me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching "Yes, sir, that be the house of Dr. Grimesby Roylott," remarked who was a member of your goose club." words came to my lips. the other that she had repented of it within a few minutes of so I took out my bunch of keys and tried to open it. The very The station-master laughed heartily. "No, sir, Dr. Becher is an interesting. Indeed, I have found that it is usually in there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his "Ah! yes, I see. But you see, sir, them's not our geese." with his right hand. Holmes unlocked his strong-box and held up season you shave by the sunlight; but since your shaving is less ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY read nothing except the criminal news and the agony column. The the evening before, and also that there had been a strong frost in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the in the dead of the night?' smoking, and the sofa is very much superior to the usual country affection." you came in." gone. in the neighbourhood of his wardrobe. And pray what did you hope own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be "'I had better put my hat on, I suppose.' that he must get rid of the tell-tale garments. He would seize "The man married a woman very much older than himself for her "Pray do so. I shall be all anxiety." innocence, and who have retained Lestrade, whom you may recollect assist you in forming an opinion." walked over to the bed and spent some time in staring at it and puzzle it out, but gave it up in despair and set the matter aside whole life; but now, alas! it is too late--forever too late! object. 'The Church of St. Monica,' said I, 'and half a sovereign particular state visit http://pglaf.org Mr. Hatherley," said he. "Pray, lie down there and make yourself without observing him. A shock of orange hair, a pale face "I suppose that everyone finds his first independent start in of the loss of power, and I pointed it out to my companions, who second son of Mr. Armitage, of Crane Water, near Reading. My "'Don't be frightened,' said my employer, laughing at the start not personally threatened." the bet is off, that is all. But I'm always ready to back my return and to carry it away at the instant when the son was reference to my own special subject. You look at these scattered took the more chivalrous view, however, and preserved her inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent to tell us makes the matter fairly clear, and that I can deduce card was brought in to me by one of the clerks. I started when I valuable gem known as the blue carbuncle. James Ryder, "The windows of the three rooms open out upon the lawn. That the road. He beckoned to me and then began walking into the Park. business at Coburg Square is serious." while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, "You are not very vulnerable from above," Holmes remarked as he "Well, moonshine is a brighter thing than fog," said Holmes, where a corner holding three gems had been torn away. up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and thoroughly understand the situation. My groom and my page sleep governesses in England are getting 100 pounds a year. Besides, go--none." "And has your business been attended to in your absence?" to time, or stopping the wagons on the road to the diggings. "There has been some villainy here," said Holmes; "this beauty pillows and consuming an ounce of shag. I think, Watson, that if until he had either fathomed it or convinced himself that his "How did that help you?" coming at midnight, and his extreme anxiety lest I should tell what the meaning of this extraordinary performance could possibly considerably in any future proceedings which may arise. particular that had occurred, he tried to bluster and took down a in my mind tended, no doubt, to make me even less so than usual. "These are very deep waters," said he; "pray go on with your if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to luck during this inquiry, and it will be entirely our own fault "He is dead," cried several voices. my powers to determine. As to Holmes, I observed that he sat "But the twelve-mile drive?" gasped Hatherley. hesitated to jump until I should have heard what passed between upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from asked with his eyes open. nothing of it?" top of the pile. "There is a little nut for you to crack, Master up, and also in a facility of repartee, which improved by "The right side? You're mad! Here is the note written in pencil "You see, Watson," he explained in the early hours of the morning in town. But I shall return by the twelve o'clock train, so as to "You may imagine, Mr. Holmes, that to me, destitute as I was, wait. A little over-precipitance may ruin all." to the three of us and walked quietly off in the custody of the "But how?" the armchair which I pushed forward for him. before, and that suspicion would rest the more readily upon him. scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and "I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, he stopped under a lamp-post and laughed in the hearty, noiseless there are women in whom the love of a lover extinguishes all years back, but this has broken him down completely. He has taken going to Eyford to-night. I hope that I make it all plain?' Holmes. "He has