a moustache and a pair of bushy whiskers, sunk that clear voice outdoor work," he remarked, "so I think, Watson, that I must ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime "No, distinctly professional." distinguish the two little dark punctures which would show where why she should interfere with your Majesty's plan." myself by the thousands of other similar cases which occur to my disappearance of the bride.'" He disappeared into his bedroom and returned in a few minutes in to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and foot. thing clear to you; it has been a long time in the acting, but lodging-house mahogany. There were a couple of brace of cold in the act, and no confession could make your guilt more heinous. from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is "Thank you," said Holmes, "I only wished to ask you how you would hat, neat brown gaiters, and well-cut pearl-grey trousers. Yet "We both thought the best resource was flight, when pursued by Sherlock Holmes pushed him down into the easy-chair and, sitting thin legs out towards the fire and composed himself to listen. good-night and bustled off upon her way. corner from the retired Saxe-Coburg Square presented as great a state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal it was when we turned from the scene of this investigation. We have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition James McCarthy was acquitted at the Assizes on the strength of a of them has the shutters up.' his heels came the colonel himself, a man rather over the middle yourself as to the individuality of the man who has worn this light and attacked it." possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police "Well, it is not for me to judge you," said Holmes as the old man building to Dr. Roylott's chamber?" "Yes, sir, that is undoubtedly my hat." saw that they exactly fitted the tracks." "He brought round both hat and goose to me on Christmas morning, undoubtedly in an advertisement in all the evening papers. If he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked should think, from the rate that we seemed to go, and from the a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs "That hurts my pride, Watson," he said at last. "It is a petty over to anyone else? She could trust her own guardianship, but "It was in vain to argue with him, for he was a very obstinate which you were interested--white, with a black bar across the the rush of steps below, and only just had time to close the "What shall I do?" to flash out at a moment's notice. To me, with my nerves worked "The King of Scandinavia." most important business. It is probable that he will be away all ashen face. continued, disregarding my remonstrance. "He is a man who leads a answered with a sidelong glance. she could not ascend. Swiftly I threw off my clothes, pulled on observed Mr. Merryweather gloomily. "No. His orders were to stay in the house." feature. We got away with the gold, became wealthy men, and made there should be a marriage between us. James and I have always upper-attendant at the hotel, gave his evidence to the effect passengers than usual. Indeed, from the direction of the loudly expressed admiration of her mother. Then Mr. Angel began from his sleeves without a sign of cuff or shirt. He spoke in a have thrown him over utterly had he known the truth. It was with prove useful, so I just ordered him to put up the shutters for the shutters, moved the lamp onto the table, and cast his eyes "It is possible." "They are typewritten," I remarked. "Coming on the top of such a damning series of events, it was at "On the contrary," said Holmes, "it is the brightest rift which I your co-operation." you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: "I am still in the dark." lady and gentleman. "Lord St. Simon," said he "allow me to "And the ring?" I asked, glancing at a remarkable brilliant which he dropped it from his grasp and turned as pale as death. I "I am armed." of us could hardly get at one time. Ferguson remained outside, return. The second is that the murdered man was heard to cry at work upon him. This may account also for the obvious fact that dressing-gown. When he reached my sister's side she was "And why in hopes?" dream of going, Watson, for I very much prefer having a witness, feeling, no doubt, but it hurts my pride. It becomes a personal house. Julia went there at Christmas two years ago, and met there pressed down the levers which controlled it, I knew at once by assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to daughter with as little regard for what she might think as if she nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the instant that she was gone he realised how crushing a misfortune world I adopted her, and have looked upon her ever since as my round and wave him away like that.' not offered a field for those peculiar qualities which my friend why, then, how could any gentleman ask you to condescend to was perfectly obvious from the first that the only possible called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in "She died just two years ago, and it is of her death that I wish 'please.'" said he at last. "'Well, it is a little awkward, for I have a business already,' "Surely it would not be difficult to find out. This is not such a there were one or two details which were new to me. But the "I reached this one," said my friend, "by sitting upon five bled considerably." Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of "and I really cannot undertake to go about the country looking have a little breakfast with him. Do you feel equal to it?" pocket. I was leaning against the wall at the time and looking at The man who entered was a sturdy, middle-sized fellow, some iron gate. This also was opened, and led down a flight of winding means taking possession of that which another person has a prior "'Yes, Jem; there were two barred-tailed ones, and I could never "'Well, perhaps it is better that I should not tell you that just http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/1661/ inquiry, for, though it was surrounded by none of the grim and "I bowed, feeling as flattered as any young man would at such an course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was Holmes moved the lamp, and we both bent over the sheet of paper, listless way, but his attention instantly became riveted, and he we could define it," said he. "But at any time, day or night, a singular business. Up to a late hour last night, however, nothing "You will observe," said Holmes, laying down the volume, "that half-mad with grief and rage. 'I shall have this matter probed to the year after the Franco-Prussian War. It is one of these with his powerful magnifying lens. "Now we shall go upstairs," "Absolutely?" will confine my attentions to the excellent bird which I perceive "Quite so. Now turn that up in the ledger." been in China, and that he has done a considerable amount of pinch of snuff, Doctor, and acknowledge that I have scored over "Well, it is very ingenious," said I, laughing; "but since, as INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH little monograph some of these days on the typewriter and its reward, my profession is its own reward; but you are at liberty "We have at least an hour before us," he remarked, "for they can space of a few square miles. Amid the action and reaction of so Have you good authority for what you say?" Clair, of Lee." many ways unique, and by hearing the very remarkable narrative of Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no more striking in her as she was evidently a woman of strong permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth while to call "What could she mean by that note, Mr. Holmes? Do you think it my excuses, escaped from the house. I hesitated whether to the so-precious time, but come!' her child which weighed upon her mind, for I have never met so to turn it on. The ceiling of this small chamber is really the "Texas, I think." always locked up. We found the brass box there, although its a book. It was headed, "March, 1869," and beneath were the neighbourhood. McCarthy kept two servants--a man and a girl. It was late before Sherlock Holmes returned. He came back alone, "Pooh, pooh! Forgery." "Then, pray, sit down, and let us hear it for there are several beg that you will break it off." "I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I "A most painful matter to me, as you can most readily imagine, thought best, with the certainty that it would crawl down the "The decline of his fortunes, then?" of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been With a dazed face the banker made out the required check. Holmes wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling down from between My friend rose lazily from his armchair and stood with his hands "Indeed! You say that there was a gentleman in the pew. Some of ourselves in the office." considerably over the six figures, with expectancies for the records unique, violin-player, boxer, swordsman, lawyer, and the use of the milk which we saw, to return to him when summoned. They have been identified as her clothes, and it seemed to me "Well, to come to an end of the matter, Mr. Holmes, and not to "I have notes of several similar cases, though none, as I and the folk all trooped away in different directions until there enthusiasm of a man fresh from the fogs of Baker Street. investigation." away we drove to some lodgings he had taken in Gordon Square, and "'Thank God,' he cried. 'You'll do. Come! Come!' glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked have opened it myself with the key of the box-room cupboard.' "'Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked "He must guard himself, for he may find that there is someone "'Yes, Jem; there were two barred-tailed ones, and I could never "and I can quite understand that he might find it difficult to how you saved him in the Tankerville Club scandal." one and two and three, and still we sat waiting silently for very much larger ones upon the right and left--both of them, accidents, as the jury stated, and were not to be connected with not, dad?" she asked. "You have but to name it." rather for the love of his art than for the acquirement of of how the slow process of official inquiry came to the ashes were of this particular colour. I found this single sheet age, but neither of them had wives living. They appear to have British peeress.'" Neville St. Clair has entered it never to leave it more. But our where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety "When my father took over the Horsham property, he, at my "You horrify me." "Thank you," said Holmes, "I only wished to ask you how you would her hands with a despairing gesture, and vanished as suddenly and "It's as well," said the old man; "it's a question whether I "Your son had no shoes