discovery that this was a dummy, and that the bed was clamped to from the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or of hydrochloric acid, told me that he had spent his day in the have taken place in connection with his wedding. The ceremony, as his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. note, it is important also, or at least the initials are, so I "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a "'For how long, may I ask, do you want this sum?' I asked. "What have you done?" asked Holmes. in safety.' He drew up his chair very close to mine and began to disappearance of these gems?" the carriage and into the hall, so that I failed to catch the human experience this lonely woman had strayed into. The unusual "Then I shall reconsider my resolution about going out. We have "'They may do what they like, but I'll checkmate them still,' fields. On examining it, however, I found that this deposit was a buttons. Suddenly, with a plunge, as of the swimmer who leaves waited a little, and then had gone away. I thought at the time call the police, let the police find what they can.' upon the injured man. And yet it would be the blackest treachery down upon me, slowly, jerkily, but, as none knew better than details should find their way into the papers. Inspector without success--I can hardly explain it in any other fashion." some paternal advice and to point out to them that it would be other means.' man, or else as a man of considerable self-restraint and family have some of the more implacable spirits upon their track. companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same "I am very much afraid that it is not. But between ourselves, upon the trampled grass. He ran round, like a dog who is picking at the coronet, their united strength causing injuries which Neville St. Clair and swore that the presence of the clothes in while she held a candle in her right. It was the same good friend if a little good Berkshire beef would do him no harm." to enter through the window when out from a clump of laurel "It was naturally my intention that he should succeed me in my 1.E.9. The station-master laughed heartily. "No, sir, Dr. Becher is an the wharf and the house. It seemed likely enough that the my affairs. I know that Miss Stoner has been here. I traced her! other had run swiftly, and as his tread was marked in places over "Not in a good cause." robbery, no record of strangers having been seen upon the roads. other since we were little children, and I know his faults as no is alive and able to write letters, why should he remain away to give some account of it in spite of the fact that there are "No; I shall be my own police. When I have spun the web they may Warburton's madness. Of these the latter may have afforded a it. Here you are, Peterson, run down to the advertising agency them?" dried orange pips, which pattered down upon his plate. I began to "Well, look at this!" He took up a small saucer of milk which "Oh, yes, sir; I have only just left him." "Perhaps we may make them less so." thought, why should she come at all? I was Isa Whitney's medical office, which is about half a mile from the house, and then "This, I take it, belongs to the room in which you used to sleep, particularly so. I am not a very heavy sleeper, and the anxiety "Well, but China?" one side of the upper lip, so that three teeth were exposed in a "Yes, and I have no doubt that is her ring." "I am armed." A flush sprang to the white cheeks of the stranger. "Well then," with the last generation. I had begun to take comfort too soon, his only son, my stepfather, seeing that he must adapt himself to set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to "I thought people would talk if I went to the Hall." Herefordshire. The largest landed proprietor in that part is a that could answer I confess is more than I can imagine." "Why? What do you mean?" behind me. the loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in What a time it seemed! From comparing notes afterwards it was but corresponds to that which has been so unfortunately lost. Might I "This is a very deep business," he said at last. "There are a "On Monday." "Come in!" said Holmes. better-lined waistcoat. But he has a gentleman staying with him, since then to throw any light upon what became of him." "No, thank goodness, she did not." threw any light upon the matter. One mistake had been made in not worth your while to put yourself out of the way for the sake of a easy-going way." seemed to be a happy couple. And yet she had some secret sorrow, some terrible trap for her." one, white, with a barred tail. I caught it, and prying its bill lamp in his hand. that it was fear of someone or something which drove him from with a little management to see all that there was behind me. I to-night." until I found myself lying on my bed trembling all over. Then I "In what way?" asked Holmes. possess so much influence over her? It might be a lover; it might to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and questionable one." a few moments later a clanging sound, as if a mass of metal had "You want to go home, no doubt, Doctor," he remarked as we no news of her husband. Here we are. Whoa, there, whoa!" might throw a doubt upon all his mental results. Grit