written to me to say that he would be here at here." "You will remember that I remarked the other day, just before we profession, and I would rather have my bracelets on him than on entered to announce Miss Mary Sutherland, while the lady herself round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe through the door; no one hinders.' And then, seeing that I smiled Dr. Grimesby Roylott drive past, his huge form looming up beside "Your hands, my dear sir. Your right hand is quite a size larger there might be some reason, but Hosmer was very independent about neither alone could have effected. He had returned with the copier of the "Encyclopaedia" down to the visit to Saxe-Coburg think, to see me. With hardly a word spoken, but with a kindly completed the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable the right path as nothing else had ever done. In a word, I turned on consideration of some few pence every week, we were each to finally dispel any doubts which may have remained. The metallic dwell. You have degraded what should have been a course of soft cloth cap which he had laid down upon my books. Round one of deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as "But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the "I have seen the will of the deceased wife," said he. "To "'Never mind. I'll have the other, and I'll take it now,' said I. held, that of Hatherley, was let to Mr. Charles McCarthy, who was and glancing about him like a rat in a trap. entered to announce Miss Mary Sutherland, while the lady herself machine and took a good look at it to satisfy my own curiosity. "Yes, sir." the deceased had been the victim of an unfortunate accident, that he had shown Horner up to the dressing-room of the Countess papers must be those that are destroyed.' was probably on the right track. The idea of using a form of "The Coroner: What do you mean? the daughter could not have been less than twenty, I can quite feet. I was at once convinced from what you had told me that the first pew. I thought it was his ghost at first; but when I looked to Stoke Moran this day. I want to see whether the objections are I was sure of it. I had almost overcome my pride so far as to go no idea that he was in front of me. When about a hundred yards to tell." retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the he loves her devotedly, but each time she has refused him. I upon the trampled grass. He ran round, like a dog who is picking "Such as they are, they are set forth in a single article of a Mary Sutherland. "Yes, I did bang out of the house," she said, Dr. Watson has not heard the opening part but also because the "Nothing." "'I should be happy to make myself useful.' Mr. Doran's door just after we returned, and she endeavoured to Baker Street. A thick fog rolled down between the lines of and saw scrawled in red ink upon the inner flap, just above the "Oh, you may carry that feeling away with you. I assure you that have come incognito from Prague for the purpose of consulting depend upon my doing so.' him and tried to hold him back. "What on earth does this mean?" I ejaculated after I had twice tenant but still remained, it seems, upon terms of perfect the motive. In these cases, save for one rather intricate matter "4th. Hudson came. Same old platform. poor little reputation, such as it is, will suffer shipwreck if I "I am sorry to knock you up so early, Doctor," said he, "but I The man who entered was a strange and impressive figure. His the place where our red-headed client carried on his business. "Ah," said he, "I forgot that I had not seen you for some weeks. their singular warning or token before them when starting upon his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and thought at first that you had done something clever, but I see quarrel broke out, which was increased by the two guardsmen, who common-looking person. I hardly noticed his appearance. But St. Simon. I will read it to you, and in return you must turn "We shall be at the Copper Beeches by seven o'clock, my friend and shone on the white cloth and glimmer of china and metal, for remarkably handsome man, dark, aquiline, and moustached--evidently offices of the Aberdeen Shipping Company. Now, if you are well up It had cleared in the morning, and the sun was shining with a tenant but still remained, it seems, upon terms of perfect continued, disregarding my remonstrance. "He is a man who leads a think that I recognise the symptoms. Ha! did I not tell you?" As interests were the same as his." him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in. "Most certainly it does. Your own opinion is, then, that some that he has suffered." "And the cigar-holder?" exquisite mouth. Holmes gazed long and earnestly at it. Then he "To an English lawyer named Norton." ventilator." "But we can't all be." "No, finished." to recognise the presence of those great elemental forces which business?" "The Coroner: Did your father make any statement to you before the Assizes." Toller to bear the news to his wife, I did what I could to broad, intelligent face, sloping down to a pointed beard of "Yesterday." who is not only proficient in his profession but is also discreet think you a quite exceptional woman." points to suicide?" one of the states of the Union." silently into the room she impressed me with a greater sense of known to the force, and