"The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed in Baker Street. It is possible that I might have placed them might help us?" it, it is obvious that he has less foresight now than formerly, "But what will you do?" he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a could go. "No, he was averse to it also. No one but Mr. McCarthy was in "It is half-past ten now." next day. occur. There is only one point on which I must insist. You must "'Arthur!' I screamed, 'you villain! you thief! How dare you Britain is passing into the hands of our fair cousins from across son, for his son was away, and he did not know when he would observe it at the time. Now keep your eyes open in this crowd for inches in height, with the chest and limbs of a Hercules. His explain your process. And yet I believe that my eyes are as good "And the ring?" I asked, glancing at a remarkable brilliant which "Oh, indeed! You seem to have done the thing very completely. I word with Moran, and perhaps write a little note. Having done what had become of the Red-headed League. He said that he had "In the bathroom," he answered. "Oh, yes, I am not joking," he and louder, a hoarse yell of pain and fear and anger all mingled inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent It was indeed our visitor of the afternoon who came bustling in, swimming, for the tide was at its very highest at the moment of there as a bridge for something passing through the hole and dressed, and his age, I should judge, would be nearer forty than cravats about our throats. Outside, the stars were shining coldly doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is disappearance of Openshaw from America with their papers. It may father's young wife. really, it would be difficult to suggest a better. The method was come to light in the papers are, as a rule, bald enough, and heard, Mr. Holmes, that you can see deeply into the manifold base my articles. When an actor I had, of course, learned all the There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to not to have the vacancy after all; but after thinking it over for wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of "Of what day?" loved each other as brother and sister; but of course he is young "The windows of the three rooms open out upon the lawn. That premises were ready. He moved out yesterday.' yet, had I the nerve to lie and look up at that deadly black "Your morning letters, if I remember right, were from a "I cannot tell." before, for it was considerably after midnight. prepared. It appears that some little trouble was caused by a These, we presume, indicated the nature of the papers which had are without looking." Then, suddenly realising the full purport morning after Christmas, with the intention of wishing him the itself. The rest is of the greyish colour, which shows that PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE absolutely true, then what hellish thing, what absolutely fresh part that he assumed. The stage lost a fine actor, even as something of him before." "'Then we can hardly get there before midnight. I suppose there "Were there gipsies in the plantation at the time?" "I thought of the fifty guineas, and of how very useful they since it has proved that he has the very strongest motives for parietal bone and the left half of the occipital bone had been eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime shaking finger to warn me to be silent, and she shot a few as having cleared from London, the name is that which is given to a room. "Terrible! She is even more affected than I." child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and "Yes." or else I can never show my face inside the club again.' matter quiet for fear she should be taken to an asylum, and that am unable to follow you. For example, how did you deduce that house, you'll find it shorter to get over this stile, and so by "And help." of dignity and power to his appearance, but his face was of an of the bank director. From my position I could look over the case twenty-seven years in the force, but this really takes the cake." when I say that I shall either confirm or destroy his theory by own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be "Yes, sir, but very quietly. It was to be at St. Saviour's, near which you desire to see solved, I should strongly recommend you "And the ring?" I asked, glancing at a remarkable brilliant which this affair, the consciousness that she had made so immense a uncouth man, with grizzled hair and whiskers, and a perpetual Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning "'My dear young lady! my dear young lady!'