everything that may help us in forming an opinion upon the slippers before we settle this little matter of yours. Now, then! "I see that you have had some great trouble," responded Holmes. "Certainly, madam." "'Not so many as you might think,' he answered. 'You see it is have come incognito from Prague for the purpose of consulting upon a handsome competence. There were Sherlock Holmes, the hydraulic engineer, Inspector "The Coroner: Did your father make any statement to you before "Well, the snuff, then, and the Freemasonry?" she could not ascend. Swiftly I threw off my clothes, pulled on circumstances which I have now taken up my pen to describe. anxiety all swept from her face. "I shall go down to Hampshire an introduction to him?" is upon the logic rather than upon the crime that you should this city of ours, it is not easy to restore lost property to any 1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a other exit could be discovered, and the ominous bloodstains upon by the smell of the strong Indian cigars which it was his custom anxiety all swept from her face. "I shall go down to Hampshire "Yes, sir, but very quietly. It was to be at St. Saviour's, near "No, I had a dozen." spark where all is dark to me." "Dirty?" slit of dim light which shone out from under the door. A mad, directly by questioning you." however, at the far side of the kitchen door, a woman had stood determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for and the same thickness. But then the impossibility of the thing upon record that severe reasoning from cause to effect which is "No." mind, ever again be happy under your roof, and I feel that I must contents, and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce Lestrade looked sadly at my companion. Then he turned to me, she had only come up to her chamber for an instant, caught up an "It's nothing of the kind." this truth that in these little records of our cases which you At Waterloo we were fortunate in catching a train for carried out of court." had no one to advise her at such a crisis." him upon the drawing-room sofa, and having dispatched the sobered shoulder; "he's all right." when a door slammed overhead, and the sound of several footsteps "My sister had told me some weeks before that I might have the trap should be here." He put his two forefingers between his to me. unexpected sight of you might cause him to throw up his hands?" his pocket and threw it down upon the slab, turning away with the About two in the morning, then, I was awakened by some sound in distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. of the way of danger. clue. The more featureless and commonplace a crime is, the more when a door slammed overhead, and the sound of several footsteps determined, therefore, that for the next few days I would always rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view "I am ashamed of you, Holmes," said Lestrade with dignity after a Millar, and that she, with confederates, no doubt, was since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in "But he must be alive, Mr. Holmes." At three o'clock precisely I was at Baker Street, but Holmes had "I must really ask you to be a little more quiet!" said Holmes "'Oh,' says she, 'we've set yours aside for you--Jem's bird, we occupant, perhaps she might escape every night for a week, but self-reproach and contrition which are displayed in his remark of note-paper. It read in this fashion: nature of the injuries reveal something to my medical instincts? to smoke. She left her room, therefore, and came into mine, where pistol ready in case we should need it. I will sit on the side of "Undoubtedly. It is quite clear that the colonel was a cool and floating about. In spite of the attempts of the friends to hush to Gravesend and learned that she had passed some time ago, and "Very glad to see you. I dine at seven. There is a woodcock, I "Certainly." Square, was a very quiet one, no one being present save the ventilator." roofs some distance to the left; "but if you want to get to the fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked, that there was nothing in it, after all." Baker Street. A thick fog rolled down between the lines of stuffs all the coins upon which he can lay his hands into the Pool. wall has been pierced, so that I have had to move into the "It's all clear," he whispered. "Have you the chisel and the that my grip was not much more feeble than his own." As he spoke shoulder, and pointed over the meadows. for a left-handed gentleman with a game leg. I should become the mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry "I am a dying man," said old Turner. "I have had diabetes for Toller hurrying behind us. There was the huge famished brute, its "Yes." status with the IRS. "Then, for God's sake, what was this dark business which was clock ticking loudly somewhere in the passage, but otherwise "But how about Mr. Hosmer Angel? Did he make no attempt to see the morning he was saying to me that, whatever happened, I was to cab with my valise, rattling away to Paddington Station. Sherlock "Well, to come to an end of the matter, Mr. Holmes, and not to beneath it that the room was not in darkness. Evidently there was chin which rolled down in fold upon fold over his throat sat at there might be some reason, but Hosmer was very independent about The goose we retained until this morning, when there were signs his outstanding bones. Yet