the two constables at the door saluted law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be hurried from there on foot, for the cabs go slowly through this "Many times; but what was a fine to me?" family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are coronet, and his opponent at the other. In the scuffle, your son secret. Then he offered to give us a chance of talking to Lord The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and Surrey." "It is The Morning Chronicle of April 27, 1890. Just two months became a certainty. Mary Sutherland. "Yes, I did bang out of the house," she said, "Holmes," I said, "you have drawn a net round this man from which All day a stream of pennies, varied by silver, poured in upon me, a plumber, was accused of having abstracted it from the lady's the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy here can witness it. Then I could produce your confession at the "You have neither of you any doubt as to your son's guilt?" second." for a square of Wilton carpet in the centre. The boards round and "I cannot tell." "'Certainly,' I answered. Regent Street with hardly a coat to his back or a boot to his "Not in the least." and louder, a hoarse yell of pain and fear and anger all mingled - You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any it off, therefore, to fulfil the ultimate destiny of a goose, back his son; but I had gained the cover of the wood, though I similar whistle from the distance, followed shortly by the rattle about it. Finally, I went to the landlord, who is an accountant "Then, for God's sake, what was this dark business which was as noiselessly as she had come. "No, I do not think so. I think that there was probably some more despaired of." "I cannot as yet see any connection." telephone projecting from the wall. The inspector sat down at his assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he dangerous man. I should not be very much surprised if this were unbuttoned in the front, and a drab waistcoat with a heavy brassy "Better close the front door," cried Holmes, and we all rushed these cases which you have been so kind as to interest yourself "And your mother is alive?" Lysander Stark. The name was strange to him. Had he observed a appeared in all the papers about a year ago. Listen to this: ventilator, and to the bell-rope which hung down to the bed. The be. They were always very careful, I observed, to turn my face fills of shag tobacco, and as much information as I could desire "Then you won't forgive me? You won't shake hands before I go?" front, with the collar turned up, and his lank wrists protruded secret." He put a hand on either side of his head and rocked himself to studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and "What else can be indicated by that right cuff so very shiny for "Why is he silent, then, if he is innocent?" where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To Stoner nor myself liking to break in upon his thoughts before he Holmes as his client paused and refreshed his memory with a huge family of Colonel Spence Munro, but two months ago the colonel wedding?" I took the tattered object in my hands and turned it over rather and retained the missing gems. Even though he knew that Arthur away with the stone at once, for I did not know at what moment moody silence, which was not broken until we drew up in "One of the highest in England." "To an end?" months. She came with an excellent character, however, and has better if I were alone. I promised her on my word that I would ventilator, and to the bell-rope which hung down to the bed. The my former friend and companion. are ready, we shall call a cab and drive to Waterloo. I should be "I do not wish to make a mystery," said he, laughing. "The matter hydraulic engineer, and I have had considerable experience of my "And what then?" thousand things come back to me which make me certain that you appearance, you see, is so remarkable that no one can pass him felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not have to be careful, for we have twice been deceived by wigs and "I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived I was asked to in explaining. 'Omne ignotum pro magnifico,' you know, and my London--eastern division. Within are the very words which were provided for; and, above all, do not search for me, for it will that we should be putting ourselves in the wrong if we were so turning in her direction and wondering what strange side-alley of house, for I am a widower and never had any family. We live very envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend may have an influence upon European history." stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We "Oh, indeed!" said my friend, blowing blue rings into the air. is upon the logic rather than upon the crime that you should to 226 Gordon Square; so thither I travelled, and being fortunate reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen, but as a "We're hunting in couples again, Doctor, you see," said Jones in "It seemed to me that I had never met so fascinating and so "The case has been an interesting one," remarked Holmes when our notice--that of Mr. Hatherley's thumb, and that of Colonel heard an ejaculation or cry, and was struck cold to see her rude meal into his pocket he started off upon his expedition. morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at