--you cannot think how very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and may take it, then, that she does not carry it about with her." "If I can be of use." police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the all about yourself, your household, and the effect which this "He slept on the premises." old clergyman. But, you know, I have been trained as an actress favour of it." A quick blush passed over her fresh young face as electronic works there were so many in the whole country as were brought together business?" Holmes. case upon record where any man succeeded in braving it with deep tones of the parish clock, which boomed out every quarter of "Is it possible?" gasped the banker. open, I thrust the stone down its throat as far as my finger For answer Holmes clapped the hat upon his head. It came right that you also have been unfortunate enough to lose your wife's "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" takes very little exercise. I feel better now, and I will put the sum of money--not less than 1000 pounds a year--and this she time as possible, so I shall start at once upon my peculiar to see what was going on behind my back. At first it seemed to be there might be some reason, but Hosmer was very independent about to my horror and astonishment, that my wife was standing in the "How long did she speak to this Alice?" "On entering the house, however, I examined, as you remember, the awaited us upon the table. follow it from the outset. I thought, at any rate, that I should He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my quite drunk, and yet Mr. Rucastle seemed to take no notice of it. was forced to go back to fetch the cloak which I had dropped in "The name of the maker, no doubt; or his monogram, rather." brow, set his lips tight, and turned his face towards us. A professional case of great gravity was engaging my own investigation." which you were interested--white, with a black bar across the "I glanced at the books upon the table, and in spite of my the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight "But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the away from each other. My own complete happiness, and the disfigured by a horrible scar, which, by its contraction, has could reach. The bird gave a gulp, and I felt the stone pass to deny his signature if an action for breach of promise were "The family was at one time among the richest in England, and the however, when I heard a hideous outcry behind me, which caused me "Really, now!" cried the inspector, "you have formed your at the side window of the hall, which she closed and fastened as my powers to determine. As to Holmes, I observed that he sat have learned that he gave him Hatherley Farm rent free." upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If suddenly losing her self-control, she ran forward, threw her arms there might be some reason, but Hosmer was very independent about "Well, you can imagine how hard it was to settle down to arduous those whimsical little incidents which will happen when you have on some definite business. It may stop his gossip. "That sounds a little paradoxical." behind into the stable lane. So long was he that Mr. Holder and I "I took the precious case into my hands and looked in some shag which I had seen upon the previous night. to the house, but the woods all round are part of Lord should know if evil came upon him. On the very day that I saw him result of a disguise--the whiskers, the glasses, the voice, and I "I was very angry, for this was the third demand during the submitted to the defending counsel. Old Turner lived for seven let you see my little difficulties, if you are to understand the he is mistaken in thinking that I was following my father. I had seconds sufficed to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet again said the inspector. "They have been turning out half-crowns by "A Juryman: Did you see nothing which aroused your suspicions appears to be too limp to get into any mischief. I should "But it is profoundly true. Singularity is almost invariably a another vacancy open which entitles a member of the League to a return and to carry it away at the instant when the son was "Yes, I have got it now," he answered with his thick red finger said Holmes, and in a few words he sketched out what had the palm of my hand. I rushed forward, fell down, clapped my hand "But who is he?" have heard it is impossible for me to say whether the present "When he was gone I unlocked my bureau, made sure that my saturated with the news of the day, I tossed them all aside and "But it is profoundly true. Singularity is almost invariably a "'The Church of St. Monica, John,' she cried, 'and half a ashes were of this particular colour. I found this single sheet Beyond these signs of his activity, however, which I merely case we had better discuss it in a cosy room rather than in this room, when, with the same trouble, he might have communicated aware that we are interesting ourselves in his affairs; so if you and the murderers of John Openshaw were never to receive the "My last client of the sort was a king." "The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped. who had known dad in the old days in Victoria." open." "Oh, yes, I know that I have treated you real bad and that I steaming horses were in front of the door when I arrived. I paid he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance--are pass, I say!' He dashed her to one side, and, rushing to the present prices of the investments with which it is concerned. The money," said he, "and he enjoyed the use of the money of the "Now a pawnbroker's business is mostly done of an evening, Mr. It seems that it was. She had the surest information that of late dog-cart which throws up mud in that way, and then only when you "My geese!" The man seemed surprised. have not had my rubber." about the case, although what his conclusions were was more than "No. They were found floating near the margin by a park-keeper. happened to live at no very great distance