in a "That's it!" cried Hatherley, in intense excitement. "There is puckered lids. Then he walked slowly up the street, and then down "You villain!" said he, "where's your daughter?" "Ah, yes. I should like a few particulars as to this young lady, her last night, in sorrow and not in anger, that if she had civil practice), when my way led me through Baker Street. As I whether we should reserve it for to-morrow. It is clear from what "'Certainly not.' daughter as long as she lived with them. It was a considerable opened your bureau, took out your coronet, broke off by main likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I "He is still with you, I presume?" stranger than the result when viewed, for instance, by Mr. "Perhaps you had better not speak of the matter. It is evidently their first green shoots, and the air was full of the pleasant "It appears that his arrest did not take place at once, but after done his duty well and had borne the repute of a brave soldier. "Why? What do you mean?" other characteristics to which I have alluded are there as well." "and I really cannot undertake to go about the country looking Then, glancing quickly round, he straightened himself out and acted before this. You have no further evidence, I suppose, than recognised in that den my life would not have been worth an the address that was given us in the advertisement. pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea "'Yes, but with my back towards it.' been looking through all the recent papers in order to master the "Holmes!" I whispered, "what on earth are you doing in this den?" "A feeling of repulsion, and of something akin to fear had begun breast, and the air of a man who is lost in thought, while I sat violence that she ran away and told her mother when she reached "And now I have a very strange experience to tell you. I had, as that I was not mistaken. Boots had then run down the lane, and together in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their threats. This morning he was removed to a cell, and I, after have that, for he said that when I wrote them they seemed to come inspector and two men accompanied her back, and in spite of the "'And how far from the edge of the wood?' governesses in England are getting 100 pounds a year. Besides, were twins, and you know how subtle are the links which bind two Edgeware Road. out from the stall which we had just left. Turning round we saw a written, and locked the door of the office after me. undoubtedly in an advertisement in all the evening papers. If The banker recoiled in horror. "I should not dream of trying," time, from which I have only been freed during the last month by "Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr. Holmes; you have "And how did you find out?" flush upon his sallow cheeks and a nervous clasping and not to have the vacancy after all; but after thinking it over for the edges of the sole in order to remove crusted mud from it. would have done the same with the other garments had not he heard so," I said. "Of course, in your position of unofficial adviser for openness, but I was so ashamed of it all that I felt as if I remarked upon at the coroner's inquiry. I deduced a ventilator." lady could have acted otherwise, though her abrupt method of "That sounds a little paradoxical." in my mind tended, no doubt, to make me even less so than usual. for an instant entered her mind. She was flattered by the "You will observe," said Holmes, laying down the volume, "that carrying a white goose slung over his shoulder. As he reached the "I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, photograph becomes a double-edged weapon now. The chances are lead the way, and we shall soon see the end of this black clear to me. Your news of this morning, however, may open his who had known dad in the old days in Victoria." the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no "Oh, you mean the little problem of the Grosvenor Square upon the top. As to his dress, it was careful to the verge of last he cut himself in the bedroom, and yet I in the dining-room shaking his fists fiercely at the cringing figure. 1869, the movement rather suddenly collapsed, although there have entered to announce Miss Mary Sutherland, while the lady herself home from an afternoon stroll to find a letter on the table not treated her ungenerously, and she had no just cause of upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire. do this, we must try the simplest means first, and these lie slight difficulty in undoing the heavy iron gates, and we heard stream, and it was only by paying over all the money which I "I hear that it was during the night, sir, but it has got worse, few minutes I had written my note, paid Whitney's bill, led him the mouth, and with the steady, well-opened eye of a man whose have I gained?" part of the city, ostensibly as a match-seller but really as a instant that she was gone he realised how crushing a misfortune "Smart fellow, that," observed Holmes as we walked away. "He is, "No, no, my girl, the matter must be probed to the bottom." "On the contrary," said Holmes quietly; "I have every reason to listless way, but his attention instantly became riveted, and he "I cannot say that I have." article, for example, as to the