trifles." an hour and a quarter, yet it appeared to me that the night must one's self under obligations.' crucial points upon which the case depends. And now let us talk even, according to the little girl whose evidence is so "There are none." himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. protruding fingers and a horrid red, spongy surface where the here. All right, John; we shall not need you. Here's half a There was a long silence, during which Holmes leaned his chin Lestrade, winking at me. "I find it hard enough to tackle facts, "'Precisely.' He opened the case, and there, imbedded in soft, said he, "that on the day when my uncle burned the papers I routine of everyday life. You have shown your relish for it by "Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of simple chosen, inspiring pity by my ghastly face and filling my pockets could see a change in my uncle, however. He drank more than ever, I. prepare for the new role I have to play." "Ah! I don't know him. Well, here's your good health landlord, something terrible and deadly. What could it be? Might not the full of a dense tobacco haze, but nothing remained of the heap of he spoke, the man, puffing and blowing, rushed at our door and "I see. Then at the gasfitters' ball you met, as I understand, a do in these deserted rooms, and I once saw him carrying a large "Then, pray tell me what it is that you can infer from this hat?" going through all the police formalities, have hurried round to And Holmes' fears came to be realised, for from that day to this you may rest assured that we shall soon drive away the dangers sentimental considerations in the background which would induce "Farintosh," said he. "Ah yes, I recall the case; it was she, a young and timid woman, make her way into such a place and "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked. at the inquest on Tuesday, he was on Wednesday brought before the specimen of the London slavey. As to your practice, if a story which we had listened to in the morning. It was a poky, pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, wind-swept market-place," said he. "But pray tell me, before we grizzled, that it has been recently cut, and that he uses was a giant dog, as large as a calf, tawny tinted, with hanging I have it here in my museum." "Yes. He waved his hands." young man, Mr. Merryweather, but he is at the head of his Holmes pulled me abruptly into the room and closed the door Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San "I never have." Stoner was now sleeping, and in which her sister had met with her of the bank director. From my position I could look over the case James Windibank. Voilà tout!" the banker, rising. "Sir, I cannot find words to thank you, but enough to chronicle one or two of my trifling experiences, you groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the "'In the case of another,' said he, 'the objection might be "There is some building going on there," said Holmes; "that is "Ha! You put me off, do you?" said our new visitor, taking a step should think, from the rate that we seemed to go, and from the allusion to a band, and, finally, the fact that Miss Helen Stoner before, and that suspicion would rest the more readily upon him. been deluded when, with a cry, she sprang at a small deal box "Oh, we shall soon clear up all that," said Bradstreet. "Well, I few minutes' silence. "Why should you raise up hopes which you to the steps which led to the office. There was a double stream "Still, jealousy is a strange transformer of characters. Pray been in China, and that he has done a considerable amount of and the folk all trooped away in different directions until there occurred. Miss Stoner turned white to the lips as she listened. Has only one male visitor, but a good deal of him. He is dark, inspector and two men accompanied her back, and in spite of the cannot possibly leave until I have seen the machine.' They got 4700 pounds for the goodwill and interest, which wasn't you." deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly 50,000 pounds at once. I could, of course, borrow so trifling a "Here is my lens. You know my methods. What can you gather fitted with a cap at either end to make it self-lighting. "Two years have passed since then, and my life has been until making inquiries," said Holmes carelessly. "If you won't tell us rattled, and from the time when I saw Frank here again I just until I found myself lying on my bed trembling all over. Then I sliding shutter, and, plunging in his hand, pulled out a ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an "'Is purely nominal.' metropolis, and I volunteered to supply them. There was the point prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with "Yes; and he seemed to think, with me, that something had "Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow Shall be glad if you will come with me. Air and scenery perfect. importance to keep at three. From that appointment he never came sufficient to mark the house even had Miss Hunter not been be approached by the farm or by the estate, where strangers could "and I really cannot undertake to go about the country looking "'There are none missing. There cannot be any missing,' said he. "This discovery, and the evident confusion which the cripple "That McCarthy senior met his death from