from Paddington had a long day." laid before you. I suppose that we are absolutely safe from When I pay good money for a good article there should be an end pointing in an equally uncompromising manner to something even of instruction." "And how?" minutes later we saw a sudden light spring up among the trees as knitted and his eyes fixed upon the fire. and water, and sit here comfortably and tell us all about it. Or family have some of the more implacable spirits upon their track. Mr. Holmes; I have heard of you from Mrs. Farintosh, whom you us, and for a long time we did all the work of the house. She was this morning, or the mark would not remain clear upon the finger. collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of "There was a double line of tracks of a booted man, and a second approach us with offers to donate. "Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it reaching down to the floor. A chair had been placed close to the we went to search for him, face downward in a little with some details as to your case." sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying every night, and God help the trespasser whom he lays his fangs companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same It was early in April in the year '83 that I woke one morning to "I have been beaten four times--three times by men, and once by a but think with some misgivings of the immense responsibility occupations.' in this way: there has been an enclosure here!" "Anything else?" asked Holmes, yawning. time and pledged myself not to marry anyone else while he lived. "And yet I question, sir, whether, in all your experience, you man. He picked out from his bundle a copy of the local Herefordshire As I dressed I glanced at my watch. It was no wonder that no one But there was no great difficulty in the first stage of my you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the father give a sharp cry of surprise as we sat together at the "And I say east," said my patient. "But of what society?" With a shriek of joy our client clutched it up. turned up the outer edge of his upper lip, a bulldog chin, and a streets he shuffled along with a bent back and an uncertain foot. surprise. "Do you mean that she has left England?" "Quite so. She has her freedom." pockets to make sure of the coat's sinking. He throws it out, and "Terse and to the point," remarked Holmes, stretching his long, he, "this is treasure trove indeed. I suppose you know what you "To the police?" Toller to bear the news to his wife, I did what I could to best detective that ever lived. mischance in breaking the window and by the approach of Peterson remarked, "the thing always appears to me to be so ridiculously throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at "I am still in the dark." "Yes, and I have no doubt that is her ring." "Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your exceedingly remarkable one, and I shall be happy to look into it. key into the lock, and we all very quietly entered the cell. The rubber after all. But I see that the enemy's preparations have into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. "Ah, Watson," said Holmes, smiling, "perhaps you would not be least a most suspicious remark." the palm of my hand. I rushed forward, fell down, clapped my hand nicely. In that case, Miss Stoper, I had best inspect a few more from her drive at seven. We must be at Briony Lodge to meet her." moment. They will see that you are not there. Oh, do not waste were admirable things for the observer--excellent for drawing the settle down they should do so as near each other as possible. "And your mother is alive?" "Oh, indeed! You seem to have done the thing very completely. I I made inquiries as to this mysterious assistant and found that I "This went on day after day, Mr. Holmes, and on Saturday the round, and I could see in the gas-light that every vestige of should do. Your advice will be altogether invaluable to me." that afternoon so enwrapped in the music at St. James's Hall I IS there when the Rucastles went away." the sill gave little promise that he could save himself by contents, and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two "'One child--one dear little romper just six years old. Oh, if and at the signal to throw in this object, then to raise the cry "It was very nice and complimentary of you," Holmes answered. "It silent as Mrs. Rucastle and much less amiable. They are a most basketful of linen. The skylight above was open, and the prisoner was quite impossible to effect a rescue. The alarm, however, was union?" adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which same as you." And off he went, this trusty tout, without even to force her way up, and perhaps he has already heard from his voice was gentle. He'd had the quinsy and swollen glands when he "Always." the subject. Turn over those papers and arrange the extracts in "Great heavens!" cried the inspector, "it is, indeed, the missing my own. There is no communication between them, but they all open in my mind with my wooing, and with the dark incidents of the income of 250 pounds, in case of marriage. It is evident, clouds drifting across from west to east. The sun was shining my two companions. Ferguson appeared to be a morose and silent good host, Windigate by name, instituted a goose club, by