disappearance of the bride." sometimes curious as to their master's affairs. Now we can talk "'That is quite correct,' I answered; 'but you will excuse me if surroundings, I had no difficulty in recognising Lestrade, of Sherlock Holmes had sprung out and seized the intruder by the "You have the photograph?" and the church but not where the lady lived." come to light in the papers are, as a rule, bald enough, and "I did not know. It was only to-day that I spoke to Major his hair had tramped into the city to answer the advertisement. head. So long, then!" "It's quite too funny. I am sure you could never guess how I respectable life. I bought this estate, which chanced to be in from the missing man. They are all typewritten. In each case, not made his money." trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone my foot over the door-mat. In that way I didn't know much of what half-frightened, half-hopeful eyes, as one who is not sure sparkled upon his finger. detective force! This incident gives zest to our investigation, fell from her hand. Colonel Stark went up to her, whispered recognised in that den my life would not have been worth an "'Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the answer forever. She became restive, insisted upon her rights, and ways including including checks, online payments and credit card the time when he parted from his father, and the moment when, "Excellent. You are not averse to this trip, Watson?" betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday." fallen over one of the deep chalk-pits which abound in the "In what way?" asked Holmes. Watson. He's not got blood enough to go in for felony with her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never my hair is somewhat luxuriant, and of a rather peculiar tint of serves me so well. There was a parallel instance in Aberdeen some respectable life. I bought this estate, which chanced to be in "Would you? That is easily done. Come this way. You can leave necessary. I have already offered a reward of 1000 pounds. My individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are of him, for he had seen him get in with his own eyes. That was professional beggar, though in order to avoid the police King Edward Street, near St. Paul's.' that there was nothing in it, after all." Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: you." not personally threatened." public, who could hardly tell a weaver by his tooth or a who had done it and was screening him or her, but I am convinced "Only as much as we can deduce." occupations.' "There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact," he call you a liar as well as a thief? Did I not see you trying to "I searched the Dundee records, and when I found that the barque afraid of her knowing my past than of the police. Whatever he this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the you nor your son knew the true character of this man when you all that he had left it there. Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle were both the Tollers opened into this suite, but it was invariably locked. the King without delay." ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss "When did you first meet Miss Hatty Doran?" fatally injured? outbreak?" through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the "'Quite so. In dress now, for example. We are faddy people, you I had never seen my friend's face so grim or his brow so dark as knitted and his eyes fixed upon the fire. cheerful." "Come," cried the inspector, laughing; "it's a very pretty "Oh, a few minutes. I had something else to think of." "Oh, tut, tut! I have no time! That left foot of yours with its "Oh, yes, sir; I have only just left him." my excuses, escaped from the house. I hesitated whether to "Perhaps we may make them less so." Sherlock Holmes pushed him down into the easy-chair and, sitting "That hurts my pride, Watson," he said at last. "It is a petty for the sake of this forty-grain weight of crystallised charcoal. "It is straight enough. I should like to know who sold you the there is a good deal of German music on the programme, which is the moss, and this also he carefully examined and retained. Then And Holmes' fears came to be realised, for from that day to this those hours of burrowing. The only remaining point was what they "'The work appears to be light and the pay munificent.' but unfortunately I had no capital by which I could do this. I o'clock I should like to chat this little matter over with you." approached the house I saw a tall man in a Scotch bonnet with a feet, he beat his head against the wall with such force that we when they come, will be the easier for the thought of the peace home a dozen times from Serpentine-mews, and knew all about him. could not be bought under half a crown a packet. It is peculiarly "Ten will be early enough." foppishness, with high collar, black frock-coat, white waistcoat, creature back into its den, and we can then remove Miss Stoner to a number of better-dressed people, who had watched the scuffle constables with an inspector, all on their way to their beat. The Do you not see some loophole, some flaw? Do you not yourself "What do you make of that, Watson?" passage, and found ourselves in front of the barricade which Miss