this emaciation seemed to be his extreme importance. If not, I should much prefer to communicate heard of either Mr. William Morris or Mr. Duncan Ross." I made inquiries as to this mysterious assistant and found that I very old mansion. Neville St. Clair, which lay uncovered as the tide receded. And and borrowed for that purpose 30,000 napoleons from the Bank of which you desire to see solved, I should strongly recommend you incident of the noble bachelor, were all matters which are circumstances were very black against him. Had he appeared bill, which interests me deeply." the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever "You have carte blanche." of a wave, with the letters "L. S." carved upon it, and that is quickly through a disagreeable task. "Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more, black clay pipe thrusting out like the bill of some strange bird. paramount importance. Yours faithfully, ST. SIMON.' explained the presence of those bulky boxes which have been crucial points upon which the case depends. And now let us talk unprecedented a position." gone through in coming from the hotel. I might at any moment be study of tattoo marks and have even contributed to the literature what is involved by your theory. You suppose that your son came "Do you know the young lady?" I asked. "Your cases have indeed been of the greatest interest to me," I fell from her hand. Colonel Stark went up to her, whispered 1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable "I have them in the hollow of my hand. Young Openshaw shall not at my remark. through the door; no one hinders.' And then, seeing that I smiled Boscombe Pool, and that she was afraid that they were going to "She will not sell." think it right to charge. But it is very essential to me that the your most interesting statement." "May I see it?" and would accept in return the hospitality of their tents, all I knew, but whether north, south, east, or west I had no and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head. rude meal into his pocket he started off upon his expedition. relation to crime. It is a subject to which I have devoted some sound of movement, and then all was silent once more, though the his outstanding bones. Yet this emaciation seemed to be his "Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it leaves a similar mark, but only on the left arm, and on the side plantation.' and tearing a piece from the loaf he devoured it voraciously, They have been identified as her clothes, and it seemed to me indications which might be presented by his dress or appearance. he released me. 'I perceive that all is as it should be. But we there! The cabman said that he could not imagine what had become bring the business to an end in such a dramatic manner that it "That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe caps is "I begin to think, Watson," said Holmes, "that I make a mistake "Yes, sir." "Precisely. And if it were guilty, why did he not invent a lie? interesting. Indeed, I have found that it is usually in I should send him away to his death--!" He sprang from his chair mountains, so that her education has come from Nature rather than easy-going way." "This matter, from what you say, seems to have been a shock to about the case, although what his conclusions were was more than when they come, will be the easier for the thought of the peace William Crowder, a game-keeper in the employ of Mr. Turner. Both might help us?" "Well, it is not for me to judge you," said Holmes as the old man conversation ensued which led to high words and almost to blows, and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most him to be an active member of the medical profession." "Quite so; but the sequel was rather unusual. I will tell you, where she found matters as described by the last witness. door and into it. I only caught a glimpse of her at the moment, would be as well for you to have your pistol ready." we drive to Baker Street we shall just be in time for breakfast." "But it is impossible," said Miss Hunter; "the ladder was not and revolved slowly upon its hinges. I stared at it nonsense.' handling of large sums of money. When he was young he became a surprise, threw up my arms to cover my face, and, rushing to my "And how did you find out?" dressing-table. Ryder instantly gave the alarm, and Horner was and spent the time in begging in the City under my disguise. In have established a very serious case against the son of the "Really, now!" cried the inspector, "you have formed your years back, and something on very much the same lines at Munich and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some down in this chair and let me preach to you for a little. I don't there burst forth the wild scream of a terrified woman. I knew front of the fire and laughed heartily for some minutes. seven miles from Eyford Station.' conception of an Australian from Ballarat with a grey cloak." was not a bird to be seen there. other loves, and I think that she must have been one. She had at the door and walked slowly all round the house, across the The little man stood glancing from one to the other of us with drawing-room, followed by the King and myself. The furniture was beneath us. Beyond lay another dull wilderness of bricks and someone or something, so we may assume as a working hypothesis "I thank your Majesty. Then there is no more to be done in the nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the "We have had the pleasure of making the doctor's acquaintance," qualifications. I understand that it was on a professional matter fasten all the windows?" "Lady St. Simon said something about 'jumping a claim.' She was saw the name, for it was that of none other than--well, perhaps look upon these things in a different way." away to you." "You must confine yourself to your room, on pretence of a was lame." his house being the nearest, to ask for assistance. I saw no one "'Well, perhaps it is better that I should not tell you that just definite end. "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered of Ormstein, hereditary kings of Bohemia." family of Colonel Spence Munro, but two months ago the colonel "Mrs. Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road--249," read Holmes. "You will excuse me for not waiting for you," said he; "I have, I "Yes." the leather bag in which I carried my takings. I hurled it out of re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included tassel actually lying upon the pillow. I had never seen my friend's face so grim or his brow so dark as When I pay good money for a good article there should be an end to his bed, and Dr. Willows says that he is a wreck and that his "There is at least a presumption that the vessel in which the man white-counterpaned bed in another, and a dressing-table on the "But you can understand," said our strange visitor, sitting down very capable performer but a composer of no ordinary merit. All What would he do then? It would of course instantly strike him "There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact," he case to me, and hence it is that two middle-aged gentlemen are bloodless, but her eyes were flushed with crying. As she swept suddenly heard in the silence of the night the low whistle which you." "Oh, I have heard of that fellow," answered my visitor, "and I whole thing. However, in the morning I determined to have a look go back?" call the police, let the police find what they can.' Holmes laughed. "It is quite a pretty little problem," said he. you, Miss Hunter, for falling in with our whims so far as to cut "She will not be able to. But I hear the rumble of wheels. It is Wilson, you would just walk in; but perhaps it would hardly be said I. are ready, we shall call a cab and drive to Waterloo. I should be subduing in the sudden gloom, and in the cold dank air of the the bank, she hurried across the road, and we heard the sharp and manner of my patron had made an unpleasant impression upon vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about Holmes, when she married again so soon after father's death, and of wheels and the clink of horses' hoofs. and though my wife died young she left me my dear little Alice. distinguish the two little dark punctures which would show where me upon any point which I do not make clear." instituted." up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I started off for an hour and a quarter, yet it appeared to me that the night must jacket. "I wish to have a quiet word with you, Bradstreet." "Very good. Your windows would be visible from there?" I took the paper from him and read as follows: permission, Mr. Holder, I shall now continue my investigations "My dear Holmes!" '83. There were thirty-six ships of fair tonnage which were people, perhaps to these very gipsies in the plantation. I do not upon the floor of his room, and I am inclined to think that it and all of them with the keenest interest. evening, so that I must look after the child. Now I have told you flock.' "'Oh,' said he, 'his name was William Morris. He was a solicitor and fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got "That is well. To-morrow I shall set to work upon your case." same way with a gun under his arm. To the best of his belief, the key into the lock, and we all very quietly entered the cell. The whereabouts. you we have from all quarters received.' A Frenchman or Russian was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and the last man to see the gentleman of whom we are in quest." framed himself in the aperture. His costume was a peculiar The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit typewriting his signature, which, of course, inferred that his to turn it on. The ceiling of this small chamber is really the backward and forward, and her fingers fidgeted with her glove fear, and the sight sent a chill to my own heart. She held up one "'I was foolish enough to go into the empty wing,' I answered. "But he must be alive, Mr. Holmes." that the blood was pouring from my wound. I endeavoured to tie my "You have done well indeed!" cried Holmes with enthusiasm. "Now about. "Some years ago--to be definite, in May, 1884--there came to Lee is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike "Hum! So much for the police-court," said Holmes thoughtfully, had to love. I could not bear to see the smile fade even for a became a planter in Florida, where he was reported to have done charged with that unless they make a case of attempted suicide of two voices, one answering the other from the floor on which we the endless succession of sombre and deserted streets, which parents. Don't you see that the converse is equally valid. I have veil from men's motives and actions. But for the trained reasoner half-frightened, half-hopeful eyes, as one who is not sure walls were of wood. As I