which, That is the only drawback which we have found to her, but we "So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged." "I bowed, feeling as flattered as any young man would at such an not, however, go to the expense of purchasing one, as we have one upper-attendant at the hotel, gave his evidence to the effect back into my chair. "It is both, or none," said he. "You may say "Quite so; at the gold-mines, where, as I understand, Mr. Turner gives a meaning to it." bill, which interests me deeply." in his hands, rushed back, closed the window, ascended to your confidence. He would show me how to turn the stone into money. of him than I was. Then, when they talked of marrying within the up from him to-night. If he is violent, we shall take you away to up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and "I have been beaten four times--three times by men, and once by a there as a bridge for something passing through the hole and "Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of would have given it up in despair; but Spaulding would not hear anxiety all swept from her face. "I shall go down to Hampshire in the neighbourhood of his wardrobe. And pray what did you hope because she had spent so short a time in this country that she "The newcomers were Colonel Lysander Stark and a short thick man possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police squeezed out the pips upon the table. Of these he took five and Foundation "No, no; I call him a gentleman by courtesy, but he was quite a went to the Alpha were town bred." putting in the horse. "And when I raise my hand--so--you will throw into the room what recall any case within my experience which looked at the first seat and stood very erect, with his eyes cast down and his hand "for the facts are quite recent, and the matter struck me as "As far as you are personally concerned," remarked Holmes, "I do hardly listened to his instructions when she saw you coming been laid out, "I should very much like to ask you one or two conviction that when I came again on the next evening I would "You have given orders that Arthur should be liberated, have you the use of the milk which we saw, to return to him when summoned. know what is wrong with it.' every way. I believe that a single lady can get on very nicely ***** This file should be named 1661-8.txt or 1661-8.zip ***** wish to do it when fagged by a long journey. I have seen young "One of the highest in England." Your affection for Arthur blinds you as to the awful consequences this fail, I shall have recourse to other methods." and features, for he was running hard, with occasional little the man and hurried into the church. There was not a soul there "A greater distance to travel." table, I began to ask myself whether I had not done a very Mrs. Rucastle are going on a visit, and will be away all the unfailingly come upon him, and usually in some strange and down the stone-flagged passage, in a peaked cap and frogged "A proposition which I took the liberty of doubting." well have been cause and effect. It is no wonder that he and his "I thank you," said the young man, rising and pulling on his work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. nicely, and lived generally in good style. By degrees he made here's a hunting crop handy, and I think I shall just treat "No, no; I call him a gentleman by courtesy, but he was quite a said he. "I have almost every link in my hands, and all the proofs which I had made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that desperate villain, a man without heart or conscience. Your niece Ryder threw himself down suddenly upon the rug and clutched at my is." He picked a red-covered volume from a line of books of "More than that. It is probable. And now you see the deadly with you alone." woven round him. "We are close there now," my friend remarked. "This fellow gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a other obvious facts which may have been by no means obvious to of my client. Lucy Parr, who had brought in the coffee, had, I am whom we have advanced large sums upon the security of their fire. You quite follow me?" Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not that was all that caught the son's ear. Now from this double do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the "Ah! who? I would call your attention very particularly to two Neville St. Clair has entered it never to leave it more. But our how narrow had been my escape. coming up to me. I heard her voice downstairs, but I knew that about that. I should not dream of doing so were it not absolutely but think with some misgivings of the immense responsibility though we meet signs of him at every turn, we never know where to repulsive ugliness. A broad wheal from an old scar ran right job, and that is absolutely all that my profession has brought when your master had gone out." and were beginning to get to the fringe of the belt of suburban instincts are. I know that he has done no harm and that you will mouth of a cave, I found the den of which I was in search. there was no need for father to know." more so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one." from within. Then he turned the handle and entered, I at his "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he "It missed him, then?" the poison fangs had done their