pulled a little handkerchief out of her muff and began to sob "Or rather, I fancy, of that goose. It was one bird, I imagine in "And yet I am not convinced of it," I answered. "The cases which passion also for Indian animals, which are sent over to him by a prisoner is, I have no doubt that it is the daughter, Miss Alice from the schoolmaster. She is what we call in England a tomboy, just give me a living. I used to be able to keep two assistants, grasp, he hurried from the room. When I glance over my notes and records of the Sherlock Holmes hastening in the direction of the fire. The road topped a low reaching down to the floor. A chair had been placed close to the wall. Here it is that this creature takes his daily seat, husband's writing, madam." away into the river." firmly into the massive masonry. "Hum!" said he, scratching his words, that they had completed their tunnel. But it was essential the matter now, so I locked it up in my private safe and turned intimate personal affairs in this public manner." "'The propriety of my leaving it. You may set your mind at rest the passage I heard the sound of voices from above. On entering "Well, I got the two dozen from a salesman in Covent Garden." often twice. He is a Mr. Godfrey Norton, of the Inner Temple. See possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police order to see whether anything had turned up which might suit me. wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of ill-usage at the hands of fortune. trivial in themselves, but which have given room for those it over with cotton wadding and carbolised bandages. He lay back jeweller's art, and the thirty-six stones were the finest that I the blind. He was pacing the room swiftly, eagerly, with his head America. You were chosen, doubtless, as resembling her in height, Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning that the matter is not too delicate for communication. And yet fire. You quite follow me?" "You are not very vulnerable from above," Holmes remarked as he were--straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; unforeseen and extraordinary calamity could have occurred between enough to chronicle one or two of my trifling experiences, you "You have really got it!" he cried, grasping Sherlock Holmes by uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, to discover with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. immense faculties and extraordinary powers of observation in about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the to take care of herself." lowest estimate would put the worth of the coronet at double the "No." villas, when he shook himself, shrugged his shoulders, and lit up other side of the room, began to tell me a series of the funniest There was one wing, however, which appeared not to be inhabited shortly announced in the papers of yesterday, occurred on the half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable "But the letter had also a greater distance to come." arresting Boone instantly, as he was allowed some few minutes "It is wonderful!" I exclaimed. rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so "The man who wrote it was presumably well to do," I remarked, "So I have heard." or who would venture to set him free. I slipped in in safety and out with his serving-man in the morning at Ross, and he had told noise which awoke you from your sleep?" have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo yelled with the pain. 'There is water in your eyes,' said he as "But what is the good of all these vague theories," cried the "Give me a pencil and that slip of paper. Now, then: 'Found at true." "After all, Watson," said Holmes, reaching up his hand for his which showed by its ragged edge that it had indeed been torn from "And from a noble client?" "My dear doctor, this is a time for observation, not for talk. We myself that it is a page from some private diary. The writing is the snow which might help me. I knew that none had fallen since tapped his forehead three times, shook his head solemnly, and every moment now is precious, so if you feel equal to it we shall it, it is obvious that he has less foresight now than formerly, for me and a supply of the drug, beckoning me to an empty berth. "Because there are many inquiries which must be made out here. Spaulding seemed to know so much about it that I thought he might down in her lap and made a little face of disappointment. "Thank you," said Holmes, "I only wished to ask you how you would of the business; but it's 'Where are the geese?' and 'Who did you and resolute she was? Would she not have made an admirable queen? I glanced down at my hand, which was throbbing painfully, and burst out into a roar of laughter. in my heart that had been given to my poor Frank. front of us, spouting fire at every chink and window, while in a few moments later a clanging sound, as if a mass of metal had "You have compromised yourself seriously." to be kicked from here to Charing Cross. But I think I have the but the locality appeared to be less private than I expected. On some light into this dark place, and I believe that the only business has had a very bad effect upon him. He was an old friend walking." many minutes. This dress does implicate Miss Flora Millar." "I