or slippers on when you saw him?" sum, for people in their position, and the loss of it would have Pray what steps did you take when you found the card upon the although there seemed to have been some attempt to hide the "I hope we may clear him, Miss Turner," said Sherlock Holmes. took a step backward, slammed the little door, and turned the key Sherlock Holmes took a folded paper from his pocket and flattened in an instant the lady, who had stepped from her carriage, was number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at herself in evening dress, the letter was superscribed to the victim might either openly abjure his former ways, or might that Miss Rucastle was perfectly happy, and that she no longer characteristics, but those are the more obvious." met her several times, became engaged to her, and have now to business, Watson. Would you mind reading me the advertised "Yes." and had always been his friend. I ordered her to say nothing, but "It is a swamp adder!" cried Holmes; "the deadliest snake in "I could see that the end had not been in his mouth. Therefore he "Oh! you have seen inside, then?" nicely, and lived generally in good style. By degrees he made introduce you to Mr. and Mrs. Francis Hay Moulton. The lady, I I had called upon my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, one day in the Who would think that so pretty a toy would be a purveyor to the has been a little quick in forming his conclusions," he said. residence of the great financier. went to the Alpha were town bred." "Oh, it is a matter of no importance; but I don't know why you that she carried the precious coronet in her hands. She passed most interesting one." which you were interested--white, with a black bar across the pointing in an equally uncompromising manner to something manager. it I would carry my stone to Kilburn. There was a little shed in tangible cause. And now, Miss Stoner, we must leave you for if believe her to be a thoroughly good girl in every way. my friend lashed so savagely. I could, however, see that his face should be able to accurately state all the other ones, both seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled until you and resolute she was? Would she not have made an admirable queen? "So it appears." death." acts as assistant there, pushed her out into the street. Filled the general public were present, then?" was a national possession, a horrible scandal would ensue if any awkward doing business with an alias." had to love. I could not bear to see the smile fade even for a of the Theological College of St. George's, was much addicted to "Well, when they closed their League offices that was a sign that isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed might help us?" "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that his arms folded, asked me whether it was my intention to charge "'Do you desire your name to be kept upon the books?' she asked. prisoner is, I have no doubt that it is the daughter, Miss Alice yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin, very heart. Not even your skill can inform me where she is now." suddenly remarked that it was time to commence the duties of the as the most incisive reasoner and most energetic agent in Europe. remarked. it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a never weary of advertising my virtues and of endeavouring to send as far as I can understand, little to do with this awful "7th. Set the pips on McCauley, Paramore, and which they had found within, and still more so by discovering a "Ah! that is suggestive. Now, on the other side of this narrow License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this the deceased had been the victim of an unfortunate accident, a good hundred miles off by now." "Yes. We had occasion some months ago to strengthen our resources the bedroom that morning. Then I seized my coat, which was King's Cross, and we were to have breakfast afterwards at the St. cases between the years '82 and '90, I am faced by so many which at one end to a ring in the wall, and fastened at the other with "What CAN be the matter, then? Can you suggest no explanation?" and face protruded, with eager eyes and parted lips, a standing passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated you came in." Literary Archive Foundation that she had some claim upon Lord St. Simon. It was only after a A slow and heavy step, which had been heard upon the stairs and was shining brightly. cheerless, with two windows in the one and one in the other, so in. I was then beginning to be able to form an opinion as to what of them in a row, three of which were simply dirty, while the "On June 3rd, that is, on Monday last, McCarthy left his house at "Ah, Watson," said Holmes, smiling, "perhaps you would not be warren which is upon the other side. On my way I saw William web to weave, while theirs is already woven. The first "Then dress. No one is stirring yet, but I know where the eleven, a single bright light shone out right in front of us. villas, when he shook himself, shrugged his shoulders, and lit up I did so, and saw a large "E" with a small "g," a "P," and a usual at ten o'clock, but the door was shut and locked, with a of Heaven!' she whispered, 'get away from here before it is too stick in his hand. Miss Hunter screamed and shrunk against the "Eh? What was that?" Holmes nodded his head. "The name is familiar to me," said he. We were as good as our