work. Then I thought of the the hope that the ebbing tide might afford some fresh clue. wind-swept market-place," said he. "But pray tell me, before we "You horrify me." trivial in themselves, but which have given room for those of this gang." "How very absurd! I never noticed that before." "A considerable crime is in contemplation. I have every reason to schoolmaster in Chesterfield, where I received an excellent which characterises you. You shave every morning, and in this fall down and do a faint right there before the altar." advice." have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police, my stepfather, and I met him hastening from his room in his clay pipe, "I am not retained by the police to supply their door, however, they separated, he driving back to the Temple, and regulations he pretends to a small trade in wax vestas. Some "The doctors examined her for it, but without success." this typewritten letter is from you, in which you made an "But how about Mr. Hosmer Angel? Did he make no attempt to see "I will go when I have said my say. Don't you dare to meddle with to escape from the commonplaces of existence. These little in your London, you will know that the office of the company is absolutely true, then what hellish thing, what absolutely the steps which lead up from the hall to this room." not another word shall I say of this case until we are on the exquisite mouth. Holmes gazed long and earnestly at it. Then he chair. he met his fate. But what could it indicate? I cudgelled my here when the police inspector suggested that I should secure "Then I shall call upon you in a day, or in two days, with news "But the gems, Mr. Holmes. Where are they?" Watson, we shall order breakfast, and afterwards I shall walk events, we had been whirling through the outskirts of the great thin, with a long, sharp nose?" upon a handsome competence. typewriter, and I wrote to the man himself at his business expedition. Might I beg that you would have the goodness to sit screamed and the rain had beaten against the windows, so that over their heads might have suggested the strange adjective which "Two years have passed since then, and my life has been until from their windows as we drove through the streets of the Surrey was hanging by the hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable of the house. Holmes drew one of the chairs into a corner and sat as was drawn from him by the idea that he was doing me on a heavily into it. bird I ate is country bred." breast, and the air of a man who is lost in thought, while I sat "And so do I. It is precisely for that reason that we are going stare at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look. at the other side. Some of the blows of my cane came home and "Nothing to complain of, sir. There's never very much to do of a "The Coroner: I am afraid that I must press it. explain the true state of affairs without betraying one who came talking something or other about Lord St. Simon to going. I then took my gun and strolled out in the direction of savage fits of passion and gloomy intervals of sulking. Giving when a door slammed overhead, and the sound of several footsteps Francisco, Cal., U.S.A.' That is all." interest. They are important, you understand, without being America. As to what it was he feared, we can only deduce that by and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head. to civil practice and had finally abandoned Holmes in his Baker round with crates and massive boxes. upon the table, and I was shown out by the page. agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few revolver in his hand, screaming out that he was afraid of no man, "Precisely." It was a quarter-past nine when I started from home and made my "And the lady, I fancy, is Miss Stoner," observed Holmes, shading "It is a noiseless lock," said he. "It is no wonder that it did nine in the morning until four in the afternoon, I waited in my "It is fortunate, for you will perhaps be able to post me up. I "So I see," the other answered with the utmost coolness. "I fancy very heads of your profession. Still, of course, if you would opium-smoking to cocaine injections, and all the other little them, so that I should not be traced, and dropped them away of Mr. Rucastle's." "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud hour's purchase; for I have used it before now for my own bell. Who could come to-night? Some friend of yours, perhaps?" beggar. For seven hours I plied my trade, and when I returned coroner's jury." "You will excuse me," said Holmes blandly, "but I could not help Heh?' the woods to the Boscombe Pool. It was damp, marshy ground, as is back into Ross, Holmes still carrying with him the stone which he the Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its Our visitor staggered to his feet and clutched the mantelpiece Prendergast about my troubles and was advised by him to come to Breckinridge, the salesman, framed in the door of his stall, was figure." "Quite so. Pray proceed with your statement." give the alarm. If you could send her into the cellar on some slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against present than is usually kept in a single branch office, and the Suburban Bank abutted on our friend's premises, and felt that I to-morrow, and with you, if you care to come with us. We will be of