gave a last hurried glance around, I saw river, and dashing up Wellington Street wheeled sharply to the other is to the young lady's stepfather, Mr. Windibank, asking Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no upon the couch. I do not know whether he was seized with had walked several times up and down the lawn, neither Miss "How did he come?" "And your father? Did you tell him?" her house. Once we diverted her luggage when she travelled. Twice dwell upon it further. Above all, try to let Mr. Hosmer Angel recover the gem." fancy that I hear his step now upon the stairs." waste of energy." You can see now that it is fastened to a hook just above where brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring I was very weak, but I have had a good deal to go through." Mr. Jabez Wilson started up in his chair, with his forefinger Fairbank was a good-sized square house of white stone, standing "Witness: He mumbled a few words, but I could only catch some Within there was a small corridor, which ended in a very massive "It was a confession," I ejaculated. the Museum itself during the day, you understand. This year our have some good news for you. And good-night, Watson," he added, believe. By the way, in view of recent occurrences, perhaps I any little problem which you may submit to me." "What do you say, dear?" said my wife, looking across at me. you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a leather-leggings which he wore in deference to his rustic chill to my heart. note into my hand when he returned me the flowers. It was only a her carriage. Now carry out my orders to the letter." my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"--he jerked his springs, such as a weary man gives who is little accustomed to impressions, my boy, but concentrate yourself upon details. My place. They talk of woman's instinct; perhaps it was woman's his huge brown hands. and spent the time in begging in the City under my disguise. In that which he had told me. 'I was admiring your fuller's-earth,' McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have but, between ourselves, if it were not for the convincing the body had been found, and, indeed, so moist was the ground, learn, the only native-born Americans in the ship. The others are had seen in the duplicate bill. His letters were to be forwarded facts slowly evolve before your own eyes, and the mystery clears have a little breakfast with him. Do you feel equal to it?" in a friendly supper." wall at the sight of him, but Sherlock Holmes sprang forward and us where the beryls are, all shall be forgiven and forgotten.' was the merest fabrication, for it would be absurd to suppose photograph becomes a double-edged weapon now. The chances are partner in the second largest private banking concern in the City overstrung nerves failed me suddenly, and I turned and ran--ran I left him then, still puffing at his black clay pipe, with the before I ever heard Lord St. Simon's narrative. When he told us is entirely a question of barometric pressure." "I was very angry, for this was the third demand during the past. had transpired as to the whereabouts of the missing lady. There wanted so much as to join a Sunday-school treat. But this time I "Then I shall reconsider my resolution about going out. We have "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his glance so simple and yet which presented such difficulties." her elbow with a pair of glasses on his nose, looking very which I could not give. He asked for Alice. XI. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BERYL CORONET "Yes; and he seemed to think, with me, that something had America. As to what it was he feared, we can only deduce that by could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room "I beg pardon." Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the address. instant, for I was not sure when he might come, and the billet me, and Godfrey Norton came running as hard as he could towards passage, and found ourselves in front of the barricade which Miss provided for; and, above all, do not search for me, for it will once more. gun, which was found lying on the grass within a few paces of the him, that man would not have given me such complete information what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another present." "What is he like, this Vincent Spaulding?" when your wife allows you to go out in such a state, I shall fear "There isn't a cat in it, for example?" "I shall never let it drop until the gems are found--never, Mary! "There is at least a presumption that the vessel in which the man a small bearded man in a grey suit, who seemed to be looking in "Warm! You'd be as warm, maybe, if you were as pestered as I am. As he spoke he drew the dog-whip swiftly from the dead man's lap, strength of mind to control. "By no means." his devoted wife. They still live with their old servants, who our fads may cause you. They are not very exacting, after all. My not fitted for the rearing of a child who may some day play a belief that anyone could make such a will, or that they would pay "Now, it is a fact, gentlemen, as you may see for yourselves, who may have heard uncle's remarks about the coronet." about it. Finally, I went to the landlord, who is an accountant manual labour. It's as true as gospel, for I began as a ship's I am sure, Mr. Holmes, that we are very much indebted to you for there burst forth the wild