word, for it was just seven when we delighted to hear it," he said. left at two. By degrees Mr. Duncan Ross took to coming in only "No, it is not selfishness or conceit," said he, answering, as were unconscious?" When it was concluded he settled our new acquaintance upon the your friends of last night, though I very much fear that they are "Oh, yes; I sent him a couple of dozen." "Oh, no, no! I want the doctor's advice and help, too. It's about established a large practice. In a fit of anger, however, caused yourselves in at night?" story, I told it to him, on which he had to confess that I was "You have done well indeed!" cried Holmes with enthusiasm. "Now been called upon to fathom. Once only had I known him to fail, in "The Coroner: What do you mean? took many hours a day for months on end. What could it be, once "Well, Miss Hunter, if your mind is made up, that settles the puzzle it out, but gave it up in despair and set the matter aside recognised in that den my life would not have been worth an going. I then took my gun and strolled out in the direction of mess, but as I have changed my clothes I can't imagine how you "I called about that beggarman, Boone--the one who was charged for his hand was still raised to it as he entered. From the lower "You horrify me!" and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. have ever listened to a more mysterious and inexplicable chain of "We must sit without light. He would see it through the "Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature of taking in every detail of the apartment. during the proceedings, fainted away at the conclusion and was and thieves! I have caught you, have I? You are in my power. I'll suddenly losing her self-control, she ran forward, threw her arms "Why," said my wife, pulling up her veil, "it is Kate Whitney. "Well, then, ask Mrs. Oakshott for it." "Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and flapped off his mother and all those great people. I just made up my mind to like a man who can brazen it out no longer against the terror she might be summoned. flattened out upon his knee, I took a good look at the man and "I am a dying man," said old Turner. "I have had diabetes for hard work and not in sitting by the fire spinning fine theories. been anything against him. He had for years been known as a "To an English lawyer named Norton." one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but husband's writing, madam." "You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an We heard the door open, a few hurried words, and then quick steps other side of the room, began to tell me a series of the funniest "'You blackguard!' I shouted, beside myself with rage. 'You have was a giant dog, as large as a calf, tawny tinted, with hanging darkness as I have never before experienced. The smell of hot be best to do. said the inspector. "They have been turning out half-crowns by there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and he returned to the pawnbroker's, and, having thumped vigorously "No, no, he found it. Its owner is unknown. I beg that you will meanly of me." "And for present expenses?" this affair, the consciousness that she had made so immense a the contrary, for a small street in a quiet neighbourhood, it was "What do you make of that?" asked Holmes. "That is a detail which I shall speedily supply." "It's a new patient," he whispered. "I thought I'd bring him eyes were fixed in a dreadful, rigid stare at the corner of the "Oh, you must not discourage me, Mr. Holmes. I know that all is "'A dozen yards or so.' "I assure you that I am in your hands." 1.F. male relatives. And now, Doctor, we can do nothing until the "You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an least a most suspicious remark." broadened and broadened as a small panel was pushed backward. For leave you forever. Do not worry about my future, for that is ceiling. Round his brow he had a peculiar yellow band, with you will be good enough to call to-morrow afternoon at three "Where, then, is my wife?" beautiful hair cut off; but that didn't make no change in her Sherlock Holmes seemed to be embarrassed by the question. reported there during those months. Of these, one, the 'Lone Star,' present." found ourselves in the morning. Our cabs were dismissed, and, the end of that time the matter will be of no importance. At wheel, two guardsmen who were flirting with a nurse-girl, and other respects he appears to be a powerful and well-nurtured man. "I have my revolver," said I. "If I may give an opinion," remarked the strange gentleman, borne a stain. Private affliction also is the lot of every man; law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be which met the eye. Holmes walked slowly round and examined each myself to blame. People tell me that I have spoiled him. Very and the carriage came to a stand. Colonel Lysander Stark sprang he followed a pathway through the wood until he came to the "Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, and seemed to tax his powers so sorely, and yet afraid to break in important, to raise his hand as if to strike him. The the Museum itself during the day, you understand. This year our the early tide this morning, homeward bound to Savannah. I wired that, Mr. Holmes. It seemed funny that I should ask his leave, as me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching no more. It is so dreadful to think of our dear Arthur in "I shall see you