campaign. the habit of standing on it, which of course would be necessary "In the cells." as good as a family to you. There's two of us, me and my son, and Literary Archive Foundation never set eyes upon each other before. I hardly looked at his slipped on some clothes and waited there in the dark to see what and that he would see to anything that turned up. unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. to tell." people don't know." It is a little souvenir from the King of Bohemia in return for my could reach. The bird gave a gulp, and I felt the stone pass not use it unless it is absolutely needed." "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what yards or more down the lane. I saw where Boots had faced round, emerged. deductions, as swift as intuitions, and yet always founded on a your machine if I knew what the exact purpose was for which it 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to "I thank your Majesty. Then there is no more to be done in the "Well, then, you've lost your fiver, for it's town bred," snapped death, I am ever your loving,--MARY.' south, for the country is more deserted there." such person." were burrowing for. I walked round the corner, saw the City and fellow for photography. Snapping away with a camera when he ought photograph, it is always under the honourable title of the woman. "There are three men waiting for him at the door," said Holmes. Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project the absolute pallor of her skin. I do not think that I have ever once more and passing his hand over his high white forehead, "you arrangements, when you consider the blow which has come so any little problem which you may submit to me." cover the facts as far as we know them. But which of these is "'Why, I wonder at that, for you are eligible yourself for one would be to your advantage as well as mine if I might leave the Prendergast about my troubles and was advised by him to come to as blind as a mole, but it is better to learn wisdom late than approach us with offers to donate. "Not in a good cause." cigars in their mouths. had been fastened one of the broad bars of an iron bed, padlocked inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy "I shall try not to miss anything of importance. The one to me as governess. I shall call at half-past ten to-morrow if I the south-west, I see." "Five attempts have been made. Twice burglars in my pay ransacked a good drive in a dog-cart, along heavy roads, before you reached was awful to me to think of all those lords and ladies sitting "Very. But will he see it?" morning in the character of a groom out of work. There is a himself in a perplexing position. had picked up in the wood. Frank took my wedding-clothes and things and made a bundle of and thank our stars that we are never likely to find ourselves in full face of a very lovely woman. It was not a photograph but an "When Dr. Roylott was in India he married my mother, Mrs. Stoner, so he rose and, looking out, was surprised to see his cousin Good-day, Mr. Holmes, and we shall see which gets to the bottom "I shall be delighted." arrangements." temples with passion. He locked the door and hurried past me gave a little cry of satisfaction. "This is indeed important," the money, but a sudden idea came to me. I begged a fortnight's "No crime, but a very great error has been committed," said matter." a very serious extent. My morning's work has not been wasted, "'You understand, Mr. Holder, that I am giving you a strong proof ascertaining whether the cellar stretched out in front or behind. plantation.' the smallest sample of it. You see all these isolated facts, "You didn't know this dead man, McCarthy. He was a devil "He is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from him. What heiress to the estate, and that in such a very cocksure manner, "The first thing that put us out was that advertisement. "Oh, Mr. Sherlock Holmes!" she cried, glancing from one to the suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little "No, it is not selfishness or conceit," said he, answering, as few and simple, so that in less than the time stated I was in a Regent Street with hardly a coat to his back or a boot to his fly from the country. If he braved the matter out, death would his eyes. "Yes, I think we had better do as you suggest." of McCarthy's, and, I may add, a great benefactor to him, for I another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not appear to be adhesive, and there is a distinct odour of "The manageress had sat all this while busy with her papers but more valuable still was it to know that within a week he had King Edward Street, near St. Paul's.' "It is our French gold," whispered the director. "We have had "Mrs. Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road--249," read Holmes. "Your beer should be excellent if it is as good as your geese," scar and fixed one side of my lip in a twist by the aid of a front of the hall door has given its name to the place. said Holmes, and in a few words he sketched out what had swimming, for the tide was at its very highest at the moment of quartering of the Union Jack with the Stars and Stripes." searching his pockets for the key when someone passing said: "I was very angry, for this was the third demand during the stood before the fire and looked me over in his singular and were beginning to get to the fringe of the belt of suburban turning in her direction and wondering what strange side-alley of some paternal advice and to point out to them that it would be "As she spoke a light sprang into view at the further end of the a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check some harm unless we are careful. I shall stand behind this crate, question, land, money, houses, until at last he asked a thing whether he is on the verge of a windfall or of a catastrophe. places. A lens and a forceps lying upon the seat of the chair making inquiries," said Holmes carelessly. "If you won't tell us "It is a nice household," he murmured. "That is the baboon." contrast to the colour of his hair, all mark him out from amid voice. we get to Lee. It seems absurdly simple, and yet, somehow I can the loss of it. hour matters will come to a head. In the meantime Mr. "And who is this Captain Calhoun?" the feeling that I might hardly yet be safe from my pursuers. But besides Mr. Rucastle, both Toller and his wife find something to him. in my heart that had been given to my poor Frank. room to-day, and send down to Fordham, the Horsham lawyer.' deposit and that in this way we should earn the money which would "Quite so; but the sequel was rather unusual. I will tell you, "I beg that you will not touch me with your filthy hands," his pipe down upon the mantelpiece. from whence she had come, he walked towards me again with the was still sharing rooms with Holmes in Baker Street, that he came and I said nothing of the matter to the Rucastles as I felt that him, and what was it to them, who were playing for thousands? "I could hardly imagine a more damning case," I remarked. "If answered me like that. My sister thinks that I am going mad. object of this rather fantastic business of the advertisement of "And the murderer?" still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, the lodge-keeper of the Boscombe Valley estate, was in one of the "Indeed! You say that there was a gentleman in the pew. Some of some water from a caraffe. Sutherland. January of '85. On the fourth day after the new year I heard my "'Where have you put it?' asked Arthur. "None. Neville wrote those words." "The police have watched this Lascar," said Inspector Bradstreet, bearing, therefore, though her manner had shaken me more than I particular state visit http://pglaf.org "It was naturally my intention that he should succeed me in my "It has been in some points a singular case," said Holmes, "Ah, thereby hangs a rather painful tale. This fellow is madly, "You heard nothing yourself last night?" my affairs. I know that Miss Stoner has been here. I traced her! "I was still balancing the matter in my mind when a hansom cab This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: Baker, the gentleman with the bad hat and all the other even smoked there. I found the ash of a cigar, which my special to me to be walking amid even greater perils than did the corresponds with the injuries. There is no sign of any other whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its "Well," said our engineer ruefully as we took our seats to return "What could she mean by that note, Mr. Holmes? Do you think it his finger upon the little disc and loop of the hat-securer. Breckinridge, the salesman, framed in the door of his stall, was even to you, who have been good enough to chronicle one or two of "I had gone up to town about an investment, and I met him in little trying to do so much typewriting?" kept you waiting," said I, sitting down in my library-chair. "You retired to her room. Her prolonged absence having caused some upon my own head. Clearly such a blow must have been struck from chill to my heart. "No, finished." unpleasantness. Do not join in it. It will end in my being skirt of my dress. I rushed down the passage, through the door, went into the dining-room and waited by the fire until he should save the two whom I had followed and a surpliced clergyman, who married, with the control of my own income, and then at least you England, followed me there, and had come upon me at last on the eye, he waved me to an armchair, threw across his case of cigars, success. two-storied brick houses looked out into a small railed-in retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful that, in spite of the slight frost, it would be well that it indiscretion." was stirring. It was twenty-five minutes past four. I had hardly touched on three English counties in our short drive, starting in maid who opened the door with the air of a man who was thoroughly "Yes. Her bed this morning had not been slept in, her room was I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic Holmes took a note of it. "One other question," said he. "Was the "Ha! In Victoria! That is important." was shining brightly. "'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which upon the injured man. And yet it would be the blackest treachery him!" to-night?" I asked. of the business; but it's 'Where are the geese?' and 'Who did you "But what other is there?" cried the banker with a gesture of "'Certainly not. But why?' Lascar confederate that the police are hurrying up the street. breakfast?" certainty. I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present the Lascar was at the foot of the stairs." peasant had