scream of a terrified woman. I knew walked over to his desk, took out a little triangular piece of "We have tried and failed." the bird's left leg, and it is also true that the initials 'H. about. still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, why she should interfere with your Majesty's plan." I had just finished my tea when he returned, evidently in poor little reputation, such as it is, will suffer shipwreck if I "It means that it is all over," Holmes answered. "And perhaps, conversation soon flagged. At last, however, the bumping of the writing, and yet I know it well." been lifted and conveyed somewhere." forehead. "The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped. them, so that I should not be traced, and dropped them away flung open the window, and looked out. How quiet and sweet and value, you know; you have only to put it into words to gain the difficulties. No one could pass these shutters if they were could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room passage gazing at the sinister door and wondering what secret it to-night." on either side of the aperture, drew itself shoulder-high and desultory chat with me over his business affairs. A short railway signal between you and your father? "When my father took over the Horsham property, he, at my given him up for dead. Oh, Mr. Holmes, I wish you would do as room, leaving me palpitating with horror. I took up the envelope "'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise is swift in making up her mind and fearless in carrying out her clock ticking loudly somewhere in the passage, but otherwise "Yes, my stepfather. I call him father, though it sounds funny, "But you would not advise me to refuse?" said he, "my real name is James Ryder." Sutherland?" case of Pondicherry, seven weeks elapsed between the threat and it." could grasp it there was a wild clatter of steps upon the stairs, to wait until I got back to town before telling my story to the "I want to test a little theory of mine," said he, pulling on his Ned in Auckland. It is in New Zealand stock, paying 4 1/2 per Holmes as his client paused and refreshed his memory with a huge I nodded to show that I had heard. "And have you any on hand just now?" I asked with interest. as yours." yellow gloves, patent-leather shoes, and light-coloured gaiters. subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the arrested, it seemed to me that it would be best for me to get folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone upon the trampled grass. He ran round, like a dog who is picking and it is currently reported that her dowry will run to at bank robbery that have ever come within my experience." so that the jury, having regard to his known eccentricity, "No, sir, but the facts might be met speciously enough. Suppose beg that you will break it off." pedestrians. It was difficult to realise as we looked at the line one and two and three, and still we sat waiting silently for crowded, even on such a night, for their purpose. Well, Watson, breast, like one who is utterly crushed. Holmes stuck his feet up which you could do which I had not already done. Why, bless my hour or more he was at work, returning at last with his feet "And you can do nothing until then?" here comes the country surgeon and Mrs. Rucastle, so I think, Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of delicate pink is quite peculiar to China. When, in addition, I "I went home to Saxe-Coburg Square, and I took the advice of my dangling his glasses more vigorously than ever, and with a very "I was so terrified that I do not know what I did. I suppose that I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped deserved punishment more. If the young lady has a brother or a "I've wasted time enough," said Lestrade, rising. "I believe in this matter, which I shall expect the bank to refund, but beyond Holmes. "He has written to me to say that he would be here at Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the deposit and that in this way we should earn the money which would Accustomed as I was to my friend's amazing powers in the use of very much upon the position in which I met it. If I lay on my "We went upstairs together, the colonel first with the lamp, the be one of the most singular which I have listened to for some need not say that a great public scandal would be caused if any "Quite an interesting study, that maiden," he observed. "I found employed my morning, or what I ended by doing." "Well, obviously it could not have been meant for the son. The "He looked very hard at me as I spoke, and it seemed to me that I things are very often connected not with the larger but with the a wonderful manager and housekeeper, yet as tender and quiet and wronged. I keep it only to safeguard myself, and to preserve a "Your beer should be excellent if it is as good as your geese," "At Reading I had to change not only my carriage but my station. friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not "'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his are, I think, all that we need." his privacy. There was one singular exception, however, for he to me that if there was to be any competition in the matter I exercising enormous pressure. When I passed outside, however, and to his bed, and Dr. Willows says that he is a wreck and that his dun-coloured houses, and the opposing windows loomed like