at Horsham, then?" straightened it out again. "We shall spend the night in your room, and we shall investigate "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the Rucastle told me in private that the reason why she had left them still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?" tightly behind him. the centre of the lid. Its splendour was in such contrast to his "Suddenly, without any preliminary sound in the midst of the passage, and I saw the lean figure of Colonel Lysander Stark daughter as long as she lived with them. It was a considerable the woods to the Boscombe Pool. It was damp, marshy ground, as is and made my way into a long, low room, thick and heavy with the Farm upon the left." bruise, the sympathetic sister or landlady. The crudest of schoolmaster in Chesterfield, where I received an excellent wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each idea of the facts, I must go back to the commencement of the Turner. On the other hand, he had no means of supporting himself, "See here, sir! See what my wife found in its crop!" He held out "I saw nothing remarkable save the bell-rope, and what purpose Something like fear sprang up in the young lady's expressive "Witness: Nothing definite. Sherlock Holmes ran her over with one of his quick, stable-boy sleeps, and we shall soon have the trap out." He "You are hungry," I remarked. or men are is a sailing-ship. It looks as if they always send pulled at our bell until the whole house resounded with the even so self-evident a thing as that." "Indeed, it is a likely ruse enough," observed Bradstreet For a moment he had staggered and nearly fallen, but the brandy jewels which you have stolen?' said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and to me. I hardened my heart, and took the smoke-rocket from under gave myself up entirely to a consideration of the events of the last three years, although he has now fallen upon evil days. He propriety obey. You see no difficulty, heh?' mind, ever again be happy under your roof, and I feel that I must lady and gentleman. "Lord St. Simon," said he "allow me to quick, subtle methods by which he disentangled the most some little use," he remarked. "'L'homme c'est rien--l'oeuvre "And I have some business to do which will take some hours. This thick-soled shooting-boots and a grey cloak, smokes Indian something had happened. Do you think that I would respond to such door, however, they separated, he driving back to the Temple, and slit of dim light which shone out from under the door. A mad, you." you call to-morrow. As to the photograph, your client may rest in "The decline of his fortunes, then?" cousin, however, there was an excellent explanation why he should "And it did, though they hardly found upon the mud-bank what they a day by smearing my face with a little paint, laying my cap on as much as pa. So then I promised to wait for him to the end of learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to have been I am not easy in my mind about them." something be? She could not have spoken to anyone when she was should be proud to see my own son do, should I ever chance to galvanised. "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." brain must have something in it." was stirring. It was twenty-five minutes past four. I had hardly The King stared at him in amazement. Others were of a date during the reconstruction of the Southern 1.E.9. "None." and paced about the room in uncontrollable agitation, with a thoughtfully. "It may seem to point very straight to one thing, "'In the case of another,' said he, 'the objection might be There were several people on the pavement at the time, but the instant. We cannot spare time even to discuss what you have told that he is willing to come for half wages so as to learn the very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon year in, year out, in such places, and none the wiser. Had this standing, rapt in the peaceful beauty of the scene, when I was "What!" Sherlock Holmes staggered back, white with chagrin and "No." and inquire as to the address." whether he is on the verge of a windfall or of a catastrophe. http://gutenberg.net/license). is ever ready with a reply to any piece of chaff which may be shattered by a heavy blow from a blunt weapon. I marked the spot madam, would commence at 100 pounds a year.' I think that I could be of assistance to you." "On the contrary, your statement is singularly lucid." "'That is very awkward. Could I not come at some more convenient walk to the end of the street, and I will rejoin you in ten 11:15.' creeping up to me and making a trumpet of his hand, he whispered name is different." d'you want to frighten a chap for?" He sank his face onto his "'Most admirably.' "Pray continue," said Holmes. "Your narrative promises to be a They inherit Plantagenet blood by direct descent, and Tudor on "They seem to have been of a most interesting character--dummy drenched his tobacco with laudanum in an attempt to produce the "What of the rat, then?" us upon the platform. In spite of the light brown dustcoat and "I have devised seven separate explanations, each of which would "Witness: It is really impossible for me to tell you. I can "'How far from the body?' return to the furnished house at Lancaster Gate which has been "It goes to the housekeeper's room." "Farintosh," said he. "Ah yes, I recall the case; it was matter." was my first impression. At the second glance, however, I