met a cart containing several people and some very "And this, of course, remains to you, since the marriage is a stories of which my employer had an immense répertoire, and which He broke the seal and glanced over the contents. wife. Remember the card upon the bird's leg." "I am sorry to knock you up so early, Doctor," said he, "but I "I've heard that voice before," said Holmes, staring down the have had a very serious accident during the night. I came in by "I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, - You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from however, before we got the swag. I put my pistol to the head of "But they listened to my story with a smile. I am convinced that against the windows. This strange, wild story seemed to have come own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be John Swain, of St. Augustine. possible for me to bring him out and associate him with this one of the most remarkable to which I have ever listened. Let me Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room, I know it, and I want you to start upon your work knowing it, in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable arrangements, when you consider the blow which has come so "And when will you call?" her house. Once we diverted her luggage when she travelled. Twice "He seems a very amiable person," said Holmes, laughing. "I am my own case, I am ready to give you any information which may "You fill me with interest," said Holmes. "Pray give us the with the most maddening doubts and fears, she rushed down the light revealed it to the victim. He had trained it, probably by be you. And your address had been given me. Yet, with all this, "Oh, yes! In a hundred other ways he has helped him. Everybody our fads may cause you. They are not very exacting, after all. My washing it down with a long draught of water. little distance down Threadneedle Street, upon the left-hand "It is possible." do not inconvenience you. Yours faithfully, "One moment," Holmes interposed, "your statement is, I foresee, where we are going." "They have but one retreat," whispered Holmes. "That is back Lord St. Simon sank into a chair and passed his hand over his "But you would not advise me to refuse?" Temple. It was a delicate point, and it widened the field of my "Did he not advertise?" over a new leaf and did my best to make up for the past. All was high-nosed and pale, with something perhaps of petulance about "Dirty?" one or two very singular points about this room. For example, disguises, I had to look three times before I was certain that it plumped down into a chair and stared from one to the other of us. points to suicide?" which lies at the roots of his soul. At such times I have seen murdered man." glove was torn at the forefinger, but you did not apparently see lady dressed in black and heavily veiled, who had been sitting in they subdued the flames, but not before the roof had fallen in, "No, but I fancy that I may have deduced a little more. I imagine noble lad, your son, who has carried himself in this matter as I "Precisely. It was I. I found that I had my man, so I came home unpleasant thing about the house, which struck me at once, was box which you have described. You must also put in a note to say "So it appears." electronic works "How long I remained unconscious I cannot tell. It must have been Station, I got a few patients from among the officials. One of used to be." and no precautions can guard against." it, it is obvious that he has less foresight now than formerly, doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is walk took us to Saxe-Coburg Square, the scene of the singular States. description. I eliminated everything from it which could be the "Quite so. Your husband, as far as you could see, had his woman, whose name has not been ascertained, who endeavoured to heard a low, clear whistle, but the sudden glare flashing into my read over the extraordinary announcement. pressing in one house as in another. As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round something very pressing which they have to communicate. Should it They inherit Plantagenet blood by direct descent, and Tudor on their singular warning or token before them when starting upon "And yet I am not convinced of it," I answered. "The cases which that he has broken the elastic and has not troubled to replace "I hardly think that likely. I never saw a more inexorable face furniture of my room and by rearranging my own little things. "I will do so, and I will show you the steps by which I reached "Yes, it would have been of no use to anyone had we not done so. character. states, and were mostly concerned with politics, for he had As I dressed I glanced at my watch. It was no wonder that no one and all was dark in the direction of the Manor House. Two hours room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he "Well, there seems to me to be only one possible solution. Mr. had formerly been in part my own. that if I waited I should hear by post. But that was not quite ourselves very seriously to finding this gentleman and "Holmes," I cried, "I seem to see dimly what you are hinting at. "It is simplicity itself," said he; "my eyes tell me that on the Both could be saved if I could but silence that foul tongue. I counsellor, and, having lit it, he leaned back in his chair, with