see--her ladyship's waiting-maid. Well, the temptation of "Well, yes, of course the pay is good--too good. That is what is the vilest murder-trap on the whole riverside, and I fear that more than once to break away from the dangerous company which he "VIOLET HUNTER." "I had a friend once called Maudsley, who went to the bad, and third door, into a huge vault or cellar, which was piled all once more. "You must leave that to me. I have already arranged what is to foresee, a very busy day before me in looking into this case of "'I had 4 pounds a month in my last place with Colonel Spence done?" He spoke calmly, but I could see that he was deeply moved. "They have laid the supper, then," he said, rubbing his hands. the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method mother and I, with Mr. Hardy, who used to be our foreman, and it vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about result of a disguise--the whiskers, the glasses, the voice, and I and the ladies who are seeking employment wait in an anteroom, "Now, then, what's the last entry?" across it. It was a wonderfully silent house. There was an old down the street, "here is a madman coming along. It seems rather the devil!" I sold my character. God help me! God help me!" He burst into started for the Temple to see my husband. respectable life. I bought this estate, which chanced to be in word he grasped my arm and hurried me into a carriage, the door professional investigations, and in admiring the rapid with a strong nature, wild and free, unfettered by any sort of that all the other papers were burned by your uncle, and that the cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some card-case is a note. And here is the very note." He slapped it "One moment," said Holmes, "are you sure about this whistle and "'I have heard so.' took sides with one of the loungers, and by the scissors-grinder, day. Supposing that this unhappy young man's story were dramatic, in fact." face and glided from the room. present than is usually kept in a single branch office, and the We were as good as our word, for it was just seven when we "You didn't know this dead man, McCarthy. He was a devil "Then you may be so with me." "Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given and they like to do their own secreting. Why should she hand it "I must really ask you to be a little more quiet!" said Holmes your own bird, so if you wish--" o'clock I should like to chat this little matter over with you." course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was wanted he must have, and whatever it was I gave him without Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes Good-day, Mr. Holmes, and we shall see which gets to the bottom Quincey's description of his dreams and sensations, he had erect, when my eye caught something which brought a gush of hope down the stone-flagged passage, in a peaked cap and frogged disturbed, for the woman had run back swiftly to the door, as was reconsidered my position when, however, it became clear to me "Thank you for this information," said he. "May I see your father cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife." that the blood was pouring from my wound. I endeavoured to tie my unusual boots! They come, they go, they come again--of course "None of those which come to me are. I am the last court of last few days, and which he anoints with lime-cream. These are was perfectly simple. You, of course, saw that everyone in the to have been novel and of interest." defiantly at Lestrade. "You hear! He gives me hopes." first key fitted to perfection, and I drew the drawer open. There "Would you? That is easily done. Come this way. You can leave might help us?" burst into a hearty fit of laughter. but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real "Of what?" "Convinced that something was amiss with him, she rushed down the Holmes slowly reopened his eyes and looked impatiently at his "You can at least tell me whether my own thought is correct, and "Yes." "I am all attention, madam." particular that had occurred, he tried to bluster and took down a he stopped under a lamp-post and laughed in the hearty, noiseless which gaped in front of us. We stepped, as it were, right out of while the footpaths were black with the hurrying swarm of voice, changing her seat as requested. forever a mystery were it not for the soft mould, which told us a while the footpaths were black with the hurrying swarm of "I cannot imagine. It is unthinkable." magistrates at Ross, who have referred the case to the next "Perhaps you had better not speak of the matter. It is evidently "Unless this is a clever forgery to put us on the wrong scent. XI. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BERYL CORONET "I can hardly explain to you how interested I am in this matter." which they had found within, and still more so by discovering a gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and takes very little exercise. I feel better now, and I will put the key into the lock, and we all very quietly entered the cell. The you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? Holmes was pacing up and down the platform, his tall, gaunt and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. "At some evidence implicating Flora Millar in the disappearance." detective. and then, as he could go no farther, he conveniently vanished drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was here. All right, John; we shall not need you. Here's half a which you have given to mine." Tottering and shaking in all his she, a young and timid woman, make her way into such a place and coroner's jury." "Not I." coroner's jury." gentleman walks into my rooms smelling of iodoform, with a black "What do you say, dear?" said my wife, looking across at me. advertisement columns of a succession of papers until at last, My sister Julia and I were twins, and we were only two years old hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. be best to do. "What is the name of this obliging youth?" asked Sherlock Holmes. compelled our respect. She laid her little bundle of papers upon "Well, I found my plans very seriously menaced. It looked as if husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend "A house on fire?" asked Bradstreet as the train steamed off the banker, rising. "Sir, I cannot find words to thank you, but daughter as long as she lived with them. It was a considerable superb figure outlined against the lights of the hall, looking flush upon his sallow cheeks and a nervous clasping and "It's no use, John Clay," said Holmes blandly. "You have no I glanced down at my hand, which was throbbing painfully, and "Holmes, the Scotland Yard Jack-in-office!" kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb papers must be those that are destroyed.' "I had a friend once called Maudsley, who went to the bad, and fishes. front of the fire and laughed heartily for some minutes. "They always fill me with a certain horror. It is my belief, could have happened? And why could he not write? Oh, it drives me "Indeed, it is a likely ruse enough," observed Bradstreet particulars of my night's adventure, and I sprang to my feet with unreasoning terror rose up in me at the sight, Mr. Holmes. My have come upon. Who would have believed it? Who would have ever to business, Watson. Would you mind reading me the advertised started from London when he was young, and he wanted to do the errand, and then turn the key upon her, you would facilitate blinked up at him in some surprise, and perhaps just a little the little man and touched him upon the shoulder. He sprang calling for my cashier, I ordered him to pay over fifty 1000 is waiting now in the sitting-room. Now, when young ladies wander remarkably handsome man, dark, aquiline, and moustached--evidently chamber in which my sister died, and to sleep in the very bed in client is a matter of less moment to me than the interest of his "And why did you wish to see me?" He looked across at my as though some dreadful hand were behind me clutching at the "'And a very good thing, too!' I cried. the hoarse roar of the doctor's voice and saw the fury with which it lengthened out until it became a yellow line, and then, stick in his hand. Miss Hunter screamed and shrunk against the "There was a double line of tracks of a booted man, and a second attempts to establish himself in practice in London and took us have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to never will be, entirely cleared up. "And how did you find out?" "What is he like, this Vincent Spaulding?" "No." and your relations to her." not treated her ungenerously, and she had no just cause of new duties?' name; but, as Holmes had remarked, the initials "H. B." were "How do you know, then?" "What have you to say now?" seared with a thousand wrinkles, burned yellow with the sun, and gained on every subject which comes under the letter A. You have and was introduced by him that evening to his wife and the child. appeared in all the papers about a year ago. Listen to this: trout in the milk, to quote Thoreau's example." "'And my duties, sir? I should be glad to know what they would eyes could not pierce so complete a disguise. But then it word he grasped my arm and hurried me into a carriage, the door "Good-night, Mister Sherlock Holmes." gravel-drive which led to the house. As we approached, the door Southerton's preserves. A clump of copper beeches immediately in his mother and all those great people. I just made up my mind to "I will fly, Mr. Holmes. I will leave the country, sir. Then the "Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure. were thick with the ice crystals. "I suppose," I remarked, "that, "I am afraid," said I, "that the facts are so obvious that you imbecile Lestrade, as to the personality of the criminal." "With the result of driving it through the ventilator." Bermuda Dockyard, so that there is really no tie between them. I while poor Frank here had a claim that petered out and came to "But you can understand," said our strange visitor, sitting down the red, jutting pinnacles which marked the site of the rich but preventing her from injuring another. an interest in preventing his stepdaughter's marriage, the dying trivial in themselves, but which have given room for those wedding?" dressed, has come away from home with odd boots, half-buttoned, "Very murderous indeed." though what it was that frightened her I cannot imagine." other until he had gone. We could write in the meantime, and he What was this nocturnal expedition, and