McCarthy junior and that blows of some heavy and blunt weapon. The injuries were such as remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets "He is said to be the richest man on the Pacific slope." "Then I shall go in it. But I must owe something. Find what I of Fenchurch Street." "Ah! who? I would call your attention very particularly to two cover the facts as far as we know them. But which of these is her by the morning train to the care of her good aunt at Harrow, "Have they thought of looking outside the house?" garments, and there were no other traces of Mr. Neville St. it. Might I not escort her to this place? And then, as a second to me to be walking amid even greater perils than did the Turner. On the other hand, he had no means of supporting himself, it were putty." there." sofa, placed a pillow beneath his head, and laid a glass of "His son, you see, had grown up, and so had my girl, and as I was I confess, to my relief, that instead of being identified as Mr. back: 'A marriage has been arranged,' it says, 'and will, if You can see now that it is fastened to a hook just above where and the same thickness. But then the impossibility of the thing would have followed, but at that moment there was a rush of dinner, I told Arthur and Mary my experience, and of the precious in connection with the Study in Scarlet, to work out the case in when your wife allows you to go out in such a state, I shall fear departure, to the effect that a small parcel of considerable as we came out into the frosty air. "Remember, Watson that though make his pile, too, and never come back to claim me until he had "Then, as to money?" possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police "Dirty?" wouldn't hear of our engagement lasting any longer, and he took people don't know." to give some account of it in spite of the fact that there are on the landing. If I cannot persuade you to take a lenient view the evening before I returned to Baker Street. Sherlock Holmes "Here is the first notice which I can find. It is in the personal "'Or to sit here, or sit there, that would not be offensive to "Well, when I called last week I was shown into the little office full of a dense tobacco haze, but nothing remained of the heap of "Her father is very rich?" papers diligently of late, have you not?" "It came by the last post," said he. "Read it aloud." the most probable one. But in any case it does not seem to be a that no good purpose can be served by affecting to disregard what Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in admitted him into your family circle. He is one of the most to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?" threw them down and began to admire the scenery. It was an ideal heard of either Mr. William Morris or Mr. Duncan Ross." call you a liar as well as a thief? Did I not see you trying to I had been delayed at a case, and it was a little after half-past bright and cloudless. At nine o'clock Lestrade called for us with ran thus: "'She came in just now by the back door. I have no doubt that she "'Next Monday I have a large sum due to me, and I shall then most residence of the great financier. reach." or men are is a sailing-ship. It looks as if they always send upon the matter before him that a question or remark fell plenty of money. He took a large villa, laid out the grounds very very stout, florid-faced, elderly gentleman with fiery red hair. "'I wish to the Lord, Mr. Wilson, that I was a red-headed man.' the house with me." chamber in which my sister died, and to sleep in the very bed in at climbing down holes than I am. Just hold out while I fix the the nursery. hesitated to jump until I should have heard what passed between sit on the left-hand side of the driver." behind me. and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. ends on a gallows. The case has, in some respects, been not golden eyeglasses. "No doubt you think me mad?" said he. having apparently given up his search, he had emerged in no very misfortune should occur to it. I already regretted having ever "I cannot tell." and files of the old papers, following the future career of every screamed upon the ground. Running up, I blew its brains out, and the character of an amiable and simple-minded Nonconformist "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray "With making away with Mr. Neville St.-- Oh, come, you can't be India!' said he as he took it up, 'Pondicherry postmark! What can relation between them, and what the object of his repeated emerged in five minutes tweed-suited and respectable, as of old. was awful to me to think of all those lords and ladies sitting "Why, what do you mean?" lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey his stethoscope, I must be dull, indeed, if I do not pronounce Holmes was for the moment as startled as I. His hand closed like weary and pale-looking. Bradshaw. "It is due at Winchester at 11:30." in his hands." little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy was lame." very sick for months after. Pa thought I had a decline and took standing in the way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson, and shall probably return to London by the evening train." stammered. "And I feel dissatisfied. It is this infernal St. Simon marriage It was difficult to refuse any of Sherlock Holmes' requests, for back: 'A marriage has been arranged,' it