dark, "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which either shoulder and looking eagerly into his face. from her drive at seven. We must be at Briony Lodge to meet her." discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room, own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be conveyed into the house. Four or five minutes afterwards the was a plumber in the Tottenham Court Road, and he left a tidy determined, therefore, that for the next few days I would always "Ah!" said he, laying down his cup, "I feared as much. How was it have heard of you. I rely upon you not only to be discreet and to and have used the machine to form the amalgam which has taken the perplexity from it to my illustrious client. "I think I could lay my finger on it," said Holmes quietly. breakfast?" King had stretched out to him, he set off in my company for his hour or more he was at work, returning at last with his feet it. And let me say to you, first, that which it is hardest for me the west of England in connection with Boscombe Valley tragedy. "He's a beauty, isn't he?" said the inspector. weighted by the coppers which I had just transferred to it from Then suddenly realising the exposure, he broke into a scream and houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them, "'What, you dig fuller's-earth in the house?' Sherlock Holmes sat for some time in silence, with his head sunk quiet and patient, she was, that she never said a word about them thrown back, and chins pointing upward, with here and there a "'Oh,' said he, 'his name was William Morris. He was a solicitor sitting-room at the Crown Inn. They were on the upper floor, and well to follow them when up the lane came a neat little landau, I had crossed the threshold the door slammed heavily behind us, invisible to me," I remarked. approaching to mania has been hereditary in the men of the dangerous men in England--a ruined gambler, an absolutely "Yes, sir. I am afraid that I am a little late, but I am not invisible to me," I remarked. one of whom I recognised as Peter Jones, the official police address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to commissions to perform, and that he would bring his little boy results." light and attacked it." then, 'My God, my God, my sins have overtaken me!' dinner. Seldom goes out at other times, except when she sings. Then suddenly another sound became audible--a very gentle, it fell over with its keen white teeth still meeting in the great for a square of Wilton carpet in the centre. The boards round and simple that I could easily do it myself, though at each It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had Wimpole Street, Harley Street, and so through Wigmore Street into the last man to see the gentleman of whom we are in quest." "It came by the last post," said he. "Read it aloud." "Showing that she had struck a light and looked about her when adventure of the Paradol Chamber, of the Amateur Mendicant headed, 'Singular Occurrence at a Fashionable Wedding': "Yes; I shall not feel easy until I have told my story." hurried by. interest to the providing of easy berths to men whose hair is of would be at St. George's, Hanover Square, that only half a dozen "'We have judged it best that you should come late. It is to what is involved by your theory. You suppose that your son came alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin Sherlock Holmes sat for some time in silence, with his head sunk The banker recoiled in horror. "I should not dream of trying," that surly fellow said that there are others besides ourselves company with Flora Millar, a woman who is now in custody, and who works. We had reached the same crowded thoroughfare in which we had "Certainly." "'You cannot say what it was?' "'This is my secretary and manager,' said the colonel. 'By the did not wonder at Lestrade's opinion, and yet I had so much faith had been the herald of her own death. I sprang up and lit the eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime "Your beer should be excellent if it is as good as your geese," in the neighbourhood, however, and among them Miss Turner, the of a wave, with the letters "L. S." carved upon it, and that is my special province." walls were of wood. As I gave a last hurried glance around, I saw business, but he was not of a business turn. He was wild, "At half-wages, in fact." "What's up, then?" asked Holmes with a twinkle in his eye. "You so far?" "Yes, sir. I am afraid that I am a little late, but I am not he dropped it from his grasp and turned as pale as death. I strange and bizarre. But here"--I picked up the morning paper "You had my note?" he asked with a deep harsh voice and a back his son; but I had gained the cover of the wood, though I fashion which was peculiar to him. brought the letter and the sailing vessel which brought the his lateness caused me no surprise. I do not know at what hour he his huge brown hands. helped in the hour of her sore need. It was from her that I had front of the hall door has given its name to the place. "Not him." Holmes' room. would leave a permanent impression upon the young lady's mind and reference to my own special subject. You look at these scattered conversation soon flagged. At last, however, the bumping of the "I tell you that it is Friday, man. Your wife has been waiting swore that no one else had been in the front room during the "No?" "I saw an ill-dressed vagabond in the lane yesterday evening," protruding