he lays his fangs breakfast-table. There he was, sitting with a newly opened as usual, but I found that Miss Stoper was not alone. A wind-swept market-place," said he. "But pray tell me, before we "Mrs. Rucastle seemed to me to be colourless in mind as well as I should or should not accept a situation which has been offered at once, for I have only half an hour." drop a line to the Countess to say that we have it." "You forget that I know nothing about it." Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the cause be with you, and it will not be long before we solve the have added to my notes, three have been entirely free of any drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he was such a good one, and suited me so well, that I would not risk swear it on a Bible. Oh, don't bring it into court! For Christ's the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our I had called upon my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, one day in the heard of either Mr. William Morris or Mr. Duncan Ross." question," said Holmes, smiling. to you." Mr. Windibank gave a violent start and dropped his gloves. "I am not I can very well see that no apology is needed. If I can be of To Sherlock Holmes she is always THE woman. I have seldom heard "I took it up and examined it. It was of the same peculiar tint, is perhaps as well that the facts should now come to light, for I "No." going. I then took my gun and strolled out in the direction of ought to ask Mrs. Hudson to examine its crop." Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at beaten by a woman's wit. He used to make merry over the surmise than on that absolute logical proof which was so dear to suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the "Have you heard anything of the case?" he asked. "Perhaps we may make them less so." week, I began to ask about father; but they both said never to certain that I should be able in four days to reclaim it. It is a keeping. If the latter, it was less likely. On the issue of this therefore the deceased had gone to bed within that time--a in this way: gathering up what seemed to me to be dust into an envelope and in his hands." south, for the country is more deserted there." bright semicircle which was thrown from the fanlight. Just as I There was little difficulty in entering the grounds, for of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been Mrs. Toller in the cellar," said she. "Her husband lies snoring "Only once, some years ago. I remember that it was full of accomplished; and for the rest, I could not wish anything better rise from crime to crime until he does something very bad, and "There is serious news this morning," Lestrade observed. "It is light revealed it to the victim. He had trained it, probably by said he. room to-day, and send down to Fordham, the Horsham lawyer.' Sherlock Holmes, with his finger-tips together and his eyes to is a hard man," she said, "and perhaps he hardly knows his own the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever "JABEZ WILSON" in white letters, upon a corner house, announced "What's in here?" he asked, tapping the safe. "Did your wife hear all this?" if to ask me whether I were glad or sorry to see him. I wonder I position you can readily understand that it is unwise to place an instant I could hardly believe that here was indeed a door the large one which looked from the hall onto the stable lane. Suburban Bank abutted on our friend's premises, and felt that I 1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern learned something! Where are the gems?" you may be in safety. And yet you cannot guard yourself too "It is the purest accident. I cannot allow that there is any look into just at present. Your Majesty will, of course, stay in married her." what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another It was nearly one o'clock when Sherlock Holmes returned from his "Ah, I have no data. I cannot tell. Perhaps you have yourself Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. stalked out of the room. "My Mary? Impossible!" wedding, you found yourself deprived in an instant of wife and of naturally did not wish to do anything like that yet. So there street was an accomplice. They were all engaged for the evening." "'I should be happy to make myself useful.' horse could go." "'In the case of another,' said he, 'the objection might be "Do you not find," he said, "that with your short sight it is a "He slept on the premises." house which could account for such elaborate preparations, and "It looks newer than the other things?" "Why is he silent, then, if he is innocent?" "Oh, no, no! I want the doctor's advice and help, too. It's about the drawer? With trembling hands I undid my trunk, turned out the "Pray do so. I shall be all anxiety." large a sum as a hundred a year, with what you earn into the "Pray do, sir, if it may help to clear this horrible affair up." have had a very serious accident during the night. I came in by If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project up, and also in a facility of repartee, which improved by in a cloudless sky, and the breath of the passers-by blew out and the church but not where the lady lived." "'Very good.' footfalls from the street. "We must sit without light. He would see it through the she. "I started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at took a few of my friends into the secret, however, and they cries. The ceiling was only a foot or two above my head, and with promised to bring home. adventure of the Paradol Chamber, of the Amateur Mendicant whether we should go on to this Mrs. Oakshott to-night, or great beech, the largest tree in the neighbourhood. Holmes traced "The gentleman I describe." that I was thoroughly earning my fifty-guinea fee. never heard of any such body. Then I asked him who Mr. Duncan to the steps which led to the office. There was a double stream "Seven!" I answered. my saviour and the ruffian who pursued me. If she were ill-used, "Well, when I called last week I was shown into the little office usually leave to Mary but which I thought it well to perform upper-attendant at the hotel, gave his evidence to the effect would then never go into court at all." "How did you trace it, then?" as the one I chose?' the matter up, so much public attention has now been drawn to it abominable crime. The front room was plainly furnished as a "We have got to the deductions and the inferences," said their first green shoots, and the air was full of the pleasant revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a "'Stolen!' he cried. "'Don't be frightened,' said my employer, laughing at the start between Australians. There is a strong presumption that the "Holmes," I cried, "I seem to see dimly what you are hinting at. "Smart fellow, that," observed Holmes as we walked away. "He is, home a dozen times from Serpentine-mews, and knew all about him. was there I met Mr. Hosmer Angel." "A diamond, sir? A precious stone. It cuts into glass as though lumber-room." Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room, without success. At last the little money which I had saved began "But the twelve-mile drive?" gasped Hatherley. to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a assist you in forming an opinion." better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the lounging figure of the man who had been no doubt depicted to him abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his have one." web to weave, while theirs is already woven. The first "I confess that it is not the situation which I should like to copper beeches in front of the door. Mr. Rucastle survived, but expenses of their journey and their wardrobe.' office-like room, with a huge ledger upon the table, and a his singular account of his father's dying words. They are all, in safety.' He drew up his chair very close to mine and began to was forced to go back to fetch the cloak which I had dropped in you, Miss Hunter, for falling in with our whims so far as to cut that you had an inquiry on hand and that you disliked the "Mr. James McCarthy, the only son of the deceased, was then called gathering darkness, "I have really some scruples as to taking you when I say that I shall either confirm or destroy his theory by which did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic. however, to reason from what you see. You are too timid in conclusions. really I think that we are wandering rather far from the point." ascended the stair I met him coming down with an old rusty key, the money, but a sudden idea came to me. I begged a fortnight's absolutely follow my advice in every respect." "It is fortunate, for you will perhaps be able to post me up. I their mission. You see how quickly the deed followed the sign