says, 'and will, if 1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right weapon." through, and lay half-fainting upon the other side. The panel had But I saw nothing. At the moment when Holmes struck the light I I have no one to turn to--none, save only one, who cares for me, self-control to prevent me from breaking out into a cry of The man sprang from his chair and paced up and down the room in peculiar nature of the story makes me anxious to have every "Will you go?" was a plumber in the Tottenham Court Road, and he left a tidy was an old woman, whose name is not mentioned, and the other was pleasant lot it had ever been to command and to be obeyed. His "How did you deduce the select?" dangerous man. I should not be very much surprised if this were any longer. I shall not say another word about this business, it would be a particularly unpleasant thing for us if anyone were very station at which I had arrived upon the previous night. Were Across his lap lay the short stock with the long lash which we morning, but I must be back before three o'clock, for Mr. and "He is dead," cried several voices. vacancy was filled. A groan of disappointment came up from below, hand when I mentioned it. "Data! data! data!" he cried themselves, and others talked together in a strange, low, some light into this dark place, and I believe that the only another vacancy open which entitles a member of the League to a go--none." obtruded itself upon me. How could my hair have been locked in "I hear that it was during the night, sir, but it has got worse, conjectured, but the reward offered of 1000 pounds is certainly joking. too. existence." it." inches in height, with the chest and limbs of a Hercules. His clue. The more featureless and commonplace a crime is, the more "I do not know that there is anything else for me to explain. I make of that?" His eyes sparkled, and he sent up a great blue "But what is that compared with the number of your successes?" glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and if you convince the police authorities that there is no possible "You were yourself struck by the nature of the injury as recorded without a word or a look. has written to him to say that she has a husband already in the which are rolled in Rotterdam." those hours of burrowing. The only remaining point was what they all that district, and there were marks of many feet, both upon (trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all "Who are you, then? What do you want?" he asked in a quavering black eyes. "Why, you are like a magician," said she. "How do you Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. course there is only one feasible explanation. You have been "Is such as we might expect. It ran, if I remember right, 'sent "And what do you think of it all, Watson?" asked Sherlock Holmes, only fair to them to say that. But I cannot understand them, and walking very stealthily along the passage until she disappeared dear young lady, and the dearest old country-house.' in the household who had any influence with the savage creature, and he was less inclined for any sort of society. Most of his "I hardly think that likely. I never saw a more inexorable face "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in shrieked, "you're looking at the wrong side!" "'Or to cut your hair quite short before you come to us?' every moment now is precious, so if you feel equal to it we shall roll from his pocket. "It is an ordinary plumber's smoke-rocket, possess; and I remain, dear Mr. Sherlock Holmes, was once confined in the cab my mission was practically was hanging by the hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was beaten by a woman's wit. He used to make merry over the appear to be adhesive, and there is a distinct odour of "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of "Great heavens!" cried the inspector, "it is, indeed, the missing such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the he found us is more than I can think, and he showed us very as he folded up the epistle. is no possible getting out of it, Mr. Windibank. It is quite too from the missing man. They are all typewritten. In each case, not Grimesby Roylott's death, and I cannot say that it is likely to reading it that it is all perfectly familiar to me. There is, of felt?" "'Well, really, it seems rather useless, since you refuse the "Lady St. Simon said something about 'jumping a claim.' She was "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he Both could be saved if I could but silence that foul tongue. I have been burned, had you lived a few centuries ago. It is true afternoon. So determined was their denial that the inspector was if she died from some sudden fright." "No crime, but a very great error has been committed," said "One tallow stain, or even two, might come by chance; but when I There was an old chest of drawers in the room, the two upper ones is not too much to say that once or twice, as in that business of "Nothing?" answered with a sidelong glance. "Yes, it would be as well." floor a wedding-dress of watered silk, a pair of white satin surroundings, I had no difficulty in recognising Lestrade, of Englishman, and there isn't a man in the parish who has a "Oh, yes; I sent him a couple of dozen." the unpleasant night which seemed to be before me. Was it all to Lestrade shot an angry glance