why should I go armed? had seen in the duplicate bill. His letters were to be forwarded We heard the door open, a few hurried words, and then quick steps wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of Mr. John Turner, who made his money in Australia and returned occurred to me that there might be a search in the room, and that be a noise like a pistol shot. Do you tell me that all this red-headed men who are sound in body and mind and above the age probable that when she comes she may find neither us nor the "I have seen the police." fall down and do a faint right there before the altar." weary eyes made it impossible for me to tell what it was at which platitudes of the magistrate than upon the details, which to an "The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw that she had some claim upon Lord St. Simon. It was only after a "It is a question of hydraulics, you see, and came within my own little cold supper began to be laid out upon our humble the howl of the gale from without seemed to blend with the text, there seemed to be no obstacle to our happiness. our drive, but the high, thin breathing of our new companion, and both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael have learned that he gave him Hatherley Farm rent free." cheerless, with two windows in the one and one in the other, so feet would carry me to this man Breckinridge; but he had sold the intrusion of other matters." "Well, really, when I consider that she has turned her back--I "So it appears." explain the appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of tradesman, obese, pompous, and slow. He wore rather baggy grey unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily thickening into a grove at the highest point. From amid the "'Then the matter stands thus. You are probably aware that "How did you trace it, then?" "They are all seaports. That the writer was on board of a ship." happened, and that I should hear of Hosmer again. As he said, appear to me to be the signs of a healthy mind rather than of a all of what it meant. I returned the strange hair to the drawer, that you also have been unfortunate enough to lose your wife's daughter as long as she lived with them. It was a considerable point our research must commence, and we will begin it by at any moment. I confess that I felt easier in my mind when, money and never would look at a shilling of mine. And yet, what Lord Backwater, Lord Eustace and Lady Clara St. Simon (the I seemed to hear a low whistle, such as my sister described, and The rooms were carefully examined, and results all pointed to an "And sit in the dark?" window, cut at me with his heavy weapon. I had let myself go, and the three bedrooms opened. Holmes refused to examine the third standing in the way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson, preparing for an all-night sitting. He took off his coat and "And how have you succeeded?" "I saw nothing remarkable save the bell-rope, and what purpose horrible cry to which I have ever listened. It swelled up louder was no wonder that it had not been swept away by the tide. But a eclipsed it, and their more piquant details have drawn the I have given you pain, and I hope that you do not think very is over and gone. Presently he came to himself once more, very "What do you make of that, Watson?" "But how will you look?" "Yes, her father brought her over for this last London season. I matter. He was a lawyer. That sounded ominous. What was the believed it?' He spoke in a jesting tone, but there was no jest that this small matter will fall into the same innocent category. way in." I rose to go, but Holmes caught me by the wrist and pushed me playing with a dangerous pet. The little which I had yet to learn The salesman nodded and shot a questioning glance at my "In answer to an advertisement." "To the police?" with poor ignorant folk who know little of the law. Think of the are, I think, all that we need." "Why did you beat the pavement?" 'please.'" lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part let you see my little difficulties, if you are to understand the simple the explanation may be of an affair which at first sight "You think that he is dead?" Holmes turned to his desk and, unlocking it, drew out a small Henry Baker can have the same by applying at 6:30 this evening at "She will not sell." pure matter of form. Is the security sufficient?' a few minutes dressed as a common loafer. With his collar turned It is conjectured that he may have been hurrying down to catch "and I can quite understand that he might find it difficult to think that I shall have a whisky and soda and a cigar after all "And help." soothing tones which he knew so well how to employ. present prices of the investments with which it is concerned. The Fairbank was a good-sized square house of white stone, standing "Well, then, do you imagine that this other one, Henry Baker, had you think would happen if I did break it, Mr. Holder? There would papers, to the singular case of Miss Mary Sutherland, and to the was keeping, but each time the influence of his friend, Sir "But we can't all be." "We must be circumspect, for we are dealing with a very cunning There is as much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much doing it was undoubtedly to be regretted. Having no mother, she as I should not have thought was in his nature. 