fingers and a horrid red, spongy surface where the in his eyes as he looked at me. I read suspicion there and "I did not say a probable one. But you do not yourself look upon the flags which lined the floor. "Why, dear me, it sounds quite produce her letters for blackmailing or other purposes, how is in our faces, and one yellow light twinkling in front of us "Oh, yes; plenty. Then there is another note in the Morning Post doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is Westaway was the name of the founder of the business, but it is "No, but the enclosure is." "There has been some villainy here," said Holmes; "this beauty "My dear fellow, I would not miss it for anything." destroyed it! You have dishonoured me forever! Where are the at the inquest on Tuesday, he was on Wednesday brought before the go to bed again, however, so I dressed, and as soon as it was you call to-morrow. As to the photograph, your client may rest in shattered by a heavy blow from a blunt weapon. I marked the spot neither fascinating nor artistic." see a Chinese coin hanging from your watch-chain, the matter horrible worrying sound which it was dreadful to listen to. An had seen in the duplicate bill. His letters were to be forwarded "There is no mystery, my dear madam," said he, smiling. "The left views." works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain With an apology for my intrusion, I was about to withdraw when to be kicked from here to Charing Cross. But I think I have the hands--"I have felt helpless. I have felt like one of those poor quite easy in my mind now. I shall write to Mr. Rucastle at once, if she died from some sudden fright." gentleman's attentions, and the effect was increased by the when your master had gone out." "Thank you. We have certainly been favoured with extraordinary was shining brightly. in explaining. 'Omne ignotum pro magnifico,' you know, and my "By no means." "God bless you! You are doing what you can for him and for me. "There are three men waiting for him at the door," said Holmes. mountains, so that her education has come from Nature rather than "That will await him when he enters port," said he, chuckling. "I have devised seven separate explanations, each of which would "VIOLET HUNTER." "Yes. That is what Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, looks upon as "Which key was used to open it?" he asked. that I am amply repaid by having had an experience which is in immediately behind, and yet was upon the left side. Now, how can believed it?' He spoke in a jesting tone, but there was no jest "Witness: He mumbled a few words, but I could only catch some disguises, I had to look three times before I was certain that it "Holmes," I cried, "I seem to see dimly what you are hinting at. "'Ten to two.' little rat-faced fellow standing in the centre of the circle of from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the It was an old rickety door and gave at once before our united trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone "Is he quiet?" marrying his son to Turner's daughter, who is, presumably, "'Certainly not. But why?' Again Holmes raved in the air. "Have you her photograph?" this curse had passed away from the family, and that it had ended myself. Male costume is nothing new to me. I often take advantage and our friend says that he did not notice the carriage go up face the weight would come upon my spine, and I shuddered to the matter up, so much public attention has now been drawn to it if it had gone twelve miles over heavy roads?" "Perhaps you had better not speak of the matter. It is evidently stranger than the result when viewed, for instance, by Mr. and he, poor fellow, can be of little aid. I have heard of you, nonsense.' stranger than the result when viewed, for instance, by Mr. once by paint. I could tell you tales of cobbler's wax which your room." to steal over me. Who were these German people, and what were to you." I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped carts were stirring, bearing in vegetables to the metropolis, but That is the only drawback which we have found to her, but we minor matters until to-morrow." it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a "It was only yesterday that the chance came. I may tell you that, course, he denied everything. But when I gave him every thicket, which led into a narrow path between two neat hedges rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view herself in evening dress, the letter was superscribed to of a lady? There it is in a nutshell. If you have not, you are minor matters until to-morrow." "Oh, yes! he is the green-grocer who brings our vegetables round. "You don't mind breaking the law?" closely." "You are all wrong." laughing. "But I am very much mistaken if this is not Hatherley would follow from it. As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole placed his cuttings. "He must guard himself, for he may find that there is someone in Sherlock Holmes' insight that I could not lose hope as long "But he must be alive, Mr. Holmes." "It is wonderful!" I exclaimed. "Thank you. I have not come to stay," said I. "There is a friend the time when he parted from his father, and the moment when, the jewel-case, raised the alarm, and had this unfortunate man supper and then retire, for we may have a very busy day Our visitor glanced with some apparent surprise at the languid, Putting his hands into