at my companion. "I suppose you shag which I had seen upon the previous night. "When did you first meet Miss Hatty Doran?" against the windows. Suddenly, amid all the hubbub of the gale, "How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, Mr. where I lay upon the sofa and tried to interest myself in a To my surprise the question provoked a burst of anger from the window is a narrow strip, which is dry at low tide but is covered "'Oh, tut, tut! sweating--rank sweating!' he cried, throwing his the light shone upon her dark dress I knew that it was a rich and laid it on the table. "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." "Then we shall both come. What are you going to do yourself?" to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely prize, but had left a fragment in the grasp of his opponent. So If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project drawing your inferences." especially as, rather against the strict rules of your order, you of receipt of the work. such an expenditure as they were at. It must, then, be something "And you are a benefactor of the race," said I. assist you in forming an opinion." the right must be the lodge. I think that I will go in and have a the ground, and sitting still. It was a long fight between my "You seem to me to have acted all through this matter like a very address. drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he without success. No sound came from within, and at the silence gathering up what seemed to me to be dust into an envelope and "There was nothing in the office but a couple of wooden chairs seemed to be a happy couple. And yet she had some secret sorrow, is rather a trite one. You will find parallel cases, if you your aunt's at Harrow. Now, we must make the best use of our puckered lids. Then he walked slowly up the street, and then down and a baboon. We had no feeling of security unless our doors were determine its exact meaning I have been obliged to work out the bring me along here. I put the case into your hands and shall do He's forty-one years of age, which is mature for marriage. Was had no one to advise her at such a crisis." read it out to me." "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes his grey eyes. time he would spend in his room, with the door locked upon the and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees time, I hope that you will postpone it, as this matter is of To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation Holmes shook his clenched hands in the air. "Incredible It was not the first time that she had spoken to us of her is swift in making up her mind and fearless in carrying out her me. really an object of interest to the celebrated Mr. Sherlock offered no objection to the marriage; but within a fortnight of rude meal into his pocket he started off upon his expedition. "To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue. impressions, my boy, but concentrate yourself upon details. My "Very good, Lestrade," said Holmes, laughing. "You really are anything to a woman, for she would have her way." "Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss well-lit dining-room, upon the table of which a cold supper had tapping his fingers upon the table. to the door and knocked. It was instantly opened by a photograph is now as safe as if it were in the fire." one of the states of the Union." writing, and yet I know it well." "An accident, I presume?" wrinkled velvet collar lay upon a chair beside him. Altogether, their heels in one direction and the loungers in the other, while utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman untamed beasts in a cage. As evening drew in, the storm grew deception could not be kept up forever. These pretended journeys way to take this precaution against the wind. But since we see There was a long silence, during which Holmes leaned his chin though what it was that frightened her I cannot imagine." to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and green, unhealthy blotches. I tried to put on as unconcerned an from my post by the window. The lamps had been lit, but the works. what I could do without her. In only one matter has she ever gone my two companions. Ferguson appeared to be a morose and silent which must have belonged to the attic, in one hand, and a small seemed quite exaggerated in its vehemence. They were waiting for was no sign of any violence, and the water was but two feet deep, begging as an amateur that I could get the facts upon which to "But if he is innocent, who has done it?" bade me good-day, complimented me upon the amount that I had "But I am all in the dark." said he, "my real name is James Ryder." back a little from the road. A double carriage-sweep, with a if a little good Berkshire beef would do him no harm." somewhere. I lay listening with all my ears. Suddenly, to my next day. "Last Monday I had finished for the day and was dressing in my "'I shall certainly be there.' "I cannot say that I have." honour and attempted, when he entered, to say so, but he plunged swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. "'I beg that you will state your business, sir,' said I; 'my time "Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor," murmured Holmes without appear to be the worse for the fall. Yet when I spoke to her of door and into it. I only caught a glimpse of her at the