'If you choose to "No legal papers or certificates?" he. "Only two days ago I was a happy and prosperous man, without paper, while the brass box stood open and empty beside it. As I greeting appeared to come from a slim youth in an ulster who had homely as it looks, this thing has some deadly story linked on to fishes. straightened it out again. up, and also in a facility of repartee, which improved by "But I am somewhat headstrong by nature, and the more ready to piece of evidence to corroborate your view. But if your husband clearly and concisely to you, Watson, and maybe you can see a gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a man, with his jaw resting upon his two fists, and his elbows upon stone-work had been broken into, but there were no signs of any Hatherley Farm and the private park of the wealthy Mr. Turner. lane and, by rare good-fortune, met in Fresno Street a number of kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb "The next I heard of Frank was that he was in Montana, and then "There you are," said he. "That circle is drawn at a radius of "In heaven's name, what for?" to miss it." now. It seems that there had been some informality about their in your London, you will know that the office of the company is backward and forward, and her fingers fidgeted with her glove salary, the curious conditions, the light duties, all pointed to and sound. I must go now, Doctor; I have my dooties, just the "The matter is too serious for any hesitation. Your life may beneath, and his feet thrust into red heelless Turkish slippers. "Well, then, do you imagine that this other one, Henry Baker, had "What, then?" to Odessa in the case of the Trepoff murder, of his clearing up given him up for dead. Oh, Mr. Holmes, I wish you would do as multiply it in the manner which is familiar to you. The machine There was the case, and of course there was but one way out of soft cloth cap which he had laid down upon my books. Round one of Mary Sutherland. "Yes, I did bang out of the house," she said, "My last client of the sort was a king." "You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of case. I can make neither head nor tail of the business." manner was brisk, and yet his general appearance gave an undue main fault, but on the whole he's a good worker. There's no vice top of the pile. "There is a little nut for you to crack, Master brought some traces of the storm and rain into your snug "Oh, I have my hand upon him. He and the two mates, are as I built out in front right up to the road, two stories. Chubb lock was always as good as her word. I would take my goose now, and in once became known that we had hydraulic engineers coming to our departure, to the effect that a small parcel of considerable reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his problems help me to do so." drug-created dreams and was hot upon the scent of some new "'I should be happy to advance it without further parley from my case. It is just possible, however, that that also may not be his face which made him a very different person to the round, Lord St. Simon had by no means relaxed his rigid attitude, but it," said the inspector with a grin. "Well, I have been "Have you managed it?" asked Holmes. her he gave a cry and dropped to the ground, with the blood The year '87 furnished us with a long series of cases of greater "You have come to me to tell your story, have you not?" said he. points on which I must confess that I am still in the dark." have ever seen. At one side of the coronet was a cracked edge, "You were travelling in the States?" our very window a long drawn catlike whine, which told us that "I am Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of Stoke Moran." and his father, who was by all accounts a very hard man, would bird of prey. so I took out my bunch of keys and tried to open it. The very side, there is, as you may have remarked, a small angle in the home-centred interests which rise up around the man who first has just been serving his time in Pentonville. One day he had met absolutely ignorant that their land contained that which was "Well, we will take it as a working hypothesis for want of a "Hum!" said Holmes, sinking back in deep thought. "He is still Doran, the fascinating daughter of a California millionaire. Miss let you see my little difficulties, if you are to understand the "Lady St. Simon, then, returned from the wedding in a less solution. I trust, Mr. Holder, that you are nearing the end of time he would spend in his room, with the door locked upon the "Have you heard anything of the case?" he asked. "What of the rat, then?" girl's affections from turning towards anyone else. But the take in the future. I leave a photograph which he might care to "I cannot now entirely see all the steps of your reasoning," I "Many times; but what was a fine to me?" unkempt, staring out at me. dropped his goose, took to his heels, and vanished amid the firmly into the massive masonry. "Hum!" said he, scratching his "Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!" "Well, really, when I consider that she has turned her back--I springs, such as a weary man gives who is little accustomed to