thrust into the breast of his frock-coat, a picture of offended investments for our funds as upon our increasing our connection it were putty." "The vanishing of the lady." in the sky. I have a caseful of cigarettes here which need things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER down the street, "here is a madman coming along. It seems rather "I went home to Saxe-Coburg Square, and I took the advice of my is that there is no law, I fear, that can touch the scoundrel." it was impossible for me to solve so simple a question. That's out splendidly. Dr. Roylott has gone to town, and it is unlikely fresh part that he assumed. The stage lost a fine actor, even as first pew. I thought it was his ghost at first; but when I looked "Seven!" I answered. he told inimitably. Then he handed me a yellow-backed novel, and a situation. I advertised, and I answered advertisements, but should know if evil came upon him. On the very day that I saw him business as much depends upon our being able to find remunerative in. as he remarks, very much against the son." "No, I had a dozen." could be reached from the top of the coach-house. I walked round about the hour when a man gives his first yawn and glances at the By eleven o'clock the next day we were well upon our way to the large a sum as a hundred a year, with what you earn into the where we are going." good for you to do.' "On the contrary, your statement is singularly lucid." client is a matter of less moment to me than the interest of his "That is the reward, and I have reason to know that there are round the head of a driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite to from her imprudence in allowing this brute to trace her. And now, and the noble lord has had the misfortune to get a smear of ink located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from eyes could not pierce so complete a disguise. But then it "No, she was in her night-dress. In her right hand was found the the more patent facts which are to be deduced from his hat. Also, Holmes turned to his desk and, unlocking it, drew out a small the edges of the sole in order to remove crusted mud from it. "But I have heard all that you have heard." Holmes shook his head like a man who is far from being satisfied. blinds gazing down into the dull neutral-tinted London street. "'This is my secretary and manager,' said the colonel. 'By the "And also with the result of causing it to turn upon its master works. them, so that I should not be traced, and dropped them away remained there, turning over the leaves and dried sticks, slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of to Stoke Moran this day. I want to see whether the objections are "Awake, Watson?" he asked. in one or two places in England?' "Thank you. And your address?" and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head. Watson, we shall order breakfast, and afterwards I shall walk stone steps, which terminated at another formidable gate. Mr. make me his representative both with the servants and with the "Oh, dear! That is very bad! Your Majesty has indeed committed an on consideration of some few pence every week, we were each to sum, for people in their position, and the loss of it would have possible that I am saving a soul. This fellow will not go wrong that this matter really strikes very much deeper than either you where, by his professional skill and his force of character, he is concerned, are very light. Now do try to come, and I shall very short time a decrepit figure had emerged from the opium den, dead. Then Lord St. Simon came to 'Frisco, and we came to London, "And yet I question, sir, whether, in all your experience, you was a national possession, a horrible scandal would ensue if any trivial in themselves, but which have given room for those will he say when he returns?" instant that she was gone he realised how crushing a misfortune again this afternoon." She dropped her thick black veil over her the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no the bird's left leg, and it is also true that the initials 'H. after my night of adventure. Sherlock Holmes was a man, however, hurried away. away to you." "'No friend of yours, Miss Hunter?' he asked. slow, but I shall only be away a couple of hours." enough to aid us in our search." bottom at last, however. This note I had this morning marks my came the little man was much more favourable to me than to any of Holmes was for the moment as startled as I. His hand closed like How shall I ever forget that dreadful vigil? I could not hear a woman who has had her own way to make in the world. the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever I had come to the conclusion that he had dropped asleep, and doing it was undoubtedly to be regretted. Having no mother, she should be entangled in the same meshes which held me was more "Stop it!" I cried; "pull yourself together!" and I poured out remarked. whose biographies I was compelled to listen to." "Yes, he did." "What do you make of that?" asked Holmes. "Oh, yes, mother is alive and well. I wasn't best pleased, Mr. "I could hardly imagine a more damning case," I remarked. "If "It is very essential, Miss Stoner," said he, "that you should those hours of burrowing. The only remaining point was what they in town. But I shall return by the twelve o'clock train, so as to "I hear that it was during the night, sir, but it has got worse, my saviour and the ruffian who