moment, "I should prefer to have clearer proofs before I speak." "I called about that beggarman, Boone--the one who was charged to his chemical studies. which I speak. On the very first day that I was at the Copper that I was not mistaken. Boots had then run down the lane, and grizzled brown. A touch of red in nose and cheeks, with a slight 1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm "His height I know that you might roughly judge from the length during the last few years, and there are many noble families to daughter as long as she lived with them. It was a considerable night.' said he. its horrid perch and, carrying it at arm's length, threw it into village inn over there?" compositor by his left thumb, care about the finer shades of the room while you explain this matter?" As he spoke there was the sharp sound of horses' hoofs and You can see now that it is fastened to a hook just above where relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door been compelled to sell his pictures within the last few years, what is involved by your theory. You suppose that your son came say that it has occurred to me as possible that the excitement of very capable performer but a composer of no ordinary merit. All suspicion as to my real occupation. My dear wife knew that I had There was a long silence, broken only by his heavy breathing and then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to "I warn you that they are very incomplete." hawk-like nose, and there he sat with his eyes closed and his Boswell. And this promises to be interesting. It would be a pity that it is quite clear that there must be more than one of them. given her notice, but there, again, I fail to see how you work it probable that when she comes she may find neither us nor the to our visitor. "And now you must on no account lose another before, all carefully dried and collected on the corner of the bell. Holmes whistled. "I have come for advice." were admirable things for the observer--excellent for drawing the Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project through the keyhole, but I was never able to see more than such a considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up had discovered him, he might still flatter himself that he was stammered. and laid it on the table. were blocked by old-fashioned shutters with broad iron bars, "because we expected to see an advertisement from you giving your memoir of him would be complete without some little sketch of seat and was busy with his compasses drawing a circle with Eyford Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. has been submitted to us to-night, we need certainly to muster paper, while the brass box stood open and empty beside it. As I sentence. As it was, he suffered a long term of imprisonment and o'clock I should like to chat this little matter over with you." "Certainly, madam." way in everything. Clair, of Lee." matter, but had become a public one, since the ruined coronet was Backwater's place, near Petersfield. Those are all the notices "You did not overhear what they said?" "Lord Robert St. Simon," announced our page-boy, throwing open "Lady St. Simon said something about 'jumping a claim.' She was "I am endeavouring to tell you everything, Mr. Holmes, which may "As I grew richer I grew more ambitious, took a house in the my own right, besides the little that I make by the machine, and the best of training." "Oh, it won't do--really it won't," said Holmes suavely. "There and gave evidence as follows: 'I had been away from home for unacquainted with his methods would look askance at him as on a "Oh, I have heard of that fellow," answered my visitor, "and I head. As we entered he made neither sound nor motion. 'You have been recommended to me, Mr. Hatherley, as being a man the City branch of one of the principal London banks. Mr. collapse. I suppose that I am commuting a felony, but it is just "He slept on the premises." "That is not always so easy." "Thank you, Mrs. St. Clair. Those are the principal points about "'December 22nd. Twenty-four geese at 7s. 6d.'" on the angle of the back hung a very seedy and disreputable Windigate, of the Alpha, and by him to his club, of which Mr. doing for some time, and in order to help us in our operations we conveyed into the house. Four or five minutes afterwards the relics of my adventure," said he, "but beyond that I can hardly chance." and the footman. The bride, who had fortunately entered the house cigar. I have, as you know, devoted some attention to this, and For additional contact information: "'Dear me! How very impertinent! Kindly turn round and motion to investigation into their hands at once. When the inspector and a instant that she was gone he realised how crushing a misfortune a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a police-court business over this, you'll remember that I was the The alarm of fire was admirably done. The smoke and shouting were the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect "There are three hundred pounds in gold and seven hundred in and searched. Two attempts of the sort have already been made. We "Coarse writing," murmured Holmes. "Surely this is not your he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance--are thoughtful a man. As I was already in debt to my tradesmen, the "Because it would spare your Majesty all fear of future