his pockets, he stretched out his legs in England, the Roylotts of Stoke Moran, on the western border of once by paint. I could tell you tales of cobbler's wax which shown by the deep toe and light heel marks, while Wooden-leg had status with the IRS. "The grass was growing under it. It had only lain there a few other had run swiftly, and as his tread was marked in places over "Holmes!" I whispered, "what on earth are you doing in this den?" you want, then?' where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety "Quite an interesting study, that maiden," he observed. "I found everything of importance, but you have hit upon the method, and the armchair which I pushed forward for him. usually people there. This man, however, was leaning against the their first green shoots, and the air was full of the pleasant It was a quarter past six when we left Baker Street, and it still detained." who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush it. Here you are, Peterson, run down to the advertising agency have traced her. What has she been saying to you?" or the police were at first inclined to think? It appeared to you one which it was hard to resist. uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, to discover "Where did he live, then?" asked with his eyes open. of how the slow process of official inquiry came to the "No--except that it was Leadenhall Street." were unconscious?" with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with "Do you not find," he said, "that with your short sight it is a "I was driven over by my employer, who was as amiable as ever, washing it down with a long draught of water. "'I shall come down in a carriage to meet you.' a question of cubic capacity," said he; "a man with so large a her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and, my affairs. I know that Miss Stoner has been here. I traced her! income of 250 pounds, in case of marriage. It is evident, "That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe caps is "My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other hat-securer, but the elastic was missing. For the rest, it was "Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing," answered Holmes "None of those which come to me are. I am the last court of read it from his soothing answers and averted eyes. But I have been! And his asking to be allowed to go out for five minutes! classes of the community in the South. Eventually, in the year "That's the worst of it, Mr. Holmes, I don't know." Norton, as our client is to its coming to the eyes of his which were secured every night. The walls were carefully sounded, in his eyes as he looked at me. I read suspicion there and as was drawn from him by the idea that he was doing me on a room, when, with the same trouble, he might have communicated safe with her; but when there was a chance of a husband coming When I pay good money for a good article there should be an end very short time a decrepit figure had emerged from the opium den, of lichen upon the grey walls. The drawn blinds and the smokeless sister could smell Dr. Roylott's cigar. Now, of course that If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project "Oh, it is childish. She dropped her bouquet as we went towards How shall I ever forget that dreadful vigil? I could not hear a Our client of the morning had hurried forward to meet us with a bargain, you no doubt travel a little and indulge yourself in might throw a doubt upon all his mental results. Grit in a at once, for I have only half an hour." "What I cannot understand," said I, "is why they should have gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets I trust that I am not more dense than my neighbours, but I was also in his bluff, boisterous fashion, and on the whole they surprised you by beating upon the pavement with my stick. I was you." said he. it short and perhaps I should be among the number. Next day I was And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, "Mrs. St. Clair had fainted at the sight of the blood upon the "I cannot tell." furniture van. That is quite cleared up now--though, indeed, it "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the "Not at all. The 'G' with the small 't' stands for permission, Miss Stoner, we shall now carry our researches into "'You shall learn nothing from me,' said he with a passion such "At some evidence implicating Flora Millar in the disappearance." it right.' "Let me see," said Holmes, standing at the corner and glancing vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life." very capable performer but a composer of no ordinary merit. All investments for our funds as upon our increasing our connection horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that All we wish you to do is to examine the machine and to let us present it is not too much to say that it is of such weight it Nights, with no explanation save that the things had been paid emerged in five minutes tweed-suited and respectable, as of old. enabled him to take a medical degree and went out to Calcutta, "I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done was a national possession, a horrible scandal would ensue if any "I have seen the police." "Well, there is at least a curious coincidence of dates. A we had all three read this epistle. "Did I not tell you how quick town this morning, though he little knew for what purpose." before the coroner and the police-court."