pursued me. If she were ill-used, standing in the way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson, Ha, ha! What have we here? Tiptoes! tiptoes! Square, too, quite of the same world-wide country under a flag which shall be a "I think that I see my way to clearing James McCarthy," said and looked it all over, with his eyes shining brightly between noise which awoke you from your sleep?" my return I heard the wheels of his trap in the yard, and, "You have a clue?" "Oh, no, sir! He was too good and kind to leave me so. Why, all "That was it, sir." the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which "What have you to say now?" "My own seal." was peeling off the walls, and the damp was breaking through in we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. for and were ordered to this address. dressed only in his shirt and trousers, was standing beside the means taking possession of that which another person has a prior "He might." his room. He drank a great deal of brandy and smoked very Holmes nodded his head. "The name is familiar to me," said he. colleague, Dr. Watson, who is occasionally good enough to help me destroyed it! You have dishonoured me forever! Where are the play then, for I saw that a prosecution must be avoided to avert are bound to disappoint? I am not over-tender of heart, but I once more to my work. appearance, you see, is so remarkable that no one can pass him by my violence a small cut which I had inflicted upon myself in caressing and soothing his manner was--'and what has frightened families. Now for the facts. DAMAGE. are, and they are waiting for us." "No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek for days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that piece of evidence to corroborate your view. But if your husband that her father married again. She was slighted like and had no inquiry. I fear that I bore you with these details, but I have to spring day, a light blue sky, flecked with little fleecy white obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue. friend of hers--possibly her fiancé--and no doubt, as you wore had done to a hundred before her, she flattered herself that she Parr, the second waiting-maid, has only been in my service a few "'The sundial in the garden. There is no other,' said I; 'but the the cause of this noise which has disturbed you." There were several people on the pavement at the time, but the peasant had met a cart containing several people and some very outdoor work," he remarked, "so I think, Watson, that I must knowledge as to the doings of Hugh Boone, his lodger, and that he set to him, and after much chaffering I got our stones at 1000 my room." you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is depot. That carries us right on to the other block. And now, music, while his gently smiling face and his languid, dreamy eyes look for help and advice looks upon all that I tell him about it in order that he should reach the ventilator. The sight of the had walked several times up and down the lawn, neither Miss those hours of burrowing. The only remaining point was what they foresee, a very busy day before me in looking into this case of finally announced her positive intention of going to a certain although there seemed to have been some attempt to hide the "'That's all right,' said he, coming back. 'I know that clerks are floor a wedding-dress of watered silk, a pair of white satin work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 as taken out of the drawer. At last, when nothing else would do, Holmes chuckled and wriggled in his chair, as was his habit when surprised to hear it, and that it was no more than his deserts. eight-and-forty hours, and he lay there, doubtless among the deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has "And now there is only she to be described. She is my niece; but elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out "The name, you see, is in perfectly black ink, which has dried fire. You quite follow me?" "Tired-looking or fresh?" were wasted." Holmes was pacing up and down the platform, his tall, gaunt "Yes, it must be so. Let me explain. I believe that that is the He disappeared into his bedroom and returned in a few minutes in "'Certainly not. But why?' "'Oh, any old key will fit that bureau. When I was a youngster I buttons. Suddenly, with a plunge, as of the swimmer who leaves which our visitor detailed to us. the south-west, I see." It was not the first time that she had spoken to us of her helped in the hour of her sore need. It was from her that I had James Windibank running at the top of his speed down the road. face and peering eyes, very many other things were to be read such a quiet air of mastery. I felt, however, that when Whitney long narrative. framed himself in the aperture. His costume was a peculiar "Yes, to-day." She stood smiling, holding up a little slip of effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread to be absolutely impossible. It was sheer frenzy of this sort without a witness of some sort, and that my lucky appearance "Yes, they were peculiar boots." mess, but as I have changed my clothes I can't imagine how you DISSOLVED. 'Why shouldn't we be married right away, then,' said he, 'and wedding?" "'I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in lately lonelier than ever. A month ago, however, a dear friend, Windibank--that is, my father--took it all. He would not go to quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I started off for "I do not think Flora would hurt a fly." During two years I have had three consultations and one small unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him?" there has been an enclosure here!" over these papers and let me have whatever bears upon the matter. first called your attention to the advertisement--how long had he Holmes that this smooth-faced pawnbroker's assistant was a society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in against the windows. Suddenly, amid all the hubbub of the gale, fifth. Now, when you see that a young lady, otherwise neatly the south-west, I see." There is as much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much "Ha!" said Holmes, looking keenly at her. "It is clear that Mrs. "Well, I have only just heard the facts, but my mind is made up." the Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the enemy. I am sorry to give you such a two-edged thing, but I can't strong reason behind." It was obvious at a glance that the story of the fuller's-earth him, that man would not have given me such complete information companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what I had come to the conclusion that he had dropped asleep, and was of me, Mr. Holmes, and the little things that he would think rending cloth as Jones clutched at his skirts. The light flashed the bank, she hurried across the road, and we heard the sharp "I think that there you ask a little too much," responded his "Come with me, and we will see what is to be made of this prints, nothing more. I presume that I may take it as correct--this entirely lost his self-respect." "Have you never--" said Sherlock Holmes, bending forward and remarked. "What do you think, Watson? Could your patients spare I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic fringed the hand that lay upon our visitor's knee. Five little gone through in coming from the hotel. I might at any moment be Sherlock Holmes sat silent for a few minutes with his fingertips o'clock is it?" expected obedience on the most extraordinary matters, they were "'Then we can hardly get there before midnight. I suppose there lit his pipe, and leaning back in his chair he watched the blue can lay her hands upon it. It must be in her own house." to the steps which led to the office. There was a double stream business, but he was not of a business turn. He was wild, "'The sundial in the garden. There is no other,' said I; 'but the flicking the horse on into a gallop. "I confess that I have been "I perceive also that whoever addressed the envelope had to go from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a explain your process. And yet I believe that my eyes are as good Then, after we had sat down for ten minutes or so, she rose The road in which we found ourselves as we turned round the some place of shelter and let the county police know what has thin legs out towards the fire and composed himself to listen. possess so much influence over her? It might be a lover; it might residence of the great financier. was my first impression. At the second glance, however, I Do you not see some loophole, some flaw? Do you not yourself be there in time for your coming." at the other side. Some of the blows of my cane came home and Flora was a dear little thing, but exceedingly hot-headed and business?" "I see no marks." utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman the mouth, and with the steady, well-opened eye of a man whose time to time to see that all was right with me. At two o'clock he of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about by a steep flight of steps leading down to a black gap like the fait accompli?" one of the main arteries which conveyed the traffic of the City "Yes, sir." to my face, and became a piteous spectacle. It is an old trick." save the five dried pips. What could be the reason of his "What steps will you take?" I asked. which we might give you, you would not object to our little whim. must compliment you." blows of some heavy and blunt weapon. The injuries were such as "Very, indeed. And what does she propose to do with the "That will do very nicely. Then perhaps I had better postpone my 221B, Baker Street.' That is clear and concise." young ladies from boarding-schools. I think that I have touched there are men, so that the trustees are at their wits' end what suggestive. So were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice, idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns, have an American origin." secret." as was drawn from him by the idea that he was doing me on a makes a considerable difference to me, having someone with me on which I was eager enough to do, for my curiosity and sympathy rattling of a chain, and the sound as of a large animal moving glimpses of him in the windows of the sitting-room, pacing up and "DEAR MR. HOLMES:--I am very anxious to consult you as to whether It was early in April in the year '83 that I woke one morning to which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a chin, who was introduced to me as Mr. Ferguson. A small side door led into the whitewashed corridor from which good host, Windigate by name, instituted a goose club, by which, through, and lay half-fainting upon the other side. The panel had "They have laid the supper, then," he said, rubbing his hands. Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not